Bucktown Art Show

Heyo! Just got back from the Bucktown art party/show that Liz and I were in, and I'm pleased to report it was a success! We both sold a piece and had some pleasant discussions with very lovely people. Business cards were exchanged, stories told, tummies rubbed. Here's the space we were in:



As you can see it was a great spot, and I only wish I had more work to show! I had a splendid time and I'm sorry to say that if you were planning on buying "C U D D L E," well, that baby's been sold. Actually, there were three separate parties interested in purchasing the painting, so I guess now I know what sells. You might be seeing a lot more paintings of couples cuddling with their doggies.

New Worky Work

To tell you the truth, I've been very frustrated with the work I've been doing here. I think starting off on the wrong foot by working on canvas kind of set things in motion, not to mention that my brain has been snoozing for the past month or so. I just gotta get back into the right state of mind, which is happening a little more every day.

I finished this pretty ugly painting today, entitled "The Happy American Family," which is the first color image I've done in my series relating to the disintegration of the American family (if you don't know what I'm talking about click HERE to read my artist's statement). I didn't use color in the most effective way with this, in fact I was kind of lazy, and I think my drawings are stronger when they're just the line work on white paper. Here it be:



I would definitely like to do some large paintings on the subject, but lately painting hasn't been working out, however, I think I may have had a breakthrough today with this little fella:



It's a different method from what I'm used to as far as painting goes, but actually is similar to how I did my old oil pastels, which were on black paper. So with this painting I laid down a black ground and painted on top of that, allowing me to bring some line into my paintings. Line is something that I've felt my paintings have been lacking and I've been trying to find the best and most enjoyable way to introduce it, and I think this may be it. I like the feel and I am eager to do more landscapes, townscapes, figures, etc. in this way.

One more thing, I have a new idea. It stems from a running gag between the people I've met out here that Liz and I can paint anything we want except for naked people God forbid. I'm not exactly sure how serious they are, and I wasn't planning on doing any naked people anyway, but today I got the idea that it might be fulfilling to pursue this avenue of nudity. Actually, it involves porn. That is all I'll say for now.

Pod Corn

Pod corn isn't grown commercially, but it is used in studying the origin of corn. It resembles varieties of the primitive corns. Every kernel is enclosed in a pod and the whole ear is also enclosed in a husk.

Art Supplies!

Oh yes, the supplies came in today. 'Twas like Christmas in July! Or Chanukkah in my case. Actually it was Christmas AND Chanukkah in July for me, yahaaa! We got an assortment of oil paint, several brushes, and a BUTTLOAD of turp. We also got some long rectangular canvases and some art boards. There was also a little Mexican baby. Joy!

There's also a picture of my studio set-up. It's a work in progress. I'd like to eventually get some lounge furniture so I can have friends and whoever come over and hang out, maybe smoke some opium.

Some Drawrings

S C U F F L E

Man, am I rusty with the painting and what-nots. I was a little frustrated with how this was going, but it actually doesn't look too bad (I actually like how it looks like the one dude smashing his face looks to be armbarring a big hunk of cow meat; reminds me of Francis Bacon a little bit, if I may be so bold). It's okay, I'm remembering how I paint and I'll get it. I will say this, I think I'm getting faster, though. I'm trying to get three new paintings done by this Friday for a party at Bucktown art gallery in Davenport, where Liz and I will be introduced to the artistic community, along with some of our work. Pictures will be taken and shared with you beautiful people of course.

Bix Pix

Here's those pics of the Bix I said I would share with you as promised. It was quite the event, a little like Comic-Con with the costumes. Everything from a dude in a kilt to the party-pope:

Waxy Corn

These kernels appear waxy. Chemically, it has a different type of starch than normal corn starch. It was developed in China, and some waxy mutations have occurred in American dent strains. Very little is grown, and that which is is used for producing a starch similar to tapioca starch.

Illinois Loves Poop

I started three more paintings today, and will most likely scrap the one I posted yesterday; it just isn't doing it for me. I didn't take pics of the new ones cuz my camera died, but I'll take them tomorrow.

Today was also the big Bix race, but I'm too tired and impatient to upload the pics and videos I took, so I'll do that tomorrow.

I also went for a nice little family trip to a nice little town in nice little Illinois, of which I forget the name. Ate some food, walked around, and discovered Illinois is bonkers for poop! Observe:




Oh yeah! That's my kind of place! Now I must bid you adieu. Nighty night.

Finally, a New Painting!

Ahhh, thank Jeebus. Here's the first two progress shots. This isn't the first thing I wanted to work on, but I just needed to get started on something and get my painting legs back again. Only about seven weeks until the first show. Gotta start makin' something, ya heard?

Day One of the Bix

So I started the day off with finishing the floor of my studio, a project that became an obsession, but I'm happy with the results. Check ma style:





Afterwards Liz and I went to the pool and relaxed and chatted about artsy fartsy things. Then it was time to head downtown to check out the Brady Street Uphill Sprint Challenge and get some free beer and Twinkies. It was a nice kick-off event to the Bix with an outdoor party which had a live band playing old, parents music. Here's some pics and videos of the whole dealio:







Hm, based on these pictures this looks like a pretty lame party of about five people, but there were actually a lot more humans behind me. I guess I thought these made better pictures.


The guy bending over had just gotten kicked in the balls by the other guy in the white shirt talking to the lady in black, whom I assume is their mama. I was hoping to catch his ball-kicking retaliation, but lady said "nay" to that. Darn.



And here's some high schoolers running their asses off.

Bix Mania!

Ooh it's about to get CRAZY all up in the Quad Cities, dawgs! An internationally renowned seven mile run, known as the Bix7, is this weekend in downtown Davenport, accompanied by fun and activities for the whole family, so it should be a pretty neato time. The festivities start tomorrow and go until Sunday I think, so I'll make it a point to get some pictures. Actually the starting line of the race is literally right outside the studio, so I'll see thousands of runners run by. I wonder if the ground will rumble. I'll definitely have to get a video of that; it's going to be EXACTLY like the stampede scene in The Lion King, but hopefully no one will die. Ha ha morbid. Here's a link to what the Bix is all aboot:

http://www.bix7.com/2009/bix.php




I also met Bill Rodgers tonight at a fancy-schmancy Bix dinner, who I understand to be a legendary runner. Let's check Wikipedia here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rodgers_(athlete)

Oh yeah, he's famous alright. Cool beans! He was a very friendly guy; pretty quirky, too. I liked the cut of his sleeve. Here are some pictures of him just for the heck of it:

Sweet Corn

Sweet corn has an almost clear, horny kernel when it is still young. The kernels become wrinkled when dry. The ears can be eaten fresh or can be stored in cans. The only difference between sweet and dent corn is that sweet corn has a gene which prevents some sugar from being converted into starch. It is grown a lot as a winter crop in the southern U.S.

Rudy Gutierrez is One Cool Cat

Man, I just got a great email from my old Professor, Rudy Gutierrez. Check out his work, really sick stuff, and by sick I mean awesome, not, like, gross or twisted:

http://altpick.com/rudygutierrez

Just a really encouraging email and, you know, it's little things like that that make you want to give it your all and inspires you to do the damn thing. Thanks, Rudy!!

More painting of the floor in the studio today, coat numero tres. Tomorrow I'll hope to be verrry close to being finished if not completely so. I shall post pictures and all will be merry.

Hey! Look at this lovely picture I took at a baseball game the other night! Our team lost! 4-12! Yeah!!!



And here's some work by Rudy just to get you interested:

Flour Corn

So yeah, sorry to be bombarding y'all with such thrilling news, I promise I'll try to restrain myself and cut back. Well, I'm getting my studio space all squared away (it should look pretty pimp by the time I'm done, but that may not be for a while) and I plan to start working on some new stuff this week which means new and exciting things for you to look at. Yayyyy! Until then, brush up on your knowledge of flour corn:

Flour corn contains a lot of soft starch and has almost no dent. Though it is not used much anymore, it is grown in the drier sections of the U.S. and in the Andean region of South America. It's an older type of corn, and is found in a lot of graves of the Aztecs and Incas. Since the kernel is so soft, the Native Americans could make it into flour.

Popcorn

Popcorn is an extreme form of flint. It has a very small proportion of soft starch. It is a very minor crop, and is gown mostly for humans to eat. The reason it "pops" so well is because of the horny endosperm, which is a tough, stretchy material that can resist the pressure of steam, which is generated in the hot kernel until it has enough force to explode or "pop."

Hey hey hey party people I've got some sweet news! I submitted some of my work to be considered for a group show in the Quad Cities and I just heard back tonight that I'm on board! I don't know too many details about it yet, except that it's not going to be until sometime in 2010, probably near the end of the residency. I believe I'll be having more shows prior to, but this one will probably be kind of the grand finale art event. Super duper!

Oh, and the Quad Cities by the way are this link, just in case you were perplexed. It be where I live, yarrr...:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_cities

Artist Statement and Bruno's Schlong

Today was the first day since I've been here where I didn't have any meetings with the fancy people involved in the residency, so I was able to just take it easy, and by "take it easy" I mean feel antsy all day about not being able to do any work. Liz and I are biting our nails and chewing our cuds waiting for the Frankenstudio to get new lights installed, and we can't really start working until that happens. So we did all we could to feel productive today, which involved going to The Home Depot and buying crap to clean and paint Frankenstudio. Tomorrow we will get started on all that and blah dee blah dee blah, this is boring.

Oh, here's my artist statement for the work I plan to make while here:

My current body of work is dedicated to two concepts, the first being intense physical interactions between two or more figures; these images are violent, peaceful & loving, or strongly emotional in nature. The second concept is concerned with the disintegration of the family unit in the United States.

Previous work of mine focused heavily on the individual portrait and I have the need to expand my imagery to where there are not only multiple figures, but they are physically interacting in intimate and visually impacting ways. The intense physical interaction works are meant to emote a range of emotions from the viewer, whether it be discomfort from a tussle between two figures, or contentment at the sight of cuddling lovers. These images are somewhat visually convoluted, mocking reality and touching on the abstract through the distortion of the figure and disregard for perspective and real space.

The works devoted to the disintegration of the American family are ironic images, depicting smiling, seemingly happy families, yet the distortion of the mothers, fathers, and children as well as symbolic imagery suggest that all is not well. This concept is especially interesting to me because the majority of my friends have divorced parents, and many of my friends' friends come from families that have split up. This is not merely coincidence, for the average of American children growing up with both parents is around 63%, the lowest figure in the Western world. I might add that although my parents are thankfully still together, I grew up with a fairly intense anxiety about them getting divorced when they would have fights, making this series of works particularly significant to me.

Addendum! I have recently come up with a new concept, inspired by a website with photos of parents interacting with their children in irresponsible, stupid ways. I am very much a believer in the idea that whatever happens to you as a child determines who you are for the rest of your life, and I would like to create absurd images of children being put in precarious situations by their parents that will have a scarring affect on their lives. These images are meant to be humorous and unbelievable, but at the same time shed light on the serious fact that there are indeed many, many morons out there who should not have children. You know who I mean.

I also saw Bruno yesterday. Don't pay to see it in theaters unless you have the overwhelming urge to see a massive, movie screen sized penis. Well, I guess who doesn't want to see that, huh?

Flint Corn

Flint corn kernels are hard and smooth and have little soft starch. Columbus and his followers reached some countries that grew a lot of flint corn. Thus, flint was probably the first corn Europeans ever laid eyes on. Flint corn is not grown in the United States as much as it is in Asia, Central America, Europe, and South America. In temperate zones, flint corn matures earlier, has better germination, and the plant vigor is earlier than in dent.

Dent Corn

So yeah I'm very tired tonight, and not too much happened today. Well, I did meet a bunch of the people who are involved in this whole residency program and they are all very nice and passionate, like all midwesterners. We've got some thangs to figure out but anyway, you should learn about corn now:

Dent Corn

Dent corn, getting its name from the dent in the crown of the seed, is grown more than any other type of corn. Millions of tons of grain are produced from dent corn, and is used for human and industrial use, and for livestock feed. The starch reaches the summit of the seed, and the sides are also starchy. The denting is caused by the drying and shrinking of the starch. The dent corn grown in the Corn Belt came from a mix of New England flints and gourseed (an old variety of corn grown by the Indians in southeaster North America).



When I don't have anything interesting to say I will teach you about corn, because THAT is really interesting.