Where it Begins, Where it Ends

I am very excited to announce that I will be putting together a group show at South Philly's beloved My House Gallery, with the help of Aidan Rich and Jim Grilli, for the month of May. The My House Gallery is a space that has always interested me due to its unique location, on 8th street just south Porter as illustrated above, and because it is literally the town house that the dedicated folks who run the gallery live in. I was originally supposed to do an installation utilizing the entire first-floor gallery space, however; I was thrown a few curve balls in my personal life, and did not think that I could get it together in time for a full-scale install. So instead of a solo venture I chose to invite some friends, whose work I admire, to participate in a group show.

The idea behind this group exhibition is to highlight the creative breadth of the participating artists, giving the viewer a more intimate look at the unique personalities and processes of each person. We (me, Aidan, and Jim) are encouraging artists to show a range of pieces and drawings from daily doodles on up to finished pieces. Below is the list of participants, and why I'm psyched on their work:

Adrienne Langer

(http://www.adriennelanger.com)

I have been a fan of Adrienne's intrinsically feminine line quality and color palette's (of course I mean that in the best way possible) from the first time that I became acquainted with her paintings. Her work has this softness to it that I really appreciate, and also she's the pattern queen, both in her work and her wardrobe.

Aidan Rich

(http://aidanrichart.blogspot.com/)

Aidan is nice dude, plain and simple. He doesn't have a crazy client list, or some insane process, he just draws, paints, and does what he wants. I like that alot. He also drew this weirdly awesome tour poster for the amazing Arrah and the Ferns/Armchairs tour (so jealous.) check that out here.

Kris Chau

(http://www.krischau.com)

Ms. Chau's work has been popular with Philadelphian's for years. Her portraits of people, both real and imagined, all have a very loose and energetic quality to them that are very much within the same visual language. Drawing people in a cool way is something that has always thrown me for a loop, but Kris has it dialed. She also has a show on First Friday of May called "Can't Look Away" at the Reward Project (I checked the website and it looks like a real hip boutique for strictly babes, which = awesome) with all new work. So busy!

Matt Gribben

(http://matthuegeographic.blogspot.com/)

Radlands? AUF? Phrequency.com? Traffic Skateboards? If these Philadelphia organizations are at all foreign to you, then I seriously suggest you take a second out of your supposedly busy schedule to check out Matty's portfolio, and then ask yourself "What if I did regular design work for these people, on top of other freelance clients, and then decided to go back to school to nail down my design principles and be the best design dude I could possibly be, while simultaneously playing/performing in multiple sludge/stoner metal bands?" Welcome to Matt's life. His work is great.

Leah Mackin

(http://www.leahmackin.com/)

I had Leah's work in mind from the beginning. She has been doing these awesome graphite drawings with subtle value changes and details pressed into the paper with a bone folder that are both simple and elegant. To me her artwork is very direct: minimal tools and mediums with maximum creativity and expression.

Steve Streisguth

(http://www.streisguth.com/)

Mr. Streisguth, and his work, always keep me guessing. I know for a fact he could draw or paint anything that he wants, but he seems fixated on crazy swirls, concentric shapes, and fluid mark making. I couldn't tell you what Steve will be exhibiting even if I wanted to, but you can bet it will cool.

and of course, myself

Stay Tuned!

Ground Up Presents: UP LATE (a case study)

I recently completed a very interesting and eye opening illustration project for local rap dudes Ground Up. The project called for album artwork and some web banners to be used for their latest mixtape "Up Late" (actually released today April 5th, 2011). The guys contacted me out of the blue, and had a very high level of enthusiasm for my work from the get go. At first I was a little nervous to work with artists in this genre of music because I wasn't quite sure if my art could fit in with their sound. Once I did some research, and extensive listening to past mixtape efforts such as "Girls Who Smoke Cigarettes" and "Higher Ground" my gut feeling changed and I felt that I could effectively collaborate with these guys to create something that everybody liked.

I've also never really shared my collaboration process for client work with the internet, and figured that this project in particular would be a good case study to direct prospective clients to in the future. So above I also posted the first two rounds of black and white concept sketches, the color sketches, and then of course the final product. This was a unique project because of the high level on client input, and also because the project took on a completely new theme half way through, which then led to another round of "Late Night Talk Show" themed concept sketches.

All in All I am happy with how the artwork turned out, I tried some new things with the computer and I think the result turned out a little slicker than usual. You never know when change is gonna come. A BIG thank you to: Malcolm, Al, Bij, Jon, Frank, and the rest of the Ground Up crew for initially contacting me and then turning this into such a memorable project.

Please check out Ground Up at: http://www.groundupsounds.com

and

Download UP LATE for FREE!! at datpiff.com

Enjoy,

b

Usha Veda Yoga

Pictured above is a logo and poster that I completed for Usha Veda Yoga, a yoga studio in Brooklyn, New York (Green Point to be exact). The client came to me with a pretty fleshed out idea of how they wanted their logo to look, and then they let me do my thing with the poster (yesssss). The poster was for a mother's day event celebrating the opening of Usha Veda Yoga as well as a new coffee shop in the neighborhood called Milk and Roses. The new aforementioned cafe has a really cool baby grand piano, which is where the inspiration came from for the piano in the poster. Below are some links about each of the stores/event:

Here is an article about Milk and Roses

and another on the event

both covered by newyorkshitty.com

Get Mellow

I think the fact that I drew this might be a little ironic, being that I am not the mellowest dude, but I like how the letters turned out none the less.

Indigenous Typeface

This is a typeface that I had floating in my head for awhile, it's called "Indigenous." It's inspired by a book that I saw in Maine one time called "Indian Magic." Anyways, I did this layout for The New Kids on the Block, an art show for recent graduates of the illustration department at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

Urban Outfitters Benefit Newsletter

Me and my good friend Chris Arizzi recently wrapped up the Urban Outfiiters Benefits Newsletter for 2009. We were able to work on this project through our jobs at 168 Design, and it was a really enjoyable experience. Yup, this was a good one.

Q BBQ & Tequila

Q BBQ & Tequila, is a restaurant that recently opened on 2nd and Chestnut in Philadelphia PA. Above is the menu, which I illustrated and also collaborated on the design with Leah Napolitano of 168 design. The artwork was then used for their homepage/website, designed by Lee Kernke, also of 168 Design. You should stop by and try their pulled pork sandwich, it's really really good.