Kara Walker Exhibition at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn, NY, 2014 
Sculpture
Another Year Has Come to a Close!!! Thank You 2014!
What a Year what a year what a year! This was probably my most focused year to date! When I established the production calendar for 2014 I was a bit nervous to be honest, anxious in a healthy way though. I found myself saying "Holy shit can I really do this? Can I really handle this entire chain of events and stay sane with a job and my AA program and all in between?" But it was a healthy thought, a positive forward looking sort of nervousness, an affirmation that I was meant to take this challenge and push forward! And sure enough, it all happened, and more that came down the pipe out of the blue, and honestly I have to say I fucking rocked it (Hahaha)! I definitely hit my limit, and it is good to know ones limits for sure. Needless to say, I will be in NYC in 2015, and Coby Kennedy and I are coming for you (hahaha)! Blade Runner Steez!
As I grow and change and move and progress and love and live, coming to understand ones self and ones strengths, ones weaknesses, ones limitations and once fierce powerful drive, to find those things that keep us going, to find those things we need to let go of, to find those relationships that hurt and those that help and nurture us is really at this point in my development what life is all about. It is this process of seeking that is LIFE to me. It is not how many shows I can do, it is not how many instagram followers one has, it is not how many things one can pile on and accomplish, it is not praise, it is not critique, it is not money, it is not recognition, it is not affirmations of love and working through loss; it is all of those things, it is every piece of the cosmic puzzle, it is the SEEKING that all of those elements are a part of, that creates the road map and the experiences and signs and guides and milestones and failures and successes and insights that one can truly manifest and become knowing of their own energy so as to continue seeking as a part of all things. We are all a part of all things in the universe, we are all connected constantly whether we realize it our not. It is how when I seek, when I concentrate inward my spiritual center can be found amidst and working through all of these things. It is simply to be aware, to be positive, to be seeking, and simply BE.
I have to say, the spiritual practice that I have come to find as the cornerstone of my life has really expanded and been investigated, and really is what saw me through this year and made me come to find what true happiness is. I can honestly say, this year I found what happiness truly is to me at this point. I had an awesome partner in this journey, my friend Jen, that I was fortunate enough to have come along for what we ended up calling TTT or Transcendental Taco Tuesday, where we explored some new heights and complexities and simplicities in exploring the world within our selves that is a gateway to the universe and all of its different dimensions and planes of existence. Needless to say, I say some visions, saw intricacies and portals, guides and animal friends, pure energy and the elements of creation and destruction and all that is everything and nothing. We also ate some incredible tacos and talked about life and the universe and contemplated our places in it all to an extent I have never really experienced with another person.
I experienced pure love like I have never felt before as I grew and learned and felt and loved with Julie Moon (the illest Piano player ever btw) and saw another person in recovery climb up out of the ego and the fear that is addiction and alcoholism, through trauma and pain, to find herself and help me find myself, and in the process find ourselves together. We experienced new heights in understanding, compassion, exploration of ourselves and each other. We found what acceptance, patience, intimacy, chemistry, attraction, arousal, sexual exploration and openness, respect, willingness, compassion and an utter devotion to one another's creative evolution and freedom, to understanding that we have to be happy with ourselves in order to love one another, to what respecting and truly loving another human being for who they are on all levels truly means. She is in Korea right now living out her own dream of seeking, and playing music, and re-investigating her homeland and confronting so many things that she needs closure and clarity and growth from. She is a force of nature and continues to be a magnetic energy everywhere she goes.
I drove across the country with an amazingly talented young tattooer and artist name Carolyn. We shared an intimate two weeks that people do not often get to experience. Intimate in the fact that neither of us had ever driven cross country and we established some incredible memories and a real friendship in the process. We got to see some family in Austin Texas as we hung with Terry Addison, saw Bob MaCready in Houston, Nathaniel and his amazing restaurant Boucherie in NOLA, hung with my mom and ate BBQ in NC and more. We ate our way across the nation and brought an incredible happening to New York City, building with Superchief and making life long bonds! And a huge thanks to John and Lizz for their hospitality and friendship! We will never forget that damn trip, or South of the Border! I further got to know Joel and Rhea St. Julien and there amazing daughter Olive as Joel and I made soundscapes and connected our creative minds on multiple projects. I appreciate that I have such an amazing family everywhere I go now!
Eric Araujo, one of my best buds that I met in SF, connected me with the amazing people at BRIC arts in Brooklyn for the opportunity of a life time to work with some incredible people during the winter vortex! Julie Kim and the Littlefield crew flew me out yet again to paint on of the best large scale paintings I have ever done. There were the great people at the Shooting Gallery that helped me realize the biggest show I have ever done with "Pilgrimage". "Champagne Tigers" at LeQuivive, hanging out at Old Crow with Sean and Evan and Victor, talking about the world with Dre and Bleu Cheese with Chris Burch. I went on a couple trips to LA where I got hang out with Stephanie Inagaki, meet Andrew Kline from CMHHTD and Strife, and finally explore the city with an open mind and heart which made me finally love that place! Spent some killer times with Salem OFA! I reconnected with Joseph Gross, and was so incredibly happy to see him thriving and doing great things with his gallery. We have continued to build and I am super happy to announce that I have a solo show with Joseph Gross Gallery in October of 2015! Joey is a intensely positive force in this world and will continue to do amazing things!
I experienced the most amazing send off I could have ever had with Rachel Ralph and John Trippe at Fecal Face as I closed out 8 years of living in the Bay Area with my solo show at FFDG, "No Destination". Lale Shafaghi helped spread the word and vision of my artwork to the big world we are a part of as we built a friendship. As things wrapped up, I came to an end of over 4 years of working with the best people on earth at Clean Water Action, a place that showed me that people do care about others and have a desire to work hard for a cause that aims to help others and the world as a whole. We had a lot of fun, and that job helped me grow up into sobriety and work hard with a sense of purpose. It also goes without saying that every moment I spent with my AA peoples in Oakland and SF and my rad Sponsor Bucky were great and vital to my development as a human being. Timmy the Optimist kept popping up with a lot energy and a great vision of things to come. Manley Tantuico and his amazing family facilitated the biggest commission I have ever done. They showed me a lot of compassion, friendship, and treated me like family every step of the way (and we have some designs for some things to come in the next couple years!). Birthdays, break ups, hook ups, sign up sheets, late night calls, early morning flights, babies being born, people getting married, Fed EX, memories worked through, new pain, new pleasure, new love, old habits broken, new habits made, great food eaten, its all life, and it's all important and amazing!
I sit here in Durham, NC, in the house I grew up in writing this, seeking, living, and loving the fact that I have been given this time in this world on this planet with all of you to keep moving forward and to be grateful for all of it. The good the bad the ugly and amazing... Everything is everything. My friend Jen and I will be living in the same place again soon and will continue our TTT vision quest. May Julie Moon continue to make the world feel deeply with her music and build amazing new heights as a person and my partner. May Chris Burch keep climbing the way he is meant to, opening the eyes of all that come into contact with him. May Alfonso Cosio Monique Delauney keep tying the Bay Area art world together and supporting the arts passionately and with all the energy they put out there in the world. May Dana James keep moving up to the sky tattooing amazing work and being the prophetic voice and compassionate person he is. May Rachel Ralph keep bringing intricate and beautiful conversations that involve all of us with FFDG. And may I continue moving to NYC, one of the places that raised me up to the man I am today, and where I shall call home again and continue seeking. To all those I didn't mention, you know that you are as important as anyone else in this world! May everyone have a full 2015 and continue to grow and evolve and change!!! We All Do This Together! Thanks to everyone for making the Unstoppable Tomorrow one that I am incredibly happy to be a part of. -JFA III 12/31/2014
Street Conversations
UPDATE TIME!!!! Cool, so life keeps winding on and getting more and more awesome. I would like to thank everyone at Superchief, everyone at BRIC Arts, everyone at Littlefield, everyone at Shooting Gallery/White Walls, everyone at Fecal Face, and everyone at LeQuivive for what will, by the end of it, have been a seriously accomplished year of art making and growing. So first things first, this Thursday, Superchief NYC is having a massive group show, seriously, massive! I can't be there, I wish I could, but if you are in NYC and you can be there then you better be there. Nuff said, here is the flyer and info!
Yeah it opens this Thursday night and is going to be wild.
So in other news, I have begun making new work rather diligently. A lot of the experiences I had in Okonuin Graveyard on Koyasan Mountain in Japan, the meditations I experienced in Kyoto, Nara, here in the Bay, visions I have had, are coming up in my practice and it feels amazing. The premise of the exhibition is that the people in the Pilgrimage from my Shooting Gallery show, the tribe of Unstoppable Tomorrow that is seeking a new positive future, wake up one day on their journey to find they have all shared a collective dream. A dream of universal truths, a dream of visionary colors, textures, nostalgic imagery, future past visions of places and paths, sounds, images of rebirth of cyclical destruction into creation, of signs, guides, the past into the future.
The first major meditation I had in Kyoto last year was proof to me that collective spiritual resonance exists and that anyone who had meditated and crossed the dimensional threshold in the temple of Tenryu-ji has seen a universal sort of vision or imagery there. An intense materialization in the mind and spirit and body of forms and movement, of the essence and basics of the flow of energy and its way of weaving our human forms from this physical "reality" through levels and landscapes encompassing pure energy and beyond. So what more fitting way to explore Unstoppable Tomorrow further than through a state that is beyond logic and this physical world. The saga has been concerned with actions and lives in the here and now, not with the ethereal or specifically illustrating the spiritual, the visionary, the guided world of the unconscious and the visualizations that collectively lead it.
The work has an air of nostalgic tranquility, explosive aurally representational flow, entering a calm and almost magically blanketed future past. It will feature rough drawings on paper, diamond like found wood deconstructionist abstractions, paintings focusing on the figurative and organic abstraction, another round of even more explorative strangely shaped pieces, on bringing color back into the equation, on the erotic (blatant and subtle), on creation, on reuse and respect, on lovemaking, evoking guidance through minimalism and pure color and the way in which it carries tracers and trajectories through life, and much much more. I spent hours in the studio yesterday working with found pieces that I have had for a while, creating this gateway back to my experience in Japan, back to the dream like memories of my childhood in Durham and New York City, back to a place that wraps me in almost hallucinatory vision of spirits, and points in time, and shape and color, and moving textures and patterns. While exploring these nostalgic moments in the present through my process I found myself realizing that this is also carrying me into the future, as if to say "you will go back to Okonuin, you will see Southeast Asia, you will find places in New York and LA where these environments that you are reliving will embrace you like a cool moss blanket and give you love and inspiration." The show will be at Fecal Face this coming October. It will narrate this collective dream in a lot of different media and will at the same time give insight to the journey which my inner workings have developed through over time, specifically in the last year and a half. Not all of it will be explainable even for me, but it will all make sense as an experience. This comes at a time that I am really reaching inward to know my path as begin to transition back to the East Coast for a while.
This show is as much a step in Unstoppable Tomorrow as it is in a continued exploration of process and just letting go of my idea of a "willed plan" and letting the magic happen in the studio as I go about fleshing out the original ideas. It is a celebration of my unconscious guiding my conscious hand and feeling, intuitively coming to solutions that once cause chaos in my mind, and explorations of these images, sounds, visions, dreamscapes that I have locked in my psyche. It is as much therapeutic in practice as it is thoughtful. Street Conversations, talking with my surroundings, letting the effect of my being in its natural state, knowing that I am a part of all things and not simply one thing apart from it all. It's about me with the world not against it, always and forever. Knowing that each action and each movement needs to be felt and needs to be streamlined with my path, and if it isn't that is okay, as long as I can stop and pay attention to my guides my gut and the way which the universe needs me to move. The tribe of the Pilgrimage wakes up from this dream, this conversation with the streets and paths and plants and trees and sounds and breeze and rain and everything and knows that they are on their path, that the path is the way and the way is life. That it is not the outcome but the process that makes each next step in the evolution, in the present and in hindsight, so amazing. I will be having street conversations until the day I die.
The Last Week of "Pilgrimage" at Shooting Gallery SF! Closes June 7th, 2014.
Hello hello! First off : "Pilgrimage" is up for ONE MORE WEEK! Until this Saturday June 7th! So if you haven't seen it go check it out. I have been so wrapped up in life since the show opened that I haven't had a chance to sit down and be in touch with you all, my apologies. I went to LA this past weekend to begin connecting and to see some old NYC friends that I work with and have known for some time, that are doing great things. The future is shaping up nicely! I am grateful for this life of mine for sure, and LA and I have some things to look forward to.
So about three weeks ago we saw the opening of my solo show "Pilgrimage" at San Francisco's famous Shooting Gallery on Geary street. The opening was a success, and we have been fortunate enough to get some amazing press from it all! Press including my friend and awesome writer Goldmine Sachs over at Impose Magazine did a really fun interview with me, as did one of my favorite people Tracy Jones at the Microscopic Giant, the awesome and uber talented Lale' Shafaghi at Juxtapoz Magazine gave a great preview piece, Zach Tutor and his widely loved Supersonic Electronic blog gave us some support a Fecal Face round table interview will be coming out this week, and lastly Kimberly Chun from 96 Hours did a really awesome interview with me that came out in print as well as online in 96 Hours.
The response has been unbelievable, the opening was awesome, and I have been getting tons of inquiries and new conversations have blossomed out of it. Really proud of this one! I still have some photos to process and get from Shooting Gallery of some of the work but the majority of it is viewable in the PILGRIMAGE Section of the Portfolio on this site, as well as on the Shooting Gallery SF site (Where you can also find information on sales and purchasing).
So amidst all of the things that life brings, amidst the non stop flow of energy and thoughts and experiences, I am very very happy that this show was realized with Shooting Gallery. The space was simply perfect for it, the people there were a pleasure to work with, and this exhibition truly did embody a "Pilgrimage" for myself. The events that took place in its initial conceptualization, the journey I went through with life, love, pain, joy, progress, and time during its execution, and the final result have all brought me to a new place within myself and my relationship with all things around me.
A true sense of balance, fulfillment, acceptance and the yearning to continue seeking, to strive on and continue moving forward, has really overcome me. I am having really beautiful visions in my meditations, I happened upon a Koyasan temple at random in LA (Buddhist Twilight Zone Sounds haha), and my eyes are very open as is my being. I am excited to embark on everything from here on out. The past four years of making art in the Bay Area have really helped to shape my path and to bring me to center with an open mind and a watchful eye to see where my next guide may be. Fecal Face Gallery solo is in the Fall, and then who knows, who knows where I will go. Maybe LA, maybe back to NC, maybe NYC for a reunion with my home. But the one thing I can take away from this experience is this, I am doing exactly what I was put on this earth and in this universe in this form to do, and I am overwhelmingly grateful for the path I am on. John Felix Arnold III 06/02/2014
TONIGHT! Feb 19th "Art Into Music" @ BRIC in Brooklyn, New York City
So tonight I am in a group show at an AMAZZZZIINNGGGG art institution called BRIC Arts Media House on Fulton Street in Brooklyn's Fort Greene (my favorite place in the world) neighborhood. I am so honored and feel so blessed to be a part of this show and to be given the opportunity to come back to NYC to give back to the city that raised me after a long journey of transformation and change. The piece I created is in fact called "Gratitude and Transformation(s)", fittingly enough as I have been hoping and praying for an opportunity to give back to this place, especially this area of Brooklyn where I spent so many important years, for a long time. Many thanks to Elizabeth Ferrer and Jenny Gerow at BRIC, and huge thanks to Eric Araujo, whom I have known through this art life struggle since 2006, for getting the ball rolling and getting me into this historic event at BRIC. I am one lucky cat and I went Hard. As they say in the Bay Area, I WENT HELLA HARD! Hahahahha. The piece took about a week to create. It is made with mostly reclaimed and repurposed materials from Brooklyn and Queens and truly is a living act of gratitude to this place.
Also a special performance by my friends Space Meow will occur on the stage built into the installation. I have been looking forward to working with Space Meow for some time now and it is going to be EPIC! They go on at 9pm. At the end of the show my good friend Kareem Bunton's awesome blues rock band The Juggs will also perform and they always throw down!
The Opening is tonight, Wednesday Feb. 19th, from 7-9:30 pm. BRIC is at 647 Fulton Street and will be awesome. We will be heading to Frank's Lounge afterward for an intimate after party with the artists and friends and such! Gonna be awesome so swing by. The show will run through April 27th so make sure to check it out if you are in the area. Here are some photos of the production of my site specific installation, I can't wait to drop the images with the Space Meow set up on the stage...also the press release is attached at the end of this blog post.
Also I got the chance to hang out with Ken South Rock's Ken Minami and Adam Amram last week as well as Matt Reilly from Japanther. Here are some photos of their forest cave in Bushwick with treehouses, mini ramp, silk screen set up, and all...It's been an amazing trip. I'll be back in a few days with a NYC wrap up!
BRIC ART INTO MUSIC PR 021414_FINAL
Thanks for tuning in!- JFAIII
So Much is On the Way...
I am happily getting ready for three major happenings in my life right now. All are art exhibitions. First I will be a part of the BRIC Arts "Art Into Music" Exhibition in Brooklyn, NY opening February 19th. I will scavenging and materials and building a site specific installation in the exhibition space at the new museum complex that will incorporate a stage for performances and listening stations to listen to each of the contributing artists play lists that inspire them. Mega Cool!
Then its back to Oakland for three weeks as I prepare for my cross country trip to NYC and my solo exhibition Excorrigia / The Scourge at Superchief Gallery opening on April 3rd.
Fuujin : Mixed Media on Wood Panel : 18"x24"
And then finally it is back to the Bay once again to finish up the Shooting Gallery solo Pilgrimage which I am happy to now announce will also mark the beginning of a new partnership with the amazing Paxton Gate. A number of pieces will feature bones and items sourced from Paxton Gate to help to realize the vision of Pilgrimage and continue to a partnership will into the future!!! This is going to be an amazing year!
See Through the Sun : Mixed Media on Found Object : 2014
And on this Day to Come, January 16th, 2013, I Celebrate Another Year on This Earth! IPD!
So there are these things called "the promises" in this arena of study I am engaged in that are spoken of often and are a guideline that people work toward.
Some may call "the promises" simply a better life in whatever way and shape it comes to you. A better life that one can be thankful for, can appreciate every atom of, and one that is fulfilling and enthralling because the one experiencing it is willing to put forth the work it takes to change things, be willing to accept the world as it comes, and do what it takes to better themselves and seek a future of productivity and appreciation for all things. At the age of 32 I am beginning to understand, or comprehend some semblance of this search, this journey for these promises. 
2012 was the best year I have ever had, I mean that. I, for the first time in my life, felt what it meant to see years of hard work reach people, communicate on many platforms with people all over the world, create a better living situation for myself, and in turn afford me opportunities to continue to grow and learn and love the world I am a part of. Throughout 2012 I felt like a Phoenix finally exploding out of the grime and filth and sludge, the chaos and friction and anxiety and self hate, the self imposed fears and restrictions and bars that I had to evolve out of in order to get the perspective on my place in the world I have now. Suddenly things made sense, and the knowledge that so many things will never make sense became something I could swallow. I didn't have to wake up paralyzed by anxiety and fear of life everyday. The ability to be okay with the world no matter how one thinks it "should" be reconciled, to have ideas and opinions but be able to love life regardless of "if" those ideas and opinions matter or not and simply let life be what it is no matter the outcome is perhaps the biggest "promise" of all.
It is the difference between breathing or suffocating, loving or hating, being enveloped by fear of the unknown or embracing the unknown because it is what we are born from. And it took over a quarter of a century to have this way of seeing beaten, massaged, sliced, explained, recommended and finally born into my psyche. On the Wu-Tang albums I grew up listening to they call this "knowledge of self God". Thank you RZA and the rest for setting a young framework for generations to be influenced by.
So this all brings me here. It isn't even about me, but for intensive purposes I am the one writing this as I turn to a year further in the development of my spirit in the universe, as my body gets one year closer to its end. I really feel that the end of the physical will only be the beginning of a higher stage, but I will do the very best I can with this life as it is all I know and as I work toward a relationship with all things. I feel my physical being, every inch ounce hair fiber cell tingle. Getting older has been amazing thus far.
I have work up at the Shooting Gallery in SF right now as part of their Winter Group Show and I am honored to be a part of their movement in the art world as it helps to define, reinterpret, investigate, and communicate with the world we are a part of. I have work up at LOAKL Gallery in Oakland as well, and I am proud to be a part of the early stages of Ken Harman's new addition to the Bay Area art world as well as he will continue to thrive and spread amazing things to so many people. I will be in a group show at Ocean Avenue Tattoo in SF with my good friend SALEM on January 26th. In March I will be a part of a group show curated by Michael Cuffe who runs Warholian. Then it is off to Japan for a Month long residency at Spes-Lab in Tokyo.
And then in June the first installment of a year long program I have at the SFMOMA opens with three more series of work in the SFMOMA space going up each three months until June 2014. I will finally be having a huge solo show in the Fall of 2013 that will be my last big exhibition of the year and coincide with the second (fall) program I am installing at the SFMOMA. All of this is really happening now, and if not for every bit of life I have survived on this planet leading up to now, none of it would be happening. I am more grateful now for the life my parents created that I have become than I ever knew was possible. Many more updates to come very soon! -John Felix Arnold III, 01/15/2013 IPD FOR LIFE!
"Found in Darkness" @ Book & Job Gallery : Friday Nov. 9 : 2012
Christopher Burch and I descended on the new Book & Job Gallery on Wednesday, November 7th to begin our install of our Fall 2012 two man show "Found in Darkness". Exploring our own personal mythologies that comprise the focus of our work we embarked on this show in August of this year. Examining respective narrative architectures and linear framework, we began creating installations that reflect real environments within our imaginary worlds, both dealing with different reflections of contemporary issues of social problems, race, the environment, and a proposed future of humanity in our own tales.
We were able to create a conversation through our mixed media forays that not only blended and melded together well in the space but also pushed one another's practice to a new level of intricacy. Chris dealing with his modern day reinterpretation of the Br'er Rabbit Folk Mythos and myself dealing with all the legends and myths of the world of "Unstoppable Tomorrow" that I have created, we embraced the Book & Job Gallery with energy, drive, thought, and a sense of community and challenge. Our drawings and paintings spoke well with one another as our installation works tied the environment together into a dialogue of two strong minded individuals exploring their own tangible realities in this world together through imagination and practice.
Guy Culver also helped organize a wonderful show of musical talent. Chris Danko of Religious Girls performed an awesome piano solo. Then Guy Culver and his drummer Ringo performed their punk influenced, electronic, synth heavy, hard hitting electro fuck fest of beats, noise, and beautiful screamo moments of chaos as Laughters.
Carson Lancaster, the man behind Book & Job Gallery, did a great job of orchestrating the evening and the install and was a pleasure to work with as well!!! I recommend working with him to any other artist that may be interested in contacting Book & Job. All in all it has been a great experience. Thanks again to Chris for inviting me to be a part of Book & Job and creating yet another killer show with me. -Felix
Production and Opening Photo's of "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" @ Old Crow : Oakland : CA
I ended up taking a great reel of great production and progress shots of "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" at Old Crow Tattoo & Gallery, and some good photos of the openings. Him Downstairs performed Saturday night and then Sunday was Unstoppable Death Machines and the Laughters. Count Z-Bop was even hanging out. It was spectacular! I hope you all enjoy seeing the install process and the final product. -Felix
Tools, Wood, things to make the magic with.
Motocycle piece "The Great Debate" just finished moments ago.
The organ was a good find, thank you urban ore.
Viking Ben lending a hand.
Arial view compliments of Terry Addison.
"In Memory of..." series.
Star Wars Stormtrooper Helmet Relic Remix.
Belly drinking a 40 of that Ole English Eightball 800!
D Young V looking wild!
Nadia and I flossin!
D Young V and I representing.
We all love to see ZeeZee!
The most amazing couple alive.
Joel Tarman back from Palesien with Rhea St. Julien.
Jessica from Old Crow looking pretty other worldly in her Jedi Hood!
Fuckin New Yorkers!
Brendan Cox.
"The Great Debate"
Joel and Rhea St. Julien aka Him Downstairs.
Ara Christina Jo being awesome as usual.
How did everyone at Old Crow become so damn cool? Dana James looking tough on the bike piece!
Dana James fully suited up for the world of Unstoppable Tomorrow.
The lovely Chloe Crossman with the coolest hair dew of all time.
Unstoppable Death Machines
Mike from Unstoppable Death Machines at Mama's Royal Cafe, bout to get some breakfast Monday morning. I am about to go to Japan right after this meal! See you all from my Japanese tour with Ken South Rock! -John Felix Arnold IIIEric Araujo Presents "Hole Up" Tonight at Littlefield : Brooklyn : NY
Littlefield 622 Degraw St. Brooklyn, NY
Opening 6-9pm
Eric Araujo is one of the most solid individuals I have ever met. I don't say that lightly. He is highly intelligent, driven, has his feet planted firmly on the ground, and makes incredibly well executed, thought provoking, and interesting art. I met him at SFAI during my one year of grad school there, and we immediately became friends due to our mutual inability to understand the West Coast given our native East Coast upbringings (LOL). We have remained friends and peers in this crazy art world, and he was instrumental in helping orchestrate the show "Eat Peter to Feed Paul" with Christopher Burch in myself in Brooklyn this past March 1st. So with that being said, he has a brilliant show opening tonight at one of my favorite Brooklyn destinations, Julie Kim's Littlefield venue and art space. Big congrats goes out to Eric for this show and I look forward to seeing it unveiled this evening. Eric is going to go many places in lands afar with his no bullshit work ethic, forward moving attitude, and incredible bubbling talent. And just as a heads up about the guy, I don't usually say this but its important to me, the dude can draw his ass off!!! I am not sure if he is going to have drawings in this show, but for the record, dude can truly use a pencil and paper! Good luck with all of your future endeavors sir. All the info for the show is explained and listed int he press release below. Also check out his site at http://ericaraujo.com/archivesite/home.html
Thursday, March 1st : John Felix Arnold III, Christopher Burch, Ninjasonik, and Ken South Rock Present "Eat Peter to Feed Paul" @ Littlefield : Brooklyn : NY
So I am officially flying to New York on February 23rd to get ready for my latest artistic endeavor, "Eat Peter to Feed Paul". One of the sickest artists I know and have the privilege of working with and also being good friends with, namely Christopher Burch (who is currently doing a residency with the Luggage Store), is joining forces with me to storm my old stomping grounds of Brooklyn, NY. We are coming to the amazing venue known as Littlefield in the Gowanus neighborhood ot the Kings County Burrough, and we will be joined by amazing musical talent from long times friends and musical collaborators Ninjasonik and Ken South Rock (whom I am going on tour with in Japan in the summer) This is my first posting about this on my blog, so know that you will be seeing a lot more material and progress once I am on my way. Keep in touch;) Below is a link to the Official Press Release and a Brief Description of the show and concept behind it. I'm ready for Pizza, Pastrami, and Yakitori Taisho! It's on.
Eat Peter to Feed Paul PRESS RELEASE
PRESS EVENT INFO
“Eat Peter to Feed Paul” @ Littlefield : Brooklyn : NY
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
New Works by John Felix Arnold III & Christopher Burch : Live Performances by Ninjasonik & Ken South Rock
Art Opening Reception 6-9 with Food and DJs Reverend McFly and Chaz-O : Free
Performances from Ninjasonik and Ken South Rock : 9-12 : $10 Pre-sale/$12 at the Door : 21+
Art Show runs from March1st-31st
Littlefield is located @ 622 Degraw St. btw 3rd & 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY : 11217 : ph (718) 855-3388
For more info and for tickets please visit http://littlefieldnyc.com
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 Littlefield is proud to present “Eat Peter to Feed Paul”, a two man show by Bay Area based artists John Felix Arnold III & Christopher Burch that will feature musical performances and collaborations from New York based bands Ninjasonik and Ken South Rock. It is the two visual artist’s first show in New York together and promises not to be forgotten. For Arnold this is a bit of a homecoming, marking his second time showing in New York since he moved to the Bay from Brooklyn in 2006, and for Burch, being from St. Louis originally, this a new opportunity to branch out closer to his roots. The two will be exhibiting new drawings and mixed media works in their respective styles. The works deal with the changing role of human beings within a high paced technology saturated society where we are rapidly losing our grasp of anything reflecting a spiritual way of being and many are quickly becoming “self sacrificing parasites” within their own circles of living without even realizing it. They will also be composing an installation within the art space to guide the viewers through the show reflecting the push and pull and intensity of the present world we live in, using found objects to cut the space up into different frequencies of comfort and un-comfortability while viewing the 2-D work. After the show reception musical cohorts and collaborators Ken South Rock and Ninjasonik will be performing live in Littlefield’s amazing theatre/ music hall space with a live painting collaboration from the two Bay Area artists as a full on art and music explosion. These two amazing forces of musical energy will bring the audience to climactic celebration of being alive through their powerful styles and relentless sound. The subject matter of their audio tour de force is extremely relevant to our present day existence and inspires a lust for life that that really brings a conscious ear to an energy that society needs to be impregnated by.
