working with others

as you may know, i am in a number of rock bands. Thin Fevers is one of them and we have a new cd coming out next week. if you want to come to the show or find out what all is involved with the band, our shows, or just to get to know us a little better, check out thin fevers dot com.

and for an up-close and impersonal look into the members of thin fevers you can watch these vids.


and me lady has a car now, so look for more work that will fit into a bigger trunk.

who needs a hit counter when you have friends?

My good friend matt sent me a message today - and i got happy because someone is at least looking at these:

-I'm talking here about those last 3 watercolours. This following critique didn't post on your myspace blog. After that, I decided the critique was too long-winded, not critical enough, and too much 'my perspective' to post as a comment. Anyhow, you might get a kick out of it though:

A Wrinkle in Time?

I've never been a fan of watercolor, (except maybe for that old Japanese style.) However, you took the foo-foo out and emphasized the fun!

I'm not an expert by any means, (which is why my opinion may actually be somewhat valid,) but... beyond the old masters, the watercolour medium does make me think of "flowers and barns;" it makes me think of amateurs/working-class, probably because of the relatively low cost of watercolor paint to other mediums. (As a former CPF it makes me think of mediums that you should never drymount, and mediums that fight with their substrate, as watercolor often permantly warps the paper its painted on.) Also, watercolors seem naturally more delicate, gentle, and lighter in color than mediums like oil and ink.

I see the watercolor as a dead, or irrelavant art form.

All that amateur talk aside, I like these pieces. My favorite is "Juliet," the A.M. radio piece. Beyond looking cool, (the base value of any work of art,) it incorporates my aforementioned views on the watercolor medium and uses them to good effect. It also implies Juliet from Romeo and Juliet... passionate love that dies.

From my understanding of the A.M. radio heyday national D.J.'s were in charge of the airwaves, and the songs and bands played. That's how rock and roll got popular. Not only is the A.M. format dead in terms of playing and popularizing music, but that function of the D.J. is largely dead too. More recently? Clear Channel and invested major labels control the airwaves: the playlists have already been pre-destined. Real D.J.s, who choose the music? You can find them late night often on public radio like Linn in Providence, RI. Now? perhaps digital technology is slowly resurrecting this old-style D.J. function back from the dead, (I'm thinking Left Of Center a show locally D.J.'ed by Dodge.)

Now being a passionate lover of rock and roll, of radio in my youth, and still mourning the loss of the now-dead 'Juliet' that it was to me; the work makes complete sense to me. Yet the handwork is playful; it doesn't put on airs, or take itself too seriously. That mood reminds me of one of the precursors to rock and roll, but one that took shape at the early stages of recorded music: the blues. The melodies of the blues are upbeat often in contrast with the subject matter. I'm a fan here too. (I'm a fan of the real old stuff, 1920's and 1930's: Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, and even Robert Johnson.)

Aspects of all this seem to be present in this piece; it rocks genuine style. Though genuine blues is undeniably dead, the music-junkie-promoter function of the D.J. may be resurrected; like the watercolor medium seems resurrected here, both to mourn the old and celebrate the possibility of the new.

The drips are well placed too!

My only criticism: I wish that lightning bolt was bigger.

three more with wa-wa

  boxes
boxes
25x19"
watercolor on paper
2008

i smoke about a pack a day. philip morris's crest dumbed down and color corrected. this one goes along with the hops image in the other watercolors; images we see but dont see either because of the size or familiarity.



juliet
25x19
watercolor on paper
2008

i've got this great old AM radio made by the juliet company. not much to listen to on AM these days. no music. no real opinions. just dribble. the radio is made of plastic and has yellowed over time but still works and at times can catch some pretty frequencies.


response to beer
25x19"
mixed media
2008

again some of the hops imagery, this time matched with some spit and drips. alcohol is a depressive drug, but is socially relevant in getting some people to be honest, dishonest, or just laid. 

lets get wet.

i finally got back to grabbing more than just an hour or two in the studio and the results, are, well....

i flipped the paper and got started on the glossy side, spat two layers of ink and lines, then wiped them down with t-shirt cotton. repeated. what you see above is the 'good' one out of about three experiments in wiping and repeating. acting quickly between layers allows for a nice negative line to form, adding depth in a way. my buddy Rob said that the first round of works lacked visual information. he's a painter. whah.

i am happy with the potential outcome in later works, but i have yet to play with control and contrast. in the back of my head i try to think of how to pull this kind of image off with lithography. then i think about undergraduate times and get mad.

then i started playing with watercolors.










the color was the key, really. i wanted a dead looking yellow that could be both natural in nature (autumn leave) or in the body (mucus or bile)....the result was, well, your choice of the two. the image is that of hops which are most often used on beer labels. i cut the size down, increased scale and weight of the line used for illustrations and designs. the yellow layer looked undefined and not clear enough to reference to a tiny part of on-product advertising, so the black outline took the existing shape and coloring booked it. its watercolor, man. i didnt wet the paper or tape it down or use any blocking pastes or salt or shit like that. i just painted with it. i could craft show the shit out of these, but as soon as i open my mouth about the process, im done.


the hops image reminded me of wreath leaves, so one, "W" is just for a wreath that is anti-seasonal. the "F" is for a funeral wreath. honor the dead with death, i guess.


i have a few more hybrids to show off, but that will come later. K? bye.

awesome show this thursday in indy.
i hope you can come check it out.