"Sucker Punch and Cookies"
acrylic on canvas, 36x36 in.
This is the first painting in a new series I'm currently working on. All of the canvases are 36x36 inches. This is the second largest size canvas I've ever done. I've primarily worked on wood and paper since 2006 with the occasional experimental canvas here and there. I'm really inspired by working in a larger format!
These are some pieces I did for a group installation at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh back in 2006. The show was called Summer Hot / Summer Not. We were exploring the disparity of summer vacations for the rich and the poor. I also wrote a large mural on the gallery wall of a fake class report on what a less fortunate kid did for his or her summer vacation called "My Vacation from Summer Vacations". I might add the text here eventually. Or not.
"Silly Rabbit. War is for kids!"
"A Hole In One"
Bitter Homes and Garbage
Poor People Magazine
"I Ran Out of Titles #21"
acrylic and ink on paper, 6x6 in.
The NCMA just had their first fund raising auction to help support their community outreach programs. North Carolina artists were invited to submit works for consideration to be included in the silent auction. This is the first time I've ever donated an original piece of art to any organization (there's a good reason but I won't go into that now) but this seemed like a great opportunity and it was.
The craziest part about it was that you had to be selected to give a painting away. Luckily this piece along with many other works by NC artists were selected. There were over 350 submissions and only 125 selections (or something close to that number. My memory is ) The preview exhibition was displayed in the museum for two or three weeks (?) leading up to the auction.I have no idea how much it went for.
"Blathergasted"
acrylic and ink on paper, 12x12 in.
Pen designs
I was provided the opportunity to submit designs for Acme pens. Their products are in every museum and high-end gift shop. These were two of the designs that I personally thought were very strong but were summarily rejected. :(
American Dance Festival children's T-shirt design
The American Dance Festival held a competition for T-shirt designs in 2004. This design was selected for the children's T-shirts.
Boy Scouts: Be Prepared!
I thought this might make a good recruiting campaign poster. I still haven't proposed it to them yet.
El-Greco exhibition installation at Nasher Museum at Duke University
Besides being a full-time artist, I'm also an art preparator/ art handler. I've worked as a contractor for exhibition installations and take-downs for the NC Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum at Duke University, Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh and the Ackland Museum at UNC. There are also jobs in corporate collections as well.
My favorite gig was at the Nasher installing the "El Greco to Velazquez" exhibition in 2008. These photos were in the News & Observer paper and web site. I'm so proud of my hands! It's about time they get the recognition they deserve.
Even though it's part-time work, it helps pay the studio rent and I get to be around great art.
My hands writing down hanging math.
McMummy
Starring John McCain and Sarah Palin.
I wish I would have come up with this idea earlier than a month before the election. I think I could have made more money on prints and T-shirts. Timing is everything. But it still makes me laugh.
The Horizontal Elevator
I take the bus downtown every day. I don't mind. It's like joining a silent freak show for fifteen minutes. It’s a brief engagement. When the bus stops and the curtain doors open, I climb onto center stage as both observer and the observed. I'm the new main attraction.
The audience is composed of former stars that have graduated to seasoned veterans and freak experts. Everyone is a critic. Their focus varies from rapid eye movement to long, armor piercing stares. Today I'm "Pony-Boy," half man, half jackass. I quickly scan the room and select my stall. "What's this asshole selling?" I can hear them think.
My act is finished now and I become a spectator. With each subsequent stop, the rolling big top exchanges audience members for new performers. Fresh meat. I can sum up the next contestant’s entire life in three seconds or less. I observe my peers doing the same. Double takes are always a signal that someone special has just entered the spotlight. The judging begins.
"That guy is drunk. It's 8:30 in the morning!" "Is that a man or a woman?" It's the local transvestite, right on schedule. “What's her destination?” Next. "Bastard." "Prude." "Loser." "Bitch!" “Village Idiot." “Clueless!” “Goddess.” “Sinner.” “Saint.”
Here's another winner. "Poor dumb bastard." It’s a nervous businessman whose car probably wouldn't start. He is definitely a rookie. He didn't have time to rehearse or prepare his act. It's reflected in his performance. “Relax buddy. It's only a bus ride. We're all freaks here. I'm just not as fucked up as the rest of you.”
I don't mind waiting for the bus at the stop. It beats the hell out of waiting under it.
I'm back!!!!!! WOW! I could not have planned a more perfect experience, except maybe to have achieved enlightenment, but why be greedy? I wasn't able to speak in complete sentences for 2 1/2 weeks so I'm re-learning. Would go for two or 3 days at a time with no interpreter! Lots of hand gestures and drawings. I did learn about 40 words and can count to 999 (very slowly.)
Yun Gallery poster promoting my show. Awesome!
Bottom line: I sold 8 of 11 paintings!!! 6 in one hour. Owner is keeping the other 3 because he thinks he can sell them. The gallery owner (now my brother Chen) paid for EVERYTHING except airfare and hookers. (Luckily I brought cash.) Chen is a famous and very successful painter in Beijing and he's had this gallery now for 9 months. He is WELL connected and introduced us to some of the biggest players in the Beijing art world.
Chen had his "driver" take me and my friend Robert, from Macedonia, to all of the major sites around Beijing. The food kicked ass and we never ate in a restaurant that had any tourists. Tourists suck!
Yun Gallery, Beijing, China - April, 2007
My dear friend and Yun Gallery owner Chen Jian.
The gallery is in the heart of the famed 798 Art District. About 60-80 galleries in old factory buildings and warehouses. Out of the 30ish galleries I visited, I was the only American and there were only about 10 European artists represented. The rest were all Chinese or Asian.
We made the front page of the ArtNews China website and were interviewed for the China Cultural Daily and Arts Weekly newspaper ( I don't know if that one has been published yet). My luggage and a crate with two paintings arrived two days after I did, which was one night before the opening. Stress.
Saw the Great Wall (long, tall and thick), Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Yong He Gong Temple, Imperial Lake and gardens, etc....all were incredibly beautiful! We missed Tiananmen Square but I'm not losing any sleep over it.
Interesting observations:
- Buick is the only American car on the road and is considered a luxury.
- There is an ass-load of people living in Beijing! 15 million?
- The Chinese don't drink cold water, only hot. Cold beer is sometimes available as an option.
- The Chinese DO know how to give killer massages!
- Bank tellers still use an abacas to count money before they use the computer. Which explains the incredibly long lines outside of every bank.
- Many places still only have Turkish toilets (stand or squat over a porcelain hole in the floor.) I tried my best not to poop in public, successfully. I thought I had to at one restaurant though but I walked in and saw only urinals. Curios. Decided to wait. Some places have the women and men's stalls next to each other in the same room. It can make for an awkward chance meeting.
- They are constructing high-rises EVERYWHERE!
- Men hack and spit in the middle of the sidewalks. They even bend over and blow out their noses, sans tissue, onto the pavement. If you hear the bugle, don't step on the notes. Supposedly the government is trying to crack-down on this tasty habit before the Olympics. Good luck. It's quite popular and widely practiced.
- Witnessed several toddlers with ass-less pants. Beats changing diapers! Seriously? Seriously! They were long pants with the perfect size hole for both cheeks to peek out of, and they did. I would have taken a photo but I thought it might make me look a little too much like a child predator. Use your imagination.
- There was a pub with a sign advertising that they have been "open since now." I was riding in the car and I couldn't snap a photo in time.
Driving 101 - Beijing style
- Driving or riding in Beijing is NOT for the faint at heart or for anyone with a fear of dying for that matter. Seriously. Six inches is the difference between saying "holy shit!" and actually taking one, holy or otherwise.
- There are tons of bicycles, pedestrians, trucks, cars and buses everywhere, even on the roads! Whichever of those five has the largest set of balls has the right of way. Luckily our driver had a gargantuan pair, otherwise we would have gotten nowhere.
- The horn has replaced the blinker. I’m not even sure I saw one being used.
- Lines on the road are merely suggestions or maybe just boring line art.
- Driving on the wrong side of the roads downtown is not acceptable UNLESS it allows you to pass the car(s) in front of you, illegally, or at least try really, really hard to do so. And yes, I really did mean to say downtown.
Thank you Chen and Tian Li for the time of my life!
