Artist Statement using Random Generator

Using the "Artist Statement Generator 2000" I plugged in a few key words and got this statement:

Through my work I attempt to examine the phenomenon of Thundarr the Barbarian as a metaphorical interpretation of both Winslow Homer and learning.

What began as a personal journey of fuckism has translated into images of pizza and feet that resonate with Irish people to question their own blueness.

My mixed media bikes embody an idiosyncratic view of buddha, yet the familiar imagery allows for a connection between Steve Mcqueen, fungi and steaks.

My work is in the private collection of Robert Guillaume who said 'wow!, that's some real amazing Art.'

I am a recipient of a grant from Folsom Prison where I served time for stealing mugs and tie clips from the gift shop of The Farnsworth. I have exhibited in group shows at Wendy's and Gagosian, though not at the same time. I currently spend my time between my bathroom and Berlin.

New show at Marion Royael!

Current-Exhibit

A new show opens this Saturday at Marion Royael. Go check it out!

Some Pics from my November Opening

I realized I never got around to posting pics from my show that opened back in November. The show was pretty successful and the opening was a great time.

Em always enjoys openings





The artist Alex Grey stopped by. He and his wife live and work in the area and one of my friends (and former students) was taking a weekend workshop with them at COSM so they all decided to come to the show, which was great





And here's Em with the painting of her



I didn't get a lot of pics, and I had a lot more paintings in the show. This was the last piece I finished a few days before the opening

Riding the Rails

George and I mounted a video camera on his train...this is the result:

"Daytrip"

Next Exhibit

Be sure to check out the next show at Marion Royael, featuring some amazing new works by fantastic artists James Gwynne , Brian Edwards , David Coalburn, and April Aguayo

Silent Witness

Current-Exhibit

The opening for my show with Joe Zarra is tonight, 6pm to 10pm.

I'll be sure to post pics if you can't make it.

Silent Witness

My show with Joe Zarra opens this Saturday November 13th.

Last night I finished the final painting for the show. I've still working on a few pencil and colored pencil "studies", just doing some final touch ups and framing.

It feels good to have them done. At the same time, I'm also excited to start thinking about the next works. These last paintings didn't come easy. I started them some time ago...and they changed a lot since then. Originally I had them unstretched to make for easier transport up to the gallery, but that created a whole different set of issues so I stretched them. Now I'm hoping they'll fit in my Odyssey without any problem. Fingers crossed.

The last 5 paintings were a bit of a struggle, which hasn't been the case with any of my paintings for quite a while. Part of the problem is size...most are over 50" high, with the largest being 74". My wall is about 80", so working on the lower sections was a pain, requiring me to be on my knees or in a few cases lying on the fly. Not fun. I need a space with high ceilings and large walls if I'm going to keep working on paintings this big. So if anyone knows of a space they want to donate for me to work, let me know.

I'm never quite sure where a painting or series of paintings will lead me. This last batch birds and bugs started showing up. Will they continue in the next group? Don't know yet.

If you're reading this I hope you're able to get to the opening this Saturday. If not, try and get up and see the works in person. I promise they're worth your time. Here is a preview of a few of the works.

The National at The Wellmont

Cindy and I went saw the National this past Friday. Great band to see live

Landscape Painting class

Yesterday was another day of Landscape Painting out on Sandy Hook. Once again we ended up having a somewhat overcast, dreary day, but luckily the rain held off until we were actually done. And then the sky opened up and a pretty strong lightening storm battered up for a bit.

Anyway, here's a look at my "small" plein air set up, and the quick 20 minute painting sketch I did. I had originally started a slightly larger painting (10"x12" versus this one of 6"x8") but I had a new student and needed to move my set up 10 minutes in. Which is part of teaching, just like the fact that sometimes I'm lucky to even get 20 minutes to make a painting.

Basically, what I end up doing is setting up my kit, then walking around and making sure everyone else is set up, talking about what they are going to paint, their composition, underpainting decisions, and the like. This is a fairly small class - yesterday I had 6 students, for example - so I can spend more time with each, which is nice. But also once I get them all started, and after they get the underpainting down and start blocking in colors, there usually isn't much for me to talk about with them until their paintings start falling into place more.

One of my students decided to work inside our building for the day, and that meant a bit of a walk back and forth from the building to our outside set up, so that ate up some time, but eventually I didn't have anything to say and rather than stand quietly looking over shoulders I figured I'd at least start my own painting.

This is the 20 minute result, which I'm calling a sketch rather than a refined piece.

New Opening Date for My Show

The opening for my next show at Marion Royael has changed from October 9th to Saturday November 13th. This gives the Best Works shows that is currently up (and which I have a piece in the show) an extra month, as well as gives me some extra time to finish work.

Be sure to check out both shows, because if you miss either you'll be regretting it for some time to come...

More from the Best Works Show

Here's some photos of the participating artists (which includes Barbara and Steve Riddle, who are not only the gallerists but fantastic artists themselves)

Marion Royael Best Works Show

This Saturday was the opening for Marion Royael's Best Works show (Marion Royael is the gallery that represents me).

Cindy was busy seeing The Airborne Toxic Event with her sister (and missing half their show), so I went solo.

Suffice it to say it was a fantastic show. Naturally, you'd expect me to say that, since A) the gallery represents me, and B) I had work in the show. But I've been in enough group shows where a majority of the work sucked, and I wouldn't stay with Marion Royael if they were putting on crappy shows.

Anyway, here are some images from opening night. Unfortunately I didn't photograph everyone's work, so hopefully I'll get up before the show comes down. Hopefully you will too.

The 9/11 light memorial

From my porch, I can see the 9/11 light memorial.

Landscape Painting class, and a 40 Minute Demo

This is a quick, 40 minute painting I did for the first day of the Landscape Painting class I'm teaching at Brookdale Community College. We're out at Sandy Hook, NJ for this class, which is a gorgeous place to teach. I've taught 2 summer sessions of Watercolor out there so far, and now this class. Which makes me not only the first professor from the Art Department at Brookdale to have taught a class on the Hook, but also the one that has taught the most classes there.

Since this was a demo, I also did a lot of talking about technique, about color choices and mixing colors, compositional choices, and so on, and the 40 minutes includes that. So really, this is probably a 25 minute painting or so.

I'm hoping that I can do at least a quick painting every single week of class, and this particular group of students I think would prefer that I demo while they paint, because it is a good way to learn.

We'll see though