Faith No More Poster

Every once in a while I do something that feels like it took an evolutionary leap. Like I've turned a corner and headed down another street. This image is one of those. There's something happening to my art right now that I like a lot. Feels a bit out of control and aggressive. I've been drawing like crazy. So much in my head...

Thanks to Mr. Patton for being rad.

"The Gorgon" Painting @ Warhol Museum

Here's a new painting that I did for the Warhol Museum's Playboy Redux exhibition. The show opens this Friday.

"Incense Burner" Painting

Here's a new painting that I did for an upcoming show called "Balls Out" at Bwana Spoon's Grass Hut Gallery in Portland. Sort of a new-old direction. Feels very free and good. Show opens next Friday, April 2nd.

Twentywonder & a NEW PRINT!

It may be a little late for me to post about this, (but my computer melted down & f-ed everything up!). Anyway, here goes: I did the identity image for this amazing event called TWENTYWONDER that happens tomorrow night (Saturday, March 6th). It's a benefit to raise awareness about down syndrome (Trisomy 21). They asked to use the image for a limited edition print that they could give to big-spenders who bought the high-end tickets. Rather than using the goofy eye-grabbing Beatle-Helper image, which didn't seem like it would make a great print, I gave them a new piece. I saw the proofs and they look really nice! It's super limited, so grab one while you can & do something good while you're at it! ...Oh, and also go to one of the funnest parties ever!!!

Maifest Equality

This is one of three paintings that I did as part of an installation piece called "Access Point" for this weeks mammoth Manifest Equality show. The painting is at the top of a three foot tall tower, facing upward. It's easy to see for everyone. The second painting is at the top of a six foot tower and is more difficult, but not impossible to see. The third painting is nine feet up and impossible to see unless you have a ladder, know someone who is part of the event, know me, or if you buy the piece (which I highly recommend).

The idea is about elitism and seems a bit pessimistic compared to the general tone of the show, but as hard as I tried I could not think of a way of expressing my feelings about the issues of human rights and equality without expressing anger and discontent. The restriction of access is, on many levels, a recurring theme in my life. For me, it is that constant struggle to be taken seriously as an artist. It seems completely frivolous when I compare that struggle to what members of the LGBT community must deal with on a daily basis. At any rate, I hope it translates.

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Mat Gleason Tells It Like It (Probably) Is.

I read this in Coagula a few weeks ago and it's been rattling around in my brain ever since. I love Mat's take on the art world. Always insightful, honest and entertaining. Very low bullshit factor.

Art World Mumbo Jumbo Gets (kinda) Interesting!

Check out editor Tim Griffin's opening letter in the February issue of Art Forum.

If you can stomach the artspeak there are some interesting ideas. The main one that struck me was this quote: "Our greatest possible mistake in art, I suspected, was to think we were so special, or even that we were somehow set apart."

It's interesting to read such candid pondering about the very relevance of the institution of the intellectual art world. It is, however, not intended as an admission and he goes on to long-windedly defend the idea that in order to ponder the question one must blather on about "prisms of networked communities and nonhierarchical corporate management structures" & the need to compare them to "“flexibility, organicism, accessibility, [and] eloquence” of Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s installations".

I like what he has to say about Deitch and MOCA, too. "...it is possible that his appointment merely reflects changes that have already come to pass in museums, and is jarring only on the symbolic level."