Just about there...or, i'm here.

im a paint marker away from finishing my mixed media indiana flag on dome roof painting. i dont know if the show its supposed to be in is even still happening but keep indianapolis beautiful is busy, well, keeping my hometown perty. im more than happy with it since at first i felt like some mark just pushing paint around but i had my vision and now i can say ive really worked on something that was a totally unoriginal idea. i love how the torch turned out, i love how the stars are both bold but decaying, i love that the blue is totally wrong but hell, we voted blue for obama and we dont have palin as a vice president. theres a lot of indiana in this painting.
the base blue i bought from a random box of crap at a woodruff place garage sale ten years ago...its a refill for a printer long gone but its blue. it became a problem a few weeks ago since im using all water based paints: it kicks its way through, looking for air, turning my 9 layers of yellow into green....not a bad move in a progressive/changing state like indiana....im not saying the state is progressive, but its a changin.
the whole thing is fatter than it needs to be, just like our state, and me, and just about everyone i know that eats. its following the cute trend of minimizing and plushificating stuff that need not be touched, like plush star wars characters or Chuthulus.... pointless but entertaining, which i am sure someone could say about our state.

i could rail on and on about this painting but i wont. just buy it and show some pride in where yr from. k?

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

the amassment of space _ art sale

dig into this site. go two years back. maybe a little over a year...
why?
if you see something you like i will sell it to you for $100. buy more and the discount starts to pile up:

each piece is $100 but each piece after that is $25 less.
2 pieces = $175
3 pieces = $225
4 pieces = $250

then i stop and we start to talk about what the h is going on.

some pink ones

the ones with birds

yes, even the drums and bras

anything pieces that are horizontal, or really just two panels, are $150, but the same $25 applies to consecutive works. if you get a larger piece that one starts the ball rolling.

hit me up any way you choose. lets talk. or just send me a wish list and we'll work on it.

cheers.

Thunder Perfect Mind long form description

On Friday, December 4, the music and multi-media performing arts group BASILICA will present "Thunder Perfect Mind: An Exploration of Sound, Light, and Consciousness" at the Murphy Art Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. This vast, interactive multi-media production will include performances and installations by over 20 musicians and artists.

Thunder Perfect Mind will be presented in Suite 2 of the Murphy Art Center, the 5000-square-foot location formerly occupied by Dolphin Papers. The space will be filled with a vast installation of wood, metal, and fabric architecture that will serve as the environment for the lights, sounds, performances, and interactions that comprise Thunder Perfect Mind.

Thunder Perfect Mind focuses on themes of post-dualistic transcendence of the inherited dichotomies between consciousness and non-consciousness, order and chaos, past and future, reality and the ideal, the known and the unknown; and the establishment of a dynamic, harmonic equilibrium between these supposed binary oppositions. The dissolution of these apparent dichotomies will be realized through the spatial and temporal juxtapositions of the performances and other components of this production. This process will be presented in a manner seeking to engage both the material and the spiritual; the mind and the body; the senses as well as the emotions and the intellect.

Thunder Perfect Mind takes its name from a poem of the same title that was discovered among the Gnostic manuscripts found in a sealed clay vessel at Nag Hammadi in southern Egypt in 1945. This production will include the recitation of an interpretation of this ancient text by poet and performance artist Chelsea Parkkila. The recitation of this treatment will continue throughout the entire duration of the evening.

The musicians of BASILICA will provide thundering concretions of consciousness through the performance of compositions by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, Indianapolis native Charlie Olvera, and BASILICA's own Joe Molinaro. The precision and exuberance of these performances will create points of intense focus of psychological and physical intent amid the more nebulous chain of events that will fill the evening.

Thunder Perfect Mind will also feature the premiere of Matthew Andert's Optical Theremin Choir, a system of nearly 20 interactive electronic instruments. Like traditional theremins, these custom-designed-and-built instruments are activated by movement and proximity but instead of being sensitive to electromagnetic fields, these instruments are activated by light and visual motion.

The evening will also include the premiere of a new composition by Joe Molinaro which provides a depiction of the ideas presented in the compelling and controversial book “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by psychologist Julian Jaynes. Molinaro's "Breakdowns of the Bicameral Mind" explores Jaynes's notion of the emergence of human consciousness from the mythological dependencies of the archaic human mind into the modern perceptual and cognitive state of awareness that we now recognize as "consciousness." The composition features primal rhythms and hypnotic repetition and improvisation that will work in conjunction with the Optical Theremin Choir to produce unforgettable sculptures of sound, light, and video interactivity that will fill the entire space inhabited by Thunder Perfect Mind.

The entrances and exits of Thunder Perfect Mind will feature the Unified Fields interactive video display by IUPUI Music and Arts Technology faculty member Jordan Munson. Thunder Perfect Mind will also feature the premiere of Munson’s new audio-video interactivity system that transforms musical and environmental sound into video motion.

Prof. Andrew Bucksbarg will present his social cinema work PASS CAMERA, which will engage the audience in live audio and video reflections and interactivity, and Prof. Margaret Dolinsky's Celestial Reflections will provide breathtaking displays of digital art that will evolve throughout the course of the evening.

Additional music and video interactive improvisations will be held throughout the remainder of the evening.

Thunder Perfect Mind will be held from 8:00 to 11:00 P.M. on Friday, December 4 at the Murphy Art Center at 1043 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46203. Thunder Perfect Mind is presented in conjunction with the Big Car Gallery and is part of the IDADA First Friday Art Tour which is held in downtown Indianapolis every month. Admission is free, and all ages are welcome to attend. Audience participation will be welcomed and encouraged!

links to pics of my work as seen on facebook

youve seen a lot of them on here already, but now they dimensions and prices have been updated.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17039&id=774418753&l=f95c156c0e

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34782&id=774418753&l=70766da091

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22133&id=774418753&l=faab5efd2f

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18709&id=774418753&l=b83ab534b8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17651&id=774418753&l=5d96fd3253

the show is over

thanks to all that were able to make it out to Alchemy to view my first solo exhibition. I wish i could have done some subsequent receptions but time didnt allow for it. a majority of the works are still for sale at soon to be reduced prices so keep you bookmarks open for a better site to view my ongoing developments.

the new site, in my head, will have both the images i make and the sounds that not only influence them but are created concurrently with the work. i was in a bit of a pinch to get this first show together but in the future would like not a "mulit-media", bonk you over the head vibe but one that alludes to some of the deeper meanings of the works through sound and light. some of you already get what im saying, some of you just need a bit more of a push in the right direction. dont worry, its nothing too heavy, ok?

thanks to rob and nikki for sharing their amazing space, all of the amazingly talented stylists that had to look at my shit every time they went to work, thanks to wfyi for the support (development ftw), thanks to all of the women that inspired some of those images, thanks to larry for firing me so i could get some time by myself, and thanks to my wife andrea. without her support and patience while i was getting this show together i wouldnt have finished any of the work she said was either over worked or almost there.

keep an eye out as i try (as half-assedly as i can) to get more work produced and more work out there to see in person.

regards,

ben

preparation makes me a prep? f that.

a weekend spent half-framing screwed up my back. i say half framing because i assembled. i didnt make anything but the pictures. didnt cut wood or joint any corners or glue anything. just made sandwiches of plexi, paper, board and board. being a good sandwich maker doesnt make you a good cook, or anything close to a chef. kinda like how mixing a good color doesnt make you a good painter, or anything close to a good artist.
[thats why i like black and white, sucka!]

Andrea was outta town at a conference she said was educational and helpful, but i wonder how much of what she workshopped will be usefull in the next few months...she needs another job. you know, for more money, respect, benefits, and a chance to convince her to move downtown. maybe just more money. nonetheless, i had time to work and work and smoked and drank and worked. the two days i had made me wish for a house so badly so i just drove around, thinking about what it would really take to you know, get a house.

my mother dropped by and one of our conversations went into my want of a managed property. i know why at my age i still want someone else to cut the grass, fix the sink, landscape the yard: i got other stuff to do, thats why. i have stuff to make, songs to play, places to go check out. im not going to get older just to ride on a lawmower for 20 minutes a week. that time could be better used sleeping for an extra 20 minutes in the morning. now that is meaningful.

more preparations are being made for Peter Freund Sr. to visit our grand nation via Germany. two + weeks of a father in-law i havent seen for years and not once since being married. he is kinda bad ass if you ask me. he is in the hospital about two months out of the year and still travels six more. last i heard he had to go in because he had broken his belly button. how hard it that?!?! good times will be had.

more preparations for the Rooms cd to come out sometime soon. i have to design the cover, again, after matt called me drunk to yell about monochromatic cover fails and how my text looks too tough guy & punk. fun part was that he did it while i was at work so i yelled at him and my callers just laughed and laughed at my upity art talk and grunts. i'll get to it, next week.

ug. blogging at work. makes me want a laptop.

i wish my dining room couch always looked like this.

back to it (the IT being what you want it to be)

this past weekend andrea asked me to listen to the heat vent. of course she is crazy but i thought i heard something going on too, so i got on my knees and well...

i went to our basement storage area and saw nothing going on in the main room. the back room (my studio space) was a different story; on the left wall there was a hissing sound coming from the ceiling, mist in the air, and a nice stream of hot water falling right atop my prized "Dinosaur" strat copy guitar (best $35 spent ever)... the floor was soaked and everything in sight was moist. luckily there is a drain in the floor, uncovered by carpet remnants or cigarette butts, so most of the over flow was taken care of. some of the things not taken care of were a Bose mounted speaker i used to rock out to whilst painting and drawing (i plugged it in today and it gave me a nasty hum with moments of squeal), a receiver/tape deck/record player which im pretty sure is a goner, a fender sfx II amp which still works, some awesome pencils that decided to expand in hot water (thanks frenchies, your shit breaks).... and carpet... and some other throw aways like, well, nothing much.

the maintenance guy called back within minutes of me leaving a voice mail on some emergency line. he would be over as soon as he got some pants on (thanks dude, me and the lady really appreciate the thought)... they started work at 7:30 saturday morning and were done when i got home from work at 2:30. new pipe and they re-tubed a furnace duct that was all rusted out with, you guessed it, water.

why the hell am i writing about this? because i rearranged my studio, made two blank books out of the paper i use (small series, big sales) and am hyped to get in there and basically do some cool shit. im looking at the better series of the last year - i think i made about 5-6 strong, multiple piece works, but different people (whom i all listen to and respect) like the most disparate and 'not like the other' images...

how the fuck am i supposed to meld the imagery of an eagle with that of a victoria secrets bra? thats not a challenge, thats fucking dumb.

so i have more work cut out for me, maybe too much, but thats better than being a boring sap. trust me, it is.

yr protest song for the next ten years- shout me out

one of the tracks that sticks out tv on the radio's new Dear Science album is the song Shout Me Out: its incredibly simple structure wise. its got the same 'not much above the 5th' kind of base that makes for a good song until the dual guitar solos kill you with their ease of rage. here are the lyrics=

Storm, cast me out.
So I can feel it in another way.
won't talk about.
Warm passenger's high.
If I could feed it for another day.
It might run me dry.
I know the season's evolved to a freeze.
Putting hearts in the balance here.
It's up to your knees and it's shifting degrees and it's choking your atmosphere.

Storm, wind me out.
So I can feel it in another way.
They won't talk about worn masochist's sigh.
A distant figure in a photograph.
Another eye.

I know your reason is stalled.
And your freedoms dissolved.
In your passion dear, It's burning your eyes and it's.
Killing your mind.

And it's broken your atmosphere.
But should you find it. Obscene in that grey.
Old dramatics hear a young heart say.

Lord if you've got lungs.
C'mon shout me out.

I know the freeze has unthawed.
And it's putting your love into.
Action dear.
It's off in the breeze and it's shifting degrees.
And it's opened your atmosphere.
So should you decide
it's obscene in that grey.
Old dramatics hear a young heart say.

Lord if you've got lungs.
C'mon shout me out.

_________________________________
and if you have the time, for me, drop an email to one of the people that vote for you and tell them to vote for barack obama on tuesday. i only ask you, the citizen voter, because once again, your vote doesnt mean that much in the greater scheme of things and if you are lucky enough to know an electoral voter you are either cool or dont punch enough people in the gut.

stars, bras, drums, dumps.

theres a new header image. i found an old series of something that is either a drawing or a painting, i dont know. probably the cheapest materials ive ever worked with: copy paper turned black with really crappy ink and these starts cut out of 'stick-on' faux-wood linoleum. theyre cool. really.

Christian McBride is a recent discovery for me. a dude that works with me passed me his latest live cd. i was blown away, repeatedly. i still have to pick up my jaw when i hear Terron Gulley play drums - really simple fusion set, and he WAILS on a nice thin, bright 24" ride cymbal. his bass drum work is insane at times, so i had to make these two hot hot pictures.

ride
bass drum

if you're a facebook friend, you may have cocked your head off slightly to the right when i posted a few days of "im going to draw bras." i only hit two good pieces out of a few odd starts. ink, acrylic, and some 'teener-girl-sleepover' colored sharpies. my wife has good taste, i dont know if that comes out in the work.


cup
style listing


i have a picture of Caroline Kennedy holding 'lil john hanging in my studio. it has collected some splayed ink and some crinks from hitting the floor once or twice. one night i was doing blind contours and that picture hit me as being rather sad; memories, death, black & white. i and waited days in between sessions so that it could all dry - ink, watercolor, acrylics. sad caroline kennedy.


sad

just got upstairs from a pretty amazing session in the studio. no, i wasnt laying down the tightest of drum grooves. and no, i wasnt wah chicka wahing my way to deep soulness... i was listening to christian mcbride. one of my underlings at wfyi burned me a live cd, and yea, my mind has been blown. im pretty sure its the live at tonic album (disk 1) and it is outright amazing.

so piece wise, i started off with two pretty mundane washes from friday; kinda transparent yellow green just washed up with a two inch brush. i threw them up, hit them with what was left of the pallet, and let them dry. well, tonight i was wishing i could have played some drums, so one is a cymbal (ride from the vibe i was on) and the other a bass drum with a hammer headed pedal kicking in. a few reds, some orange to freak it out in places, and some illustration black lines for overdone form. finished off with some pink/white wash over the remaining flat space and ive almost got a whole drum kit painting. well, not even close to a whole kit, but im happy with the product seeing as both pieces seem totally plastic ideas of what i was feeling. richard nicholson would be proud.

then i got back to four smaller pieces, again from fridays beginnings. they all deal with memory and how the past cannot be changed through thoughts. one may decide that selective memory can help an individual keep the lessons (not) learned from past mistakes or decisions from haunting them, but there is no use. none. you remember the bad stuff and it stings. your memory, if youre messed up, reminds you of one good thing assigned to that painful memory in hopes of taking the sting away. if youve learned anything the sting is still there, only dulled by time and life and how you work now, but it still stings.
the pieces started as washy profiles of people i remembered from the late 90's ... just the most abstract of sketchy portions of the persons.... i cant even remember who they are now... probably friends from the days i casually did some drugs i cant afford now.... but people in my memory nonetheless. tonight, with the help of some late 90's bands blaring through headphones, i was able to layer on some high and low lights, much like the sing of memory i spoke of before, only with the ups too.
one can say taking the sting of a memory away is just "leaning" while i say its just making the memory more coherent.
yea, a cop came to talk to me while i was at some party, but i really remember how awesome the band he shut down was when it happened. that isnt really learning. thats just reminicense.

so ive got some paintings that deal with memory popping out of me. they still look like right now.

and one more: a twisted body piece like the ones from april, only way smaller and less worked. i still want to layer in some blacks like i had with the larger pieces. but the simplicity of the sketch, almost f. baconey in its approach, really makes me want to return hardcore to the figure.


now if only me and my wife had matching schedules.......

new thin fevers song/ return to the figure?

here is the new one from TF, a little fast and sorry for the lighting change in the middle - it was hot in there, and i dont just mean because i was there....



in works on paper news...
i got a bug in me and started with some very physical lines which turned into very people parts looking shapes which turned into a very sexual, abstract pair of works still being honed down into tighter shapes and forms. i still want to incorporate the use of "refused line choices" but when it comes to the figure you get into blood memory, muscle reactions, and stepping back and not liking it - the later makes the line work fun because of the build up of process, the history within a line (choices of erasing, destruction, weight and other formal issues.)

it seems the most tenuous part of this is just thinking about it while awake. i had it all figured out around 5 am, but i pretty comfortable with my eyes closed, dreaming of rolling down a soft hill.
pics of the process soon.

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.

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.

Trust Me

ive been working. Askren told me to put a cd together of my currents, and i also wanted to update my legions of fans on the new stuff. 

but ive been trying to load images for a half an hour now. no luck. its late and valentine's day was a wash. come back soon and see a long stream of new stuff.

crankin' 'em out

i went to my old employer, United Art & Education, to pick up two #4 United nylon brushes and a quart of good old speedball black ink. a few bucks later and i am off.

so time in the studio has given birth to many a new, small pieces. a lot. really, a lot. unless Meko offers me a one man show with everything hung salon style, ive gotta get rid of this stuff. ive been thinking of selling them cheap ($30) with a few extras; hand written note, a sticker, and a select few would get a business card sized mix cd of mp3s. 

how do i get the word out? reposting this on myspace.com/iamsick, posting it here, and whoring myself to the local crowd that thinks im an a-hole. well, im off to that too.

more later.

new, smaller series and questions of workers intent.

the last few days ive been looking for part-time stuff like crazy, but that didnt keep me from making a small table for a stereo in the studio. from that construction ive started a new series of the ink drips on smaller sheets of 100# productolith paper. the paper has the shine of commercial stock which plays well with the matte black of the ink.

at the start of the "saturday night" series it was more about gestures and control of not thinking. as things have progressed, my focus turns back to the figure. i am not so much choosing to define figurative shapes as i am using the same mark-making choices ive used in the past. there is still a struggle in the line (that i hope to god comes through in the piece) and maybe that has more to do with my concern about my tools than it does my execution. 

with the addition of a proper stereo to the space, the wall on which i work has shrunken, as well as the ceiling. another tool i am unsure of. and playing mix tapes from the late 90's only makes my heart do a slow burn. 

my primary brush is a nylon W&N #2. made for acrylics, it serves as a  fantastic ink-giver when loaded up. but my abuse/use of this one brush is taking its toll. i  whip the thing around for effects, then try to tame my own nervous energy when the sweeter, thoughtless application begins. as much as i would love a handful of bamboo brushes with the best of horse tail, dripping with some Suni as black as Russian coal, i must go with the cheap alternative of whats in the bucket. 

i need more ink. i need more brushes. i want to try this on heavier paper. huge paper is out of the question right now. too ambitious right now. im comfortable with the size right now. these things are accessible, frame ready, would look fantastic pasted on mailboxes or on doors of abandoned buildings (the second Liberty series is both rejecting and embracing street art, but more on those when theyre more done.)

i dont think just going big for the sake of scale is worth it. i need a bigger wall, anyway.

oh - primaries. how i wish it mattered. one new 25x38 piece is called "a mountain of delegates." im pretty happy my girlfriend listens to the rules and speculation and BS going on. american politics is the dirtiest, most catty-wompass, out-dated system in the world. thank god for cable? thank god for piles of paper.

fridays keep me working

first friday in indy is upon us. if anyone wants to stop me and hassle me for change, chances are you can find me around and about. scott seems to have his ear to the street when it comes to what there is to see.

i will also be working on working: started a new series today - lots of drips cut short by a speedball roller that pretty much begs to be broken (and it will be, tonight). my plans are to go more of the Liberty series route and clean my head for some more straight ink&paper works. pics soon.

if anyone has a few nice lights so that my slides aren't so janky looking, gimme a heads up.

cover letters.....who needs em?
me.

new works

my last week has been spent looking both for work and looking at a wall. the later has been more rewarding.

two new series; one called Saturday Night Wrist and the other called Liberty. both are on 100 lb. white paper and range in size from 25" x 19" to 25" x 37 1/2".
here is a short explanation from my "other" blog: the straight ink and paper works were inspired by my revisiting of Saturday Night Wrist by the Deftones, but visually, im pretty sure it looks like ive been listening to Stephen Reich. well, i havent.
They deal with the idea of the selective random: they start as gestural wavings of an ink loaded brush, following either text or figurative forms, then through some staring, i create connections (or rather, fight my eye and muscle reactions) to where the next line begins or ends. the excessive dripping is created either by stopping for a moment to create discourse in the line being made or the decision to find the fastest way out.
the piece up top is the name of the series. i will be writing more on my feelings about the album when the whole series is done.
some others...






and, the other series; again, from the "other" blog: the mixed media works were created with an ipod on shuffle. the layering of marks and shapes follow the constant change of tones and aural textures. i used a limited palette to encourage less decision making and allowed for the "muddying" of colors in order to limit visual layering. the thoughts involved are that of the personal resolutions concerning social freedoms, contractual governing bodies, the anti-scientific Religious Right, and beer.

these ones:

so that is what i do when i dont have a job. i just stand there and work on my career, the most important part of my career.