(CON) TEXT: Artwork Based on the Written Word

I am excited to finally announce a two person show I will be participating in this first Friday in June (the 3rd to be exact) at Cafe Lift called "(CON) TEXT: Artwork Based on the Written Word." I will be showing a handful of new paintings on the walls of this awesome brunch spot for the month of June, along with my friend Kristen Solecki who gave me this awesome opportunity. (Thanks again Kristen!!). The opening exhibition is only two hours, from 7 - 9 pm, on June 3rd but the paintings will be up for the whole month. I highly recommend going there to get some food, and you know look at paintings.

Cafe Lift is located at 428 n. 13th street, which is on 13th street in between Callowhill and Spring Garden (in Philadelphia, PA (duh))

some new work for the show:

"Four Four Letter Words"

About 21.5" x 38"x 1.75"

(it is four separate pieces though)

Mixed Media

2011

"Secrets"

11.5" x 24" x 1.75"

House Paint and Enamel on Wood

2011

"Where it Begins, Where it Ends" New Work

Below are the pieces that I will be showing for "Where it Begins, Where it Ends" a group show at the My House Gallery (2534 s. 8th street, Philadelphia PA) this Saturday, May 14th from 6 - 10pm.

"The Shaman's Antenna"

40" x 37" x 1.75"

mixed media on wood panel

2011

"Ancient Vessel"

11" x 20" x 1.75"

mixed media on wood

2011

"Triangle Test Panel" (top)

7.5" x 7.5" x 1.75"

house paint on wood

2011

"Gradient Test" (middle)

13.5" x 5.5" x 1.75"

house paint on wood

2011

"Bikini Beer Can Test Panel" (bottom)

14.5" x 7" x 1.75"

house paint on wood

2011

"An Impossibility Emerges"

*this is a functioning bulletin board w/ cork that I will be

displaying drawings on

80" x 60" x 2.75"

house paint and cork board on wood panel

2011

"An Impossibility Emerges"

*shown above with drawings

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

Melt. Down. Snowmelt Three

As the month of March draws to a close, we can feel spring approaching in our bones, in our minds, and in the air. The large tree sculpture has completely melted away its snowy edifice, and we see that the only remnants of this past cold season are the puddles on the floor. The flowers continue to bloom, as time marches on ... (sorry for the reflection on the window)

Burly Breakfast

Sometimes after a long Saturday night, you wake up with one thing on your mind (or at least I do) "Where can I get the most filling and hearty breakfast imaginable??" This thought is then followed by the inevitable phone call(s) to the various members of your crew, to get a consensus on where this trough of food may be purchased at the most competitive price. Usually the answer is Honey's or even the Penrose Diner, however; yesterday I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Now I do not necessarily think of myself as a gifted chef by any means, but after I had completed this epic breakfast I felt a certain sense of pride. Like a farmer who just won the "(insert-mid-western-state-here) state fair" with a 400 lb. Pig/Chicken crossbreed, I was proud, in awe of, and a little startled by the plate of food that I had created. And the best was still to come, duh, the consumption.

Pictured above is my most recent breakfast/brunch plate of food that I felt compelled to share:

Two Eggs

- fried w/ ketchup and hot sauce

Three Pieces of Scrapple

- Habbersett brand, Philadeplhia's favorite since 1863, I keep the pieces thin and cook 'em crispy, strictly hot sauce!

Cheddar Biscuits w/ Cream Chipped Beef

- Biscuits had extra sharp cheddar, and I added some mayo to the mix to make them extra fluffy, Cream Chipped Beef added that salt I was in dire need of.

and to wash it all down a Yuengling Bock Beer - an amazing seasonal dark lager that tastes like half original lager and half porter, not too heavy not too light

This was a doozy for sure, needless to say I did not even attempt to go skateboarding after this, just kicked it and enjoyed my first free Sunday a few months. cheers!

Also, Thanks to Space 1026 for the love!!!

Melt. Down. Snowmelt Two

It's getting pretty warm in the greater Philadelphia area, as the temperature steadily increases we see the snow continue to melt off the tree sculpture. Flowers are still blooming on the walls, and we begin to see puddles form on the floor of the installation.

WEST SIDE FLOWER DRUM SONG STORY

I've been pretty busy with a few projects lately, but when asked to participate in this interesting group show I couldn't decline. The show is called RECOVER, and basically I got to pick a vintage record sleeve to do whatever I wanted with (You can view all of the record sleeves they had, and who claimed which ones on TrickGo's flickr). The record sleeve that I chose was a split LP with songs from the musical "West Side Story" and "Flower Drum Song". I chose the sleeve because the buildings on it looked like something I might paint or make, so including the actual artwork would appear seamless. I wound up combining the building and pagoda shapes (hence the title), and I also pasted the text from the record sleeve on the back, rearranged to read as the title. Information about the piece is below:

"West Side Flower Drum Song Story"

12.5" x 12.5" x 1.75"

Mixed Media on Panel

2011

The opening reception will be held at TrickGo (1135 Pine street, Philadelphia PA) this Saturday, March 19th. Come and party, its gonna be fun.

Thanks to Gab, Maxine, Matt, Courtney, and the rest of the TrickGo family for inviting me.

Melt. Down. Snowmelt One

On March 11th the first snowmelt occurred in the window on 764 s. 9th, above is the window as well as a closer shot of the freshly melted section. "Some flowers have started to bloom on the back wall, and the snow is beginning to melt off of what appears to be a dead tree" - an astute observer

Melt. Down. Installed!

Melt. Down. has officially been installed, above is a shot of the first phase at night!