Mie N Yu...all three of us...

The long awaited Mie N Yu silk road event that I produced the Terra Cotta Warriors (remember them?) for arrived this past Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised at the reception they received (as well as pleasantly surprised how well the Red Bull armor came out...expertly applied by Charles Lawrance)
They were being photographed by a really neato "photo booth" technology, provided by AMG (Alternative Marketing Group) which would take four pictures, and then automatically send the photo to my email...

KT and I help stand guard at Mie N Yu

And yet another week rolls by and yet another Diamond Dead show comes around...this week will be your last chance to catch them before they go to NYC for the FingeNYC. They will be playing Friday night in FredROCK (Frederick MD) you can get all of the details here.

With the close of the 2009 DC fringe, comes yet another accolade for Diamond Dead...this year we have received "Favorite Musical at DCFringe" by popular vote on DC Theater Scene (thank you devoted dead public...we couldn't have done it without you!)

This week also saw the first production meeting for Hope Operas (I will help transform the back room of Miss Pixies on 14th street into an 80 seat theater every week...how do I get myself into these things?)...what is Hope Operas, you ask?

Some of DC's finest theatre artists are coming together this Fall to produce Hope Operas, six serialized shows that will be raising money for various causes. Each week each serial will present a 15-minute (or two back-to-back 7 1/2 minute) episode(s). The audience will be invited to vote for their favorite serial and based on audience response moneys will be distributed to the serial's beneficiaries.

The Hope Operas are:

20 MILLION BREASTSTROKES TO EARTH

by Chris Griffin

directed by Tom Mallan

benefiting The Mautner Project @ Whitman-Walker

LARRY & THE WEREWOLF

by Jeff Goode

directed by Andrew Baughman

benefiting The Association of Retarded Citizens

THE LONG WEIGHT

by Kathleen Akerley

directed by Brian Smith

beneficiary pending

NIGHTS AT ST. JANUARIUS

by Kerri Sheehan

directed by Catherine Tripp

benefiting the Blood Bank at Children's National Medical Center

NORMA & MAX

by Jon Gann

directed by Suzie Richard

benefiting The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation

TUESDAY

by Deb Randall

directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner

beneficiary pending

SECOND-TO-LAST-CHANCE TO SEE DIAMOND DEAD IN DC AREA BEFORE NYC

I finished the skulls and the header for Diamond Dead just in time for the Saturday show. I believe that it got their mojo back. They had a great audience (which is really important, because this show feeds off of the audience...literally and figuratively...) and there were almost no technical difficulties. The Sunday and the Wednesday 6pm shows went well too (despite the fact that these are some of the worst times of day to see a zombie rock band)...so, in short you have only one more opportunity to see Diamond Dead before they ship off for the NYCfringe....(well, technically, that is not 100% true...they are playing a gig on Friday, July 31 in Frederick MD...but details are still coming in about that gig) If you have any doubts, you should check out this review on the City Paper...

So, here are some up close and personal photos of the Skully additions to the DC Fringe Diamond Dead Set:

"Brains" Skully
Painted Luan cutout, aprox 24"x24"

"Fez" Skully
Painted Luan cutout, aprox 24"x24"

Here's a composite of all three pieces that I will probably put on to www.artbyjared.com because the photos from inside the tent all came out blurry...

Other exciting news this week includes a step forward for an October project (there are always way too many things going on in October!) that has been percolating for a while now...Hope Operas...It's a set of serialized plays that will be presented every Monday in the back room of Miss Pixies on 14th street during the month of October. The audience votes best show every night, and the proceeds go to the charity that is designated by the winning show. I'll be providing minimal scenery, and, er, logistical support...

ABJ productions had a productive meeting with Longview Gallery this week. We are looking into using their (yet to be completed) new space as the venue for Yuri's Night 2010! Things are still in the planning stages, but I am really hopeful that this works out because it is a really cool space, and it would be a really great fit for everyone...keep your fingers crossed!

Speaking of human spaceflight...we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the moon landing last Monday...I am still shocked that there wasn't a parade, or a national holiday...This is arguably just as momentous of an occasion as Columbus discovering America...and we get "Columbus Day" off...why isn't there an "Armstrong" day? I guess you'll just have to save up your celebratory fervor for Yuri's Night 2010!

Lastly, I wanted to mention that we (DC's burlesque scene) are saying goodbye to a great lady tonight...Bambi Bottoms Galore is moving up to NYC and we are having a sendoff for her tonight at the Palace of Wonders...So come on by and lets give her the sendoff she deserves!

Diamond Dead Tent Edition

Apparently the first Diamond Dead show did not go so well. The tent wasn't ready, the speakers were in the absolute wrong place, the projector kept going into sleep mode, etc. (did I mention that it was also the day the press came?)

So, in order to get some of the mojo back, I have decided to contribute a tiny bit more scenery to the tent setup (which is been both a mystery and a hornets nest of rules and regulations this entire time...) Hopefully I can add a bit more visual interest to the stage when the projection is not fired up...

Sketch for Projection Screen Additions, Diamond Dead
Pencil, Photoshop, Watercolor 1"=1'

In a show like this, I think it cant hurt to have a few more skulls...

CAPITAL FRINGE STARTS! GO SEE DIAMOND DEAD AND FICTITIOUS

Sorry for not posting last week...It has been a busy two weeks, so there is a lot of ground to cover...

Capital Fringe Festival 2009 starts up this week, and you should go and get tickets (right now!) to Diamond Dead, and Fictitious. (other Artbyjared approved shows are, Pepe! the mail order monkey musical and Captain Squishy's Yee Haw Jamboree!)

Here's the publicity art and info for Diamond Dead:

Here's the publicity art for Fictitious:



In addition to playing the Capital Fringe Festival in DC, Diamond Dead will be playing the FringeNYC on August 21-24th...they even got this great publicity shot on PLAYBILL.COM!

So, needless to say, you should see Diamond Dead here in DC first, so you can say, "I knew them back when..."

So, I have a few photos to share of the final push to put Fictitious into the theater:

Fictitious Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop

The set in its constituent pieces in the shop...

POW! The fist closeup (its about 4'x8')

The load in went surprisingly smoothly for both shows, so it should bode well for the festival...

On a personal note about the last two weeks, It was a really interesting 4th of July. KT's friends from U of M (Brad and Victoria) came down and provided much of the motivation to do things that, as a local, I don't normally do. We visited the Walter Reed museum, had tickets to a Nats game (in a suite, no less!) and got all of our homies together to see the fireworks from the 8th floor of Artomatic. Not a bad 4th at all...

Nonexiztian flag redesign

I dont have much to post this week because it has been a "building" week...That is, I have spent most of my time building a wall to hang the drop for Fictitious on (really just adding pieces to make the 12'x8' wall into a 16'x10' wall) and priming the drop...so no real pictures there...in fact the only truly artistic thing I have to show for the week is the redesign of the flag for Nonexiztia. Redesign, you say? Why yes. Turns out that both the director and I were caught unawares that the Nonexiztian flag needed to be "Blue, Pink, Fuchsia, Brown, Mustard and Turquoise" (which is just about double the number of colors on any real flag....!) So, I present the new, Nonexiztian flag:

I might also mention that Scenery Appreciation nite for Spooky dog went really well last week, and I'd like to thank everyone (again) for coming out! If you missed it last week, I'd try to get tickets for this Saturday...turns out that the playwright is coming in to see the show...(which is an interesting trifecta for Landless this year...Seems they have had a visit from the playwright for each show they have done this year!)

Near Misses, Fictitious and Red Bull Warriors

So this is a two week post because I missed last weeks window...I've been busy, and also I have not been managing time as efficiently as possible lately...

First, let me remind you that "Scenery Appreciation nite" for Spooky Dog is this Friday (6/19) and all you need to do is go to the Landless website, and order your tickets...put in the coupon code "JARED" and you receive a discount! Plus, you will get a chance to hang out with the set designer after the show, at no additional cost...

Okay, a super brief wrap up of the past two weeks events: First, I was almost killed at Lubber Run Amphitheater while taking lights off of the basket-on-top-of-a-flagpole setup that they have there. Well, turns out that one of them collapsed from under me while I was going up the ladder that was leaning against it. I jumped to the moss covered roof to safety, and lived to tell the tale

Lubber Run Amphitheater...the tower on the right is the one that collapsed...

The force of the tower hitting the wing wall knocked the cinder block cap off...and you can see the tiny moss covered roof I jumped to...the ladder is in the position that they got me down from...

Well there's yer problem...the bottom of the pole had rusted out...

Other events of note that don't have accompanying dramatic pictures are: The David Byrne/Brian Eno concert at Wolf Trap, Rock and Roll at Studio, Looped at the Lincoln, and the Gay Pride Parade

The big monkey off of my back is that I finished the Red Bull Terra-cotta Warriors project. You can see the results below:

Red Bull and MieNyu Terra-Cotta Warriors Photo Ops
Approx 6'x5' (three pieces hinged together, with removable heads) Acrylic on Plywood.

A Baltimore artist, Charles Lawrance, is going to augment these guys with cutout redbull cans...I'll be sure to post pics when MieNyu has their party in late July...

Lastly, I finally put my nose to the grindstone on Fictitious. Fictitious is a play about (essentially) the life and times of Arnold Schwarzenegger...with some additions and subtractions, like his home country "Nonexista" (who's flag I designed for the show)

The Nonexistian flag

Fictitious is going to be one of the two entries for Landless theatre in the Capital Fringe Festival this year. Fortunately its in the Warehouse (which I have plenty of design experience in), but unfortunately, its fringe so there is minimal storage and a measly 15 minutes to set up and break down...so, I have tried my best to overcome those limitations and find a design that expresses the tone of the show while accommodating the 20 scenes it takes place in...(did I mention it was a musical?)

Fictitious Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop, 1"=1'

WAPO Artomatic Article and Spooky Dog opens FRIDAY

Artomatic opened last weekend... you can get a sense of what kind of evening that was from the only acceptable photo in my camera:

JD, Chris Bishop, Scott Brooks and KT at Artomatic opening night

But the real news is that the Washington Post published an article today (Friday, June 5) that mentions Jared in Uber-collector Phillip Barlow's unofficial roundup of artists he likes at Artomatic. You can read the whole article, HERE.

The other big news of the day is that Spooky Dog and the Teenage Mysteries opens tonight at the DCAC! I got a chance to take some shots at last nights final dress rehearsal...

"What? this is parody, you cant sue us!"

The set without pesky actors...The "Clue Caravan"

I like this shot because it seems to be from "Scraggly's" point of view...

Spooky solves another mystery!

ARTOMATIC OPENS THIS WEEKEND!!!

I know that I was talkin' all scared about how I didn't have anything ready for Artomatic last week...well, turns out that I made it in the nick of time...

Jared's Artomatic space with Hurdi Gurdi installed, as seen from 8th floor elevators.

Instead of trying to crank out a bunch of smaller pictures, I concentrated on making one large piece. It's actually five separate pieces of luan, that have been screwed to the 8'x8' plywood wall provided by artomatic.

Hurdi Gurdy
Acrylic on luan (five pieces) 8'x8'

While considering what to do at Artomatic, I came to the conclusion that it was one of the best venues for experimentation that a painter in DC is likely to have. Which means that I was given an opportunity to do something outlandish and risky. Seizing that opportunity meant making something that was not necessarily commercially viable and even something that was a bit ugly. In the end, I decided that I would make something that would be informed by my work in theater (using theatrical scale, as well as materials) as well as my work as a painter (painterliness and pictorial narrative) because that is exactly the type of work I have been striving to make lately. Usually, I am trying to shoehorn painterliness into my scenic designs...this time I wanted to shoehorn my scenic design sensibilities into my painting.

The narrative is also somewhat new for me. Usually, I make paintings that are pretty narrative neutral. The monkeys or tikis are usually alone, or it is not clear what is going on. My still lifes generally just depict the object without a background. So this picture is a departure for me. It has a definite narrative. It tells the tale of murder.

The Monkey was the Organ Grinder's. However the Organ Grinder is dead. He slipped on the murder weapon, a banana. Was it the Monkey that killed the Organ Grinder? That is unclear, but he seems pretty excited about being released from his bonds.


The Organ Grinder's disembodied head appears behind the monkey. Is the Organ Grinders soul going to heaven? or is he being dragged down to Hell by the anvil he is carrying in his mouth? Will he drop the anvil on the Monkey as payback for his untimely death?


Its a silly story...and a silly painting. But it was a whole lot of fun to make. Perhaps there are a few more paintings I could make describing the dynamic between Organ Grinder and Monkey...

I look forward to seeing everyone at the opening night of Artomatic, this Friday night! (Stop on by and sample the circus peanuts!)

Spooky Dog set finished...still need to start on Artomatic!

This week just few by because I concentrated solely on the construction and painting for Spooky Dog and the Teenage Gang Mysteries...which opens in previews this Friday and Saturday in Frederick (check out this sweet preview report from the Gazette) Spooky Dog will open at the DCAC in Adams Morgan on June 5th. Check out Landless' homepage for more details...and stay tuned to BTT blog for upcoming "scenery appreciation nights" (and the discounts that come with membership in the Artbyjared fan club...)

Suggestive Hot Dog stand...(and hidden ABJ logo reference!)

The whole set setup in the scene shop...

Detail of the main drop
Acrylic on Velour, 12'x8'

I'm off to try to make something for artomatic...

Spooky Dog first sketch

Things have been crazy...so above is the sketch for Spooky Dog...Which I intend to have completed by this time next week (!)...Haven't made much progress on the Artomatic painting front...hopefully I will be able to pull something out of my butt between now and the 26th!

See you next week!

My Staycation

I took a staycation. That's right, I took time off from the scene shop, and just stayed at home and relaxed. Well, I didn't really relax, per se, because KT took time off from Olney too. So, we spent the week fixing up the house, and generally getting stuff done that we normally don't have time to do. It was a needed respite after the whirlwind of stuff that happened in April.

But even in a staycation duty calls. To start the week off right, I had my site selection for Artomatic on our first official day off. KT helped me find the perfect space:

KT is excited about my space...8th floor, Area 5, Space 8....or the Northwest corner of the 8th floor, on the end closest to the stairwell...

One of the reasons KT is so excited is that she realizes that my space is facing (well, my row, at least) the national mall, and therefore has a good view of the fireworks on the 4th of July. I like the idea of seeing the fireworks from inside an air conditioned building that is serving beer (unlike those poor suckers on the mall, who have to get sauced before they left home)

The view of the Washington monument from my row...the fireworks should go off between the Washington monument and the crane

...and just for kicks, here is the view if you look to the right of my wall...isn't our city pretty sometimes?

Shortly after selecting the space for Artomatic, we went to the "scenery appreciation night" for Walmartopia. Landless has agreed to institute the "Jared" discount on certian "scenery appreciation nights" so that my friends and family can come, er, appreciate the scenery on a given production for a reduced rate! So, J-Rod, Mike and Jaya were able to see such a quality show for less than what you plebeians have to pay...KT said that Walmartopia was "better than Batboy"...which is high praise from her...

The next day Walmartopia was struck and a small production meeting was assembled for Spooky Dog and the teenage gang mysteries...I should have some sketches (if not progress on building the actual set) for you to see next week.

I also became an NRA member that day...and then got kicked off the range...but hey, that's just how I roll...

On Monday April 27th, I saw Star Trek. That's right suckers, I saw Star Trek almost a full two weeks before you did! (Thanks Paramount, partial sponsors of Yuri's Night 2009!) My review: IT WAS AWESOME! I am going to see it (ahem, again) in IMAX this weekend!

So, other than the home improvements (clearing out the evil plants under our front porch, painting porch railings, installing new lattice, putting 1600 lbs. of decorative rocks under the porch, etc) the week went pretty uneventfully, Until...

My meeting with Red Bull and the Georgetown restaurant Mei N Yu about a photo op commission that they want for their big summer event. They asked me to design something like the "muscleman cutouts" you would see on a boardwalk on coney island...except Asian and with Red Bull...So, I made three sketches:


They seemed to like the last one best. I happen to agree that three terra cotta warriors from china is the most direct "photo op"...that is, you wouldn't have to explain as much to people about photographing with them...plus they can take one away if there are only two people...The Red Bull people have decided that they want to sculpt the armor out of red bull cans, and have already lined up a Baltimore artist to embellish my designs...you should expect to see pictures of these leaving the shop sometime in mid June.

And Lastly, my Staycation was rounded out with the strike for Follies. It could have been much worse (in fact we had planned for it to go very badly) but in reality, we were done with everything by 3am...we had filled 2 1/2 dumpsters with the tiny cut up pieces, but we were done....Follies was one of those landmark shows for an organization like TAP (you can check out the DCtheaterscene article here) and I am proud to have been part of it. But in the end, I am relieved that it is over...

Yuri's Night Photos Start to roll in...and Follies Reviewed!

So, it's really just Kirstra's Camera that has contributed to the Yuri's Night photo pool so far (Thanks Kirstra!) I am happy to post these choice photos on BTT because Kirstra's hard drive had something of a EPIC FAIL, and wiped out her photos...except these lucky few...

Bambi, Heidi, Jim and yours truly...that's just how Yuri rolls!

Lil' Dutch, KT and Sugar Ann Spice

JD + KT + Southern Hemisphere

JD + KT on the stage after the show...whew!

Bambi and I get cosmo-naughty!

Dr. Zaeus and the "schick-schick" doorway

The Dance party was off the hook! Thanks DJ P-Vo!

When more photos roll in, I'll be happy to post them! (you know you've got some!)

I have cleaned up most of the house and scene shop, so I haven't really had time to make any art per se...but I will have some early designs for a photo op sponsored by Red Bull by this time next week! (and of course there is the ramp-up to this year's Artomatic to worry about!)

The other piece of news is that Follies got reviewed by the Washington Post today...It's a mixed review, but not where the set is concerned...Michael Toscano says:

Jared Davis's large set is gorgeous and functionally innovative enough to accommodate the crumbling present and the glittering past.

...Which is officially the nicest thing that the post has ever said about my scenery....

THANK YOU FOR A STELLAR YURI'S NIGHT!!!!!

This year's Countdown to Yuri's Night was the best one yet! Thanks so much to everyone for coming out and filling the Warehouse with your intergalactic alien love! (we didn't even mind the probing this time!)

So, predictably, I ran out of battery juice when I started to take photos that night, so I don't have very many to share (except for this provocative placeholder photo of Lil' Dutch)


So, in the meantime, I want to encourage any of you BTT readers out there that attended Yuri's Night to send me your best photos! We want to compile a bunch of good photos to post on the www.outofthisworldparty.com "2009 photo gallery" so we can give people in the 2010 event something to shoot for!

I will post Yuri's Night photos here also, as I receive them...

Out of the frying pan into the fire...FOLLIES opens this weekend! The Arlington Players have a really good show on their hands...the only problem for you, loyal BTT reader, is that the superb lighting design (by Hal Crawford) looks great in person, but does not photograph well with my equipment...so I offer these shots as a mere taste of what a fantastic show it really is...

Follies Act I Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop 1/8"=1'

Follies Act I

Follies Act I (Buddy's breakdown)

Follies Act II "Loveland"
(hey, where'd that giant fan come from? see the show to find out!)

Also, I must put in a plug for Walmartopia (it closes on the 26th!!!)...I was able to rustle up some photos from Amanda that show off what the Washington Post calls "Spartan" scenery...but what DC Theater Scene says is:

...I feel as though I have watched a theatrical bar mitzvah. At the end I wanted to stand up and say “Today, you are a theater company."

So, it just proves that art is subjective...and that Walmartopia is probably a good show for you to see if you like Spartans or bar mitzvahs...

The somewhat creepy opening number...

With co-workers like this, who wouldn't want to work at Wal-Mart?