my love for you is a stampede of horses.

leslie hall: i put the body glitter on cause i never hesitate.

holidays got you down?  well, humbug no more...here's a video to get you up and dancing and laughing hysterically.  it's leslie hall, and she is basically a comic genius.  line of the yr:  "you get me hotter than a stick of hot glue and i'm scrap-booking everything we do."  so brilliant.  be sure to check out her myspace where you can see a ton of her videos.  careful, you'll get addicted and soon enough you'll be scouring goodwill's and salvation army's for gem sweaters.  she sure knows how to rock them.  shake it if you want to hear more!

motel gallery closes. (sad emoticon goes here.)

i was so saddened when i clicked on over to motel a few weeks ago and saw the goodbye letter form the proprietress jenn armbrust.  i was never able to visit motel in person, but it was a frequent link for me, hell i had it in my toolbar.  i first heard about motel about 5 yrs ago.  in that time span i have been introduced to so many new artists and products, thanks to the amazing curatorial eye of jenn.   just to name a few: megan whitmarsh, jen corace, carson ellis, ryan jacob smith.  below are some of the pieces motel has had in past shows.  it will be sad to have that hole here on the web and in real time.  but from the sounds of jenn's open letter it sounds like she has many more, wonderful endeavors in her future.  goodbye motel and good luck jenn!

the ossining house.  carson ellis.

at the waters edge.  marci washington.

fodder for the slaughter.  rachel sumpter.

kime buzzelli.

the apathetic america and the absence of contemporary protest music.  chris duncan.

holding on.  jen corace.

placenta is the new black: pinar yolacan's maria.

one of the major reasons i love art (and why i write this blog) is for the very fact that art moves me.  whether it is amazingly beautiful or god awful or just plain disturbing.  art almost always elicits some sort of a response w/in my visceral, emotional being and if it's done a really good job, my cerebral, thinking side as well.  it gets me talking, thinking, wanting to discuss w/ those around me.  pinar yolacan's exhibit maria has done that to me recently.

maria, is a group of 22 photographs of afro-brazilian women dressed in clothing made by pinar and inspired by local architecture.  however, not all the fabric is man made, each woman is outfitted  somehow in animal flesh, placenta to be exact and it blends in almost perfectly w/ the effervescent velvet.  the photos are equally stunning as they are disturbing.

i've become really enthralled w/ this exhibit.  many things come up for me as i look at the photographs online, subjects such as race, class, beauty and fashion are amongst some.  the women themselves are from itaparica, bahia, an island off of brazil, not far from one of the biggest slave ports in the world.  you can read the press release here to read in pinar's own words her inspirations.  her ideas behind it are all very interesting.  i'd love to hear what others think on this exhibit.

rivington arms has extended the show through january 10th.  i hope to get down to nyc to see it.  i am really interested in experiencing the photographs in person.  they are quite large and i imagine really demand one's attention.

** all images used courtesy of the artist and rivington arms.

interview: jeremiah maddock.

recently i was fortunate enough to be introduced to jeremiah maddock through the good peeps over at paper monster.  jeremiah's work is so delicately intricate and amazing.  i was blown away by the labyrinthine tiny lines that make up his pieces.  his paintings are repetitive beauties.

sadly he doesn't have a website, nor does it sound like he is eager to make one.  but he sent me soooo many images, i feel like i have my own private website of his work on my desktop, i'm so excited.  i've included a bunch of them here w/ questions jeremiah so enthusiasticly answered for me.

what medium do you like to work in, are you experimenting?  what's your fav and why?

mediums are usually whatever i can get my hands on: pens, pencils, markers, water colors, acrylic/ oil paints, wood stains, rust.  i make a lot of my own inks from dead pens and markers, either xylene based or rubbing alcohol based.  my favorite medium over the last year has been inks and water colors on paper.  i like the instant gratification i get from these.  they allow me to keep up with myself to the point of acting more as a channel.  i also just enjoy watching things seep into paper, some drawings look better on the backside as they bleed through.

what is in the future for you? shows? prints? collabs?  why don't you have a website?  is there one in the future?

i have a few upcoming shows...next month in milan at a place called the flat, michael bevilacqua and massimo carasi are the curators for this.  i'm not sure who all is in the show, aside from a few...dan trocchio, michael bevilacqua, scott campbell, bruce richards, and wendell gladstone.  this will take place jan. 15.

in may i go to denver for a solo show hosted by andenken gallery who found me through paper monster and faile.

ummm, i have a show in mexico city and right here in bushwick, ny., this spring but am unsure of the dates and the names of the venues

basically, i show where ever i'm invited to unless i dont like the peoples who are asking.  i have been making pictures for about 17 years but i have never sought out art shows.  that's why i have no website, portfolio, etc.  the natural flow of things have been pulling me in desirable directions and i don't want to tamper too much w/ that.  maybe i would make a website if i knew how, but i'm not sure.

what did you do for faile?  i love those guys.  how was it working for/with them?  how did it happen?

they went to my show at saved tattoo (scott campbell).  i spent three months at saved before it opened painting the pillars inside.  pat mcneal liked the way they were done and commissioned me to paint a big wood box for his new son, denim.  they were great to work for, they made me keys to there studio and never complained that each night i was there i would drink their whole case of tiger beer.  after awhile i think they started filling it back up just for me.  they are also great supporters of many upcoming artists.

i should also mention that scott campbell is solely responsible for pulling me out of the woods of whidbey island and putting me in new york to show my pictures, he is the reason anyone out here in new york has ever heard of me.  and now faile as well.  i also want to mention sfelectricworks.com, these are extraordinary peoples who first started showing my work back in 99.

 

what artists are you watching right now?

dave schubert (photographer/fine printer/ ), dan trocchio (painter/poet/genius), marty anderson(drawer/ exceptional music of OKAY, poet), wes lang (sick drawings), scott campbell (extraordinary in many respects a walking piece of art), chris johansen ( painter who is free), and the butter lady of s.f. ( roams around with lipstick on her cheeks and butter in her hair, amazing self portraits and rantings on index cards).

can you tell me a little bit about how you sell your work...i hear you set up a suitcase, is this true?

no i don't set up a suitcase, for a 6 month run my wife and son went on tour in her band sleeping people.  with no responsibility and very little money i decided to see how long i could go on house sitting gigs and couch surfing.  so i carried my studio on my back.  day time i would draw in the hall of this cafe, and at night i had bars i liked because the bartenders would trade me drinks for napkins and or place mats.  there were a of couple restaurants that would trade my bill for a place mat.  i had never been in public making my pictures before and loved meeting interesting and very kind peoples.  i had never been very social up until that point.  anyhow the suitcase...people started wanting to know what was inside and i would show them, sometimes i would sell stuff in a restaurant or bar to a stranger, believe it or not at a fair price as well.  when i was doing a commission for faile, i went out to smoke a cigarette and had left my backpack open...when i came back inside all of my drawings were up on a table and people asked to purchase a few. ...and later asked for more.

now i have a home, i still have a backpack full of drawings but the suitcase now is seldom necessary.

jeremiah also has a show next week in williamsburg that is being held in a vacant apartment for 4 days only, titled "we are friends."  opening reception is saturday jan 5th, 6 - 11 pm at 119 north 7th street.  williamsburg, ny 11211.  there is a large group of very talented peeps in the show, and def worth checking out. 

also, you can purchase original work of jeremiah's through paper monster.  a few pieces have sold, but there are still amazing pieces left.  put that xmas money to good use!  or if you're really lucky...you'll meet him in a cafe or a bar one of these days.

martha rich: freedom wig extended.

paintings from december 2007.

often times you come across an artist and all you are able to see is their work.  which is awesome, i'm not complaining.  but sometimes, you stumble upon an artist and not only does their work shine through but so does their personality.  martha rich is  that kind of artist.  when you visit her websites or blog you can feel her wonderful sense of humor, wit and convictions.  take her introduction on her freedom wig site:

welcome to freedomwig, my one-painting-a-day website. freedomwig is the name of a real wig.  i named the site after a wig because wigs can either make you feel like someone else or make you feel normal.  the art on this site is like that.  not everyone will get me.  if you do, that is excellent, you are the coolest, if not there's nothing i can do for ya.  you'll probably just have to get your art from walmart.

well, i get you martha.  i hear you barkin' big dog.  i feel you, i do.  when looking at martha's work you can sense an honest to goodness realness that comes over loud and clear, not shouty like, just vivid and understood.  it's this sort of honesty and dead pan humor that makes martha's work so rad.

paintings from september 2007.

in november of 2006, martha started making a painting a day.  you can visit her freedom wig website where each painting is on display (and available for purchase, although much has sold, duh.).  martha's use of color is unabashed and her subjects vary from diamonds to televisions to ladies in bikinis.  i love what she writes under each painting.  i think my favorite is floaty man heads.  not to mention she refrences thomas kinkade and getting waxed under one explanation of a painting, which i personally feel is ironic genius on her part.

paintings from july 2007.

it's amazing to scroll through each painting knowing she did one each and every day for a yr.  her plan was to stop in october of this yr, to complete the yr long project however plans have changed.  yay!  she has extended it to coincide w/ her new show at la luz de jesus gallery in la; imitation snakeskin superstore. 

paintings from april 2007.

in imitation snakeskin superstore martha examines what it is like to be a female w/ out a maternal role model (martha's mom died when she was a teenager from cancer.), exploring issues of identity, femininity and just being real.  the show opens the 4th of january.

oh, and if you need some more of martha for your very own, pick up her book freedom wigs.  i think it's still available from murphy design.

paintings from december 2006.