Moe Monkey...and Debbie's Done

So this week has been one of those "lots happened, but little was done" kinda weeks. It started well enough, with this painting:

ID Check 2008
Acrylic on Board, 8"x10"

This is a painting that I am using as a sketch for a larger piece, so it really just illustrates one scene within a larger composition. (BTW, is this image really dark on your computer too? I uploaded it directly to blogger from my home laptop, and it looks really dark on my CRT monitor at work...I have had similar problems in the past...does anyone know how to calibrate between the two machines? It would seem that the laptop is really hard to judge by since the angle of the screen widely varies the saturation and brightness of the image...Anyway, the painting is pretty dark, but not this dark) I will be posting more of these as they come along, and hopefully share with you the final composition before Hot Rod Hula Hop IV!

I recharged the batteries during Memorial Day out in Sperryville VA. It was nice to get out of the city and see friends in a non urban context...that is, until my allergies started making me uncomfortable (which hardly ever happens...probably just some particular species of tree out there in full on pollen mode...) Still, it was good to see Amy and Mark out of the Dutch Oven context...

Also had a Diamond Dead production meeting with Landless Theater. This is going to be their offering for the DC Fringe Festival at the Warehouse. Below is the unofficial logo of the band in the show:
It should be a pretty cool show...I like the warehouse, and I have lots of artistic possibilities with this show...it may allow me to get in touch with my inner Julian Schnabel...(more on that in June)

A good portion of the week was taken up with filling out a grant application for the DCCAH...I'll let you know if I get it.

And Lastly, I have all but finished the set for Debbie Does Dallas the Musical. I will leave you with a photo of the 99% complete set in the scene shop, awaiting transport to the DCAC:

Components of the set for Debbie Does Dallas the Musical before load in on Sunday

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!!!!