New Work with Byron Tittle and Michelle Dorrance, commissioned by Duke University coming to the Nasher Museum June 22nd.

One of the largest undertakings of my life as an artist is on the horizon. This is a preliminary announcement that a project I have been quietly working on for over two years is finally coming to light at the Nasher Museum. At the very beginning of 2020, after a year or so of thinking about it this project idea, I created a piece with Michelle Dorrance of Dorrance Dance. It is a collaborative multi disciplinary intersection of sculpture, movement research/dance, and experimental drawing, with deep rooted philosophical, historical, and even spiritual contextual elements. The new work at the Nasher Museum, which is commissioned and supported by Duke University’s Duke Arts, with a co-sponsorship with ADF, and supported by Cassilhaus with whom I will be in residence this summer, will be in fact created live with a performance by Byron Tittle and Michelle Dorrance on a new art object that I will be constructing out of found materials from both North Carolina and New York City. The geographies of the materials coincide with the geographies of all three collaborators, as well as speak to the (so often misunderstood) history of tap dance, thus creating a large and layered contextual conversation with history, space, and the energies therein. It will happen on June 22nd at the Nasher, and I will be posting more in depth links and information about it next week. A full statement and consideration will be release as the performance nears, regarding the piece itself, the collaborators, its place in history, its intention, and context about the involvement of each entity that has come together to help make it happen.

Photo by Mark Murphy for Dorrance Dance

Michelle Dorrance, Byron Tittle, John Felix Arnold, in New York City.

Shifting Energy, collaborative work by John Felix Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, and Byron Tittle, dance movements on reclaimed wood assemblage panel, 2021

The series, titled Echos, has now seen the creation of 3 pieces thus far, one with, one with both fellow Dorrance Dance dancer Byron Tittle and Michelle, and then one with Carol Parker formerly of Pilobolus Dance Company and the White Oak Dance Project. Here is the statement regarding the larger series.

Echos is an evolving body of work that visualizes the temporal languages of dancers’ movements through experimental modes of drawing. At the core of these movements, dancers channel their personal narratives with the lineages and histories of their disciplines, remaining in conversation with the materials they move upon and the spaces they move within. As a visual artist whose foundation is the language of drawing and whose practice exists in context to a lineage and history of drawing, Echos honors and communicates the relationship between visual art and dance. The work offers an enshrined representation of dancers’ energies, movements, and lifetimes in indelibly visualized moments connected to the larger histories from which they have evolved. It is a conversation honoring genres of dance through new, hybrid forms of image making, incorporating live performance and multidisciplinary works which share the process and intimate reality therein. Echos seeks to honor and offer space to the interwoven threads imbued in the work for current and future generations to experience in a way active performance alone cannot. The work exists as a space for the essence and energy of bodies in motion which transcend our two- and three-dimensional perspectives into a fourth dimension of resonance. Echos is foundationally connected to Duke, ADF, and the history of arts and culture.

I am beyond words that this is all happening, and I am so grateful to everyone that has given this project the love, care, energy, and support needed to see it come to life. More info coming soon! Contact me directly for information or press inquiries. Thank you!

-John Felix Arnold

May 19th, 2022

New Work New Space Old Friends

I will keep the text here brief. I have finally settled in more or less to my new spaces in Brooklyn. Here are some images from both the home workspace and some work from the studio. Feeling the energy all around being back in New York. Feeling that electric push, but also with all the years of life thus far under my belt, and a lot of growth, patience, and perspective, slowly finding my voice and direction in my practice. It isn’t going to come over night, but I can tell that this phase is going to be one of the best yet in my life as an artist.

A Time When Reality Bends Opens Everyday

I have been silent here for over a month. Well over a month. I have been trying to humbly keep up with my duties as a human being in a world that oppresses so many, and simultaneously trying to deal with the pace of unfixed, day after day absorption of stillness while the world I see through virtual eyes falls into chaos. I am for starters so grateful that a match finally has been lit for a much larger swath than perhaps ever of people are finally coming together in mass action to support Black Lives and Voices and fight for real human rights, to educate ourselves (like myself, that are not Black or POC and have so much to learn in order to show up and support properly and work towards living lives driven by anti-racism). I am grateful to have an amazing community of people to be able to call and connect with on a regular basis, I am grateful to be in the Bay Area, to have food, shelter, clothing, laundry, income, to be sober most importantly. And within this gratitude and constant objective sober understanding of how fortunate I am and how much everything is in fact “okay” as can be currently, the amount that is not “okay” the disgusting insanity and vileness of the human ego run riot in the U S of A, is chipping away at my sanity and my perspective of focus and forward movement. The looming truth of the heavy slow grey clouds of an imploding, self destructive nation, that will tear its inhabitants apart for the unsustainable systems that are its guts that are the piping for the greed of many who manage it, is a point of crazy making and surreality that will not cease make itself known. I hear echos of “freedom lovers” banging in my ears constantly, I imagine my old confederate ancestors bellowing similar repugnancies, belligerent and blind and so filled with self absorption and literally driven by a total void of empathy or compassion that they were willing to fight for the most vile of human goals in history. They mirror their contemporaries in their ability to take beautiful possibility and turn it into an ugly waste.

Graphite on paper, A drawing of a torn down Confederate monument in Birmingham, 2020

I see these old ghosts in the terrifying behaviors of so many people that act out of a need to disregard the well being and peace of mind and health of others in their own vein grasp of some shred of control in a world will continue to move forward regardless of their unwillingness to change. And this sort of thing, this unfixed period of shifting states of time with echos of insanity and abuses of power is aiding in my own inability to feel tethered to a reality that I have grown to love where I find direction. So in this the challenge of finding pause, peace, and direction may in fact become a very important mechanism for my art and life to find a deeper groove in the record to connect and let sound fly. So much is not getting better, that I am reflecting on what is truly important and finding the depth of community and connection that I need to explore in new ways. We don’t get forever.

Frontline Health Care Worker, Graphite on Paper, 2020

I am moved to rediscover Buddhist writings sent to me by my friend Jin He from the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, and then discover writings I haven’t yet seen that he sent me in May. I am moved to remember that there is a place where this strange space of waking up and not realizing the day or the time or what is “supposed to happen” is a part of the process, and perhaps an important one. I am moved to remember that with or without me the world will go through what it is experiencing, and I have an opportunity to cultivate and resonate good thoughts, constructive visions, and creative power in it al that will have effects I will never know yet will connect in some way. This gives me a moment of wonder in remembering it is okay to feel out of touch and overwhelmed with the world, for without those moments we have no barometer for knowing when we are in the channel and moving effortlessly through space with passion and connection. In that I also have realized I can be compelled to help to cultivate change in this political wave coming up soon. So many things I want to talk about but have to be metered and prepare for to see what actually unfolds. I have also been drawing some things, and getting the courage to write some pieces about my childhood. I have never publicly disclosed some of the darker stranger things I experienced as a child. I want those who know my art and enjoy and find something honest, that find resonance in it, to know that we all go through the darkness in ways that shape us. Here is some artwork i have been creating while the pandemic continues on without any aid by the leader of our nation. Energy is moving forward while egos are rising and falling.

Graphite on Paper, Drawing of a Torn Down Confederate Monument, 2020

Untitled, Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 2020

Helmet, Graphite on Paper, 2020

The Architect of Rock N Roll

RIP Little Richard

A Return to Drawing in Homage

During this time in doors it has become very much evident once again that drawing is the foundation for every side of my artistic voice to date. It started with drawing, it all comes from a mind and heart that intuitively channeled experience and vision through marking making since my time as a wee baby. Drawing is sort of my alpha and omega and I have had an opportunity again in quarantine to fully realize this again. The simple act of sharpening a pencil and letting my hand describe life both physical/tangible and more elusive and emotional is tied to the very core of how I process existence, and it is still the thing that quiets me deep inside and lets me wander around in that limitless space of creative meditation that is where real art making (for me) is found.

Kelly Wong, MD, Brown Emergency Medical Center, Providence, RI

Catherine Chung, RN, UC SD Health Hillcrest, San Diego, CA

Purpose has come into a new view as well. I sometimes go back and forth with my work from a sense of deep purpose to a sort of questioning, wandering feeling of purposelessness amidst the backdrop of arts place in evolving society. I sometimes fin myself lost in a moment of “who is it actually for?” or “what is this doing for people beyond myself beyond markets and galleries and the small percent of the population that cares about them?”, and boom, I am almost always immediately reminded that it isn’t up to me to know much of the time, and that the simple act of creating to honor life itself is purpose. That being said, once in a while a glaring sense of purpose comes in the window and kickstarts the creative engine. I was fortunate enough early on in the Shelter in Place to find the notion arise that drawing portraits of Frontline Health Care Workers was in fact one of the most powerful acts I can put out there right now, an act of support and solidarity, an act of gratitude and homage.

Giancarlo Barrale, Respiratory Technician, Palisades Medical Center, N. Bergen, NJ

From the inception of the this series I have found myself in touch with amazing people that are literally risking their lives to fight Covid 19 while people like myself do our best to stay at home, wash our hands, socially distance, wear masks, respect others space, and do what we can to really support one another in this new normal, and show our support in every way possible for these frontliners. The intent from the beginning was to draw these portraits with PPE to raise awareness for the need of PPE in the pandemic using the tag #getmeppe that I found through Kelly Wong MD. While my drawings have been of health care workers thus far, I also want to remind whoever is reading this that grocery store staff, cooks, servers, drug store workers, food deliverers, so many people are essential and also on the frontlines and we need to really show them as much compassion, support and love as possible.

Ruth Padron, RN, UC SD Health Hillcrest, San Diego, CA

Frontline Health Care Workers for sure have made a huge impact on me in this time. Seeing images of them showing up with no PPE, wear trash bags, covered in Covid fill air, working around the clock to help everyone that they can amidst this absolutely intense moment in history. The Health Care professionals I have had the opportunity to connect with and draw thus far span from Rhode Island to San Diego to Vermont to Brooklyn, NY. Respiratory technicians, MDs, RNs, all working tirelessly so that we might all stay as healthy as possible.

Nicole Gatjens, RN, UC SD Health Hillcrest, San Diego, CA

The question that is America right now is sickening on so many levels to me. As these workers fight for lives and are so up front and vocal about what they need from us so as to stem the tide of this ongoing issue, the arrogance of so many in their response to a simple plea for calm is painful to watch. These people, often underpaid and underprotected are heroes, warriors, centuries of health and community. In response I will continue to do this work to show these people that we do care about their effort and that they are honored.

Alesia Flamen, RN, King’s County Hospital, Brooklyn, NY

I have been working with am Organization called Get Us PPE that is going to be sharing my portraits with their community to raise awareness for the need for PPE in this pandemic and in the future. I also have been able to help the New York based group Feed Da Heroes with a couple portraits to help their food program get meals delivered to health care workers in NYC. We have to balance the ignorance we see so selfishly occurring around us with acts of solidarity, honesty, and support.

Whitney Smith, RN, Vermont

This series has given me peace on so many quiet afternoons and evenings that might have otherwise been filled with the anxieties of the unknown moment we are in. I found that with every mark and ever line, with ever experience of seeing these people come to life on the page, and then the comments and exchanges that have come from posting them and speaking with the Health Care Workers themselves a sort of calm and exuberance of positivity has arisen. These have open my mind back up to the possibility of drawing and the ability I find in it to explore every aspect of the life, past future and present. I have found a new relationship with my ability and also open minded sense of possibility as an artists. The box I had begun to wear that was becoming tighter and tighter in certain ways as the melee of consumerism and society pulled at me on a daily basis has given way to the realization again that community is vital, that we are all here together, and that following joy is often where the best work and direction are found. Not to say that everything in life should be joyful, as I feel that that is naive and just unrealistic, but finding things that bring us that calm sense of joy even as we feel anxiety and fear and sometimes sadness or anger is a guide that should never be overlooked. And thus I have been reminded that drawing for me is a lifeline, a certain joyful act that has never steered me into a direction that I didn’t find awakening and the forward motion of life in, and sometimes that leads me to find a sense of absolute peace as the world screams by.

Joe Pelliteri, Respiratory Therapist, Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY

When it All Stopped, and I Could Hear the Birds Sing While Everything Started to Shift (Life, Art Making, My Time at Duke, and a Fluid Present Moment)

I have been having this recurring image in my mind of the very last scene in Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. The last scene (which unfortunately isn’t yielded by internet image search but I found a part of it) in which Kei, Kai, and Kaneda ride off into Neo Tokyo after the final metamorphosis of Tetsuo and then the rebirth or second coming of Akira. Neo Tokyo is engulfed in pure energy creating a cosmic event in which the absolute destruction of the city prevails and what is left becomes a new beginning for those in the movie and us as viewers. I cannot honestly differentiate all of the images I have seen in films, shows, and graphic novels growing up, from that which I currently see when I walk outside, tune into the internet, or look out my window. The very fact that we have been seeing this our whole lives through imagined lenses (those of us in developed nations, as those in some developing nations have seen this in person often and my heart goes out to them) sets a strange tone of normalcy for me. A strangely numb understanding that this was always coming and was never not going to pass. I am talking of course about the current world pandemic going on. And numbness albeit is not the right word at all. It is more like a quiet unquestioning that this is not at all out of the ordinary, something that we have been predicting, imagining, illustrating, speculating, even forecasting for decades.

Now here it is, and opposite of being at our front door, it is in the very air we breath, it is the emptiness in our streets, the “Take Out Only” signs in our restaurants, the 6+ft of distance we take when passing others. It is the quiet resolve that many of us are taking in saying, “well this is life and we have been living this for thousands upon thousands of years and perhaps this is a part of a larger awakening of humanity as a species”, while others are saying “OMG money is everything, the economy is more important than life, and we are fucked.” This is it, and it is what it is. We, humanity, created a world where many see money, status, ego, and self to be more important than community, healthcare, inner peace, and balance, and we are reaping the benefits of it, as the system that our civilization created lurches toward a big moment of truth. And at the same time, millions of people around the world are unified in working together inwardly and outwardly to adapt and awaken further and continue to exist, and perhaps become more in tune and sustainable and connected due to it all.

Quick side note- In light of all of this, my partner and I are doing the little bits we can to add some light and possibility and support into this world. We are donating some PPE materials to hospitals, trying to become a part of food drops for homeless and underserved communities, buying what little bit of art (prints and such) we can to support people who are in danger of losing their housing in the immediate sense, buying locally as far as food providers, books and games and entertainment, and making sure to stay in contact with our communities and look for other opportunities to be of service.

So, what does this say about myself and my little needs, thoughts, and place. Well honestly, I am nor afraid nor fearless. I am confident that I and those around me and those I am connected to will find a way. We always do. Artists have a strange tendency to be like methodical yet eccentric worker ants, centered and connected to deep creative energy, compassionate and caring, with a dash of rollercoaster like ego, a unique, creative, perspective, and a lot of emotional ocd. We have had to creatively find ways to deal with our own crazy selves as well as a world that we feel “doesn’t get us” (lol), embrace change, fight hard and surrender harder for those things we need and must accept. We ask for help when needed, and have an integral unarguable place in the history of civilization. We do more with what we have than anyone ever thought we could. We build and create our lives and works out of an uncanny drive and flow to exist as we are, always seeking to better ourselves, our communities, the evolution of the art forms and ways of communicating we pursue and embody, and then the world at large. We create a purpose and energy in the world that people need and do support, for it enlarges and sheds a light of truth and questioning into the scope of all things. That is something that existence cannot do without. And we as human beings, whether we realize it or not, are all very much concerned with existence at whatever stage of awakeness we are at. So by saying this, this whole last mouth marbling stream of ideas, I will move forward, I have faced adversity my whole life, thus this begins just another chapter and I am okay with that.

So now to the immediate present current right this moment. I know millions upon millions of people are in the same boat as me, and many in a worse boat. Everything that was set up for me work wise, exhibition wise, revenue wise for rest of the year has suddenly been put on immediate hold or canceled with no clear dates to revisit. I had work going on in three states, and no ability to complete it. Two Residencies now on indefinite hold. Paintings on payment plans that are now on hold. A show in Raleigh, NC in the summer which is now in question. Multiple murals that were going to fund much of my exhibition and my life (ie eating, bills, rent, travel, etc), and not to mention the possibility of a growing body of work that I am using to seek funding for a large ongoing series. All of this was all going to fluidly support and open doors for the continued forward motion I have had to this point. Thus it was all going to keep me surviving, even thriving. But maybe surviving and thriving will take on new perspectives and meanings.

One of the largest hurtles of all that I find myself facing is that my mother, who has Alzheimer’s Disease, is in a memory care facility in North Carolina and I have no idea when I will be able to fly back to see her, or if I will be able to afford it when it is possible. This fact puts everything into a whole new perspective, one where I realize that faith has always shined a large light in my life. I have been so fortunate to be living a life where my path, creative energy and livelihood has afforded me the ability to constantly go visit her and help her transition into where she is at now. She is safer than ever before and in good hands currently. The right possibilities and opportunities have so far set themselves in motion to continue to allow me to show up for her, and find a new community in Durham in the process. I am not saying all of this out of fear or out of anxiety. I am in no way saying that my situation is worse than anyone else’s or is insurmountable. I am one of the lucky ones. I do not have kids to feed, I do not have a big overhead, I do not have deep and problematic medical issues, I have insurance thanks to Covered California, I have a home, I have community, I have a partner that is hugely loving and supportive, I have a loving family, I have access to clean water, food, I am educated, I have access to studio space, I am able bodied, I am in Recovery and blessed to be Sober, I understand my privilege in this world, and I have a working mind and heart that seeks solutions. But even given all of that, the future is very unsure, and what is for sure is that as the world shifts I have no idea what survival might end up looking like. I am so grateful for everyone that has shown me support in the past, to my Recovery community worldwide, to my friends and family, to my collectors, to everyone that has ever liked a post or shared my work with others, to organizations I am affiliated with, and to the big community of creative power that I am a part of. So I take it in stride, be of service to those that clearly have more on their plates, keep meditating, and just continue to be thankful for what I have in front of me right now.

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

When this all came to a head I was in Residence at a major University making art, installation work to be exact, sharing ideas and building relationships. I was invited by Bill Fick to come a create a site specific installation at the Rubenstein Center for the Arts at Duke University. Being from Durham, NC where Duke is located, I was asked to create a piece that speaks to my experience and relationship with Durham as it continues to change and grow. I came to Durham a few weeks ahead of schedule, but was greeted with some large family issues and had a hard time getting off the launch pad. Nonetheless, as artists always do, I surrendered to that oh limitless power of the creative universe, asked for help from my community, offered service where I could, dealt with my personal issues, and channeled much of it into the creation of work which always guides me through. Being in Recovery I also fully connected with the community in the Triangle and continued to grow and have a little more energy in the tank every day. The piece was really coming along well when suddenly it became screamingly obvious that it was time to be responsible and go back to Oakland where my partner and I live. Duke announced they were closing programs and buildings the next day and my residency was postponed until it is deemed possible to come back. Thus meaning that I do not receive my stipend until the end of the project. Simply put, this was the first hurtle. And though it puts me at a strange impasse right now as part of the larger web I explained earlier, my partner and I and those in the arts community continue to navigate what’s next. It will find a way.

Here are some photos of the project thus far…

I had an amazing studio as part of my time at Duke, and experienced a beautiful North Carolina snow. Here are some more images shot by Robert Zimmerman and myself.

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

Photo by Robert Zimmerman

Nature is our creator, we are nature, it is us, we not separate from it. But humanity’s “nature” is a strange one indeed. We are in connection to limitless knowledge and awakening and possibility, made of the same stuff that is the universe, yet blinded by our own ego’s inability to perceive something beyond itself and not stumble over our own feet trying get over on one another and show the planet that we somehow own it. This is one of those moments when humanity has an opportunity to take the humble course and admit that life is as precious as the whole of what we are created from. As an artist, as a creative, as someone who believes in community, in awakening, in consideration and compassion, in acceptance in both the form of striving ahead as well as taking a step back in reflection, I definitely am in a state of willingness to stay flexible, to stay connected to the possibility that this experience will help me find better ways of living. It will not be easy at all, nothing worthwhile or truly changing ever is. But it will be life, and it will be real. I embrace what is coming as best I can, and I have a commitment to my practice and my art that will continue on. Health care workers and food chain workers take precedent right now. If I can help support and show up for others in any capacity, please do not hesitate to reach out. I will always do my best to show up and help given my capabilities. If you or anyone you know can help support my own and the practice of other artists please do not hesitate to contact me, as we need your support right now as long as it is not impeding the support of our health care workers and others as integral as they. My heart goes out to everyone that is having a hard time physically, financially, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and is wrapped in fear and paralyzed by it. Please reach out to anyone you can, including myself if you need to. We all do this together, we always have, and we always will, despite how many in the word make it seem. I love you.

-John Felix Arnold III 03/24/2020

Residency at Duke University

It has been a busy time at Duke for the last couple of weeks. I moved in a week ahead of my residency date and got to do some painting to warm up with in the studio. It’s amazing being a resident here. Here are some images of what has thus transpired. More to come. Oh and it snowed one of the nights while I was here!

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

Residency With Budman Studio

I have had the wonderful pleasure of working in Jim Budman’s famous Venice Studio in Los Angeles for the past two weeks. I have come to many new artistic conclusions, gotten deeply underway on my show for next summer with Anchorlight in Raleigh, NC, and had some amazing times with Jim and the whole crew over at the studio. I look forward to writing more extensively about this soon, but these photos will tell the tale for now.

Raj Bunnag : A Printmaker You Need to Check Out

I met Raj Bunnag at my solo show opening at Runaway in Durham, NC last October. We talked about 90s anime and manga, comic books, and then some of the more philosophical aspects that these things evoke in some of us. It was a really solid conversation to be honest. I have since had the pleasure of spending some time with Raj, who is coincidentally one of my new favorite artists and just all around awesome human beings. I have been making frequent trips back to NC this year for family and art reasons, and getting a chance to link with him is something I look forward to. He is a prolific, hard working, bad ass, print maker and all around art maniac. He really breathes a lot of energy into the creative climate in Durham and beyond, and is truly starting to make his presence known with talks and print workshops at Universities nationwide, a show coming up in Atlanta, GA, and a work ethic that makes me feel like I am sitting on my hands watching time go by.

I have had the pleasure of hanging out and experiencing his studio on a two occasions now, and both times I was floored by the work I saw. He took me on a chronological journey through his life, his art making, his process, and where he wants to head. Each chapter visually depicted by massive prints, handmade frames, ephemera, wild drawings, nostalgia, signs and signifiers of his personal narrative. Explosive energy, and deep rooted life force abounds here. His work is loose and gestural, yet hyper detailed, cluttered, and insane in the best ways. His work for me was akin to Albrecht Durer and Ralph Steadman having a DMT baby. The tropes and narratives he embraces emit so much personal resonance to his character and view of the word around him. His work is a fully realized deafening wave that comes from the deepest reaches of his mind and core of his spirit. His work is investigative, honest, personal, and nightmarish at times.

His focus is obsessive, his love of his craft is unshakeable, and his desire to keep studying, working, and creating is impressive. It came as no surprise after seeing his work and getting to know his ambitious personality that print making legend Bill Fick seems to whole heartedly believe in him. His massive prints create waves of time and darkness, dealing with literal narratives like the drug trade and war, enveloping all in its wake. He deals often with aspects of humanity at its worst. Yet at the same time to pull back from these prints, the amoebic waves of forms and details often feel like a thick calming blanket of reassurance that life constantly wraps us in its unstoppable power. Much like the ocean in its seeming endlessness, his work for me is both terrifying, comforting, and liberating, helping me to have no other option that just to be in acceptance of the beautiful chaos of existence.

For all the visions of dark violence, and the obsessive sleepless nights of carving out expanses of lino, all the marathons of rolling out inks and producing epic pieces of art, Raj has an extremely warm heart and sense of empathy and kindness. He loves animals like few others I know, as he and his wife have a household of four legged friends who all seem to get tons of love. He is someone that truly loves experience and connecting with people in a genuine way. We have gotten to know one another over some bowls of Pho at Mekong in the Research Triangle Park outside of Durham, and I am all the better of a human being for these moments of breaking bread with him. He cares about creativity, honesty, hard work, character, and being a stand up, open minded person, and seems to expect the same from those in his circle.

Raj is the real deal. The day he stops making art I would imagine will be the day he hits the dirt. He is constantly digesting books about history, art, art theory, and the inter-workings of the bizarre world we live in. His personal narrative and history is intensely interesting and it conveys in his work and how he lives his life. It is as if he has to tell his story and the stories that surround us all that fascinate him, that he feels need to be experienced as he sees them or else he will literally combust. He is currently working on a series of drawings and prints investigating street food carts in many different forms, and the stories and energy they and their commanders and surroundings carry with them. I for one, as a new fan of his practice, am super excited to see where it all goes and to continue to keep up our dialogue long into the future.

Raj’s work can be found at https://www.rajbunnag.com as well as in Hi-Fructose at https://hifructose.com/2019/04/24/the-massive-linocut-prints-of-raj-bunnag/

Old Ghosts, City Spirits, and Fun in The Rain.

I had the opportunity to show new work at Black Serum in San Francisco’s Mission District recently as curated by a long time colleague and friend. The above painting was one of the pieces I had on display with the show. The last month and half has also seen the creation of a new mural at Littlefield NYC, a trip to North Carolina for personal familial reasons, work on a continuing commissioned installation in Oakland’s Jack London Square, and some headway on future endeavors for the next year to come. Of all of this, the most pressing and demanding has definitely been being back in North Carolina helping with some issues back home. While there is no need to illustrate the realities of age and time in words here, there is a need to step forward in life to make sure that I am present and always ready to put my self aside to be there for those I love. I have nothing but faith that within this action of compassion and purpose all of those things I seek to achieve and create will come to fruition in ways better than I could have imagined. And should they not end up becoming a reality, well then the elements of life that arise from their exit will no doubt be an even more fitting part of the path, as they have proved to be time and time again in the past.

Littlefield Mural 2019

Always Beautiful in the North Carolina Sun

AQ and I in Tokyo

Waffle House in Durham, NC

Books and Stain

Goma Fire Ceremony

Ceremonies, fire, ritual, collective growth, anxiety, love, passion, thought, manifestation of ideas, and life as it comes to us are all aspects of being that channel their way into my work of late. Time has also been something I have tried to embrace as it is lately. The moments I can invest in the nail biting energy of hard work are not the only passings of time. The steady inner adjustment to the march of time and my abilities and limitations there in have also been in the forefront, seeking to be grateful and helpful despite sometimes feeling powerless and dark. Everything is everything.

North Carolina Posters are Pretty Aweseome after all

Currently Installation Commission in Progress

One piece at a time.

Signs of Life, Durham, NC

Coby Kennedy Killing It

Enfield, NC

Colors

Pay Attention to the View

Tokyo From the Air

I am sitting in Raleigh, NC, on a visit home right now reflecting on the world, life, home, how I got here, and also simple things like how much I dig the new True Detective season with Mahershala Ali, the fact that soda water is the truest refresher there is, and why North Carolina BBQ is so damn good. So many things have been moving through my mind of late. Two projects currently under way in the Bay Area, a huge mural coming up in LA through a Dept. of Cultural Affairs grant, wanting to be in LA more to spend time learning from my mentor there, so many exhibition ideas that have been in the mind’s eye for years starting to become actual possibilities in this reality, there is more.

The Power of Certainty, Painting on Wood Panel, 40”x30”, 2019

Bill Dunleavy, co-founder of Superchief Gallery and Director of Superchief Gallery Los Angeles and myself at the Parker Day opening in Los Angeles, CA.

What happens when we decide to show up for family in times of age and growth, how do we move from a life of 12 years in one place into the next phase of our development. Do our intentions and true direction in life often or always take use where we need to be despite what might seem logical in a mine field of late capitalism, societal structures, and broken status quo idealism? Is it that simple pure energy inside that isn’t about feeling good all the time or convenience or efficiency for the sake of investors, but about truly living, exploring what we have at our fingertips with the bodies and minds we were created in and with, that is our vehicle for truly finding what lays beyond systems of servitude to things that don’e elevate us? I feel alive.

Studio, Oakland CA

Eating Blintzes with my friend in Alameda, CA

Plain and simple, I feel alive. I am excited about life’s challenges, failures, and successes. I am mostly excited about the fact that through it all we learn, we grow, we become better versions of ourselves if we are willing to embrace the energy that is readily supplied us. I first time in a while feel optimistic despite how fucked up our nation is, as it is doing a sort of final vomit of so much poison that it is inside. Maybe not a final vomit, nothing is final, but something, some tearing and some ripping is happening, and from it comes a new way.

Current detail of an installation commission in progress in a new Apartment Building in Oakland, CA>

Berkeley, CA

I prayed and meditated and accepted and received the energy of the blood moon the other night. It filled me with a sudden awakened moment of remembering, that energy of choice, to let it fill me and guide me and be the path is always real and always there. So I say work for it, work to stay in it, filled with it, work to go and keep it unfolding and see what sorts of amazing things we can create, share, communicate, love, and find form and formless purity within.

Okunoin Graveyard, Koyasan, Japan

Late Capitalism, Oakland, CA

So to all this I say, in a more brass tacks kind of way, there is a lot being made and thought out right now. The response to aging and to the worlds ceaseless suffering and infatuation with it has me moving the opposite direction. There are projects, shows, and even some new endeavors in the works. Reprinting my zine Anime Mixtape again soon, getting ready to keep cranking out some new large paintings and assemblages of smaller works exploring armor, the psyche, patterns, ritual, personal and geographic history as a means of identifying our own multi faceted portraits of existence. The gears keep turning and I am also super grateful to be surrounded in a larger international sense, by a community of amazing creatives and people that support and drive each other to keep reinventing and riding our waves. Lastly i will say, I have some work in a small group show coming up from a long time friend and curator who I am honored always to work with in San Francisco. More to come on that soon… thanks for stopping by.

Interstate 5, CA

Portrait of Me at Waffle House in Durham NC, Shot by my brother Parker.

2019 Moving Forward

I have been in the studio when possible, working on a large interior project, planning out future endeavors, and seeking within and in new books and sources of information to continue to learn and grow The new year has arrived, a continuing moment in the narrative of every breath. I am stoked to have a few studio shots and share some more travel images with you. I have been discovering more about myself and my painting and am looking forward to embarking on some new drawings soon as well. Things are shifting, changing, and directions forming and beckoning. Pretty happy to have closed the door on a successful 2018 and be able to look back at one of the best years of my life.

Anime MIxtape @ Runaway, Durham, NC

My solo exhibition Anime Mixtape opened this past Friday in Durham, NC at the Runaway Flagship store. The reception was something else. I cranked with my friends and art installation assistant until the wee hours of Friday morning and sleeplessly went throughout the day finishing up the details and getting everything smoothed out. The reception was insane, so many good people came out to support and I saw old friends, new friends, family, and folks I had never before met that were fans of the work. I feel hella blessed right now and am about to hit the hay at my father’s house in Raleigh, NC. Here are some images

Testing

Editing

Eightballs of Buttons

Buttons

Big Works on Paper, Spray Painting Frames with Matte Black… Ahhhhhhh the beautiful process of love.

Framing

Floor Layouts.

Installed

Zine Pages

24 Hour Streaming

Cosmic Bundle

Final

Install

My Guy Kiran

Peeps

Doom No Like the progress

Mom

Intensity

The fam! Beautiful family and friends.

Another show, another story, another time to reflect.

I Magnin Historic Painting Commission Part 1 : Production

This summer I was asked to create a commissioned work for the lobby of the historic IMagnin Building in downtown Oakland. The building was erected in 1931 and designed by architecture firm Weeks and Day. It housed an upscale department store until it closed in 1995. It is an amazingly beautiful green marble art deco building and an official historic Oakland structure. It was recently renovated and as per the renovation I was asked to create a piece for its lobby. Having been a part of the Bay Area and specifically Oakland off and on for the last 12 years I was honored to be asked to do this. The only request was that the piece reflect a vision of Oakland by way of an intimate relationship with this city. I chose to explore this task with a style of found wood assemblage that at one point of my career I was very much known for. A style which I have been slowly re-immersing myself in, thus this was absolutely perfect timing. In this series of blog posts I will go more in depth and explain the project further, my process, my feelings on it, how it came together, the narrative behind, and its installation.

In this first post, it is important to note that as the city of Oakland is developed at an extremely fast pace, as people are displaced and old dwellings torn down in the name of progress, I find it vital to work to save aspect of this physical come metaphysical history from being destroyed and forgotten or lost in the attention deficit short term memory of our accelerated culture. The beginning of this project was a practice in communicating, in listening to the street and letting the city guide me in the collection and discovery of cast away pieces of wood from many different areas. Thus creating a real time based narrative tapestry of tangible objects packed with stories, spirit, energy, and a vibrant history that will continue to transmit its truth from the lobby of the IMagnin building well into the future for Oaklanders new and old to reflect on and investigate. The act of gratitude and humility in turning to this living breathing place steeped in history accepting it’s direction and guidance is one of the most felt experience I get to have as an artist. It is a true conversation with time and my surroundings. To be set on a path to explore and give thanks for those things left behind that are there waiting to be repurposed and given a new place to continue to inspire us is really an honor and something that I do take as a gift. This city has so much to say and this process allows me to hear so much of it and honor that language.

In the next post I will speak more on the construction of the panels and the dialogue felt with the materials as well as how the studio came to be utilized and more of the intuitive and intellectual process of creating the work one step at a time… stay tuned and thank you for reading.

Photos

Just met up with a local SF Artist and rad dude named Matthew Badja at Flywheel in the Haight. Much of his practice consists of Photography and some really cool social practice, street installation work. Anywho, I feel inspired myself to post some photos for you gals guys and gender benders. I hope you enjoy. Please contact me if you would like to have prints of any of these.

Portrait of Musician Julie Moon in the MIlls College Bathroom

American Tobacco, Durham NC

Photoshoot with Mackenzie James in Tenderloin Neighborhood Building Basement, SF

Camping in the Sierras, California

Camping in the Sierras, California

Mutsumasa Hakozaki, Artists Studio in Kyoto, Japan

Zine Life

I am working on a new zine for an upcoming show this fall. I am pretty excited about it. It will be less direct theme based or hyper specific and be more of a stream of consciousness flow of ideas and creative inspiration and personal history. The may be a frame work into a larger narrative world as an over arching structure but we shall see where it goes thus far. Haven't made one in a long time and really want to create something new. Here are some sample page ideas...

A Recent Commission

Not long ago a great artist, business man, and friend commissioned me to create "literally whatever you want" as was explained by him. We share a love of anime and manga, a love of expressive painting and art that evokes narrative, feeling, and permits us to explore time and our own emotional content as tied to memory and to the way that certain pieces of our upbringings help us to channel our present and communicate with others. He is a painter as am I, but our languages aesthetically are very different, yet we find so much depth and connection in one another's language. So it was an honor to paint this for him with the freedom to just go in on it.  I wanted to craft something that spoke to our mutual love of certain manga, to our mutual reality of facing adversity and through acceptance, hard work, dedication, surrender, passion, persistence, and the duality of chaos and thus finding the space to be still through the journey we call life. This is piece is very special too me. It is so personal and then upon it's delivery my friend Kent who commissioned said to me, "This painting is everything to me." Sometimes we have moments in this cosmic puzzle that really shed light on the fact that existence is so far beyond what we see and think on a daily basis. I am working on editing some better shots of this piece but here are images of this diptych for you to see. It is two panels, both 3'x4', house paint, spray paint, acrylic paint, tempera, pencil, oil pastel, acrylic lacquer, and more. 2018 

06/01/2018 Superchief Gallery 6 Year Anniversary Show! NYC X LA X MIA

That's right, the MEGA ANNUAL GROUP SHOW is here at the Tri Lateral Superchief Empire respective headquarters, aka LA NYC and MIAMI! I am so stoked to have been down since 2013 and the movement moves on. I am showing a new but classic piece called Beautiful Future! Sumi Ink on Paper at the LA gallery. And here are some flyers for ya'll as well.... Stay weird you freaks.

In the Studio...

Here are a few recent studio shots. About to get really busy...