Jitter Magazine

I have a pretty long interview (in German) in the current issue of Jitter Magazine... The guy who owns and runs this magazine is amazing, he interviewed me in person when I was in Berlin last year, Jitter really seems like a labour of love... Anyway, its a cool mag if you can get your hands on a copy. Its also the first mag to interview me to ask about and publish pages from the Road of Knives, so Shawn and Zak have some stuff in here too... They also have some interviews in English with the character designers from God of War II, those guys are crazy talented... Here are some photos of the layout...

random studio shots

I've been working a lot on my studio since I got back to Toronto, making the space as usable as possible, throwing out or giving away all the junk that has been cluttering up my studios over the years.... I was going through some old stuff and I found these photos of my old spaces, and was reminded of how disgusting I used to be.... My spaces we always filled with garbage, sometimes over a foot deep... and not just paper and art supply clutter, serious garbage like food, trampled CDs, broken bottles... Here are a couple examples of what I'm talking about, but they are pretty tame... In it heyday my studio was depressing to just look at....


That's Andrew in that second photo, he must be 18 or so in it... Somewhere along the way I've changed it seems... My space is generally pretty clean these days... Well, the washroom is still pretty disgusting, but my workspace is usually pretty slick... Anyway, this post might be really boring, its just going to be a bunch of photos of my space, some work I finished before the holidays, and some work I have on the go right now for my upcoming show...

Ok, here it goes...

A little drawing I've been working on...

A larger drawing I've been working on, incorporating some of my older imagery...

I can't believe I'm still working on this... For anyone new to the blog, this is a big ballpoint pen drawing I've been working on... Its going to be a grid of 20 000 butterflies when I'm done with it... I really can't believe I'm still working on it, its been on the go for well over a year now, and I've working on it nearly every day... And not just a little, often I wake up and work on it straight through until bedtime. Almost...done...

A small drawing I recently finished.

A little pile of drawings on the go.

My wall of photos of animals doing it.

The bedroom. Andrew and I share it... Somehow it worked out that Andrew gets the bed and I get the couch... But the couch is pretty comfortable...

An airbrush portrait of me.

One day Andrew and I had a disagreement, I left the studio, came back, and the drawing I was working on looked like this...

The toilet. All the dinosaurs are wearing party hats.

The bath tub.

The food shelf in the kitchen...

We had a broken down smoothie truck blocking our window for over a year... One day we looked outside and it was being hauled away! We have natural light now!

Three mylars I sent to France...

Those are the last 3 mylars that will be available for the next couple of years... I owe a few to a friend of mine; they will take over a year to make... I won't make any more until those are completed, and after that I might stop doing them altogether...

Ok, thats my studio.

One more thing, I've noticed that a lot more people have been reading my blog and commenting and emailing me and stuff... I just want to put out there that I really appreciate this. When I started my blog it seemed like I was the only one who ever read it, and that kind of sucked. So again, thankyou to everyone for reading and commenting and all... It really does mean a lot to me... I've been trying to update more so there is more new content.

Ok, bye.

Hi-Fructose vol. X

The new issue of Hi Fructose has been released, and I'm lucky enough to have a feature in it...

The First Liegeman and His Subordinates Are Placed

I just finished my new Road of Knives page, we're getting closer and closer to the 100th page....

Toronto

I'm back in Toronto now and once again settled into working away in this studio... I like my studio here a lot, I have a massive drafting table, a bunch of smaller tables, a million books, a bathtub, and a couch to sleep on... So I'm working away but I thought I'd post on here because its been awhile...

I don't have a lot to post... I was at that Carte Blanche 2 book signing and took a bunch of photos with my phone, but my phone broke since then so they are gone...

I did a Road of Knives page a little while ago, its not the best drawing in the world but it makes sense within the story... We are approaching our 100th page, and I think we might release the first volume in book format soon...


Also, HandMade Posters in Norway has just released a 6 colour screenprint of one of my images. Its an edition of 100, and is available for sale through the HMP site here.


One last thing, I got a profile posted on Blogto, you can see it here. Check it out if you want to see some studio shots and a little write up...


Ok, thats it for now, now that I'm back I'll be posting a bit more often I think... I'm going to take some studio shots if I can borrow a camera off one of my buds...

Carte Blanche Exhibition and coming home...

Hey All,

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be chosen by the Magenta Foundation to be included in their new book on contemporary Canadian painting entitled Carte Blanche Vol. 2. This Saturday Nov. 15th will be the book launch and an accompanying exhibition featuring a bunch of artists from the book... It will take place Saturday, November 15, from 8-10pm @ MOCCA [Queen/Shaw]...

The font changed. Why did the font change? Anyway, unfortunately I won't be able to attend, as I'm still living in Brooklyn. However, I won't be here for much longer...

Awhile ago I posted about having my wisdom teeth removed... One tooth was actually left in, its a long story why and I don't want to type it all out here. Basically another dentist in the past tried to remove it without taking proper x-rays, couldn't, so he just cut it in half and sewed me back up.... Well, a few weeks ago that side of my mouth started to kill... then the top of my mouth started to kill, then my tongue, then I couldn't really use my mouth anymore, and then I developed a fever and was dizzy all the time... I went to an emergency dentist one night at 11 pm, got x-rays, and that tooth is now sitting right on the nerve in my mouth, and it was severely infected. Its not infected anymore, but it still feels like a non-stop kick to the face, and dealing with it for a month has made me a little crazy... On the 23rd, I'm coming back to Toronto to have the little bastard removed...

People who read my blog regularly might think I have wicked teeth or something because I have brought them up like 3 or 4 times, they actually look really normal and are clean and shit... Its just that my wisdom teeth are evil and after 2 surgeries to try to have them removed they still manage to fuck up my life in incredible ways... A lesson to the youngens: when you are a teenager and your dentist tells you that your wisdom teeth need to come out, listen to him! He's probably not making it up... I was a paranoid kid and I thought my dentist was just trying to get money out of me, and now look what happened.

Anyway, I am looking forward to coming home though, I miss Toronto a lot. As much as I love New York and it is such an amazing place to make art in, I think I prefer to live and work in Toronto... more on that later though, I will post some thoughts on my move once I am back home...

To anyone that I wanted to see and didn't get to while in the city, my apologies, I did not realize that I would be leaving so suddenly, and I'm not in much of a state to be going out right now...

Ok, book launch. Oh! Then on the 30th of November, which is a sunday, there will be a book signing at David Mirvish books that I will be at... I'll post on that closer to the date...

Andrew Wilson Solo Tonight!

I should have posted this earlier. Tonight is the opening reception of Andrew Wilson's first solo show... For those new to the blog, Andrew is my great buddy / assistant. In the beginning he was just my assistant, and over the past 5 or 6 years we have become really close. Anyway, if you are in Toronto today, go to the show! It will be great, I'm a little upset I have to miss it...

Here is the info:

Opening Reception:

Thursday, Nov. 6th, 7-10pm
Artist will be in attendance

Location:

Magic Pony
694 Queen St. West
Toronto, ON, Canada
416.861.1684

Exhibition Dates:

November 6th - 30th, 2008

Event Description:

Magic Pony is pleased to present A World's History, a solo exhibition of new paintings and drawings by emerging Toronto-based artist Andrew Wilson. Exhibition runs November 6th to 30th. Opening reception is Thursday, Nov. 6th from 7-10pm. Artist will be in attendance.

Chronicling the mysterious history of an alternate world, Wilson's fantastical abstracted landscapes suggest the possibility of other worlds occurring simultaneously with our own. Past, present and future coalesce within this imagined topography. Futuristic architecture and geodesic domes crown primordial geological forms, while abstract shapes collide. Elaborate, mixed media resin-coated paintings encapsulate vast mountain ranges, crystalline forms and volcanic interiors. Both gesturally inspired and carefully constructed, Wilson's paintings combine contrasting layers, textures and colours to subtly create depth.

A World's History also features a series of meticulously rendered ink drawings. While Wilson's geometric landscapes and utopian architecture evoke the future tense, his drawings explore an imagined past. Medieval villages and church spires are nestled into mountainsides, while enigmatic faces materialize in organic, Arcimboldo-esque illusion. Quietly beautiful and vaguely haunting, Wilson's imagery resonates with the vision and mystery of the fantasy genre, yet leaves definitive narrative open to personal interpretation.

Press Inquiries:

Please send an e-mail to contact@magic-pony.com.