As the new year rolls around I am touching on certain things I haven't yet in oils. A recent series of drawings and prints led me to get back to oil painting. I think the work will be fresh. There are a few exhibitions early in 2014 I will be participating in so I am excited to get into a part of my head that I have not explored. I intend for the work to be louder and more bold. Here are some recent prints and oils. In the meanwhile, enjoy music by Cleveland's own scumbags WETBRAIN. Hopefully my paintings will look like how they sound. CHECK OUT THE LINK!
This year I am participating in the Fountain Art Fair in New York. I will be showcasing mostly new oils. I invited Joe Latimore to exhibit a selection of works from mostly artists he shows through Sensei, his on going art gallery/collective project. My new work has become more and more in fluenced by Singer Sargents portraits of woman. I hope that this comes through in some of these new pieces. Some new stuff shown below. The fair will be happening March 8-10th at the 69th Regiment Armory on Park Avenue (Booth B105). Hope to see you there!!!
I am beginning a series of new paintings loosely influenced by the Preraphaelite Brotherhood and impressionists. Working in oils, I tend to render these pieces in a soft and organic style giving them "romantic" feel. I intend to give these classic looking subjects a modern flare with bizarre expression and strange gestures. I am pretty much happy and finished with a painting if there is something "off" about it, but totally makes sense me. The composition is good, the color is bright, the subject matter is grounded and balanced but something irks me. That's when I am most satisfied with my paintings. Here are the beginnings of the first few pieces. By March I plan to have a series of 12-15 finished.
I was asked to do a painting of the Most Interesting Man in the World (the face of Dos Equis) and Barry Andrews. Barry's company Andrews Distributing successfully distributed over one million cases of Dos Equis recently. As a thank you reward, I was asked by Mirrorball, a creative marketing firm who's client is Dos Equis to make a 30" x 40" painting of the two men toasting. I had about a week and a half to work on the project, but as always I did it one shot. I began the painting at 7pm Sunday night and finished it by 9am Monday morning. Went a little nuts but they were very happy with the result. The piece is being framed and shipped for a ceremony to Andrews this week. Thanks Dos Equis and Mirrorball!
Last few months or so I have been showing my work in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I had been wanting to show my work in this area to a different audience. It has opened the door to a few great things including participating in the NADA art fair this year through Panda Gallery. In addition on December 8th I will be showing brand new paintings at One Art Space gallery on Church and Warren on Tribeca right around the corner to Zukati park which set the stage to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. This charged to world resulting a lot of tension with the corporations, police and the wealthy businesses. For some reason its giving me a push to show my work in Lower Manhattan, a place to the voices of people to be heard all over the world. Its hard to explain, but the exhibiting works that reflect on the culture, is a protest in itself. Artists, musicians and writers don't have to do what they do. Its a calling similar to the protesters and revolutionaries who made a decision to attempt to destroy old ideas and evolve. It's and unexplainable force in human nature which re-writes history over and over.
The new works below include, "The Doubtful Guest", "Hunter Thompson on Acid", Hybrid of Warhol and Hawkings" and the Sculpture of the "Tower of Babel"
When I drove south on the Harlem River Drive along the East River in New York in 98', I noticed a mural that stood out. It was located in a playground and had few stylized cartoon figures graphically painted. The piece was painted a neon red-orange and it read "CRACK IS WACK". Years later I realized how important the piece is and how relevant it was in its creation in 1986 by Keith Haring. It wasn't just sending out and anti-drug-message. It was leaving the artist's presence in a lower class neighborhood in the Harlem of which many had been ovelooked. Haring understood that one of the ways for thousands and thousands to see his work and hear his voice is to bring it to the streets. This attributed to his raw, cartoonish pop style. In the mid 80's his free-form style was grabbing the eyes of young urban kids, artists, art dealers, and the media. His imagery became iconic through its simple form and color. Everyone recognized them and loved the simplicity and flow. Haring's works throughout his lifetime tackled political and social issues in the 80's that he struggled with in his personal life. The drive to try to defeat these issuse an enlighten people made one of the most prolific artists of his time. The humaity expressed through symbolism in his painting is nothing short of genius. The documentary called The Universe of Keith Haring gives you insight on his courageous journey as an artist in a decade where material posessions began to dull our imaginations. Inspired by Haring, recently I began playing with some imagery on paper which broadened my creative process. These works are more intuitive and subconscious. Here are a few new drawings and watercolor I've been experimenting with.
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