We Keep on Working, We Keep on Searching, We Keep on Living, We Keep on Being.

I find cause for the purpose in the work to be on the path of continuing to grow and learn and create. We have certain phases as artists where it all just elevates in a chemical amoebic shift into that thing that sets the tone for the next phase, and then we continue, we grow and we hunker down into that trench or current where it all builds again. I have learned so much about my own spirit and mind in the last few years, and the questions, some of the isolation of moments, some of the deep sense of connection of moments, a sense of the subtle pause with which I have approached so much of my own personal art making and growth has lent itself to an almost nostalgic, melancholy, sometimes grim palette. I look forward to letting the questions that were unearthed in this process grow brightly again, to getting my hands good and mucked up with materials, to letting realistic drawing meeting guttural abstract painting to meeting strange esoteric drawings become a guide. I am going to curate a selection of images of mine from the last 8 years, for my own purposes to see, nakedly, how they interact with one another. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Strike Down Upon Thee, 3’x4’, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2014

Porch Lights Glow (Visible Time Study) 40”x30”, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2019

Ben Grimm Feels, 22”x15”, Mixed Media on Paper, 2018

Chicken Hawk Dive, 8’x4’, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2013

Grow Baby Grow (Ritual of Ruin), 30”x22”, Mixed Media on Paper, 2015

Today We Rise, Size N/A, Found Wood Installation Piece, 2011

The Story of Life, 26”x28”, Mixed Media on Found Wood, 2016

The Moment Just Before They Go Charging Forward To Affect Their Righteous Force, 4’x5’, Graphite on Found Drywall, 2019

Southern Time, 40”x30”, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2019

The City My Backyard, 5’x5’, Mixed Media on Found Wood Assemblage Panel, 2018

Onward to Denver

So I will be leaving for Denver Colorado tomorrow morning.  I have never been to Colorado, through Colorado, even really near Colorado, I have flown over Colorado many times, but I have so many friends from and who all love Colorado, so I am excited.  I just saw a woman off at the airport this past Thursday that I can honestly say has really affected my heart and my being in the most amazing way possible, and I really miss her now that she is back in Ireland so this trip is a welcome diversion from the routine of life I have here in Oakland that for the last month and half was punctuated by her presence and was insanely awesome with her being here.  The life of an artist, often alone with amazing moments of love and romance and excitement to punctuate the long periods of insane amounts of work and time alone and time put into being able to work and be alone so as to continue to make work.  Unless you are 100% inescapably wired to be an artist, and you can't not make art in a way that is obsessive and full of delirium and the excitement of the next creation over all, do yourself a favor and don't walk this path hahaha.  So anyway, I board a plane at 10 AM tomorrow and upon arrival I will be seeing my cousin whom I have not seen since I was probably 11 or 13 years old.  Needless to say, I am excited.

My reason for journeying to Denver is to have my first ever show with Black Book Gallery.  I have been watching Black Book for a while now, met Will and Tom at Art Basel last year, and have to say I am very proud to be showing with them.  I have a huge amount of respect for their programming and their interest in showing a range of different artists.  They really care about artists expanding their vision and thus far from my experience they are very supportive and very solid to work with.  We also seem to have a mutual love for BBQ so I definitely look forward to chowing down with them when I get there.

This is a little preview of some selected works that I will have up in the show.  The main figure, except for one piece, in the exhibition is my incredibly close friend, meditation partner, fellow universal explorer, inter-dimensional traveler, and taco enthusiast Jen. She is a very Prime Gnome indeed.  We have had some amazing adventures together and her presence and energy in my life, including the moment we came into one another's lives as friends, have built a dynamic that has helped both of us grow immensely into the people we are today. Without her friendship in so many ways I would not be as clear and making the work I am today and I am definitely very grateful for this.

The narrative thread or journey through this show started when I finally came down from my intense soul crushing experience post New York City this winter.  I suddenly could really think calmly again and began to see and remember in my meditations so many places I have been in the past few years where I really felt deeply in the realm of the spirit, open to the soft voices of the universe guiding me in total acceptance of my path.  Punctuated by moments with Jen and by moments of intensity, the show sort of starts at where I was before meeting her and journey's through the places unseen I entered and explored throughout 2014.  A lot of it came from the culmination of a long term awakening in sobriety that I was able to reflect on and visualize in purely abstract work as well as figurative pieces to punctuate the timeline and different modes of experience the narrative.

All in all this is going to be an awesome week. Zach Tutor at Supersonic Art did a killer studio visit recently you showed absolutely check out as well by clicking this link, Supersonic Studio Visit.  I may even be working on something large while there, but I also may just explore Colorado a bit and enjoy some time away from the chaos. This show continues to mark a time in my career where I am really breaking out of my conventions in a big ways and letting the art come out from deep within rather than pursuing a formulaic approach to certain modes of seeing or image building.  Regardless I am hopping on a plane in about 18 hours and I will update you from the road.

Up Up and Away... to the Great North

I finally roll up to NYC on Thursday to settle in and get going.  In the meantime I have been doing some internet snooping and surfing and just looking at some images and info about some of the NYC that I remember as a littleeeeeeee child in 1980s.  Man how things have changed.  Here is a cool piece from Art Nerd Dot Com that I found just a second ago...

"There are a few places in New York where you can feel like you’ve transported back in time for just a second- when Keith Haring was still ruling New York wall space. The other pieces are more private- the Carmine Pool, LGBT bathroom, Pop Shop ceiling…but the awesome Crack is Wack mural confronts you just as you’re reentering the city after an Upstate excursion on Upper Manhattan.

Restored by the late artist’s estate in 2007, Keith Haring painted this orange and black mural on the opposite side of a handball court wall in 1986 as a reaction to the raging crack-cocaine epidemic in New York. Although we love to glamorize the “creativity and downtown scene” of the 80s, Haring’s piece reminds us that the city was kind of a war zone, with crime and drugs running rampant around the bombed out looking Lower East Side.

This “Crack is Wack” mural was one of the best surviving murals that Haring produced illegally, which is ironic considering the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation was behind the restoration and protection. Its placement on a handball court let’s us feel for minute what it was like to live in New York 25 years ago."

Who: Keith Haring

What: Crack is Wack public mural

Where: 128th Street and 2nd Avenue

"In the Moment" @ The Luggage Store Gallery Nov. 5th was AWESOME!

On Nov. 5th 2011 a multitude of people from various backgrounds and walks of life descended together upon one of San Francisco's, and the world's, most important galleries of all time.  The Luggage Store has been around for over 25 years and has made a permanent mark on the international art scene and the world's creative stage from its inception.  It has helped to get the careers and exposure lights running on many artists that I myself consider to be heroes and icons.  Artists that have made me believe in making art my life, have challenged my thoughts and views, have made me see in new ways, artists whose work ethics I am in sheer awe of, whose sense style and visual language enthrall, whose message through media have made me strive and work hard to become part of this amazing conversation that we as artists have with one another and the world for our entire lives, simply through what we love to make and do. Twist, Swoon, Maya Hayuk, Mark Bradford, Thomas Campbell, Monica Canilao, Stella Lai, The Date Farmers, Christopher Burch, APEX, t.w.five, Kool Kid Kreyola, Os Gemeos, Cheryl Dunn, and many, many, many more were represented in this vibrant exhibition, benefit, and fundraiser to help the Luggage Store's many arts programs and community involvements.  From the mobile projection unit to its curatorial residence, from the Tenderloin National Forest to its artist in residence, volunteer, intern, living wall, just to name a few, they continue to grow and give a voice and supportive environment to minds from all different spheres. This place and the people who founded it, Laurie Lazer and Darryl Smith, have been a beacon of change, love, communication, and  positive energy in a wild and lawless part of one of America's last creative hot beds, for legions of creative minds young and old whom hold it in the highest regard.  I had the pleasure and honor of helping them personally with the creation of "In the Moment" as the designer of their online invite and printed invite card, as well as running around the day of the show helping hang, catalogue, and be a general "get this done now" guy. I also had the honor of putting an 8ft painting from my latest series in the exhibition which honestly was a dream come true.  The work in the show speaks for itself and the exhibition really marks years upon years of dedication and creativity in the Bay Area and beyond.  I made some amazing new friends like Stella Lai, Mari Hashimoto, Yarrow Lazer-Smith, GiGi, Hashimi, and Marsea Goldberg.  I got to hang out with great old friends and fellow artists like Chistopher Burch, Ricardo Richey, Ara Jo, Chris Shaher, Daisy, and Kool Kid Kreyola.  We all talked and laughed and told stories and discussed new ideas and concepts about the future, bleu cheese, Basquiat, Sheepskin City, bagels, lovage, and huggage.   Finally I took some great photos that I share with you here!  It was a wonderful night and event and please check out the show before it comes down on the 26th, it is worth every moment you will spend there.  Thank you Darryl and Laurie for all you have done for the arts and those who make it their lives!  The Luggage Store, to infinity and beyond!