Summer Roundup (All of July, and Half of August)

Its been a weird summer, and we still have two weeks left! Below is a round up of the summer's adventures and artwork.

So, first, we had the appearance of the "Concession Stand Kids" on the Arch Campbell Show. Below are the best stills I could find, but really, you should watch the show (HERE) because it is, well, a real...um...well...you kinda had to be there...

 Most of the actual appearances of the Concession Stand Kids have been lost to the mists of time...however, we did get a few good shots on the last night of the Union Market DC Drive In (Photos by Tom Kochel. (C)2013 Jon Gann/ReelPlan)

SNOW-CAPS, COLONEL KERNEL, BUBBLES and HOT DAWG

FemCee KITTIE GLITTER hosted most nights

Four Sold-Out Nights in July/August!

It might be burying the lead a bit by putting the artwork last, but it has been an unusual summer for me artistically. I started out the summer making some small "quickies" (small 5"x7" paintings that I don't spend more than an hour on) in order to start exploring new ideas. below is an example:

 

Vaudeville "Quickie" 5"x7" Acrylic on Masonite.

 I started to think that perhaps it was painting that was getting me down...so I decided to start working on some drawings on paper to loosen me up...

The first piece (below) is called "Man In The Moon". It is a departure from my normal mode of painting monkeys...I like the results, and it am looking forward to making more work like it...This piece will be exhibited at the Artromp Anacostia (which opens next Friday August 23rd)

Man In The Moon, Mixed Media on Paper, 11"x15"

After Man in the Moon I started to get that monkey itch again. So, I started work on a small series of work that centered on monkeys ineptly trying to fake different hoaxes. I am calling the series "Faking It"

Faking it: Nessie, Mixed Media on Paper, 15"x11"

Faking It: Bigfoot, Mixed Media on Paper, 11"x15"

Faking it: UFO, Mixed Media on Paper, 11"x15"

Faking it: Painted Rocks, Mixed Media on Paper, 11"x15"

 The last in the series (Painted Rocks) is going to be exhibited at the Annmarie Sculptural Garden and Arts Center during their "Humor Me" exhibit (Opens October 18th)

I will leave you with something cryptic...as a harbinger of things to come....

Spring staggers into Summer

It's been a busy month since the last post, although it doesn't look like it judging from the photos (that's cuz I make this sh!t look easy...)...believe me, its actually quite painful...

Anyway, the big news is the opening of Richard Campbell's FRANKENSTEIN, by Landless Theatre Company. This is the biggest production to date for LTC, which is producing the show at the Gala Hispanic Theater in the Tivoli (Columbia Heights)...you can get Tickets HERE. I designed, built and painted this sucker almost single handed! The show has been a challenge all around, but its been particularly frustrating for me because the lighting designer left the production with only a couple of weeks to go, and I had centered my design around the idea that this was going to be a "rock concert" sorta show (i.e. scenery takes a back seat to lighting)...so, its been a bit of a nail biter in the end, but I think that the new LD did a fine job making the show look appropriately rock-opera/creepy...

The Frankenstein Set as it was being painted in Late May.

Frankenstein Set mere moments after install...production photos coming soon.

 Aside from LTC's Frank, I have been busy trying to catch up with some Art By Jared housekeeping...which mainly entails trying to form a new entity (legally, as well as, er, spiritually) that we are calling Astro Pop Events. One of the first things on the agenda, we need a logo. Below are some of the initial sketches that I have sent along to our Design guru, Jason Pasch, who is collaborating on making us a kick butt logo that everyone will want a T-Shirt of....

The idea is that we are playing on the acronym created by Astro Pop Events...or APE

I really liked the directness of this pencil sketch because it seemed to incorporate all of the elements we were looking for

Here's the same logo in a less rough form...also helping to work our color schemes...

 So, what is on the horizon for APE? Well, this summer we actually have a gig lined up...I cant really discuss it at this point in detail, but it has something to do with the cryptic photo below:

Children's Ball Photos and Frankenstein.

Honestly, I strive to update this blog once a week, but there are parts of the year where it becomes very difficult to do because there is so much that is happening (and much of it is not photo worthy, or too mundane to bother the general public with...) So, this past month has been one of those times...lets play catch-up, shall we?

The unphotographed events worth mentioning are: The closing reception of Voltron's Corpse, Packing up from the C2YN aftermath, Hogo de-installing skullvis, Improving the Shop's painting "easel" and the C2YN thank you BBQ, 

Imagination Stage holds a "Children's Ball" once a year, and they kindly asked me to design it again. Each room has a different theme:

Empire State Building with Peach in the lobby (over 22' tall!)

Georgetown Cupcake Room...I built them this cart (I bet it looks better with the cupcakes on it!)

Game Show Room. This room had blinky lights and a gauge of progress for the contestants

Garden (flower pot decorating) Room with a 8'x12' backdrop of a section of a garden

 The other major focus of my attention these past few weeks has been the design of Richard Campbell's Frankenstein, which will be produced by Landless Theatre Company at Gala Hispanic. Its a "Prog-Rock" retelling of the classic Mary Shelly masterpiece. Below is one of the first sketches:

COUNTDOWN TO YURI'S NIGHT PHOTO ROUNDUP PART I

What a fantastic night! Thanks to everyone who came out last Saturday night for Countdown To Yuri's Night: Year of the Robot! We had record breaking attendance, and a fantastic time! Please send us your photos! Below, submitted without comment are some of the first photos that have been rolling in...

 All photos in this post are by Jared Rodriquez or Chuck Divine...Thanks!