A few random things

Here are a few things I've been meaning to post...

First off, I've started doing some work with a company in France called Skinizi, adapting some of my mylar drawings to skins for things like laptops and Ipods... If you are interested in these, you can check them out in English or French.

Also, tonight is The Unicorn, a group show happening at Narwhal Art Projects. If you live in Toronto, you should stop by. A bunch of my friends are involved in it, including Jamiyla Lowe, Adrienne Kammerer, Andrew Remington Bailey, Stephen Appleby-Barr, Jennie Suddick, and Jacob Whibley, plus a bunch of other great artists. The night is also doubling as a launch for the catalog for the show I was in there in the fall, The Dazzle. I'll post pics of the catalog once I get a copy...
Lastly, thank you to Scott Sawtell and his 3rd year painting class at Brock University for inviting me in to do an artist talk and guest critique earlier this week. It's not often that I get to leave the city for a day, and I saw some great art... Downtown St. Catherines sorta scared the shit out of me...

Ok, that's it for now. I've been working hard on solo-show work and work for the fairs coming up in the spring, I'll post some of it and some studio shots soon...

2 New Prints Available

Hey Everyone! This is a quick post letting you know that I have just released two new limited edition gicleés, which are available from my website.

The first is a 11" x 14", signed and numbered gicleé, edition of 100. It depicts an Apocalypse Toad, a creature capable of breathing air, water, or through photosynthesis, perfectly suited for survival in harsh environments where the air quality is suspect.

It is printed on Canson Arches Aquarelle rag, 240g/m², and is available for $50 plus shipping.


The second print is a 13" x 17", signed and numbered gicleé, edition of 50. It depicts a species of tortoise perfectly suited to blending into a desert environment. As it moves from place to place however, it is often pursued by large numbers of bats, which feed on it's nectar and reveals its presence to potential predators.

It is printed on Canson Arches Aquarelle rag, 310g/m², and is available for $125 plus shipping.

If you would like to purchase either of these prints, you can do that through my webstore, HERE.


I'd like to thank my good friend Daniel Barber of Aleph1 for doing so much to help me with these prints, they wouldn't exist without him. You check out some of the other work he has done on his website.

Facebook Community Page

I found this a few days ago on facebook... at first I was a bit confused because I didn't know who made it, but now I think they may be semi-randomly generated... anyway, if you are on facebook and want updates on things like interviews and new work, 'like' it...

Facebook Community Page

I've been working hard in the studio on a new body of paintings, lots of amphibians and fungus are finding their way into the work lately... I'll post some studio shots soon...

Push.ca Interview

This week I met Erin Hogue, a very talented local photographer and writer for Push.ca, a website promoting skate and snowboard culture. Before the interview I warned her that I haven't been on a skateboard in about 10 years, and I could barely ride the thing back then, but she was ok with that because I've done some skate graphics over the years. She came by the studio, took some beautiful photos, we later did the interview, and here it is... I'm really happy with the way it went, you can take a look at it HERE.


Tomorrow is the gallery walk through at Narwhal Art projects, I get really nervous before talks, even short ones like this... I hope I don't mess up...

Print Show Tomorrow Night, Gallery Walkthrough Saturday...

I haven't updated this blog in about a month, I find it hard to keep it updated while working hard on a show, just because when I'm doing a solo show, there really isn't a lot to post. And it takes about a year of solid work to do a show well, so that's a long time without new work on here... Why didn't I become the type of artist that can do a piece in a week? I could post progress shots, but then the work will be old news by the time I open my show, so I'm not sure what to do... Anyway, I'll keep it updated with any small things that come up between now and my solo show (November 2011 in Marseille), but be aware that I am working my ass off in the meantime...

Tomorrow night, Jamiyla and my intern from this summer, Andrew Bailey, are in a group show at LE. Gallery. Its called The Maker and it's part of the Printopolis Festival, and has quite a few good printmakers in the show. I have a piece in the show as well, but it is slightly older work, it is a collaborative piece I did with Luke Painter last year as a fundraiser for OCAD...

Anyway, here is one of Jams' piece for the show, and below that is the link to the facebook event... In case you don't already know, LE. Gallery is located at 1186 Dundas W, the show is Thursday October 7th, 7-10pm...


You can see the facebook event page here...

One more thing, this Saturday, I will be a part of a walkthrough of The Dazzle, the group show up at Narwhal... I guess I'll just talk about my work, my studio, and the influence of nature in my work... I'm really not great at public speaking, I get pretty nervous and I stutter, so that will be additional entertainment if you come...

Below are a few installation shots of the show, and a link to the facebook page. Just in case you don't have facebook, the walkthrough is between 3 - 5 on Saturday October 9th. Narwhal is at 680 Queen West...


Here is the facebook event page...

Ok, that's it for now, take care everyone...

The Dazzle

I'm really happy to be part of a huge group show at Narwhal Art Projects this Thursday (Sept 9th) entitled The Dazzle. I'm excited to get a chance to show at a gallery that I love, alongside a bunch of my friends and other people's work that I admire...

Narwhal Art Projects is located at 680 Queen Street West, and the show runs until Oct 17th... You can visit the gallery's website here...

Below is the invite, my piece, and a bunch of work that my friends will be showing... click on any of the images to make them larger...

River Hunter

Adrienne Kammerer

Jamiyla Lowe

Carly Waito

Melinda Josie

Joe Becker

Jacob Whibley

Stephen Appleby-Barr

Jennie Suddick

Pilot Project Stories

Awhile back I submitted some drawings to Pilot Project, a book that a few friends of mine curate and produce. Recently they ran a short story contest, encouraging readers to write short stories based on some of the art in Pilot, and a few people wrote stories about my drawings. Although I had to pick a 'winner', I thought that they were all pretty great.

You can see the submissions here and here.

A couple Lush Life reviews

Lush Life was reviewed a couple of times this week, and I was lucky enough to either get a mention or an image in the reviews... Richard Price did a walkthrough of the show, and saw my piece... Regarding my drawing, The New Yorker printed this:

'Richard Price wasn’t sure what to make of this one: “It’s kind of mutated bears and birds or something? Whatever it is, it’s some kind of animal I shouldn’t be near.”'

I guess I can't consider him a fan, but I'm happy he saw the piece:)

You can read the reviews HERE and HERE.

Limited Edition T-shirts and Jamiyla's New Website...

I'm posting this to announce two things...

Firstly, I've just released a new t-shirt, it is available through my STORE. It's a one colour print on a silver (which really just looks like light grey) American Apparel cotton t-shirt. The run is limited to 50 shirts, and they are $40 each plus shipping...

Below are some images of the shirt, click them if you want to see the images larger...

Secondly, I want to post that Jamiyla has a new website up... I think it looks pretty good, it's nice to be able to see all of the drawings together in one place. There is also a store section, making it easy to purchase her prints no matter where you live... Anyway, HERE it is, check it out...

detail

Corduroy magazine and LNB

A couple of things, tomorrow night is the season finale of Late Night in the Bedroom, a great art talk show based here in Toronto... They did a video studio tour with me, and they are showing it along with a large group of guests at the Toronto Underground Cinema at 8pm... The LNB crew are all really nice people and I'm a really big fan of their show, details below...

Because I spend so much time alone drawing in the studio, I'm a bit nervous speaking with people, particularly in front of two video cameras... I feel like I botched the interview a bit, I knew what I wanted to say but it kept coming out wrong, so I'm a little nervous about seeing the final product... They kept assuring me that they were very good at editing:)

One last thing, I have a piece and a little writeup about why I became an artist in the latest issue of Corduroy Magazine, a fashion and art magazine that, from what I can tell, is based in New York. Isabella Rossellini is featured on the cover which is awesome, because I'm such a huge fan of her Green Porno and Seduce Me shorts. I'm sure most people have seen them, but if not you can see them HERE.

Ok, thats it for now... I think I'm going to do a bigger update either later tonight or tomorrow morning, I have a new limited edition (of 50) T-shirt, and Jamiyla is about to launch her new website... I'll post more details here very soon...

details

Here are a few details and work-in-progress shots of a few things I've been working on in the studio... I have about 8 or 10 half-finished pieces in the studio, but nothing finished and it's driving me crazy...

LUSH LIFE review in NY Times...

There is a review of Lush Life in today's NY Times, you can read the online version HERE...

I'm pretty happy because I got a small mention... He doesn't really say if he liked my piece or disliked it, but I was a bit bummed out last night in the studio, and then I read this, and it put me in a happy mood:)

LUSH LIFE map

My friend Ian sent me this today, it's a map of all nine galleries involved with the LUSH LIFE opening tonight... The red pin on the map is where the after party is taking place, it should be fun... If you are in New York, check it out...

Jamiyla's New Screenprint

Jams just finished a new screenprint. It's about 15" x 20", I think it's really great... Here it is:

It is available for sale at Magic Pony. It will be available on their website soon...

Group Show in NYC: LUSH LIFE

Tomorrow I'm in a group show in the Lower East Side in NYC. I'm really happy to be involved, it looks like it will be a good show. The show starts tomorrow, but the opening reception is July 8th... Below is the press release...

Exhibition:

LUSH LIFE

Chapter 3. First Bird (A Few Butterflies)
Curated by Franklin Evans & Omar Lopez-Chahoud

Nicholas Di Genova, Christoph Draeger, Jeffrey Gibson,

Karen Heagle, Ezra Johnson, Wes Lang, Dana Levy,

Gina Magid, Jon Rappleye and Xaviera Simmons

June 25 - July 31, 2010

Reception:

Thursday, July 8: 6-9pm

A nine-gallery exhibition

inspired by the Richard Price novel

LUSH LIFE is an exhibition curated by Franklin Evans and Omar Lopez-Chahoud which takes place at nine Lower East Side (LES) galleries: Collette Blanchard Gallery, Eleven Rivington, INVISIBLE-EXPORTS, Lehmann Maupin, On Stellar Rays, Salon 94, Scaramouche, Sue Scott Gallery, and Y Gallery. LUSH LIFE adopts Richard Price’s 2008 novel to title and organize the exhibition. The novel is set in the contemporary LES and through a murder investigation exposes the dynamically changing community of the neighborhood, which despite its evolution retains a ghostly and vital link to its layered past. The deep and varied history of the LES now includes the LES galleries as new community members, and Price’s novel provides a potent vehicle for the consideration of community as voices compete for, ignore, and occasionally share the same physical and conceptual space.

The galleries will host concurrent exhibitions with each exhibition reflecting the idea of one of the nine chapters in the book. The curators selected one artist from each gallery to participate in the exhibition and solicited from each of them one additional artist recommendation of an artist not from one of the nine participating galleries (nine total recommendations). The curators then supplemented this base group of eighteen artists to complete nine exhibitions, ranging in size from three to twelve artists. LUSH LIFE will be the present for what will become a living ghost to the future form into which the LES will inevitably morph.

The exhibition schedule varies slightly at each gallery with the earliest installation being June 17 and the latest closing being August 13. There will be a collective opening of all participating galleries on Thursday, July 8th from 6 – 9 pm. See the full schedule.

INVISIBLE-EXPORTS is a gallery dedicated to superior conceptual work. IE is located in the Lower East Side, at 14A Orchard Street, just north of Canal. NOTE: The gallery will be closed on July 3-4. July hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 12pm – 6pm, and by appointment. For the month of August, we are by appointment only.

For more information, call 212 226 5447 or email: info@invisible-exports.com

SCOPE Basel

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I'll be participating in SCOPE Basel this year, which runs from June 15 - 19th... I'll be showing with my gallery in Marseille, Gallery Dukan et Hourdequin...

Cheap T-Shirts....

So my T-shirt supply is getting a bit thin, and I've decided to mark them down considerably to move them all, and to make room for some new shirts. Im out of a couple sizes, but if you go to my site, you can get any of my shirts for 66% off, which means they are $10 each. You still have to pay for shipping, but if you get a few, shipping is really cheap per shirt. So if you've ever wanted one of my shirts but didn't want to pay full price, this may be a good time...

Here is the link to my store...

Dragon Killer #2

Here's the second and last issue of Dragon Killer. The dedication page isn't as good, but the ending is a bit bloody... I'm a bit ashamed of how I chose to draw the ninja, but when I was 11 I was pretty confident thats what a ninja would look like, and it has a Terminator reference that no relic of the early 90's can be without... If you click on the pages they will become large enough to read.

Dragon Killer #1

I went home to visit my family last weekend, and spent some time digging around in the basement looking for old National Geographics. I found a box full of drawings and some old books I made when I was a kid. They are all pretty awful, but my friend convinced me to post some of them up here… Below is Dragon Killer #1, a book I made in grade 5. It's pretty brutal, but here it is, if you click on each image it should become large enough to read. Thanks to Sarah for doing the scanning…