don't ask me 4 sh*t

This is an acrylic painting on a found print. The part that unfortunately can't be seen in the photo is a red LED light that flashes in the background of the print. It runs on two AA batteries. I am working on making a video to capture this effect to share with you. Until then enjoy the painting on its own.

new work for the Caravan Gallery

SOLD
This piece was made specifically for my friend Brenda's mobile art gallery. She's currently working to refurbish an Airstream trailer into a roving art gallery. This piece is acrylic on wood measuring about 12" square.

Monroe Cinema Mural

I just got back from Monroe NY. I spent two days making a mural this past weekend at the Monroe 6 Cinema movie theatre. Sunday was my birthday so it was an extra cool way to celebrate. The theme I decided on was B-Movies. I made a really brightly colored tribute to classic B-movies, sci-fi and horror films.

I put well known movie characters in old cars at a drive-in movie. Godzilla is making popcorn with fire from his mouth and the 50 Foot Woman is catching what she can in a bucket. She straddles a drive-in movie sign. The marquee says "It came from Monroe in 3-D". Giant Ants are crawling over the hill to catch popcorn. A green Zombie hand comes from out of a grave to pluck a piece of popcorn. King Kong is hanging on the Empire State Building. He holds an unwinding film reel. The film reel goes off the main wall and wraps around the side wall for just a few feet. Kong sports a bowler derby as a nod to the website www.bowlerhatcinemas.com, the website for the Monroe Theatre as well as the other movie houses owned by the same owner, Kasey Gittleman.

In the cars are Darth Vader, the Mole People, Klaatu, Vampira, Tor Johnson, Bela Lugosi, Freddy Kruger, ET, Michael Myers, Dr. Zaius, the monster from This Island Earth, The Robot Monster, the Scream monster, the Crawling Eye, A Dalek and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The Moon with the rocket ship in his eye above the trees is from the classic 1902 Le Voyage dans la Lune.

I made a hand gesturing for parons to enter theatre 4 styled after old movie signs with pointing fingers. In the lower right corner of the mural is a giant octopus who is signing the back of the movie screen with my name.

The mural was over 9 feet high and 19 feet wide took over 15 hours to complete. Towards the end Mika helped get the last few pieces of the puzzle completed. She helped fill in some solid spaces and added black paint to the film reel.

I am posting a chronological evolution of the mural from the original wall to the uglamourous primer coat phase to the last splash of color.

Albert Hoffman's Bunnies

I was recently commissioned by my friend Rick Griffith www.matterstudio.com to make several bunny illustrations for an event he is participating in at the Denver Art Museum www.denverartmuseum.org. The event coincides with an exhibit of psychedelic posters from the 60's and is called Untitled #20 [Trip]. I am thrilled to be part of this project. Go to both of the highlighted websites in this posting and spend a while browsing through each. Matter Studio is awesome. Check out their archives, the Democratic National Conventon stuff and their store. and the DAM ain't too shabby neither. I'll be posting colorized versions of these trippy little rabbits soon. The day of the event falls between the day Albert Hoffman dropped acid for the first time or what's become Bicycle Day and the day he departed this world.

The top 5 images are a couple of the bunnies that didn't make the grade and the originals that were hand tinted for a show at Niagara Bar in the East Village. Sold a bunny that night.

Bathing Suit Season

As the weather warms up, the clothes come off. Everyone's thoughts are on going to the beach and what's underneath all those winter layers. It's also oil spill season and soon beaches all around the globe will be coated with thick gooey stanky black crude oil from wrecked tankers.
This painting is a modified sunset I found at a thrift store back in 2002.

Bicycle Season

It's almost May and the weather in NYC is warming up. Time to start riding my bike again. I have passed the 6 month waiting period the doctor recommended I avoid riding my bicycle. Tomorrow I pick the bike up from the shop where it's getting a tune up. I plan on riding for a couple hours around the city. The accident in October besides breaking my jaw and my skull, messed up my from wheel and the brakes. This little painting is a pseudo-self portrait.

random arting for my friends

A while back I got one of those chain letters on facebook. Normally I pass on such letters as generally they are some kind of weird 17 magazine style personality quiz. When I was bed-ridden for 3 weeks after my bicycle accident I would be all over stuff like that but this time around I passed. The letter sat there for a few days and then I saw a few of my friends responses to the initial letter posted on my home page. What caught my attention this time was the subject matter.
As I dismissed the letter quickly as just another "fill in the blanks about me me me" survey, I did not notice it was more than that.

I don't know where this letter originated but my friend Kevin forwarded it to me and a couple dozen other friends of his. The jist of the letter is that the fist 5 people who respond to the letter get something made especially for them by the sender on condition that they in turn pass the letter on to another couple dozen people with the same directions. Make 5 things for the first 5 people. Making something could be a silk screened t-shirt, chocolate chip cookies, knitted scarf...no limits as long as it's made by hand for the person who replies. Can't be something laying in the bottom of the sock drawer.

I gave in and posted my own letter to 25 people. The response was almost instant. There were a couple instances where multiple responses came really close to each other so I ended up making 8 paintings for the respondees as well as one for Kevin who sent me the letter in the first place.

These illustrations that I made fit the personality of each of the people who are getting them. The technique I used for these has been something I've been working with for a while and really like the results. On bristol board I use soft pencil, india ink, brush and quill for the initial drawing. I then add acrylic paint in a similar manner as watercolor. When I scan them the results to me look even better than the original. This was a fun project and I'm glad I finally answered the letter.

The subjects are as varied as the people for whom the paintings were made. I have the greatest friends in the world. I made portraits of the Starland Vocal Band, David Lynch, Ira Glass from This American Life, Yoda smoking a doobie and Spinal Tap. I also made some tattoo flash inspired pieces : an octopus, a pug dog and a seahorse. Finally I made an illustration that I personally like the best of all of the lot and that is a monkey wearing a Pac Man shirt contemplating throwing some poo.