genius or nuts?

i read about a guy named john casey who grew up in salem. he's lived in the bay area for the last 10 years or so, and makes some pretty wacky stuff. check him out at:
www.bunnywax.com

he quotes his dad as saying to him, "you're either a genius, or completely nuts."

what do you think?

art shows or, nothing good happens after midnight

Hung a show at this place last night:

http://www.espressoroyale.com/

736 Comm Ave Boston. Through January 4th, 2008

The good thing is that I got a bit of exposure in the middle of the city, across from BU, near Fenway and Kenmore square, in a café bulging with the hipster chic day in and day out. The bad thing is that I had to hang the show last night after closing. The place closes at 11PM. Good grief. So I get there at 11, my ever helpful compatriot Becky (heretofore known simply as Cecil) happily, yet sleepily plodding along beside me. I was met at the door by none other than Adrian Emberley, of Adrian Emberley and the Urban Anthropologists, who was nice and sweet and offered me the two best walls to hang my stuff. Cecil and I unloaded the art from the car, laid it out in order to hang and got to work. Basically, I stood on chairs and Cecil handed me a picture, and I hung it on the hook, made it straight, and moved on to the next one. The whole shebang took about half an hour, and aside from one picture hanging a little low, looked pretty good. Adrian assured me that she would adjust the height of that one picture when her boss returned with the allen wrench tools in the morning.

While I hung the show, Adrian and her coworkers hung out at the back of the galley shaped store, sprawled out on cushy chairs and sofas, seemingly jaded and rather uninterested altogether. But when I was finished with my work, the whole crew made a trek up to the front of the store to see what I had to offer. Immediate response from the lot of them was very positive with pleasant little missives offered up unsolicited. Pleasantries were exchanged, an agreement was made for a time to pick the work up, and we said our goodnights. As I drove away, I noticed that the staff was still interested in my stuff, standing on tip toes to catch a small detail, each piece occupied by one or 3 people. Cecil made sure I stayed awake for the ride home by singing along to Christmas songs on the radio, and I was in my own warm bed by 12:30.

I was expecting much worse to tell you the truth. I figured I was in for hours and hours of misery. But it really wasn’t that bad. Now if coffee ACTUALLY made up for a lack of sleep.

coffee

coffee. it's a sacred thing. or very nearly. and i dont understand how so many people can abide such bad coffee. but here i am at my desk, at work, drinking really REALLY bad coffee. at least i have my own half & half, and not the skim milk that everyone else uses. life is too short to consume bad food and drink.

i need to figure out a way to convert these coffee troglodytes.

so, what's the point?

does pain make us wiser? or does it just make us hurt?

it's a locke

there is a local artist named steve locke. he does some interesting things with mail art. he also does some interesting things with large grid paintings. but i think the most important work he does is carrying on the legacy of his mother. she is quoted as saying to him in a cleveland museum, "i think God made the artist because there are things He wants him to see." i like the notion of that.

i hate it when she's right.

you know, sometimes you like to operate under the blissfully ignorant assumption that you can do everything. the unfortunate truth is that there just isnt enough time in the day to get everything done that rattles around in my head. and prof. dunn is right. you have to concentrate on the one thing, and get it done.

so which 'one thing' do i give my attention now?

uggh. it would be so much easier without the need for employment or for sleep. then i could get so much more done.

exposure

i got a little local exposure by being featured on this website:

http://www.labellarue.com/newartist.html

hopefully it'll do some good. maybe i'll get a relief print commision from it or something.

holy sheep!

i have been so busy, i haven't even had a chance to think about what to write here. but i can tell you that i have been searching all over this electronic landscape of ours looking for opportunities to break through. according to the most prevelent definition of the term 'emerging artist' it defines this particular person as 26-31, probably in grad school, making good work, and likely has many years of even better work ahead of them. apparently, many collectors stick to this definition rather like crazy glue. they get all paranoid about collecting work from a particluar artist who may have more time on this planet behind them than ahead, thinking that they will have time to amass a large bit of their work for cheap money and cash in later. wouldn't you rather cash in on some old guy making brilliant stuff that no one has ever seen, get it for cheap, and cash in quicker once he kicks the bucket? or, what if the young artist gets hit by a bus on his way to drop off your new piece? it'll never be worth more than a couple bucks, because he never made a name for himself. i think i am going to have to start lying about my age. or maybe collectors could just start buying art they like and making their own decisions based on their own aesthetic. i know i have my best work ahead of me, but i am definitely older than 31, and i haven't even got to grad school yet. it seems i am done before i even started. in the art world, you would think there would be plenty of room for non conformity and individualism; room to respect people for telling their life experiences through their art whenever they have the opportunity to. but it seems to me that it is the narrowest of narrow roads to travel.

that is really irritating. i will continue to plug along, and not let the naysaying idiots ruin my day; i know that i have good things to say through my work. but good grief, when are people going to start to think for themselves?

baaah, baaaah, baaaaaah...

hot rod posters

i decided that i wanted the newest series of linocuts to be reminiscent of drag racing posters in the northeast in the 50s and 60s. i wanted them to be graphically strong, and i wanted them to include text. i also wanted the text to be done in the pronto plate lithography method as an experiment of its effectiveness.

this is the first completed proof in what will be an edition of 20 with 5 artist proofs. the 5 proofs already have homes, so you can forget about that (haha). the edition should be ready for sale and shipping in a week.

i love it when a plan comes together.

i know the images i will use for the next one, but i am struggling with colors. i am thinking red and yellow with black text, but i'm not sure. maybe the subject will tell me...

is it just a hoax?

it might be a new brand. it might be a social experiment of monumental proportions. it might just be the best commentary on conspicuous consumption in a long time...

hoax. it's nothing. really.

who doesn't like cupcakes

well, when you have to wait in line for 72,000 hours, and they charge you 50 bucks for one, you'd think people would complain.

instead, folks wait overnight for 20 minutes in the store to get their hands on a new release, and maybe a slice of pizza. insane. and of course, yes, that is me in the pic, and yes i did spend 50 bucks for a t-shirt. no, it wasn't for me. it was for my partner in crime, that snazzy lookin' chick with the funky hat; none other than k-dog herself. she is such a fashion addict, and i am her pusher...

the best part of a field trip to nyc, with art in the chelsea galleries that made me sure humanity was indeed in a handbasket to hell? sushi from dean and deluca eaten in central park, no doubt.

ooooooh...

i am full of so many good ideas. i love this little creative explosion. i just hope i can do them justice.

i'm gonna be rich

well, i did get my 'million dollar idea' but i'm not sure a million bucks makes you rich anymore.

just stay tuned for the launch of the new brand of the century. and once you see it, if you have to ask...

new print in the works

so i finally finished carving the plate for the first in the 'vintage drags' series, and i am thinking it came out pretty darn good. it is 2 color, using the puzzle plate method, which allows more than one color with only carving one plate. just the thing for a guy who has trouble getting out of bed in the morning.

i pulled 2 proofs monday. one on white paper, the other on the cream-ish paper that i will use for the edition. i now have to get the text ready to go. i will be using the 'pronto plate' method. i just might have to do a tech piece on that. it's a super cool little technique with all kinds of possibilities.

no pics til the edition is done. sorry, you'll just have to wait.

the new me

gonna try to post something most every day, and lest you worry that it will be useless drivel (certainly not from me), i give you this from the whitney museum's faq section;

"Can I submit materials for consideration for the 2008 Biennial?

Unfortunately, no. The Whitney Biennial is not a juried exhibition, and, therefore, there is no submission process."

see i decided to get all bold and cocky like most artists and just start submitting my work to any place that is worthy of it, and see what kind of shows i can get into. i am convinced that is how it happens, you have to be a cocky SOB with a smile,' of course my stuff rocks. i made it. all the cool kids think it's fright, you should represent me, holmes. if you pass, you're gonna kick your own teeth in someday soon for missing out.' or something like that.

anyway, if you make good stuff, start shoving it down people's throats. it's the only way they will ever know you made it.

which leads me to wonder, how do the curators for the biennial choose the work to include? it's not who you know, it's who you...

or something like that.

all stories are love stories

you MUST read eureka street, a great novel with the best opening sentence ever...

on the earth and i

back in the swing. life is beginning to resemble normal again. no more getting kicked in the boys for me for a while i hope.

new work coming soon. relief prints in the hot rod world, resembling drag racing posters of bygone days...monotypes in the style of general gow himself reflecting on the sucky suckfest of divorce and seperation and the impact of all that on kids and having to admit to yourself and your kids that in some way you are a frickin' failure...but it makes for some trippy art, don't it?

...made it to the final round in artistswanted.org contest for a solo show at white box. keep your digits crossed for me homies...

also working on a solo gig in the RI for the spring. and a group show there too with my ink monkey bros and sisses...all the cool kids are hangin' there ya know.

had some stuff in a show at school this fall too. always well organized and tragically underattended. we need to do something about the attendance of these school events at the akilian. think out loud about this with me will ya?

killer new pad, if you havent seen it yet, hit me up for an invite and we'll knock back a couple IBCs. my studio there rocks, and i have cellar space for an acid bath for etching. sadly, no space for setting things on fire. much to linda's chagrin.

have i mentioned that my 'roommate' rocks? she's a ruler.

patience is a virtue

so, there is more coming soon, i promise.

life has been more complicated than i ever imagined it could be.

but work has begun again, and i am building the fire inside.

winds of change

things are really tough around here lately. i'm not sure i will be able to take any classes this semester. i think i need to concentrate on holding things together. not really sure how to do that either, though...

intersession slumber

i haven't forgotten about this place. i have just been a little art sleepy during break. semester starts for me on thursday though, so i will wake up soon.

i haven't made art in a month.

i can't decide if that's good or bad.