Sitting in the Rain, Warm inside of San Francisco.

 

So I have been working on two amazing projects for two amazing clients/collectors as of the last couple of months. Soon to be unveiled. Feeling the strong pace of good things happening. I am getting ready to embark on a journey to NYC to paint for long time amazing collaborators and friends the Littlefield owners (Julie and Scott) as they open a new theatre and restaurant. Trying to wrap these two pieces here in the Bay and then head to the city that raised me.

More to come.

 

The Road Less Considered, (by me in the past anyway.)

It has been almost three months since my last writing. Since the temper of the times showed me what it means to come to a moment of intense reflection and an almost forced departure from beating my drum or marching orders dictated by self. A moment to glow instead of shine, to appreciate the shadow and wander with intention back into the warmth after a long period of time wrought in that chaotic yet dutiful darkness that surrounds and stretches out like quicksand sometimes. A celebration of blood and intimacy, along familial lines that are not bound to genetic connections but spiritual ones as well. It is the lines in the sand that are meant to be blurred, the fixed ratios that change when the path of life's necessities informs us to broaden our concepts of what is possible and admit what is in fact destroying us. When the reality of tasks found in limitation become a beacon for hopeful presence after the affirmation of their lesson to not be repeated, morphing into a water slide of mobility in the soul. Allied with a sense of what can be after admitting what cannot is, I feel, one of the great cornerstones of the adaptable, the progressive spirit, and beyond politics or business but able to pay heed to their inner workings within the society we must deal with in all of its maladjusted, subject to human error difficulty. We are not here to herd ourselves into oblivion, actually I think many are. I watched the election while painting and experiencing a perpetual anxiety attack in my deepest breathes. Now I breath deep of the spirit of presence, I see a path that is not found in my insecure notions of a lack there of, but in an open minded acceptance of abundance and responsibility. The training is life, never deny it and never run from it. 

RIP ARA JO

RIP ARA JO

Found In Darkness 2012 Book and Job Gallery

Commissioned Painting 2016

Commissioned Painting 2016

Studio Shot 2016, Getting Ready for LA

Spectre Arts Residency Human Bodies Writhing in a Bed of Narrative Language and Spray Paint Explosions.

I have been in the studio for the last 13 days working on some expansions and digging into the history of dance in NC that I am a product of by way of my parents lives in the 1980s and 90s. I have been doing some new studies, just exploring depth and fluidity, drawing, color, building small pieces up as I discover how to bring this into my larger work flow.  The work going on in my residency has been slowly bubbling up to the surface for quite some and.  It is liberating to explore something far beyond the graphic and abstract, and then see how it can come full circle as part of the whole language I have developed thus far.  The content is tied to a very deep point of resonance for me, something I have only in the past few years truly acknowledged that I need to investigate and feel come out due to the way in which it shaped my experience in life to this day.   I be painting.

Tomorrow at Superchief Gallery Los Angeles, Language of Memory Closing Party!

So all good things must come to an end. On the flip side, this year of our lord, 2016, has been a tidal wave of terror and insanity, so I am quite happy that it is coming to an end. As a sign of hope, celebration and creative strength, Language of Memory, that has graced the walls, floors, and open space of Superchief Gallery LA is up until the end of tomorrow night. So tomorrow Saturday, December 10th our buddy Bill Dunleavy, along with Dana, Mickey, Oscar, Taylor, Maddy and the Butter That Bread Crew will be hosting a closing party for what has been an awesome show. It is from 7-10 or later, I wish I could be there but I am in Durham, NC doing a residency right now. We recently received a great write up from CHPTR Media via Phil Nacionales. He really nailed the scope of the show, the influences, the background, the purpose, intention, everything, and gave us a really positive review.  you can peep it here... 

http://www.chptr.co/2016/12/09/john-felix-arnold-iiis-felixthethirdrock-languageofmemory-featuring-andrew-klein-andrewstrife-showing-superchief-la/

It was seriously an amazing experience being in LA and working on this while the world continued to explode and rip it's own guts our of it's mouth and ass and just generally go ape shit all around us. I was painting the large black and white amoebic Astroknot on the wall while Trump was being elected president.  In light of recent events in Oakland I am dedicating this show to Ara Jo and the all those lost in the tragedy at the Ghostship, and to all the artists in our community that face even more diversity now as the eyes of the system and developers see a further way in to force us into their maze. Language of Memory is for all of us that evolve and move forward to love and try to make the world a more interesting, shared place. I hope you go and experience it in it's last day.  Here are some photos of production, the show, and the opening that happened on November 12th and more. Big thanks to Bill and Marcella, Erica, Dana, Nathan from Boston, Travis, Oscar,  Mickey, Maddison, and Chloe for helping make this happen!

We Built a damn house in the gallery that we then turned into a damn temple damnit. Success.

irish.jpg

Photo of the Day 12/08/2016

In 2009 Ara Jo and I were together, venturing to Washington State to see my friends Nick and Renee just outside of Seattle to go camping and get some nature in our lives. This is one of my favorite photos I ever shot of Ara in all of her optimistic, connected, cosmic glory. She is one of the most profound humans to have ever walked this earth, she changed my life forever, she changed all of our lives forever. Ara was pure energy and love, and now she has transcended this world into something bigger than we know here. She couldn't be contained and one day we will get to see her light in the next life. RIP Ara Jo. I love you forever.

Language of Memory @ Superchief, recap updateeeeeeeee

I am in North Carolina, getting settled in before the Residency I am about to partake in at Spectre Arts in Durham. I have a lot of photo editing to do but here are some images from the finished Language of Memory exhibition at Superchief LA.  The show is up until December 10th so I advise ye go see it if you are in the LA area. We put it in big time on this... A fully immersive experience...

 

Shrine to Ororo Monroe

TOMORROW NIGHT, Saturday 11/12/16! At Superhchief Gallery LA, "Language of Memory"

It's here! Tomorrow night at Superchief Gallery in DTLA, 739 Kohler St., LA, CA 90021, from 7-11pm we are having the opening reception for Language of Memory. It is a solo art effort by myself with amazing sound work by Andrew Kline (Strife, World Be Free), and new immersive installation work that I am very very proud of!!!  If you are in LA please come and support and experience the show and Superchief. 

Zach Tutor at Supersonic Art just dropped this awesome piece of press on his blog for our show today!  http://supersonicart.com/post/153041964017/john-felix-arnold-iii-andrew-klines-language

“Language of Memory” is akin to the worlds of Kirby, Lichtenstein, Kienholz, Duchamp, and the RZA swirling and colliding into one moment, but only as Arnold and Kline could realize. The exhibition is a highly conceptual vision of a post­-apocalyptic future in which iconic characters and reference from our current world take on a larger presence and meaning within a new society. This is a time in which humanity’s obsession with power and dominance led to the creation of living war machines that turned on their creators, having destroyed the world as we know it. In this reality concepts of survival, spirituality, memory, and existence have taken on new meanings."

Coming Up in a Month...

Language of Memory is one month out, and we are very excited about getting into the gallery in the beginning of November to get some Installations built and get to work for the final push.

 

Photos from Japan, May 2016

I have finally been editing more photos from my trip to Japan this past May.  Getting through them slowly but surely. Here are some shots. I am getting ready to start an in home commission project using a lot Ukiyo-E and Japanese imagery and subject matter... Brainstorming

 

Los Angeles Adventures

I want to make a real shout out to LA and all of its amazing people, places, and things that have been so supportive and crucial in my time down here.  I felt alone and sort of lost for a moment there the first week, but have been thrust into a world of real goodness down here. And some of the most delicious tacos of my life XP. Hopefully I will be getting out to some galleries this weekend and seeing some good art and meeting some new folks.  But for now I am volunteering at the JACCC in Little Tokyo and really enjoying becoming a part of a thriving community.  Good things are here now and good things are coming.