My newest exhibition is currently on display at the Durham Art Guild until May 27th, 2012. The opening reception is this Friday, April 20th from 5:30-7:30. Afterwards I’ll be at my studio in Golden Belt until 9:00 for the remainder of 3rd Friday.
I’ll be showing with three other artists at the DAG during this same period: Kelly Cross, Linwood Hart and sculptor Renee Leverty.
Posted in Exhibitions
I spent a week at the museum helping install the current exhibit by El Anatsui – one of contemporary art’s most celebrated practitioners—from his early woodwork in Ghana to today’s metal wall sculptures created in his studio in Nigeria. It is always fun to work with everyone at the museum. I’ll be back in July to pack up the show. I’m glad because it pays well!
I remember this piece being especially heavy! That’s me in the cool shirt.
This piece consisted of around 1,200 boxes that had to be specifically placed. There were many changes that had to be made in the layout. Crazy! I’m the one with the beard.
Posted in Art Notes, Exhibitions
This painting was featured on the local NBC program “My Carolina Today” a/k/a “Chick Chat” on Jan.31, 2012 . It aired immediately after the “Today” show. They introduced the painting, asked if I worked for Dr. Seuss (?) and announced the opening of my solo exhibition at Art Space. I would like to thank Art Space for making this happen!!
“The Fusion Confusion Illusion“
acrylic on linen, 18×18 in.
This is the link to the previously mentioned program. NBC- My Carolina Today WARNING! This show is painfully cheesy so you can skip past the first 63 seconds to get to the 48 second clip about the painting. If you love cheesy shows then you’re in for a special treat! I’m not complaining though. It was great exposure and the painting remained on the set for a week!
Posted in Art Notes, Exhibitions
I never got around to posting this but this is the series that was on exhibit during the month of Feb., at Art Space in Raleigh, NC. There were 10 paintings in total on display. If you click on this image you can see the entire series of 21 paintings.
“The Viral Spiral”
acrylic on linen
36×36 in.
Posted in Art Notes, Exhibitions
My paintings exhibited at ArtSpace received the People’s Choice Award last week during Raleigh’s 1st Friday Art Walk. I will also have a solo exhibition at ArtSpace in February 2012!
So far 2011 has become one of my best years and it’s only July. I’m still waiting to hear whether or not I’ll get a solo show for my stuffed animal series Fur Gone Wild. It’s probably a long shot but someone out there has to be crazy enough to exhibit them. Anyone?
Posted in Art Notes, Exhibitions
Loblolly, acrylic on linen, 36x36 in.
This painting was selected for a juried exhibition at FRANK Gallery. Artists could submit any media as long as it was black and white, no color at all. I had never done a black and white painting before. I consider color to be my strength so I thought this would be a good challenge for me. I painted three so I could have a choice of which one to enter. Luckily this painting was accepted. It was the second of the b&w series.
Clutching Shadows, acrylic on linen, 36x36 in.
I’m also very happy with this one. It was the first b&w painting I’ve ever done. I had a difficult time choosing which one to submit.
Clutching Shadows (detail)
Posted in Exhibitions
I Ran Out of Titles # 21, acrylic and ink on paper, 6x6 in. (12x12 in. framed)
The NCMA just had their first fund raising auction to help support their community outreach programs. North Carolina artists were invited to submit works for consideration to be included in the silent auction. This is the first time I’ve ever donated an original piece of art to any organization (there’s a good reason but I won’t go into that now) but this seemed like a great opportunity and it was.
The craziest part about it was that you had to be selected to give a painting away. Luckily this piece along with many other works by NC artists were selected. There were over 350 submissions and only 125 selections (or something close to that number. My memory is ) The preview exhibition was displayed in the museum for two or three weeks (?) leading up to the auction.I have no idea how much it went for. I don’t think I want to know, unless it was more than the actual value.
Posted in Art Notes, Exhibitions
The Ship Hit the Fan, acrylic and ink on wood, 21x18 in.
This is one of my favorite paintings. It is in an exhibition called “State of the Art/Art of the State” and will be on display at the Cameron Art Museum through October 22nd, 2011. It is the second painting in a museum exhibition this year. Sweet!
Posted in Exhibitions
Some jackass sullying my exhibition.
The Visual Art Exchange (VAE) is a fantastic organization in downtown Raleigh. They do great work for the art community as well as their public outreach programs. You can check them out and see a lot of great artists on their site. http://visualartexchange.org/
Those crazy chicks that run the place are pretty cool as well. They do monthly exhibitions in the main gallery and four member shows in their smaller Exchange Gallery. I was one of the four for the month of April in 2009. And I have the privilege of showing there again this October, but in the VAE’s new and larger location. They will have 4x the space than in the old one. Congratulations!
That's my dear friend and fellow artist Kelly Cross (on the right). Our studios are across from one another.
Posted in Exhibitions
These are some pieces I did for a group installation at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh back in 2006. The show was called Summer Hot / Summer Not. We were exploring the disparity of summer vacations for the rich vs. the poor. I also wrote a large mural on the gallery wall of a fake class report on what a less fortunate kid did for his or her summer vacation called “My Vacation from Summer Vacations”. I might add the text here eventually. Or not.
Silly Rabbit. War is for kids!
A hole in one!
Bitter Homes and Garbage
Poor People Magazine
Posted in Exhibitions
I Ran Out of Titles # 21
acrylic and ink on paper; 6×6 in.
The NCMA just had their first fund raising auction to help support their community outreach programs. North Carolina artists were invited to submit works for consideration to be included in the silent auction. This is the first time I’ve ever donated an original piece of art to any organization (there’s a good reason but I won’t go into that now) but this seemed like a great opportunity and it was.
The craziest part about it was that you had to be selected to give a painting away. Luckily this piece along with many other works by NC artists were selected. There were over 350 submissions and only 125 selections (or something close to that number. My memory is ) The preview exhibition was displayed in the museum for two or three weeks (?) leading up to the auction.I have no idea how much it went for. I don’t think I want to know, unless it was more than the actual value.
Posted in Exhibitions, Paintings
I’m back!!!!!! WOW! I could not have planned a more perfect experience, except maybe to have achieved enlightenment, but why be greedy? I wasn’t able to speak in complete sentences for 2 1/2 weeks so I’m re-learning. Would go for two or 3 days at a time with no interpreter! Lots of hand gestures and drawings. I did learn about 40 words and can count to 999 (very slowly.)
Bottom line: I sold 8 of 11 paintings!!! 6 in one hour. Owner is keeping the other 3 because he thinks he can sell them. The gallery owner (now my brother Chen) paid for EVERYTHING except airfare and hookers. (Luckily I brought cash.) Chen is a famous and very successful painter in Beijing and he’s had this gallery now for 9 months. He is WELL connected and introduced us to some of the biggest players in the Beijing art world.
Chen had his “driver” take me and my friend Robert, from Macedonia, to all of the major sites around Beijing. The food kicked ass and we never ate in a restaurant that had any tourists. Tourists suck!
The gallery is in the heart of the famed 798 Art District. About 60-80 galleries in old factory buildings and warehouses. Out of the 30ish galleries I visited, I was the only American and there were only about 10 European artists represented. The rest were all Chinese or Asian.
We made the front page of the ArtNews China website and were interviewed for the China Cultural Daily and Arts Weekly newspaper ( I don’t know if that one has been published yet). My luggage and a crate with two paintings arrived two days after I did, which was one night before the opening. Stress.
Saw the Great Wall (long, tall and thick), Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Yong He Gong Temple, Imperial Lake and gardens, etc….all were incredibly beautiful! We missed Tiananmen Square but I’m not losing any sleep over it.
Interesting observations:
- Buick is the only American car on the road and is considered a luxury.
- There is an ass-load of people living in Beijing! 15 million?
- The Chinese don’t drink cold water, only hot. Cold beer is sometimes available as an option.
- The Chinese DO know how to give killer massages!
- Bank tellers still use an abacas to count money before they use the computer. Which explains the incredibly long lines outside of every bank.
- Many places still only have Turkish toilets (stand or squat over a porcelain hole in the floor.) I tried my best not to poop in public, successfully. I thought I had to at one restaurant though but I walked in and saw only urinals. Curios. Decided to wait. Some places have the women and men’s stalls next to each other in the same room. It can make for an awkward chance meeting.
- They are constructing high-rises EVERYWHERE!
- Men hack and spit in the middle of the sidewalks. They even bend over and blow out their noses, sans tissue, onto the pavement. If you hear the bugle, don’t step on the notes. Supposedly the government is trying to crack-down on this tasty habit before the Olympics. Good luck. It’s quite popular and widely practiced.
- Witnessed several toddlers with ass-less pants. Beats changing diapers! Seriously? Seriously! They were long pants with the perfect size hole for both cheeks to peek out of, and they did. I would have taken a photo but I thought it might make me look a little too much like a child predator. Use your imagination.
- There was a pub with a sign advertising that they have been “open since now.” I was riding in the car and I couldn’t snap a photo in time.
Driving 101 – Beijing style
- Driving or riding in Beijing is NOT for the faint at heart or for anyone with a fear of dying for that matter. Seriously. Six inches is the difference between saying “holy shit!” and actually taking one, holy or otherwise.
- There are tons of bicycles, pedestrians, trucks, cars and buses everywhere, even on the roads! Whichever of those five has the largest set of balls has the right of way. Luckily our driver had a gargantuan pair, otherwise we would have gotten nowhere.
- The horn has replaced the blinker. I’m not even sure I saw one being used.
- Lines on the road are merely suggestions or maybe just boring line art.
- Driving on the wrong side of the roads downtown is not acceptable UNLESS it allows you to pass the car(s) in front of you, illegally, or at least try really, really hard to do so. And yes, I really did mean to say downtown.
Thank you Chen and Tian Li for the time of my life!
Posted in Exhibitions, I'm not a writer
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