Between the Lines Volume 2

Back in the spring I posted that I had done some pages for a colouring book for RxArt, a charitable organization based in NYC... Here are those 2 pages:



The book has now been released and is available for sale through their website. I'm pretty excited to be in a book with Takashi Murakami and Raymond Pettibon... I'm pretty big fans of them both...

Between the Lines: A Coloring Book of Drawings by Contemporary Artists, Volume 2

If Takashi Murakami, Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, and Raymond Pettibon each unleashed their inner child and created art for coloring books, what imaginative renderings might they come up with? That's what you'll discover in Between the Lines, Volume 2, RxArt's follow-up to Volume 1 of its immensely successful coloring book.

Contemporary art fans and artists of all ages will be delighted with this lively new collection of more than 50 original line drawings contributed by a diverse roster of today's celebrated contemporary artists. Everyone is free to add their own personal touches to the pages of Between the Lines, Volume 2, which are supplemented with a series of vibrant stickers designed by Nate Lowman and Mickalene Thomas.

Please contact RxArt for wholesale orders and discount information on orders over 10

Phone: (212) 260-8797 or Email: info@rxart.net

Contributing Artists in the Coloring Book:

Mike Bayne, Matthew Brannon, Olaf Breuning, Delia Brown, Edgar Bryan, Ernesto Caivano, Gordon Chung, Dan Colen, Dexter Dalwood, Tacita Dean, Nicholas Di Genova, Sam Durant, Marcel Dzama, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Inka Essenhigh, Tony Feher, Robert Gober, Evan Gruzis, Wade Guyton, Ridley Howard, Ben Jones, KAWS, Karen Kilimnik, Terence Koh, Andrew Kuo, Jim Lambie, Sean Landers, Louise Lawler, Scott Lenhardt, Justin Lieberman, Nate Lowman, Adam McEwen, Sarah Morris, Matt Mullican, Takashi Murakami, Jorge Pardo, Raymond Pettibon, Ed Ruscha, Cynthia Rowley, Alison Saar, Aurel Schmidt, James Siena, Tom Slaughter, Marc Swanson, Tats Cru, Mary Temple, Mickalene Thomas, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Kon Trubkovich, Lawrence Weiner, Kehinde Wiley

a few things...

Here's a small list of things going on... I just woke up so I hope it all makes sense...

This is Luke Painter's work. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a hard time shutting up about it, he's one of my favourite artists... Ok, here it is, Luke's work is so amazing...



Anyway, I've been lucky enough to get to work on a small project with Luke over the last few weeks... Luke and I made a limited edition print for the OCAD Whodunit fundraiser, it's an edition of 100 and is selling for $150... Details on how to get a print, and when the show takes place are HERE.

Here is the image:
Um, next is a shirt of mine that was just released by LaFraise. It's limited to 250 pieces, and I'm not selling it personally, but it can be purchased through their website... I decided to do it because I've received a few emails asking about new shirts, and now there is a new shirt.

Here are the images.


Next is an article that was written about my work in a Toronto monthly called Steel Bananas. I really enjoyed the article, so I thought I'd post it on here.


The author calls me out on not being able to draw teeth very well, and he/she is right... To A.M. Standish, next time I release an issue of Wunderkammer, I will pay particular attention to the teeth) I didn't know that it was obvious, but sometimes when I'm trying to draw a set of teeth in a creature, all I'm thinking is: "I'm....fucking...this...up..." Anyway, here it is.

Last thing, because I love posting photos of my niece and nephew on here, I'm going to. Right now:


I spent yesterday visiting them. In October I was supposed to see them for their birthdays, but I was sick and couldn't make it, so I gave them their birthday presents yesterday. I bought Ava a little dress, and Jack got a plaid Queen West hipster button up shirt. With a shirt like that his first tricycle better be a fixed gear. Jack seemed to take a particular liking to my hat.


Here is Jack after a long night trying to pick up at WrongBar. Click on the image, it gets bigger, and funnier.


Ok, thats it, thanks for reading!

Illustration Now 3 and Jamiyla & Adrienne's show...

A couple of things. First off, Illustration Now 3, published my Taschen, has just been released... I'm lucky enough to be included with such an amazing group of illustrators... It feels great to be in this book, as I'm such a big fan of the series and so many other books published by Taschen...

Here is the official blurb:

The latest volume Illustration Now! presents a dazzling selection of groundbreaking work by 150 of the world's most exciting illustrators. A fascinating mix of established master draftsmen and neophytes, working in a vast range of techniques, Illustration Now! Vol. 3 features illustrators from 30 countries, including information about their career paths, and lists of selected exhibitions. Also included is an introduction by specialist Steven Heller on current trends in the field. This book is perfect for graphic artists, creative professionals and illustration students, as well as anyone with an appreciation for draftsmanship and visual language.

And HERE is the link to the Taschen page featuring the book...


Secondly and more importantly, Jamiyla and Adrienne are having their first two-person show this weekend... It's happening Friday night at Penny Arcade, which is located at 1177 Dundas West... It runs from 8pm - midnight, they will both have new work, and there will be cheap beer... If you live in the city, you should come out and have fun! I'm really really excited...

Stephen Appleby-Barr

This is Stephen, one of my closest friends. The girl in the photo is my room mate Adrienne, who happens to be Stephen's girlfriend.


Back in 2005 I moved into a studio apartment up at Dupont and Ossington, and Stephen was my next door neighbour... At first we didn't really like each other, but after about a year we were ok with each other, then we eventually became friends. When I moved back from Italy and had nowhere to stay, Stephen and the rest of the Team Macho guys let me sleep under their ping-pong table... I would often wake up to the sound of the guys playing ping-pong, which is more relaxing than you would expect...


Anyway, the point of the story is that tomorrow (Thursday) night, Stephen has a solo show of his paintings at Narwhal Art Projects. It's his second solo show, although he has done several shows as a group with Team Macho... Anyway, his work is really good, so if you are free, you should come. I'm linking all of the show info, it can be found..... HERE!

detail

So I've pretty much figured out when my next show will take place... It will be in February at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery in NYC. Once I figure out a specific date, I'll post it on here...

Only 3 months to go, this is pretty much the point where I stay up until 7 am and crash on the studio couch for a few hours every night. But I've been stashing audiobooks to listen to for months, so I'm good...

Here is a detail from a recent piece... click it and it gets bigger...

Illusive 3

The Illusive 3 book from Die Gestalten has just been released, and contains one of my drawings. Also, if you haven't seen Amanda Nedham's show at LE Gallery yet, then you should go this week. I think it's incredible, and that's not just because we are friends...

SLICK 09 in Paris

I just want to post that from October 23rd-26th, my gallery in Marseille, Dukan & Hourdequin, will be taking part in the SLICK Art Fair in Paris... They will be showing a few of my pieces along with the rest of the gallery roster. That's next weekend, if you happen to be in Paris, check it out...

HERE is the SLICK website for more info...

CURVY

Tomorrow night, my room mate Adrienne and my girlfriend Jamiyla are in a group show at Magic Pony, curated by the people of Magic Pony on behalf of Curvy Magazine... At first I thought this sounded like an 'adult' magazine so I was a little weirded out, but as it turns out its an annual book that "presents a handpicked selection of the most exciting female graphic artists and illustrators in the world today."

HERE is a link to all the info...

Drifting Creatives Video Interview

A couple weeks ago, the guys from Drifting Creatives came by the studio, we met, and I showed them some work and the studio and they filmed it. Drifting Creatives is comprised of Martin Hooper and Gavin Braman, two recent grads from Texas A&M University... They are driving all over the continent getting jobs, interviewing people, crashing on couches, and taking showers in car washes...

Anyway, check out the video, its HERE... I really liked these guys, I encourage you to sift through the other content on their site, they have some fun videos... They have a really good energy about them... Does that sound New Agey? I don't care, they DO have a really good energy about them...

I always get sorta nervous when a camera is around; I laugh kinda funny and all of a sudden everything I say takes the form of a question...: "So this one is kinda like the...uh...uh...mythical wildlife of ...uh... the rainforest?"

Although maybe I'm always like this and my friends are just too kind to tell me... Either way, after watching this I'm a little surprised that I've ever managed to get a girl to talk to me...

Anyway, good dudes, nice website, and I had a lot of fun meeting them... take a looksy...

Die Young Back in Stock

My Die Young book is back in stock, it can be purchased from my store, which is here.

Buzz Montage

Buzz Montage in Tokyo is now stocking my merchandise... You can check their site out here.



They've got some crazy stuff for sale in there, but these two just might be my favourites:

jams' window display 2

I just wanted to post some photos of Jamiyla working on her display over the last couple of months...

If you want to see the display in person, its at Magic Pony (694 Queen west), and you can see more of Jamiyla's work here: www.jamiyla.blogspot.com. Her prints are for sale at Magic Pony as well now...

I think it turned out really great! Anyone who knows me knows I haven't been able to shut up about it all month...

Here is her initial screenprint that she based the installation off of...
And photos of the process:






This was around the time of Jamiyla's birthday... That night a bunch of us went to the park and drank too much... I put an opened bottle of Gatorade in my backpack (which contained my camera, ipod, and sketchbook), and didn't notice until we were leaving and saw my bag sitting in a giant yellow puddle... The next day my camera only took pictures that looked like this:






I took it apart, cleaned it, and it sort of works, but everything is pinkish... It sort of drives me crazy, that's why the rest of the photos look weird and shitty...



These are from last night... Jams, her roommate Stephen, and I were setting up...



I just borrowed Andrew's camera and took some photo's of the final product...



Ok, thats it, I swear I'll stop talking about it now!