Home and Adventure

My Buffalo Arts Studio show Home was a learning experience. Mostly I learned what not to do, but I relish experiences like that so I will take it with me. One of those things was that I didn’t really express myself too clearly on the nature of the work. I am notoriously terrible about speaking about anything. I get nervous and mumble, terrified of my own mouth. Poor Cori did her best with my long rambling emails and if she wasn’t a world class baker I would have gotten her a pastry of some sort for being an absolute patient saint with me.

The show itself was representative of a series of interviews I  conducted with individuals concerning their family, the most significant physical home of their childhood, and the dynamics between their family members. Each of the timeline pieces was a family tree. The insects used were chosen carefully to suit the subjects and/or their parents by matching dominant characteristics. I kept the circular theme of self that was also present in Smother by utilizing glass petri dishes as containment devices for the insects, and mimicking the shape in the painted portions of the diagrams. Red represented a death, white an absence.

The smaller works were representations of the subjects as a fully fledged adult. The insect chosen to represent them as larva in their timeline was recreated in adult form to continue their story.

The light boxes were the two subjects I found most engaging, and wanted the viewer to be able to access and and address the content of the work in a more direct way. With these larger backlit pieces you were able to make out the fact that they are mostly images directly dealing with the concept of family. (various medium format snapshots of buffalo, x-rays of a family pet, etc). The two subjects in question had an extreme attachment to home and family, despite telling me otherwise. I felt it fitting to represent them as adults perpetual emerging from their homes.

Maybe that makes sense, maybe it a ramble.  I am still learning how to speak without tripping over myself so I don’t mind. I am also learning how not to do carpentry on my bedroom floor, even out of necessity, and how to utilize friends when you want to learn an entirely new skillset.

As far as current things go I am doing a fun fundraising event for Hallwalls Wednsday the 29th you should really check out. There will be so many incredible artists there though, I am sure I will have a world of personal struggle trying not to buy everything in sight.

Other Projects:

I missed deadlines for booking a table at small press this year so “Milk, Eggs, Hollowpoints” is put on hold until Alex moves here at the end of June. This will be beneficial because yelling about frames over the internet at each other isn’t really getting much done in a timely manner.

I am however steadily working on “So I heard this book is about birds”. That should end up really fun in the end, especially if I can somehow convince the incredible Tom Holt to color the cover for me.

Home for the post-holidays

I have pretty much been living inside for the past few months dealing with construction of my show for Buffalo Arts Studio entitled Home that opens January 7th. I promise I have not been neglecting anyone for dire personal reasons unless you smell, then maybe I was. If you get some deodorant for the holidays then you will know for sure. I had all sorts of grand ideas that adapted and shifted into one I like quite a lot better and if I can properly wire things, should turn out great. I will also be teaching my very first workshop January 14th which I am both very nervous and very excited for.

In the two conjoining spaces will be artists Megan Greene and Balint Zsako, who are both from out of town so it will be a treat to see their work. Make sure you come check it out.

Tremendous shout out to the amazing curator, Cori Wolff  for dealing with me not being able to coherently form a sentence as well as being woefully tech impaired.

Future projects include a short comic me and Alex are shooting to finish in time for the next Buffalo  Small Press Book Fair in 2012 entitled Milk, Eggs, Hollowpoints. I would tell you a bit about the story but if I do I think Alex might cut me a new breathing hole. However, I do have big dreams of publishing it properly with a nice color cover, but we shall see the further along the deadline we get.

Also in the works is a blog we are working on that should be a great deal of fun utilizing old pulp novel covers and a great deal of imagination concerning both story and illustration.

Monster Time and January Adventures

This Friday 6pm-1am at 464 Gallery is the group show Monsters that I am adding two tiny watercolors and a large watercolor to. It should be a pretty fun event. If you have never been inside 464 or Blink you definitely check it out, the shop is adorable, the company is good, and everyone is really enthusiastic there.

If you are stopping by I hope you like old style monstrous harpies and none of that pretty women with wings nonsense that is knocking around nowdays. I don’t have any pictures yet, but when I snap some I’ll post them on here and rate them not safe for work because of harpy breast.

After my BAS show Home is hung and completed I am recruiting a very handsome boy who just happens  to be a terrific writer into working on a blog project with me using old pulpy novels. (When I say recruit I mostly mean make puppy dog eyes and hope he is done with his novel enough to spend some time with a whole lot of nonsense.) We will be writing short stories based entirely on the cover and back blurb of each book, and illustrating that story in various ways. Sometimes I may also beg the talented and fabulous artist Amanda Wood to do a guest appearance if she is so willing. So keep an eye out for that ridiculousness starting early next year somewhere between strange comics about birds and trying to avoid leaving my warm, warm bed.