LE Cinq

This Friday I'm in a group show to celebrate the first 5 years of LE Gallery, my gallery here in Toronto... I didn't have a chance to do a new piece for the show, but the director is showing one of my larger mylars from his own collection... Anyway, come on out and see, there should be some good work in the show... The info is in the flyer...

I call bullshit

Ah man, I was just at the gallery here in NYC and the director let me know that someone came in and stole one of my pieces this week... I've never had that happen before. I can't believe that people steal art, thats fucked up. Anyway, it was just one of my comic pages, and actually the worst one in the whole show, and there was smaller work worth about 20 times more about 5 feet to the right so I don't really think we are dealing with a genius here, probably just someone off the street that thought he might be able to make a buck by selling it...

Anyway, if anyone happens to see this page anywhere, in someones house or wherever, let me know. I would really love to fuck this person up, but in reality I'll probably just write: "MEAN PERSON" in chalk on the sidewalk outside his or her house and run for my life...

What is really bad is that we were trying to sell the entire comic as one series to a good collection, but now thats impossible. Man, this sucks...

What actually sucks the worst is that this person is forcing me to post this weak drawing on my blog twice! Bastard!

I did a studio tour this morning with a bunch of people from Toronto, I had a good time but I totally forgot to take a photo of them... Anyway, if anyone from that tour is reading this now, I would like them to know that they were great guests to have... It was sort of an ideal talk from my point of view, when people have a ton of questions it makes my part way for fun and simple...

R.I.P

show flicks

So I took some photos during the setup of the show... As usual, I forgot to take photos during the opening... I just took one on my way out of the door at the end of the night... All that it proves is that yes, there was a room, and yes, there were some people in that room, doing...something...

Zaks show was great, the response to it, and to our Road of Knives installation was encouraging...

My girlfriend Jamiyla came to visit me for a few days during the weekend as well, I hadn't seen her in a month so it was great! I won't see her for another couple months now...sadness. I miss her and the rest of my friends quite a bit...

ok, photos:

Our stacks of Road of Knives drawings.

Zak and the gallery staff looking at...something... I think...

The back of Shawn Cheng. Man, I'm starting to realize that I really suck at taking photos, these are so boring...

Zak and his girlfriend Mandy. Mandy is a fellow Canadian, hailing from Ottawa.

Me and my bud/former studiomate Emily Stoddart. We had a studio together a couple of years ago. Weird coincidence, we now live just down the street from each other in Brooklyn.

Me pointing my camera at the door as I was leaving... Jamiyla and I had to call it an early night, neither of us were feeling very well...

This is Jamiyla! I miss her! She is awesome at drawing, I'll put her drawings on here soon, if she lets me...

Zak Smith Solo and Road of Knives Group Show

Hey All, I think this is the 3rd post this week... thats crazy.... Thats as many posts as I made the entire summer I think...

Ok, the reason for this post is to promote a show happening this upcoming weekend. It is my friend Zak Smith's solo show. I've mentioned him on here a number of times. We met about 5 years ago when he emailed me and asked me to be in a group show he was curating, I jumped at the chance, and being in that show led to my NYC gallery representation... Incase you do not know Zak's work, some of it looks like this:

Thats a photo of him at the end there... On his leg there is one of my old monster drawings... I think I've mentioned that on here before too, I just think its cool that he has it...

ok, so this friday, which is October 10th, Zak has a solo show at Fredericks and Freiser gallery here in NYC. In the back room of the show, Zak, Shawn, and myself are showing the entire Road of Knives project... I haven't posted my new pages on here in a long time, but the three of us have been working away on it... Zak will also be showing another collaborative project as well, which is sure to rule. Ok, if you are in NYC, come out! Here is the info, I pulled it off of Shawn's site...

They Fought A Running Engagement (Collaborations)

@ Fredericks & FreiserOctober 10 – November 29, 2008
New York City

Come see what Zak Smith has been up to in the City of Angels – his solo show Midnight in the Empire opens October 10. As a bonus, two ongoing collaborative projects will be unveiled:

On the Road of Knives...
The "battle blog" wherein Zak Smith, Shawn Cheng, and Nicholas Di Genova take turns drawing monsters fighting each other.

Six Versions of Blood Meridian
The heretofore "secret project" taking the one-picture-for-each-page treatment to Cormac McCarthy's violent masterpiece. Features Zak Smith, Sean McCarthy, John Mejias, Craig Taylor, Shawn Cheng, and Matt Wiegle.

Opening Reception
Friday, October 10, 6–8pm
See you there!

Ok, and lastly I'll leave you with some of my newer Road of Knives pages...

September update

Hey All... Of course I haven't updated this blog in a long time, I'm so bad at keeping up with any responsibility that isn't drawing... Although I think I'll get a chance to update it much more often now; I deleted my facebook and myspace accounts recently... It kinda hurt, I had a lot of contacts on there and it was great for sending out show invites, but in the end they ate up a lot of time, time that I should spend drawing because I have such a busy schedule coming up...

A lot has happened since my last update, the biggest event being my move from Toronto to Brooklyn... I don't think I'll be here for very long, until the new year I think, but no longer... depending on how I like it, I may move back more permanently, or I may stay in Toronto, I haven't really decided yet...

Also, I have a group show coming up in Oct, Zak, Shawn and I will be displaying what we have done so far with "On the Road of Knives" in the back room of Zaks solo show... did that make any sense? I can't tell, I'm really exhausted and I sorta feel that nothing I write is making sense right now... Um..ok, I'll make everything quick: I also have a fair in October and right now I'm working on an upcoming solo show.

ok, I'll leave you with a few flicks of the book signing at Magic Pony back in August... Thanks to Magic Pony for putting the whole thing together, and to everyone who came out... I was really happy cause I thought no one would show and it would become one of the saddest nights of my life, but luckily that didn't happen...

Next update I'll put up flicks of my little studio in Brooklyn, info about the group show and all that... bye!













The last photo isn't of my book launch at all, its my friends and I on a roller coaster at the fair...

Magic Pony Book Launch

This thursday (August 7th), I will be doing a book signing at the Magic Pony, one of my favourite shops in Toronto...

If you are in the city, and free, come on out! There will be beer.

here is the link to their site.

here is the link to the facebook invitation.

Here is their writeup about the launch:


OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, August 7th, 2008 - 6 to 8pm

Magic Pony Gallery - 694 Queen Street West

Magic Pony welcomes acclaimed Canadian artist Nicholas Di Genova for an exclusive exhibition and book signing on August 7 from 6-8pm. This special event celebrates the North American release of 'DY005: Nicholas Di Genova' and marks the first solo exhibition of Di Genova's limited edtion prints at Magic Pony. Di Genova has also created a limited print Gocco unique to Magic Pony to be included with the first fifty copies of 'DY005'.

'DY005: Nicholas Di Genova' is the fifth book in the Die Young series; a collection of books documenting emerging international artists, illustrators and designers, published by Spanish magazine Belio. 'DY005' charts the last three years of Di Genova's impressive taxonomy of biomorphic, hybridized creatures. With a highly-skilled, intricate technique, Di Genova works with ink and animation paints on mylar to render a fantastically magnificent menagerie. A compilation of remarkable sketches, paintings and sculptures, 'DY005: Nicholas Di Genova' is the Audubon guide for the post-apocalyptic terrain.

Monkey's Paw

Its been awhile since my last update, I've just been working away on my upcoming show, working away on the comic and doing some other miscellaneous pieces... This friday at my favourite bookstore in the city, The Monkey's Paw, I'll be showing some of those miscellaneous pieces... A bunch of us designed shelf labels for the store, nothing too insane, but they were a lot of fun to make and I'm looking forward to the reception... Come by, look at some reaaaaally small drawings, browse through the stock of old, rare, and bizarre books...

Below is the press release and scans of what I drew...

Also, another update is coming soon, it will have some more drawings, new comic stuff, photos of piles of firewood that I chopped at my parent's cabin... Also, I just decided that I'm moving to New York in September for four months to work on the center piece of my upcoming show... I'll be there all autumn, if anyone wants to meet up or see the studio or whatever, email me cause I imagine I'll be a bit on the lonely side while I'm there...

Ok, here is the press release, I hope everything that I wrote makes sense, I just woke up a few minutes ago and my brain is still in idle...

---

13 NOTABLE ARTISTS CREATE WORDLESS SIGNAGE FOR PECULIAR BOOKSHOP
July 23 - August 10
Reception: Friday, July 25, 5-9 p.m.

Next week, Toronto's most idiosyncratic secondhand bookshop hosts an unprecedented site-specific group art show: the Monkey's Paw Section Label Project.

Responding visually to the cultural content of an entire bookstore, 13 Toronto artists have created (very small) section labels for all 52 subject categories throughout the Monkey's Paw. Their work will be mounted on our shelves and on view from July 23 to August 10. A public reception will be held at the shop on Friday, July 25, from 5 to 9 p.m.
THE ARTISTS
All participants are regular visitors to the Monkey's Paw, and bring to the project first-hand knowledge of the shop's aesthetic and cultural bent. In style, they range from literalist illustrators to austere conceptualists; but all share a demonstrated fondness for whimsy, pathos, and subversion. They are:
Stephen Appleby-Barr
Katie Bethune-Leamen
Diane Borsato
Shary Boyle
Nicole Collins
Nicholas Di Genova
Kristan Horton
Michael Maranda
Olia Mishchenko
Jenn Murphy
Lauchie Reid
Derek Sullivan
Jacob Whibley
THE PROJECT
The Monkey's Paw differs from other bookshops in a number of ways, not least in its imaginative organization and complete lack of signage. Although the books on the shelves are carefully arranged by subject, the shelves themselves are not usually labelled. Nothing interrupts the organic flow of one section into the next, so browsing becomes an act of exploration and discovery: "bookshop as narrative."

The Section Label Project sets out to interpret, or re-interpret, that narrative. These thoughtful works add new dimensions of significance and mystery, and deepen the complexity of the relationship among books, browsers, and environment. They look damned cool, too.

All 52 section labels are available for purchase at a uniform price of $150 apiece. In addition, the Monkey's Paw is publishing a full-colour Section Label Project catalogue in the form of a limited-edition poster/shelf map. Both the original artwork and the catalogue will be offered for sale beginning Wednesday, July 23. We hope you can join us for this uncommon event

We remain,

The Monkey's Paw
1229 Dundas St. West
Toronto

416.531.2123

---

Ok, here are the tags...sorry the scan is so bad, but it does get bigger if you click it...

Berlin pics pt.1

Ok, so here are the photos from Berlin... Nothing too crazy, I was sick for most of the trip, but I definitely had a good time. All of the people I met there were pretty amazing... After about a week though I was tired of being sick away from my home, and I missed Jamiyla a lot, so I was happy to see Toronto again...

Blogger seems to be fucking up, I'm going to post these ones now, and a second set later on today if it starts working again...

Marco installing the show.

A photo at the launch. I did three interviews right before this... One was with Vice, you can check it out here,but it's in German. The second was with a guy who runs a magazine about comics and illustrative fine arts... It will be in print in September. The third was for an internet TV station, I was really nervous because I'm shy around video cameras, and the girl who was interviewing me was really pretty... I think it went ok in the end though...

My friend Christa D'Angelo's studio... We've talked back and fourth on the internet for about a year and a half now, and we got to meet while in Berlin... She's an awesome artist and we get along like peas and carrots, so it was great to meet...

Another shot of Christa's studio...

Pablo of Belio and his girlfriend Amrie... Amrie is amazing, she's sort of a smart ass in the best possible way, I wish she lived closer so we could cut each other up more often...

German rap is weird...

Posters around the city featuring the evil seal mutilating Canadians...

A gumball machine with little knives in it... I put all my dimes in it, but just got gum...

I forget what this building was, but Marco and I drank beer on a tour boat, it was awesome...

Because I was so sick, I spent A LOT of time in this bed... It was really comfortable...

work for book launch

Normally I don't put the work for a show on here until after the show opens, but because the show is more about the release of the book, not the work, here they are.

They are small, 7" x 10", and there are 16 of them.... One of them is from last year, I found it in my studio and I like it a lot so I decided to include it....