Art-o-Matic sale updates and MORE MONKEYS!

Here are the paintings that have sold since Meet the Artist Night last Friday:

Moai in the Next Ice Age 2007
Cut Paper and Acrylic on Board, 5"x7"

Corazon II 2007
Cut Paper and Acrylic on Board 5"x7"

Periscope 2007
Pastel on Cut paper, 8"x10"

Suffering Bastard 2005
Cut Paper and Acrylic on Board 5"x7"

So, this week has seen some productivity on the whole Monkey issue. I have decided to start making some more monkey themed work for the Hot Rod Hula Hop IV in Columbus Ohio (August 8th) Which means that I have started a painting or two...

Progress photo of "Tiki for the Admiral" (working title)

This is a blurry photo of the first painting I started. I am trying to go a bit larger with the work, which is more possible now because I have largely avoided using the cut paper in these works. I am trying to paint a bunch of monkeys trying to move a tiki, with an "admiral" barking orders on top of the tiki...I guess its got something to do with abuse of power...perhaps a subtle critique of the Bush administration...(its probably not that, but that would be a good justification for putting the finished piece in an anti-war show...) I will be trying to finish this piece soon, but I don't know when I will really have the time because of the upcoming holiday...and the opening of Debbie Does Dallas the Musical.

The other piece that I actually finished is below (again sorry for the blurry photo)

Sub Commander 2008
Acrylic on Board 11"x14"

This was an attempt to take the submarine monkeys a step further than they had gone in the past. The result is a Manet-esque portrait of a surly monkey submariner. I wanted to see if adding more realism was going to help or hurt the monkey paintings. In the "distance" shots I have a sort of generic "every-monkey" that I use, but on this painting I referenced a photo of a monkey and created a monkey with more specific personality. I guess what I am trying to get at here is cartoony vs. realism. I think I can have it both ways, but I want to avoid the creepy realism of some of those old hyper-real Garfield posters...(whoa, I just tried to find one of those online, and I couldn't...just stuff from the movies...I wonder if they are being suppressed by Jim Davis, or if their creepiness was just a figment of my imagination...)

See Red Dots, Meet the Artist, Eat Popcorn!

Art-o-Matic has been good to me this year. Many of my paintings have acquired the auspicious red spot. In order to give you, loyal BTT reader, a last look at the sold paintings before they are tucked away in private collections, I have posted images below:

Coconut Monkey 2007
Acrylic and Cut Paper on Board 8"x10"

Cortez 2007
Acrylic and Cut Paper on Board 5"x7"

Monkey Vespa 2007
Acrylic and Cut Paper on Board 11"x14"
Creature Feature 2008
Acrylic on Board 16"x20"

I also have sold the small painting Moai in the Next Ice Age...but I don't have a good picture to share of it yet. You still have some chances to purchase some Art By Jared of your very own this Friday (5/16) at Meet The Artist Night. I will be giving away popcorn (the cuisine of choice for most movie going monkeys...) and perhaps even offering MR.TIKIHEADs for sale at special Art-o-Matic discount prices! (of course you can always buy them online here)

Other than the Art-o-Matic opening night (at which I worked the UBER-CRAZY 11th floor bar) the other major triumph this week belonged to Scott Brooks! His very successful solo show at Longview Gallery opened on Saturday...lots of great new work (he's been busy since Italy!)Scott with new work Nativity on Demand

My personal favorite painting from the show, Cannibal Cub Scout

Lastly, I have refined the set Design for Debbie Does Dallas the Musical for Landless Theater. I needed to scrap the individual lockers idea, and go with a low locker/bench combo...the kind that Ikea used to sell...but doesn't anymore. Shout out to Pam for finding it on Craigslist for me!

Debbie Does Dallas the Musical Set Design first draft
Photoshop and Pencil

I start actual construction for Debbie... next week, so you can expect some progress photos then!

ART-O-MATIC IS HERE!!!!

Its come true, your favorite semi regular artistic free-fer-all is back and badder than ever! Tomorrow is the grand opening, so be there or be square. If you miss Friday's opening, you get a second chance at hi-jinx with all the artists on "Meet the Artist Night" on Friday the 16th.

Here is the ArtbyJared space in all of its glory:

11th floor, NW side, Art-o-Matic 2008

Did you know that Art in America mentioned Art-o-Matic in this months issue? It's true. About Halfway through the article and its listed in the "In the Galleries" section of J.W. Mahoney's Report from Washington D.C. which is not available on the web, but Lenny posts some discussion of the piece here. And, I have decided to transcribe a "good parts" excerpt:

...The other institution, Artomatic, established in 1999, is fluid in every respect. Its an annual - sometimes semiannual - resolutely non-curated exhibition of Washington area artists, a pay-for-space proposition open to anyone at all who wants to show something they have made. It takes place anywhere large enough to accommodate the deluge of art that comes in, making exhibition spaces out of anything from a former children' s museum to two floors of an office building, to an enormous empty laundry complex. The presence of so much amateur work is overwhelming. Prompting the Washington Post's chief art critic, Blake Gopnik, to compare visiting Artomatic to an extended dental appointment. But the beauty of Artomatic's aesthetic anarchy is its abundant innocence, not in any obviously savvy consideration of contemporary art issues. And, critically viewed, some surprisingly serious, innovative work crops up in unusual places, just around some unlikely corner of the show.

My suggestion is to go buy one at the newsstand, because the article articulates the D.C. scene fairly succinctly...even though it leaves out many deserving folks (certainly it leaves out any mention of lowbrow)

This week was dedicated to getting the Art-o-Matic space in order, and ready for the public on Friday, so there is not much to report on the artistic front. I did, however, get to pose for a portrait for Todd Gardner. He has been working on a series of 50 24"x24" portraits of people he knows...yours truly is number 39:

Jared by Todd Gardner
Acrylic on board 24"x24"

ART-O-MATIC LOOMS....

Just so you know, the eleventh floor is the rockin' place to be...Not only will you get to see your's truly's space...but I am right next to the rock star of last years Art-o-Matic: Greg Ferrand! Oh, and he's right next to Alan Defibaugh, Emily Liddle, Candy Keegan, and Peter Harper, just to name a few...AND, I hear the eleventh floor has a bar!

Art-o-Matic this year has kinda taken me by surprise. I haven't really had much time to work on ole' fashioned paintings lately, since I have been swamped with Yuri's Night. And, I am looking around to change up my game a bit, when it comes to painting. I want to examine the role that some of my working methods have developed. I am struggling to get away from, or around, my need to make cut paper paintings. I also want to explore the suggestive nature of black and the silhouette, just to name a few things I have been exploring lately. But all of this takes time to actually realize, so I am afraid that there will not be much that is "new" at this Art-o-Matic from me. But it will be a great opportunity to purchase some artwork that others have foolishly passed on!

To give you an idea of what I am talking about, when it comes to my "examination" pieces, I have a really crappy camera phone shot of one of the more encouraging pieces in the process:

Experimental painting
5"x7" Acrylic on board

I have been trying to get my paint to be more sculptural, and also looser...while keeping the hard edge...so, it is really hard to see here, but I think I have found the beginnings of the way to achieve that without resorting to some sort of mechanical reproduction process...Stay tuned!

The other development this week was Lil Dutch's Dutch Oven at the Palace of Wonders. I used this opportunity to repaint some Halloween scenery to help her celebrate Uno De Mayo!

Uno De Mayo set piece for the Dutch Oven
Acrylic on Luan, roughly 5'x5'

So lastly, I am usually pretty hard on Photography, anyone who has asked me about photography whilst I am drunk can attest to that. However, I have always been a fan of Chris Chen, of My Life As A Contact Sheet fame. I was looking through his Flickr account recently, looking for documentation of one of my previous gigs (a widely underestimated service he preforms, I may add) and I noticed that I had gotten my own "tag" in his photostream. That's where I found this very poetic and moving photo taken at the end of the 2007 Halloween party...somehow it really captured the feeling at the end of that party in a way that no painting could...great job Chris!

SEE YOU ALL NEXT FRIDAY (5/9) AT THE ART-O-MATIC OPENING!!!!

Debbie Does Dallas the Musical Set Design First Draft

So, now that Yuri's Night 2008 is officially in the books, I have no more excuses for procrastinating on getting to work on post-YN projects. First at bat is Debbie Does Dallas the Musical, for Landless Theater.

Debbie Does Dallas the Musical Set Design first draft

Photoshop and Pencil

Hopefully my Internet research on cheap astroturf has not lead me astray. Landless has traditionally tight budgets, so an extravagance like, well, scenery, has been difficult to obtain. I have seen Home Depot advertise the "outdoor carpet" for under $4 a square yard...I'll need at least 32 square yards for this show...

There are lots of little surprises in the design that I have not put into the rendering, so, providing that they survive the scrutiny of the director, you will get to see them in person when the show opens on June 5th.

The other major development that I have been avoiding is Art-o-Matic 2008. I have a space, and will eventually pull something together...but I haven't really put the nose to the grindstone about that just yet (in fact, I haven't even been back to my space since site selection on the 12th!) I have my first volunteer shift on Sunday, so next week I will be able to report more fully on the status of the show.

Yuri's Night 08 | World Space Party PHOTOS!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Yuri's Night 2008 at Art Whino in Alexandria!!! We all had a great time, and it shows in the pictures:

As promised, the final result for the Neptune Bar

Chris Bishop and Cosmonaut Jared are "thumbs up" for launch!

Dustin, Kirstra and Lindsay all enjoying the Venus bar

Gary Gutter and Lil' Dutch take in the moonlight (or should I say moonshine)

At one point we were boarded by imperial troops under the command of Lord Vader...fortunately, we were able to get some of our droids into escape pods...

Master Uranus chats up the tin foil dress twins and an actual astrophysicist, Ethan

Cosmonaut Jared enjoys a coke with Mouaz (I just hope they have air conditioning in space)

Some of the Gilded Lilly gals showing off future fashions

Vulcan gang signs by petty officer Weldon, Mrs Saturn and Mab

KT and Scott Brooks (six eyes between them!)

Kirstra and Jaya on Mars

Ellen, KT's Mom wondering how Barbarella keeps her hair perfect in space...

Flash, Booger and Red Vinyl spacebabe

Scott molts, Robert is amazed

Master Uranus and KT

Kirstra and Sara...frustrated cigarette girls, because in space, no one can hear you smoke...

KT letting you know that in the future the silver sequin will be a precious metal

Miss Saturn and an audience assistant

KT's Dad trying to keep cool in the hullabaloo

Mike proves to Alan that being probed by an alien isn't all bad

These red Ikea chairs became sentient during the party...they are plotting our demise!

DJ Red Pancho Space Bear keeps Flash Gordon and the space tunes spinnin' in the Mars room

Petty Officer Weldon and First Mate Heidi keep order in the transporter room

Yes, we sold lots of tickets...

Bambi and Paco keep it surreal on the dance floor

They never knew it was coming!

Shane admits he may have a drinking problem...

The jump to hyperspace was unexpected at the Neptune bar...

Mr. Moccasin sets up to play

Spacebabe Queonna is happy to keep you hydrated during the flight!

Thanks again to everyone who made this party possible...Please send me any and all photos that you have of the party! See you next year...T Minus 358 days and counting!

T-Minus 24 HOURS and counting to YURI'S NIGHT 2008!

If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, you are cutting it really close...we will be ending presale tickets at 12 (noon) on Saturday (tomorrow) So if you want to save five dollars, go immediately to:

www.outofthisworldparty.com

And for your insiders peek (this will be a short post today, because I am immediately going to Art Whino to install the final details for TOMORROW, right after this posting) I have a picture of Chris Bishop standing in front of the backdrop for the burlesque show at Yuri's Night. He (Chris Bishop) Scott Brooks and I knocked this baby out in record time!

Do you think its spacey enough? (click for larger image)

Okay kids, I expect to see every single one of you tomorrow!!!!

T-Minus 8 days and counting to YURI'S NIGHT 2008!

"I COMMAND YOU, PUNY EARTHLING, TO GO TO
WWW.OUTOFTHISWORLDPARTY.COM
AND GET TICKETS FOR NEXT SATURDAYS YURI'S NIGHT PARTY!!!!"

So, as you can see, even the our alien overlords are planning to attend the party...

As promised, below are the progress shots from the different "planet bars". First we have the finished product for the Venus bar:

Venus Bar for Yuri's Night 2008

Acrylic on Luan

I think she turned out pretty well. I was, and am always, concerned about making women's faces look convincing, yet somewhat nontraditional. Since I don't have any specific models to copy, I aim towards a direction for beauty and hopefully get there. I started out, in the sketch, with a youngish, innocent type for Venus. So, I started going in that direction. In the end I probably wound up hitting a "Molly Ringwald" sort of beauty (with a hint of vixen)...needless to say, I know how to quit while I am ahead...

The next planet from the sun (excluding earth, of course) is Mars. After an aborted start, I decided to try working out all of the other connotations of Mars....

Mars Bar for Yuri's Night 2008
Acrylic on Luan (still in progress)

The little green men idea seemed to be thing that inspires me most about Mars. So, I just decided to throw all the best little green men together. I really hope that the cease and desist orders don't start coming in...I want Warner Brothers to know that I grew up with Marvin, and I have the utmost respect for his visage (it has been over used at every flea market in the world) and only try to represent him here as a sort of homage to a great character. I hope that the lawyers out there will realize that I am in including him as a Renaissance painter would have included John the Baptist in a painting about Jesus...Speaking of "Jesus", that role is being played by another copyright skirting visage, The Head Martian from Mars Attacks! I really couldn't see Yuri's Night that I put together without a reference to this great set of trading cards painted by Norm Saunders! AKK AKK AKK AKK!!!

Photo of both bars in progress at the shop

I am still trying to make the Saturday deadline for completion of Neptune...here's the sketch:

Neptune Bar Sketch
Pencil and Photoshop

And here's the progress so far:
So, Hopefully, I will get all these done in time to begin painting the ArtWhino Space all next week. I will post progress on the backdrop and other party prep as it becomes available...

T-Minus 16 days and counting to YURI'S NIGHT 2008!

What you, the loyal readers of Between The Tines, deserve is more "inside scoop" reporting. So here, exclusively to BTT, is the floorplan for Yuri's Night 2008 at Art Whino:

Yuri's Night Party Floorplan
Photoshop and Vectorworks 12

The event is going to have one bar in each "room", one for every drink concoction that Stoli will be serving up. We are themeing them as three of our favorite planets, Mars, Venus, and Neptune. I have been working on fabricating "signs" to go behind each of the bars...below is the sketch for the "Venus bar".Venus Bar Sketch

Yuri's Night 2008, Pencil & Photoshop

Below is an aborted sketch of the Mars Bar. I was hoping to contrast the girlyness of the Venus bar with a more masculine theme, after all, Men are from Mars and Women are...

Sketch for Mars Bar
Yuri's Night 2008, Pencil and Photoshop

I thought that it would work out that he could be the god of war (the shield and spear are what are represented in the mars symbol) and still be a "little green man from mars"...what he wound up being was He-Man. So, I have tabled that line of reasoning for now, and am working on a new sketch for Mars...perhaps more on that next week.

Please get your tickets early to this show...we are actually a bit afraid that we will have a large mob at the show, because of all the positive feedback we have been getting. So, be sure to go to:

www.outofthisworldparty.com

to get your tickets today!

You can also always visit www.yurisnight.net, to get the scoop about all 119 (and counting) parties across the globe!

Yuri's Night 08 | World Space Party promotion begins!

In case you hadn't noticed, I am organizing a Yuri's Night at ArtWhino...Perhaps you have seen some of the promotional material?Or visited the website www.outofthisworldparty.com ?

Or the Press release?

Press Release ART WHINO AND ABJ ANNOUNCE: Yuri's Night '08 World Space Party FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Shane Pomajambo, Press Relations Shane@ArtWhino.com 703.462.4135 Alexandria, V.A. Art Whino (www.artwhino.com) in partnership with ABJ Productions (www.artbyjared.com) launch Yuri's Night '08 World Space Party, April 12th, 2008 from 8pm to 2am at 717 N. Saint Asaph St. Alexandria, VA 22314. Tickets are now on sale, $20 in Advance or $25 at the Door. Admission price includes entertainment and 3 drink vouchers good for Stoli Vodka's cosmic-concoctions. Cash Bar available all evening. To purchase tickets, visit www.outofthisworldparty.com This is a 21 and older event. Yuri's Night '08 - World Space Party Join Art Whino for an OUT OF THIS WORLD experience as we celebrate Yuri's Night, a World Space Party commemorating Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and the first human space flight. Yuri's Night is like the St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo for space. It is a day when the world comes together to celebrate the power, beauty, and party potential of space. So dress yourself in your best celestial attire (prizes awarded); come see an art exhibition of other-worldly magnitude, and enjoy a Vodka of space themed libations by Stoli Vodka. Cosmic burlesque performances featuring Miss Saturn, spaced out Russian-style post-punk music by Mr. Moccasin, spacey DJ sets, and more will temporarily elevate you from your daily earthly existence. Performances by: Miss Saturn, Gilded Lily Burlesque, L'il Dutch & selected scenes from Landless Theatre Company's Space Battles the Musical will orbit throughout the night, hosted by the enigmatic Master Uranus. "Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!" Yuri Gagarin, 1st human in space. SPACE - Space themed art show Art Whino artist come together to present SPACE a space themed art show: Alan Defibaugh Arabella Proffer-Vendetta Bryan C Brandi Read Chris Bishop Jared Davis Jason Snyder Julie Steiner Olivier Defaye Papermonster Scott G. Brooks Shawn Huddleston Todd Gardner

Band Perfomance by: Mr. Moccasin Mr. Moccasin, the brainchild of Hanna Badalova, 23, and Jared Fischer, 27, performs world music-inspired post-punk. Badalova, born in Azerbaijan (a part of the former Soviet Union), is a fluent Russian speaker and sings in both her native language and English to enhance the emotional contexts of the songs. Prior to Mr. Moccasin, Fischer, a Baltimore native, performed in several experimental, lo-fi punk bands including Fridge A, Salad Days and Food Tit. Now in a new rambunctious seven-member ensemble, Mr. Moccasin combines drastic chord changes, big riffs, Eastern-tinged violin, cello and mandolin, and a constant barrage of bilingual, hallucinatory lyrics. Additionally, in 2007 Badalova and Fischer contributed their voices and original music to the animated CBS television series Creature Comforts (produced by Aardman Animations, creators of the popular Wallace & Gromit claymation series), and some of their space cred includes being a spaced-out horse and mule couple in all seven episodes. Current lineup: Hanna Badalova, vocals; Jared Fischer, guitar and mandolin; Chrissy Howland, bass; Sine Jensen, violin; Greg Hatem, drums; Stephen Reichert, keyboards; Colin Campbell, cello; Dave Chrismer, percussion.

Miss Saturn Miss Saturn is truly an original. Time Out New York says it best, "(She) personifies the sequined forces of vaudeville and comedy." She has been a mainstay of New York City's top burlesque and Vaudeville scene for the past 8 years and has wowed audiences across the city and the USA traveling with the Bindlestiff Family Circus as well as opening up for the bands Modest Mouse, Reverend Horton Heat, The Faint, The Walkman, The Dresdon Dolls, Los Straight Jackets, and Velvet Revolver. She recently performed with Moby in the Jonthan Ames and Moby Show. No matter if you see her at a late night comedy show or an afternoon children's show she is sure to entertain. "There is something ineffable about Miss Saturn. Actress, comedienne, dancer, and clown, she hula-hoops her way through New York's Burlesque Revival – Saturn, rings, got it, right? – always leaving a dash of titillating mayhem in her wake."—The Pepper of the Earth Blog http://www.misssaturn.com

L'IL DUTCH L'il Dutch is a DC-based burlesque artist, producer and an ardent fan of all things atomic and space age - as well as boomerangs. Bringing a mix of traditional, modern and campy performance style to her work, she performs in and produces a monthly burlesque show, The Dutch Oven. This bonanza is held the first Thursday of each month at The Palace of Wonders showcasing new and established talent rocketing to burlesque stardom along with audience participation and prizes that are out of this galaxy.

Gilded Lily Gilded Lily Burlesque is a troupe of six ravishing and bawdy beauties. Gilded Lily's artistic mission is to preserve one of the most unique and quintessentially American forms of performance art- burlesque. Always careful to keep their saucy acts just this side of scandalous, the ladies of Gilded Lily celebrate feminine beauty, wit, power, sexuality and freedom… never forgetting to keep it smart, keep it funny and keep it HOT!

Space Themed Drinks - By Stoli Carefully distilled, then filtered four times, Stolichnaya has a smooth and velvety character which has won it loyal fans around the world. Born and bred in Moscow, the drink is part of Russia's heritage. The name is Russian for "of the capital city". Today, Stoli leads the way internationally. Classic Stoli with its red label is the leader of a family of products – with eight flavoured vodkas and the super-premium Stolichnaya Gold. http://www.stoli.com

NOTE TO EDITOR:
Links to High Res Images:

Additional High-res digital images of art and bios of the artists are available upon request.

I hope you all can come out to the show...please buy your tickets early, I dont want to have to turn away folks at the last minute!

Next week I'll have photos of progress on the scenery for the event!

ITALY!

So I am back. The plane didnt crash (either way across the pond) and I would go right back if I could! Except for the very weak dollar, and some weather, the entire experience was perfect. I took LOTS of photos, so what follows is just a few of the highlights...(most of the photos were of artwork or architecture, which is great, but what you really want to see is pictures of me, KT, Scott and Mike having fun, right?)

For starters, I went a bit fresco crazy!Myself, KT and Mike making our way around Florence (thats a building designed by Brunelleschi at the end of the street)Me atop the belltower at Santa Maria del Fiore (its casting a shadow on the dome...)

Scott sips the vino whilst I flaunt federal law by smoking a Cubano on our rooftop terrace in RomeOne of the big reasons for the trip was to support Scott's show at Mondo Bizzarro Gallery in Rome. The event was hosted by Billy Shire Fine Arts. These are the artists that made it to Rome. Glenn Barr, Billy Shire, Daniel Martin Diaz, Annie Adjchavanich, Bob Dob, and Scott Brooks.

A 30+ year old flower with a 2000+ year old flower in the Roman Forum
Speaking of the Forum, here is the bellybutton of the world. The point where all distances were measured in Ancient Rome...basically the center of the universe!
Part of Rubens' take on Romulus and Remus (the origins of Rome) They let you take pictures inside many of the museums in Rome! This painting is in the Capitoline...Also in the Capitoline, a fountian dedicated to a river god.
My watercolor sketch of the same...
Whilst in Venice, KT dragged us to the Casino. They made us wear jackets...and we look good, dammit!

There are LOTS more pictures, but your just going to have to beg me personally to see them all...

Next week, a full update on Yuri's Night...(but first I'll give you a sneak preview of where to buy your tickets early: www.outofthisworldparty.com)

Zombie Prom and gearing up for Italy

This week has been all about getting ready to go to Italy. Scott is leaving today (?) so he will have a week's head start on the rest of us...which is great because it means that the initial awkwardness of being in a foreign country will have worn off for him by the time we get there, making him a much more able "guide" (i.e. we wont have to strike out blindly to find breakfast on our first day...for example)

So it all comes down to a matter of packing now. I have been listening to the CDs in the car, reading the travel books, boning up on my art history...but what it really comes down to is what can I fit into a overhead compartment! (that and my paralyzing fear of flying to get over...)

But on the artistic front, I must say that Yuri's Night is clipping along nicely...I think that there will be lots to do when I get back, but I can say we are leaving with good momentum...

One of the projects I took against my better judgment was Zombie Prom. I am really too busy to be designing a show, but there is just something about zombies that melts my heart. Anyway, below are some of the sketches for the show...its set in a high school...the whole show is a sendup of the 50's "Grease" type shows...so I decided to set the whole thing on the front steps of Enrico Fermi High.

First Sketch for Zombie Prom set

Pencil and Photoshop

Floor Plan for Zombie Prom
VectorWorks drawing

The show is on a shoestring, but I think we can make most of it work with the stock scenery that they have at the theater...its really too bad it opens the weekend before Yuri's Night...I'd actually enjoy being more involved with the show...

There is a chance that I will not post before I leave, so this may be goodbye for awhile...but if I get the chance, I'll blog from Italy...Chao

YURI'S NIGHT and CLARENDON MARDI GRAS

Here's a initial concept I have been kicking around for the "buzz" postcard. It takes the original Yuri's Night logo and just tweaks it slightly with the kiss on the cheek. It hopefully signals that there will be some burlesque silliness as well as hard core space content at the party. I wanted it to reflect the constructivist, communist propaganda posters (I am having trouble finding a good font for that BTW) which I think this gets mostly right. The kiss on the cheek is the sort of thing that would be in such posters, as in, "a kiss goodbye from some sweet earthbound peasant girl that our victorious cosmonaut will cherish as he subjects his body to the ravages of spaceflight!"...hopefully the same sentiment will stir in the loins of anyone who sees this propaganda, and they will consider making April 12, 2008, their date with destiny!

The other news of the week was the Clarendon Mardi Gras. I helped construct the float, which was designed by Richard Thompson. I constructed the cityscape that is at the bottom of his design of the flyer:I have some pics from my crappy camera, but Richard has much better ones on his blog cul de sac.That is the only picture of me from the whole parade (Im sorry to the photographer, I don't remember where I got the pic from) and I'm not even looking at the camera! Oh well, at least I got another use out of my luchador mask!

Getting that Monkey back on my back

The ArtWhino Show opening went well, as did the Dr Dremo's DC Conspiracy. All in all it was a good reminder of why I put myself through the agony of being a painter (as opposed to the agony of being a Set Designer)

One of the lessons learned between these two events was that...people love monkeys. I know that this is hardly a "revelation", but it is certainly an affirmation of some of the practices that I have been questioning. You see, I had a bit of a crisis recently, because of some notion in my head that I needed to reconnect with making art with people in it. This is something I have struggled with because I have all sorts of hangups about narrative, and specificity, and "illustration vs Art", and timelessness, etc...which has got me scared shitless about making any sort of art that has people in it. But I was going to start to overcome all that with a new set of work, and the primed piece of cut wood from the previous post was going to be its opening shot. But just as I was about to set sail on this new body of work, I was confronted with a far more basic problem. I didn't have any models.

You see, I have found that my work has a "cartoonishness" when I don't have a reference to paint from. This is rightly so, because cartoons are a distillation of experience into a shorthand that can be easily grasped by the viewer. So naturally, if I am filling in the blanks, the work looks stripped down, because I am not recording what I am seeing, I am translating what I remember. The more direct the reference I have, the greater the detail, the more realistic the result. So this is a crisis for someone who (with the above mentioned hangups) has to create pictures of people, if you don't have people to look at. But its not just people, its poses... Well, you say, why don't you just go to the interwebs and lookup pictures of people to use for reference? I have tried that, with mixed results. What happens is that I get approximations, and then I collage them together in photoshop. This somehow has a deadening effect on the finished product. I cant really explain it, but somehow the collage of images renders the painting obsolete. Why go through the process of transcribing this collage, when you have done all the work already? (this is also not to mention that painting from photographs can look just like that, painting from photographs...you can see when it has been done in the same way you can tell when someone has traced something and when they drew it by "eyeballing"...)

So, long story short, I dun thunk myself rite outta bizness... But not before I made a sketch for the piece I was going to make. So, I share it with you in order to let you know that I am not abandoning the project altogether, just cooling my heels in order to regroup...

Worst Case Scenario sketch
11"x14"Color Pencil on Black Paper

So after all that, what did I resolve? Yep, people love monkeys. For some reason, if I don't give a shit about the outcome, I am perfectly capable of making paintings that I enjoy, and other people connect with...This is really on of the biggest tensions in my life. When I try to think my way through a painting, I get bogged down; but when I don't think about it (and say to myself "fuck it") good work just piles up. I think that is partly why I have been making these monkeys. They represent a primitive, messy, chaotic side of me that just wants to have a silly laugh at things and run around without pants on. I don't know if they will ever be in the Louvre, but they somehow feel right...

So, I saw this picture of a guy in an old movie usher outfit in a fashion spread...and something just went off in my head about him looking like a monkey. So I knocked out this color study in 20 minutes,

Color Study for "monkey usher" painting
8"X10" Acrylic on watercolor paper

Which lead to this full sized painting, which was painted over the course of two days.

"Monkey Usher" (working title)
16"X20" Acrylic on Board

So, needless to say, I think I will make a few more of these monkey paintings...so stay tuned.

The other developments of the past weeks has been that Yuri's Night is 85% certain to happen at ArtWhino this year. I just need one more piece of reassurance, and then I will be promoting this puppy full bore!

Additionally, I have accepted the task of designing the set for the Musical Comedy "Zombie Prom". Its being done outside of Baltimore somewhere, but regardless, I'm going to give it the 'ole college try!

And lastly, I am sorry to say that I do not have any pictures this year from "pushing debutantes" at the "Hinkley" hotel in Washington...but I did do it with a 101.7 degree temperature, which is a first for me.

Its been more than a month...

I would like to apologize for not posting anything for more than a month. The holidays are a really stressful and action packed time of year, and this one was no exception for me. Lots of things happened, and lots of things didn't. KT's grandma passed away just before Xmas, which caused no end of disturbances...then things started to go in slow motion around the holidays. Without a Lobsterboy Revue for NYE, I was practically adrift. So a teensey bit of "depression" set in, namely inactivity and sloth...I am like a shark; give me lots of blood to swim in and I am happy. Once my calendar has no significant deadlines, I am dead in the water.

I must say that it was not entirely unproductive...I did get lots of things up on the $0.10 EBay listings over the new year (I even sold a few MR. TIKIHEADS) and, Oh yeah, Scientology pageant opened and closed...enjoy some pictures and a link to the review

The set in its pristine state...without child actors!Prince Xenu and the Robot get down!

All in all, it was a really great production. It left you with a warm glow...then again, that could of just been the theatans...(or is it engrams?)
Some of the good news about Landless Theater is that they have begun to find their audience. I think that they are capable of becoming one of the awesomest theater companies in the DC area. I believe in them so much, that I have agreed to be one of their "Associate Artists" for another year (which means that I will be designing Debbie Does Dallas the Musical, in the spring...and much more in next years exciting season)

Yuri's Night 2008 is in a bit of a holding pattern right now. It may be a small show...it may be a big show...or it might not happen at all...The next few weeks will determine what will happen...Stay tuned...

One of the things that started to trip me up over the holidays was making work for the Dirty Show in Detroit. It turns out that "erotic art" is a bit of a stumbling block for me. I guess that most of my experiences with erotic art have been from, lets face it: PORN. So I feel that its really much more of a photographers medium...try as I might, I couldn't seem to get any erotic paintings off the ground. This was a major contributor to my aforementioned sloth/depression.

But, undaunted, I threw myself into some work that would hopefully get me moving in a new direction artistically. I developed a sketch and then I made this to paint on: