Summits

Summits I & II
Ink on Paper. 2010

Summits I

Summits II

These are fun exercises in markmaking- more immediate than the paintings despite appearing more painstaking.

The Hounds of Love

Hiromi Ueyoshi

I had a great time at The Hounds of Love gallery opening on Saturday. Here are some shots by
Melissa Cha of the event and the performance by my band Single Lash that drove most of our visitors away.

Swallows

Swallows
Oil. 2010.

Nearly all the paintings from the past three months of entries, including this one, will be included in the Hounds of Love show this Saturday. Show starts at 7pm at 1138 Emmitt Run, Austin, Tx- it's right around the corner from Big Medium. Come by and check out the work if you're in the area, as well as a performance by Single Lash.

Colin (Remember, remember the fifth of November)

Colin
Mixed Media. 2010

Just finished this drawing of my roommate, bandmate and all-around mate, Colin Foster striking a very characteristic rock-star pose. I realized as I was making it, that viewers might mistake the image for someone in a Guy Fawkes mask rocking out. In fact, Colin just looks a lot like Guy Fawkes, if those masks are to be taken as an accurate likeness. Thus this work helped me understand something new about my subject and it gives me something to call him besides "Captain Morgan".

For an extra-fun bonus, here's a photo I found tucked into my sketchbook recently of Colin and I jamming:

Photo by Melissa Cha

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
(From Colin)

Bleeding Eyes

Photo by Laura Perez-Harris Model: Me (as Robert Smith)

Apparently the members of The Cure used to apply lipstick around their eyes, so that when they sweated during performances, their eyes would appear to be bleeding. Boys don't cry, but I guess they do bleed from their eyeballs. I've actually tried this, and maybe the lipstick was waterproof because it didn't drip at all, but I did manage to look really ill with my red-ringed eyes , so mission accomplished after all.

For a while I wanted to start a band called Extinction Girls. I don't know why I thought that would be a good name. The photo of the birds on a guitar is from Modern Painter and is of a work by Celeste Bousier-Mougenot in which several finches really do play the guitar. It's so simple and logical I can't help but love it.

Antithesis

Antithesis
Mixed media. 2010

This one is proving very difficult to photograph properly. It's an overall darker image than the others so far.

Antimatter

Antimatter
Mixed. 2010.

Antialias

Antialias
Mixed Media. 2010

Antibodies

Antibodies
Mixed media. 2010

New studio: new work! This is the first in a series of 16x20" paintings.

In the year of the scavenger...

Scavengers.

Acrylic. 2010.

I'm in an apocalyptic mode lately- but that doesn't mean I'm feeling pessimistic. All aspects of life are shifting from one mode to another. This piece seems to reflect that feeling to me. New life is taking root and ovegrowing the brittle husks of the old world. These forms are flourishing in the ruins. I finally found a house in Austin, and I am very excited to live with my friends- two fellow RISD alums and my Single Lash partner Colin. I'll also have more space to work so I can go bigger and bigger. Now to get a job...

Natural Poisons

Natural Poisons

Mixed. 2010

detail.

detail.

Finished a new piece for a client who just wanted something "colorful and contemporary". As an illustrator, I rarely receive a job with that much freedom and it was fun to let myself go totally wild on this one. The painting is mostly acrylic on a 30x40" canvas (which touched both sides of my tiny workspace). It doesn't come across in photos, unfortunately, but there are a few instances of silver metallic spatters throughout that add an exciting textural juxtaposition to the work. Overall, I'm quite happy and have already started a new piece that takes some of the explorations here even further. Nows your chance to call dibs.

Gruesome Castle

Gruesome Castle

Oil. 2010.

Structural sketch for 'Gruesome Castle'

Pen and Ink. 2010

Do they make a beret to fit a head this big?

"I am one of those insane thinkers, I express myself through art and philosophy, if they are not one and the same. I evoke many a muse like no one has seen since the times of old. Let me change the world. I am the farthest from the most walked road. I am Nietzsche's overhuman and I am ready to be plucked, a ripe talent worth many a gold statue. My greatest works shall not be displayed here, but does it matter, my life is my greatest work, or is it my state of consciousness..."
- Guy on Craigslist (Overhuman)

Happened upon this gem today. Is this guy looking for work or is he just bragging? I hope he's above sullying his (most) profound artistic talents in the commercial world, or I've got bigger competition in Austin than I can handle. Guess I'll be moving to Brooklyn.

Falls

Falls

Mixed Media. 2010.

Another new painting, this one was actually begun over two months ago as an experiment. Over a "pale olive" acrylic base, I silkscreened a rainbow gradiant of oil paint, which gave a nice effect but honestly was such a pain to clean that I'm not sure it would be worth it to try again. After giving that layer a few days to get a tacky conistancy, I used a small brush to dab over it in white, giving the misty atmospheric effect you see now. All in all succesful, I'd say, but unnecesarilly time-consuming for sure, and working with a smaller studio space is leading me to work with less toxic materials than I was at school. Getting constant migraines from solvent fumes is not condusive to a healthy work ethic, let alone a healthy artist.

Blowing Off the Dust

Victoria

Oil, 2008

Self Portrait

Oil, 2008

It's an old cliche for an artist to refer to their work as his or her "children", but I tend to regard my art more along the lines of a romantic relationship. First, there's the initial rush of infatuation followed promptly by a steep decline as each fault becomes magnified and disillusionment sets in. Though this bleak chain of events may be the norm, there are always those summer flings whose memory lives on spotlessly in our minds, untouched by the ravages of time. To bring this overtstretched metaphor to a close- these old paintings are two I can pull out of the closet and still vividly recall how I was feeling at the time and how I made them. Both were major learning experiences in paintings that unlike many other such "educational" works don't make me cringe to look at them now. What do you think?

Curses

Curses I
Acrylic, 2010

Curses II

Acrylic. 2010

School's out forever, as Alice Cooper famously stated. What now? How about some new paintings?

Working in acrylics has really allowed me to leap into color without fear of making things muddy. Layering swaths of colored plastic is a great way to pass the time while searching for creative work in Austin. Anyone want to hire a RISD grad?

Opening Shots

I pity the poor soul who didn't make it to the opening of Deathrace 1776. A great time was had by all- especially me. I officially unveiled the new oil paintings I've been working on for the past 8 weeks or so. I'm very excited about them and foresee many more to come, but I'll discuss all that in more detail in a later post. For now, check out these snapshots of the opening!

Deathrace 1776 (Final RISD Show)

Here's my poster for my upcoming senior show in the ISB Gallery at RISD. It was fun to take such a ridiculous concept so far- recasting the ride of Paul Revere as a late 70's/early 80's gore-sploitation film. Who says illustrators can't be designers too? Below is the original acrylic painting that I used in the poster:

Everyone featured in the show is making their own unique poster- the only elements carrying through will be the show title and information. I'm the first to finish and I can't wait to see the others!

PS.
Big updates on anartwebsite.com I've posted a bunch of new work so check it out!

Return of the Nomis

Return of the Nomis. 2010. Acrylic

Opera-pop alien Klaus Nomi would appear to have died in 1983, so how is that he and others of his kind from the planet Nomi have been appearing on Earth these past few weeks?Perhaps time will tell...

Kaiju Diplomacy

Kaiju Diplomacy (or Clash of the Bloated, Mutant Titans). Mixed media. 2010

Well, I've finally done it- my political piece. Normally I shy away from explicitly addressing the topic in my work- but this was done as an assignment in my Current Topics class. So here we have the two mutated behemoths duking it out, oblivious to the utter destruction they're reeking all around them. It seems like an apt metaphor to me.

God Save Queen Blob!

1/4 'Queen Blob' Silkscreen print on paper

This is an image I designed for a short run of t-shirts. It's a four-color screenprinted design and I'm very excited at the prospect of people actually wearing my art in their daily lives. The shirts will be featured at the imaginatively titled Shirt Show in the RISD ISB Gallery, where they'll be for sale along with dozens of other unique printed works by RISD artists. The event will be held tomorrow from 6 to 9 and will include a performance by Single Lash . Hope to see you there.

A Story You Tell Yourself

Kitchen Study.

My Fat Head.

New copper drypoints from the experimental printmaking class I'm taking this semester. They're not too experimental, actually, but I like them. Just straight, strong armed etching into a metal plate- feels more like keying a car than drawing.

Black Ether Guardian

Black Ether Guardian. Mixed Media

Rock n' roll!