WW104: HENSE, VINTAGE LONDON and SOME SWEARING!

I BET YOU WERE EXPECTING A VALENTINES DAY THEMED WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY.......well......you are WRONG.....but please do enjoy these 5 things not so romantic things.....

1.) Barbara Franc from the UK creates beautiful bird sculptures using found and recycled metals! According to her bio she is fascinated by the shape & sculptural forms of animals. "I try to capture a feeling of their movement and presence in my sculpture." Franc says, "For this I use wire and other materials in a way that suggests drawing in three dimensions. This allows me greater freedom to add changes whenever I want during the construction to keep the feeling fluid and to reflect the diversity of movement and form." OK. Sure. I just know they are SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!

Check out more of her AMAZING sculpture on her website!
(thanks to junk-culture.com)

2.) HEY LONDONERS! This one is for you!!! Check out Vintage London's Facebook Page. It is really really really GREAT!

Here is a sample of some of the AH-MAH-ZING photos you can see on this Facebook page:

3.) Atomic ToyBot. Part toy store, part art gallery, part bookstore, Atomic Toybot has a little something for everyone. It is a great little store on Queen East here in T.O.

Lots of great - fun stuff!!!

ALSO I am showing a little original art piece for their Pony Paddock show (a show all about My Little Pony) Here are the deets:

Hours of Operation - Wednesday-Saturday 11am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-5pm
978 Queen Street East, Toronto

4.) This mural project is incredible! Atlanta-based graffiti artist Hense recently completed a new mural installation in Washington DC. The private commission involved completely painting a historic Church in Ward 6, an up and coming area located directly across the street from a planned 20,000 sqft museum. Hense completely transformed the church with latex paint creating a monumental installation. This is another great example of art vs architecture, where today’s artists are transforming neighborhoods and skylines with murals and paint. Remember to check out his website for more great stuff!!

(via designformankind )

5.) This is SUUUUUPER OFFENSIVE. Please cover your children's ears. Sadly, I cannot get the tune out of my head!!!! (I assure you the words are just as unsuitable to READ - but read them HERE)

(thanks CINDY for your filthy forward)

LUCKY NEW WORK

Hot off the easel, is my brand new work. I have another few to show you on friday as well! 

Yup. I am really plowing forward towards my crazy deadline!!!

WHAT DEADLINE???

If you regularly stop by here, you know I have a brand new exhibition opening in October.

"Sign of the Times" will showcase some great new work!!!

Over the weekend I wrote up a new 'artist statement' for the show - (that will be used to help promote/describe the work for this exhibition). Let me share it with you:

At first viewing, this new body of work appears to be all about posters, billboards and advertising. Similar to my previous work, each piece evokes a sense of nostalgia. However, “Sign of the Times” is essentially about the signs all around us.  Signs that tell us our world has changed. Signs illustrating for good or for bad, the kind of communities we have built. Signs that society needs to react and change for the better!

The paintings in this exhibition have a specific message related to the politics of everyday life. I navigate around difficult themes such as drunk driving, urban sprawl and government budget using my ‘signature’ humour and word-play. They say “you can attract more bees with honey than with vinegar”, so I provide political commentary in a somewhat ‘sugary’ manner.

These acrylic paintings employ a collage-like approach, but are rendered in a technique that may be considered ‘trompe l’oeil’. Within each piece, the imagery has been designed specifically to mimic iconography and ephemera from pre-1950. This vintage ‘look’ offsets the political sting and complements a humorous approach to social activism. Along with acrylic paintings, I have once again created work using mixed media and found objects for “Sign of the Times”.

As always, I hope that my work entertains but also challenges people to re-assess the world around them, and perhaps even be a catalyst for change!

Ok.....so it is a bit 'art=speak-y' (which I HATE) but people in the art business are always expecting an obscure and ten-dollar-worded statement that essentially makes people feel stupid. I am NOT like that, so I try to keep it simple and easy to understand. Maybe because I am also simple. 

;-p

OK.....so here is the latest painting for the show:  

"Luck",  36" x 24", Acrylic on Board.

So, as you can see, this one looks like my others in its look.

Now, let's break it down!

It has a background of tiles from Union Station. Actually they are the tiles from the Light Rail (streetcar) station UNDER Union Station. I have always loved the teals and greys and beiges together.

The poster is of some crazy kids partying it up on a Friday night. The streetcar is an oldie. The city in the background it the Toronto skyline. The poster is aged and has the usual folds and such painted on.

The quote on this painting is "Luck runs out, but safety is good for life."Although I cannot find the source from it, I like what it says. It sets the theme of this piece!!

I then painted a horseshoe, and a coaster from 'The Horseshoe Tavern'.

The final elements are a vintage car key for a Ford, and a bottle cap for 'Steam Whistle' beer.

I wanted to make a painting about using your head, and taking transit when you plan on going out to drink. I wanted to tell that story in a tasteful and subtle way. 

I think I was successful.

What say you???

WW63:A BOOGITY BOOGITY, Book loving Swear-fest!

Ok...so here we go with 5 things that I am interested in/inspired by this week!

1.) This one is not so inspiring - in fact it it is downright creeeeepy. But I love old 50's photos and love going to www.retronaut.co/ for all things cool and vintage!!!!

In 1950, LIFE Magazine published photos from an event dubbed “Ball Point Bathing Suits”… a racy cocktail party / fashion show at which popular strip cartoonists were invited to draw all over models in white swim suits (called "the autograph suit"). These ASs could be drawn on with a bic pen and not erase in the water! The photos were brought to you courtesy of the Beat.  (“The Happiest Cartoonist of All Time,” original article.) Evidently, these pictures are a veritable “Who’s Who” among cartoonists of the day — names like Ernie Bushmiller, Milton Caniff, Otto Soglow, Bill Holman, etc. 

Still.....EW!!

(thanks Cindy for pointing this one out for me!)

2.) Sara Bareilles. LOVE HER. I just love her. Yes, it is kinda 'chick' music.....but it is too good for me not to mention! Her latest EP is called "Once Upon Another Time". I have really been enjoying it! Perhaps a bit of a downer......still....... 

A downer.......except when she is swearing like a sailor on "Sweet as Whole". Here is a live version:

Ok...on with the rest of the swear-less #WW.....

3.) Crosley Radio. Normally I only like the actual antiques.......but I like that they are re-making these classic phones and radios (If you can't afford the real thing....these are kinda cheap) Ok, so heres the story.....

In 1920 Powel Crosley founded the company that pioneered radio broadcasting and mass market manufacturing around the world. Dismayed with the $130 price tag for the radio receiver he promised to buy for his son’s birthday, Crosley decided to make his own. Upon successfully building a working set for only $35, Crosley was quick to spot the mass market potential. It was a simple idea - design a fully functioning radio, meticulously craft each unit with obsessive detail and precise accuracy, and of course add a measure of consideration for the wallet.  

Today the Crosley name lives on with superbly detailed replicas that truly transcend time. Reintroductions of original vintage radios and turntables feature the newest technologies graced by unforgettable Crosley stylings. The Crosley Collection includes AM/FM radios, portable suitcase - styled record players and turntables, record changers, multi- functional audio cassette/compact disc players, jukeboxes, music boxes, telephones and more. Rich lines, retro designs and authentic crafting have made Crosley today’s premier vintage electronics manufacturer. True to the Crosley tradition, these replicas are as fabulous as they are functional, providing a delightful dose of nostalgia:

4.) I really like artist Thomas Allen's book photography. Allen cuts the figures from vintage paperbacks and folds them up and out of the cover to create dioramas.

Using salacious pulp art drawing’s of the ’40s and ’50s that covered books such as ” I Married a Dead Man” and ” Marihuana Girl’, Allen constructs one set of pictures up close while obscuring another, and in the process creates a different context.

Here is his site and check him out on Pinterest too!!!

5.) Ok....I want to leave you with this.....inspired by last week's final post. It reminds me how grateful I am that I live in a big city.....and not in a southern state (Thanks to AINB for this one):

First the non-songe version:

and the better musical version:

So there you go.....this week's Wonderful Wednesday!!

What did you think?

Lord knows I love your comments!

NEW WORK!!

Hey y'all!
It is Saturday, and I am finally finished my latest painting.
I wish I could work faster - perhaps if I could paint with both hands simultaneously.......
Well....that is something I can work on AFTER The Artist Project:

So this one is slightly different from the others I have been working on....
This one has the same 'poster' look, but it also has a elements from my 'Pin-up Series".

Here are some in progress shots:

I am a rule breaker.
As a rule, you are supposed to paint background to foreground & top to bottom.....
I always start with the lady.
Because she is the biggest challenge for me!!!

In my original drawing, she was riding it like a horse.....with the streetcar between her legs.....

but it was a bit 'unseemly'...

Finishing up her bits and pieces.

BLAM-O. Yes, this is several days later.....
but it still seemed unfinished.....

I tried to make the lady as though she was breaking out of the poster format......

I was happy to find reference for an old TTC ticket (bottom left corner)

I used the "Dymo label" lettering to make it more interesting and to fix the compositional balance by bring the red down to the bottom.

The background is wallpaper-y and has shiny gold pattern to it.

The quote: "Happiness is a way of travel - not a destination" is from Roy M Goodman.

I like what it says, and I like the inherent irony with it  - and the reality of actually taking TTC!!!

In the final painting (below) I added trompe l'oeil folds and shadows......and then 'burnished the edges of the canvas to draw your eye into the painting.

Here is the final:

"Travel in Style", 36" x 24", Acrylic on Board, 2012.

What do you think?

Like it??

Remember to come out and see this painting in person on the first weekend in March.

For more details check out The Artist Project 2012!!!!

WW45: MASHED, COLOURIZED AND NOT DULL (but may need his eyes examined)

Hey y'all. 
Well, WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!!
I am working up a new painting despite the fact that my studio is still torn apart!
Here is what my studio looked like on this Monday morning (AFTER the floor was FIXED):

and then post water clean-up yesterday:

AND YET I STILL BLOG FOR YOU!!!!
See how much I care???

OK...let's get to it - 5 things I LOVE this week:

  
1. DJ Earworm. Yes, You heard me. Do you like that pop music? Do you wish you could hear all the radio hits of today in one song??? Well nobody does it better. I know that mash-up is nothing new, but this guy is super good at mixing songs together. I have been a fan of his since 2009.....Check out his website:

Here one of my favourite of his legendary mash-ups:

Here is the "United State of Pop 2011".....

FUN huh????


2.) Recolouring by swedish artist sanna dull away. She renders iconic black-and-white photographs in colour using Photoshop CS5. She offers a recolouring and restoration service for old photographs, undertook the works-- alongside processing old family photos-- as a personal project. It is, of course totally controversial!! But I LOVE it. I love black and white - don't get me wrong.....I just love the re-invention of the photos through colour!!!


Here is what DESIGN BOON had to say: "It raises questions about "stealing" of culturally significant imagery, as well as the boundaries of what classifies something as art, the recoloured photographs are also technically striking, generally achieving a colour and climate that is not only realistic but also largely consistent with the tonalities achievable or popular at the time."

Anne Frank

‘The American Way’

V-J Day in Times Square’ Alfred Eisenstaedt

Honest Abe

photograph from liverpool's canada dock, 1909, featuring first chief engineer of mauretania john currie

3.) These posters straight from the Library of Congress WPA website! There are HUNDREDS of these and I am just picking a few random ones to show you! The WPA according to wikipedia:

The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.

These are via Cindy - VIA Retronaut.co

4.) Kim's Convenience. Those of you who know me, know I see very few plays. I see a lot of musicals (probably an unhealthy number of them). So when I was invited to see Kim's Convenience, I was a little worried. When were the people gonna break into song???? Thankfully it was a really good show. Those of you who live in Toronto know Soulpepper theatre....and you know the high quality work they produce there. Here is how they explain the show: 

Soulpepper Academy alumnus Ins Choi's hilarious and touching debut play set in a Regent Park Korean convenience store was the smash hit of the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival. The journey of a fractured but loving family confronting the future and forgiving the past is a Toronto classic in the making. Directed by Weyni Mengesha (Soulpepper Academy alumna)

Featuring Clé Bennett, Ins Choi, Esther Jun, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee andJean Yoon

Although it is centred around Korean immigrants who have a corner store in Toronto and the relationship they have with their children...it is about more than that. It was funny and very touching at the end!! I think the themes in it are totally universal and relevant! It runs until February 11th at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill St, T.O., 416-866-8666 or www.youngcentre.ca

Thanks to Shirley for including me in her trip to see this play. It was really appreciated!!!!

5.) I wanted to leave you with a laugh, but I had nothing this week that was funny. NOTHING. But here are 2 clips from Ellen that made my week a little bit better. ONE -  I got a laugh from Sofia Vergara (from Modern Family) who is the funniest woman around:

and this clip of Kevin Nealon made me smile too:

So there you go.......

Hope you enjoyed this weeks post!!!