So, I'm not going to Detroit?

Suddenly, our hero finds that he has a free weekend…what will he do?

As it turns out, after working hard on a series of new Tiki paintings, the show was canceled. (Actually, it was moved to Labor Day weekend, which I cannot attend, but I will be sending some work along to show my support for the Detroit scene…) It certainly isn’t the greatest feeling being the “last to know” about something like that, but in the end, I got a whole new set of paintings out of it

Bucky's Lamp
Acrylic and cut paper on Board 4"x10"

Edgar's, Lee's, Vera's, Frank's Lamp
All Acrylic and Cut Paper on Board, All 4"X10"

They are based on a set of camera phone photos of the Mai Kai in Massachusetts. (See previous post with a picture of me looking somewhat drunk in a well lit Tiki bar) I have been toying with the idea of making my Tiki stuff more situational. I have resisted narrative for a long time, which has prevented me from making characters to inhabit my paintings. I feel that this is a bit like playing with paper dolls. You might create a narrative, but outside the sandbox it doesn’t amount to much. So I have been keeping to just depicting objects. However, in this series, I have tried to make an absent character the “subject”. That is, each of these paintings is named “(insert name…like Bucky)’s lamp”. This provides the viewer with the idea that this is a lamp in a particular Tiki establishment, owned by a particular proprietor, with individual tastes. For example, Bucky is a modernist-loving owner, who serves Suffering Bastards to the lovelorn patrons at his leather upholstered bar. So I have tried to indirectly show the type of person the proprietor is. Perhaps I have been pondering the death of Marvin Chin a bit too much when I was making these…who knows. Overall, I know that I have given these much more thought than the average hedonistic Tiki consumer, but perhaps they are a signal of a change in my work.

I have been overwhelmed by the amount of work ahead, and this week has been one of diligent painting, but thankfully all the deadlines were mine, and not set by others. However, the time for sloth has ended; I have to put the nose to the grindstone for the next month before I get any breaks…wheeeeeee

Go support the fringe festival. I went to the opening, last night and saw Greg Ferrand’s work at the warehouse (along with too many others to mention) and the new club Avenue. Although I have seen that painting before, I still think its one of the best things he’s done…even if it is an over-the-top “Spanish” painting…someday he and I will attend a bullfight together, before they are banned.

Tune in next week when our protagonist (No, I haven’t forgotten about the naming/ re-branding thing…) hangs up some work at the DCAC Wall Mountables show…plus can he paint an entire children’s theatre camp show in one night, again??????