finished detail

in progress

a few things coming up…

I've just come off of a little vacation... I mentioned earlier that Jamiyla and I took an apartment above my studio, and it needed a lot of work, so I spent all of March and some of April fixing it up... It's mostly done now, and I spent the last couple of weeks back in the studio, it feels great to be back to work... I'm working on a few drawings, I'll post them when they are completed...

In the meantime, here are a couple of things coming up that I'm involved with…

The first is LIMITED: A Collaboration Project with CBE, a local producer of some really nice hoodies... Myself and 4 other artists designed a hoodie, and the launch is this saturday... Below are the details, it's a little small, so I'll quote the details. The opening is Saturday April 24th from 7:30 onwards, at 116 Geary Ave #201.

And you can see the CBE website here.

The next thing upcoming is a fundraiser that I am a part of, organized by Freedom Fighter Skateboards. A bunch of artists are making custom skateboards and they will be put up for silent auction at the opening, all proceeds going to Freeskates. The opening is May 8th, 7pm-12am, at 52 McCaul. Below is the flyer, and the board that I came up with... If you click on it it gets bigger...

You can see the Freedom Fighter Skateboards blog here.

One last thing, Jamiyla just had an article written about her in Plaid Magazine, here is the link.

Ok, that's everything for now... I should finish one of the new drawings in a week or so, I'll post it when I'm all done...

Facebook

The other day I had lunch with Anne Koyama of Koyama press (the publisher that put out Wunderkammer), and she suggested that I set up a facebook account to have more contact with art people... I had an account a couple of years ago, but when I moved to NYC I spent too much time on it missing my friends back in Toronto, so I deleted it... Anyway, if you want to follow some of the work I've been doing, we can be friends:)

Here's the link.

Speaking of Wunderkammer, the first issue is still available on my store... You can purchase it here.

MARS-1 and Haitees shirt

Toronto is lucky enough to host MARS-1 at Meta Gallery for the month of April... He's been one of my absolute favourite artists for years and it was amazing to get to see so many of his pieces in person... Here is a link to the show info:

http://metagallery.com/exhibitions/11/infinite+tapestry/

Here are a few of his pieces from the show:

On Sunday, he and the folks from Meta Gallery came to my studio to hangout for a bit... It was nice to finally get to meet him in person, and I acted like a total fanboy and got a photo with him...

Anyway, if you live in Toronto, I strongly suggest going to see his show at Meta Gallery. The gallery has recently switched locations, it's now on Ossington between Queen and Dundas. If you want to see more of MARS-1's work you can visit his website.

One more thing, I have recently donated work to Haitees.com, an organization that makes T-shirts, sells them, and then donates all proceeds to support Red Cross's aid effort in Haiti.

Below is the shirt, and you can buy one of the shirts (for pretty cheap), here. The only image of it I have is pretty small, click on the link to see a much larger image.

Lots of Stuff

I don't have a computer right now, so I haven't been so good at updating my blog... Here's a bunch of random stuff that I've been meaning to post...

First of all are some photos from my solo show at Fredericks and Freiser in NYC. It was a lot of fun and there was a good turn out... Thank you to everyone who came out, it was nice to finally meet some of the people I've spoken to over the internet.

Here are a few images from the opening...



My friends Sean McCarthy and Shawn Cheng, who are great guys and two of my favourite artists:


Me trying to look deep into Jamiyla's eyes and creeping her out:

This is Maia, my best friend in NYC. In 2003 I went to NYC for the first time for a show and slept in a park because I only had enough money for the bus. We met at the show, and have kept in touch ever since... She's pretty much the nicest person ever, and a lot of fun to drink with. She is a really good artist, here is her blog: maiavalenzuela.blogspot.com

The afterparty was a lot of fun too. We got a lot of free pizza and drinks and a lot of people came out. I was a bit nervous at the opening, so we all just goofed off a lot at the party and acted like children... Example: Aaron trying to eat a slice of pizza without using his hands and entertaining the hell out of us:

Wait, this is better, here is a video of it, he gives up at the end though...



Andrew doing a creepy dance in the corner:


I always get a bit nervous before openings, and when I was getting dressed for this one, Yarek, Jamiyla, and Andrew kept saying: "Oh, you're not going to wear THAT are you?" They eventually made me so self conscious that I said: "Fine, what do you want me to wear?!" And they came up with this:

I sort of look like a wimpy art Terminator.

At the hostel we stayed at, every room is painted different. Aaron and Yarek shared a room, and it had this giant illuminated panel of people doing it that dominated most of the room... I thought it was a bit weird...


One of the coolest sign I've ever seen. The signpost is going through the sheep, and there is a little bit of blood dripping out...


Jams trying to look deep into my eyes:


At the last minute Jamiyla and I decided to stay an extra day so we switched our bus time... It turned out to be a big mistake. there was no heat on the bus, I had on long johns, winter boots, a hoodie, my wool winter coat, gloves, a scarf and a toque, an I was still freezing my ass off... The bus driver was really angry, he got into an argument with a girl on the bus and actually turned the bus around, drove back to the station, and had her arrested. I know that sounds like a lie, but it actually happened. An older guy stood up and asked why she was being arrested, and the police made him go with them too! If someones phone rang while on the bus, even if it was super quiet, he would come over the intercom and yell: "What part of turn off your phones don't you understand?!" What was more scary than thinking that this guy might stop the bus and kick your ass at any moment was realizing that he was clearly on the edge of some sort of breakdown, and that he was the one steering the bus we were all in. Anyway, it was way worse than I'm making it sound, it was the worst ever... So yeah, the trip was a lot of fun. The bus ride, not so much...

Here is a taxidermied frog that I bought from an antiques shop...

I've posted all of these before at separate times, but just to have them all in one place, here is all of the work I did for the show...

I've done a bit of new work since my solo show... it is for a drawing fair happening in Paris called Salon du Dessin Contemporain, here is the link:

http://www.salondudessincontemporain.com/

And here are a few of the pieces I've done. I'll be showing 10 in total:

The other big thing that happened recently is Jams and I took an apartment together, right beside my studio... Its pretty big and really close to work, so I love it. It's large enough for Jams to have a studio space in as well...

I'm currently rebuilding and soundproofing that long wall on the left, so the place is a complete disaster right now... It should be a pretty ok place to live after all of the construction is done... I'm not very good at building stuff or using tools, but I'm forcing myself to learn, and it's a lot of fun...

Jamiyla and I dog sat my sister's dog Archie for a little bit, when he lies down I think he looks like a dumpling with chicken wings sticking out the back...

He's really possessive. I think I remind him of my sister, because if he's around and I see a friend and give them a hug, he starts humping my leg to show them that I'm his... It's not a coincidence either, Jamiyla and I tested it out and it happens every time, it's pretty funny but it's a little embarrassing sometimes...

Ok, just a couple of more things... Andrew, Adrienne, Jamiyla, and I are all in the new issue of Free Drawings... You can pick up copies at a bunch of shops in Toronto, there are a lot of good drawings in it...


If you want to submit to the newspaper, you can send hi-res scans of your black and white drawings to Jesjit at freedrawingsnewspaper@gmail.com. Everyone who draws should submit, the more badass submissions, the better the newspaper.

Also, I have work in a group show happening in the Bronx, curated by my friend Sean McCarthy. Below is the press release. The show has been up for awhile, but the reception is tomorrow.

Here is a link to the gallery's site, and here is the invite:


One last thing, I've posted the drawings I did for that RxArt colouring book on here... I just stumbled upon this on the internet, a young person named Erin coloured in my piece and it ended up on flickr... I think it's really cool!


Phew, I think that's about it for now... I know that was a lot of stuff, and some of it was a bit boring. I'm currently trying to get caught up with all of my emails, which isn't easy because I don't have much of a chance to get on someones computer lately... So again, I apologize if you have emailed me about something and I haven't replied to your email yet... I'm taking a bit of a break from the studio this month, I haven't taken a break in a few years, and I'm trying to distance myself a bit, so when I get back to serious studio work my next body of work should be a bit different than my current work.

Ok, thanks for reading all of this, have a nice day!