//LOGISTICS


Upcoming




architrouve.jpg

My work will be on display at the Architrouve this winter, 2010. I'll post opening dates and details as things get hammered out.

I also have a show at the Eyeporium in Wicker Park with Marianna Levant scheduled for April, 2010. Again, I when I have a definite opening date I'll post it.



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    Discovered

    Wednesday December 9, 2009, 22:14

    On Sunday evening the sun set and I forgot to close the blinds. It was around 5pm and I was at my computer when I heard a rustling outside the front windows; I looked up to see that there were roughly a dozen neighborhood kids staring in my studio windows with wide eyes and jaws dropped. I suppose it must have been strange to suddenly catch a glimpse of my odd, colorful little world. All the paintings that cover the walls and floor, my parrot sitting in his manzanita tree, the gramophone... When they saw me notice them one girl waved and yelled "will you paint ME???" I laughed and waved back, shaking my head. I paint abstract, what can I say? Embarrassed, I politely lowered the blinds. If it had just been a few I would have invited them in, but a dozen kids in here? That would have been nuts.
    link  |  comment

    Guns and Butter

    Sunday August 9, 2009, 08:10

    Back in 2002 I did a series of paintings called "Guns and Butter". They were plain color fields with stenciled objects spray painted on them, and the stencils were of things that are glamorous yet bad for us; specifically, guns, wedding cakes, and my old '68 Dodge Polara. It was a pretty nice series, and I had a couple pieces sell.

    Pink Magnum was bought by a girl who's father had killed himself with a magnum handgun. She called me up and asked to meet with me at the cafe where I was showing, and we spoke over coffee. When I found out why she was buying my piece I felt awful. I didn't want her to be reminded of her loss every time she looked at my painting.

    But in those days I was desperately poor. So I took the $100 and handed over the painting.



    The second painting from that series sold five months later when I showed my work at Around the Coyote. I'd been positioned in a horrible stairwell in a studio about half a mile from the epicenter of the festival, and very few people wandered by to see my work. Generally they were just kids out getting drunk or people who wanted to do something "cultural" but who had no real intention of buying any art. I sat on the hard steps of the stairwell the entire weekend, and endured the awful behavior of the women who's studio it was. They had a tendency to bully in a passive-aggressive way, and in order to keep the peace I'd had to go spend $40 I didn't have on wine and cheese. But I think the real reason they were so mean to me was because I actually sold a piece, and despite all their art degrees, I don't think they did.

    A charismatic middle-aged woman with a small entourage of family and friends came through on Saturday afternoon and she was immediately taken by Pink Cake. I don't remember if she actually bought it on the spot or if she came back for it the next day, but I do remember that after she made the purchase her son came up to me. "I don't think you know who my mother is," he told me. "She's a big collector. The fact that she bought one of your pieces makes me think I should, too." He told me about how his mother had either helped to discover the Outsider art movement or maybe she was just a massive supporter of it - I don't completely recall - but in any case, she was apparently a Big Deal.

    The part of this story that kills me - well, there are actually TWO parts of this story that kill me - Number One is that I lost the check she gave me, and Number Two is that I never had a chance to photograph the painting before I handed it over to her.

    Two years later I actually found the check she'd written out to me, but rather than cash it or save it or even bother to write down her name, I destroyed it, feeling that it would be rude to cash a check so long after it was written. If only I could go back in time and stop myself from shredding it - I could have at least saved it as a souvenir. But all that's in the past now. Abegetan.
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    The cockroach mercy killer

    Saturday August 8, 2009, 23:48

    I come across a large insect struggling on the sidewalk, about an inch long, maybe a bit bigger. It's a cockroach, and two of it's back legs are smashed. It's a hot, muggy August night and the creature must have wandered out from the safety of the cozy drain it's been living in for the past decade, only to be partially mashed by an errant shoe or bicycle tire. The thing is trying to maneuver itself, struggling over and over to move it's oozing legs and walk, but it makes no progress, and it's antennae twirl in agitation. I watch it for a moment and I wonder if it is in pain? If it is afraid? I know it can't have long to live in this condition, smashed up like it is. It must have a nervous system. Of course it does. Of course it has some sense of distress. So that's it, down comes my shoe and I smash it as hard as I can. There, it's done.

    I look up and see that I am near a ritzy club with all sorts of slinky girls hanging around outside the entrance. They wear satin hot pants and silky dresses paired with high high heels, and I feel so different from them. Gold Diggers; they're the future Wives of America, the future Mothers of America, laughing loudly as they're gently petted, prodded and shepherded around by their boyfriends.

    And I'm the Cockroach Mercy Killer.

    My lungs are in pain tonight and I'm not so sure this bronchitis is going to go away on it's own after all. Monday I will go see a doctor if my condition has not improved; walking Pneumonia is not something I want to deal with.
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    Teeth

    Friday July 10, 2009, 16:04

    This has to be the strangest thing I've ever found in my alley - several sets of plaster teeth:



    A little black box just sitting on top of a dumpster getting rained on. Of course I had to see what was inside the little drawers, and of course I had to stow it in my bag when I discovered it was teeth!
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    Scar tissue

    Tuesday June 30, 2009, 10:36

    Finished this piece this morning. It was a fight until the end, culminating in a blue glaze and the complete removal of the original surface. 

    Untitled, 20"x20"
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    The Firehouse at Dawn

    Wednesday May 27, 2009, 23:45



    I reworked the surface, and now I'm happy with it.

    I feel that this piece, as well as Glasser, are on a whole new level when compared to all my other work. The old paintings look dingy and stiff to me now, while the two new ones look so colorful and fresh.
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    Ruin

    Monday May 18, 2009, 11:31

    ruin.jpg

    A building being torn down along Chicago Avenue, seen early this morning.
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    The firehouse at dawn

    Saturday May 16, 2009, 10:07

    jolene_blog.jpg

    With unsanded edges and untrimmed top and bottom, this new 20"x20" piece is a departure from what I typically do, and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. 
    link  |  comment
    //WORK IN PROGRESS


    Black & Blue

    Sunday August 9, 2009, 19:09

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    I tore into a new one this afternoon, and now I'm working on the little details: cleaning off the exposed paper, touching it up with paint in some places, and making additional rips in others.
    link  |  comment


    A hard wall

    Wednesday July 22, 2009, 09:24

    I ripped open a painting last night despite the fact that it didn't feel completely dry, and in retrospect I really should have waited another couple days.
    read more
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    Dark Nancy II

    Thursday July 16, 2009, 19:16

    yellow_190.jpg

    Tore the yellow piece open tonight. Now I'm going to put down a new tarp...the old one has so many holes in it that it's no longer very effective at keeping stray paint off the floor.
    link  |  comment


    The current piece

    Tuesday July 14, 2009, 11:07

    pink_7_14.jpg

    Above, just before I tore into the piece, and below, some of the surface after I'd worked on it for a couple hours.

    pink2_7_14.jpg

    When the piece is finished I plan to seal it with acrylic gel medium.
    link  |  comment


    Menage a 3

    Monday July 6, 2009, 20:54

    workip_7_06.jpg

    I'm currently working on three pieces. The white painting should be ready to be ripped open tomorrow; I restricted the color pallet in it to black & white with a couple layers of fluorescent red thrown in.
    link  |  comment


    Printing with paint

    Friday May 22, 2009, 00:44

    Thumbnail image for printing_380.jpg

    This morning I built & gesso-ed two new canvases, and tonight I laid down the first layer of paint and paper, and imprinted dozens of strips for future use.
    link  |  comment


    Glasser

    Thursday May 21, 2009, 09:29

    glasser_380.jpg

    Glasser
    20"x20"
    paint, paper & asphalt on canvas
    link  |  comment


    Removing the paper haze

    Wednesday May 20, 2009, 20:41

    glasser2.jpg

    Glasser
    20"x20"
    paint, paper & asphalt on canvas

    Last night I discovered a technique whereby I can remove the residual paper from the surface of the canvas without damaging the layers of paint below.
    read more
    link  |  comment


    Tonight's work

    Friday May 15, 2009, 22:51

    Currently, this web site is the work in progress. I'm also working on a couple of 20"x20" paintings, and once I get new sand paper for my sander I'll be ripping into them. Hopefully this will occur tomorrow.
    link  |  comment

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