Here’s some new stuff I’ve been working on as of late. I’m going to be in a large group show in November entitled “Go Get Your Shinebox” put together by Brookynite Gallery.
Rae, the owner of the gallery, invited me to participate. It’s a show about the effect the terrible economy is having on working-class artists and how they would survive if they were to be living on the streets. Brooklynite gallery is a really rad and innovative gallery that does a lot of work with fresh artists, so I’m stoked to be involved. Considering that I’ve been out of work for several months, this show struck a chord with my belief in self-resourcefulness and has given me a chance to fully express my feelings of being a starving artist at the moment.
Here’s some details on the show:
“This show will be about giving the middle finger to corporate America and beyond– These boxes will be our petition. The message will be made loud and clear that the purpose of this show is a response to the insane amounts of unregulated bailouts & corporate bonuses that continue to slap us across the face while many wait on unemployment lines, loose their homes and don’t have a pot to piss in or window to throw it out….
We already have alot of press people asking us for more info about this show & We are trying to secure sponsorship to take these boxes down to ART BASEL in Miami as well…
Please keep in mind the box you will create can be used to house ANYTHING you might need to make a living on the streets– One artist talked about theirs being a portable whore house– a box filled with sex toys and condoms– the outside of the box a red blinking neon light. Another artist is also a DJ and thought about putting a mini-record player inside. And so on– the point is the term “SHINEBOX” can really be expanded upon… If you had to hit the streets to make money what would you do? What would bring in the money you needed to survive? This box– doesn’t even have to be a box. It can be round. It can perishable. It can be alive. Found, modified, store bought–etc. The main thing is it’s a SURVIVAL BOX.”
And here’s my box…still in the works.
My mom found the box and well, she knows I have a certain obsession with collecting found objects and unique boxes. She gave it to me when I was last in town visiting her and it was really good timing and felt perfect for the show. It’s got an awesome glass top with really great lettering on it that says “Ye’ Old Cheese Chest” which I also take as a double meaning with the term “cheese” being a reference to collatoral as in, “Let me get that cheese.” It would have been even better if it said “Ye Old Cabbage Chest.”
Once I got back to NY I asked my mom to send the box which she inadvertently filled with some pieces from my installation I made recently in Chicago. When it arrived I saw that she had kick started my idea of filling the box with random objectual necessities that I always keep nearby. I have kept the box placed in the center of my living room for the past two months and have continued to fill it with the obejects I find necessary to have in my daily life.
So far the box is full of blunt wrappers, mouse traps, enough pills to kill yourself with, drug packets with drug residue, rubber gloves, candles, smokes, empty cig boxes, baseball cards, sage, sweet grass, a anatomical skeleton hand, Vaseline, robotussin, a to do list, random phone numbers, a semi/broken digital camera, counterfit money and a birthday card from my deadbeat father I haven’t talked to in years.
I’ve also started wheatpasting the outside of the box with photographs I take and found text I have been infatuated with as of lately that speaks on the ground floor daily hustle of trying to make it in a less then favorable living sitution. And yes I work out of my kitchen, haha!
I’m really looking forward to the show. Get Paid.
****
Another thing I’ve been working on is a series of trading cards for my good friend Morgan’s Suckadelic art show.
I met Morgan about a year ago when I interviewed him for a magazine– he was my first interview and it was funny because he couldn’t have been a better sport about it. Since then I have become a witness to his solid artistic integrity and dedication to his vision, I now consider him a close friend. Always steady on the grind, he’s invited me to be a part of his upcoming art show and create some one-of-a-kind “Sketch Cards” for his highly anticipated custom trading cards series to be released soon.
I like the way this one of his Vectar character about to do some space drugs came out the most, it’s also one of my favorite episodes of his, I know I’m a nerd.
Watch the episode:
There is going to be a Sketch Card Show and Auction for the last batch of custom sketch cards that were made for the Star Wars Galaxy Series and 40 artist are making custom Sucklord 600 figures.
Free beer and toys. I can’t wait, should be a good time. www.suckadelic.com
The Suckadelic sketch cards thing was kinda a good kick in the pants after the last couple of art shows I was in. I’ve been a little burnt out and was not really making the time to work on anything in the last couple months, but once I started working on the small scale trading cards for Morgan I was able to get the creative juices flowing again and have started making some mixed- media larger size drawings.
I was just splattering ink and marker around, I work in a sort of layer pattern so I’ll probably keep working on these.
The paper they are drawn on is found paper I came across when I was commissioned to do a mural inside an old building on State and Lake in downtown Chicago. In the 70s it used to be a men’s clothing store and in the basement of the building we came across a backroom piled to the ceiling with old suits and stacks of this paper. I like that the paper has the name of The Haberdasher’s shop in the corner and at the moment I have a endless supply of it.
