heARTless bastards...

So's 'The heART Show' in Boston which opened on the 3rd(& is still running for the remainder of February) has been well received & a few of my paintings from the exhibition have found new homes! (Remember new owners: don't get them wet, keep them away from bright lights...especially sunlight & don't ever feed them after midnight!)  Great job to Brent at The Hallway Gallery for curating...

The 'Out o' the Woodwork' group show in Chicago which opened the 5th(yes...still running too) was also a hit, but there was a problem there for me: my paintings for the show never arrived due to the crazy amount of icy goodness falling from the sky.  Shed no tears just yet (as I almost did) as my pieces were simply a little arrogant & decided to show up fashionably late in a failed attempt that all eyes would be on them.  I got the word my two paintings arrived late last week, almost three weeks after I sent them!  The good people at OhNo!Doom Gallery gave me a few options for what we could do & I happily accepted their offer of them hanging on to the canvases & using them in an upcoming show opening in June.  I'll of course let you know of all the details the closer it gets....but it's going to be "heavy"!

I've spent this month so far doing some more sketching of creepy characters for the group show in Detroit coming up, but also tried my hand at something I haven't done before.  I was forwarded some info about a show opening on Feb. 26th in Arizona that Spraygraphic was throwin'. 'Fill in the Groove' is their Third Annual Vinyl Art Show where they display art on albums from all kinds of great artists.  Whelp I grabbed a couple from my collection that I never listened to(sorry Spandau Ballet) & started spraying & flinging paint all over them.  The end result turned out to be something pretty nifty which I enjoyed doing.  I'm definitely going to do some more of these in the future & put a few up in my shop hopefully soon & if you wanna special order one, by all means let me know.  Check out my first, two vinyl paintings eva:

"the creature" - spray paint/acrylic on 12" vinyl:

"the monster" - spray paint/acrylic on 12" vinyl:

So yeah...the 'Fill in the Groove' show will open February 26th at Hoodlums Music in Tempe, AZ & will run until April 15th.  Definitely check this out if you're in the area as I've seen a few of the other artists' yummy creations & it's gonna be awesome!  Of course all vinyl art will be on sale there as well so go get first dibs!

I also took the time to paint a piece for a benefit in Italy.  2 year old Mattia Fagnoni suffers from a very rare, degenerative disease called "Sandhoff Syndrome" & his parents have created the 'Mattia Fagnoni Association' to help raise awareness & funds in finding a cure.  You can read  about this amazing family on ESP Visuals' blog or become more aware of this genetic disease at NTSAD.org. Here's the painting I sent for their art show which will run April 26th-May 8th at Palazzo Filangeri in Naples, Italy.  There is an amazing amount of artist from all over the world showing support, so it's a real honor to be a part of such a great thing.  100% of the proceeds benefit the MFA:

"earl grey & chamomile"- 10"x 8" watercolor & india ink on gesso panel:

Back to the drawing board....

Showing my junk...

...as I mentioned in my previous post, there are two group shows in February in which I'll have some original goodness to view & purchase & they both open this week.  Yippee! (well...that is if the weather doesn't continue to dump milllions of tons of snow in these cities this week)...

Opening @ 6pm this Thursday, Feb. 3rd in Boston at The Hallway Gallery will be 'The heArt Show'.   There will be around 20 artists splattering their feelings/views/experiences of love with their mediums of choice all over The Hallway walls.  I conjured up 3(well...4 really) paintings for the exhibit which I'm sure will be a little out of place amongst the portraits of people kissing, holding hands & the pieces trying to be serious portraying their love stories.  More the better I say.  Check em out...:

"evol love"... 12"x 6"- watercolor & india ink on gesso panel:

"...sometimes it's ugly."... 9"x 12"- watercolor & india ink on gesso panel:

"connor's in love"... TWO 5"x 5"- watercolor & india ink on gesso panels:

...if you fancy any of these please email Brent at The Hallway & claim em!  The exhibition will run through the entire month of February, so if you're in the Boston area, go check out some cool art!  I also made a few prints of the first two that are available at my shop....you can request the other as well.  Nothing beats the originals however....kind of like potato chips.

Then @ 6pm this Saturday, Feb. 5th, the cats at OhNo!Doom Gallery in Chicago will also be throwing an opening shindig of their own.  "Out O' the Woodwork" is an open theme group show with some talented mofos creating some amazing stuff.  Here's more info with a list of the masterminds:

Since it was an open theme show, I wanted to have my two pieces show my style of line detail & watercolor(even though I'm definitely still learning this "painting" thing as I go & finding my groove...I only truly started painting late last year) but also wanted my pieces to be connected in some way.  I always sketch out these kids surrounded by demons & since I had a ton of reference drawings in my sketchbooks, I just went with that...

"a boy with his head"... 14"x 20" - watercolor & india ink on stretched. watercolor canvas:

"a girl in a head" 14"x 11"- watercolor & india ink on gesso panel

Again...if you have interest in purchasing these paintings, email the folks at OhNo!Doom Gallery & let them know.  If you're in the Chicago area, please go to this exhibit & show support to artist like me & the bad ass galleries that put together these events.

It was a busy January & I'm trying to keep the momentum going.  I'm already signed up to have two pieces in the April show in Detroit 'Meth & Hot Dogs II'.  Check out this bonkers list of participating artist...it's gonna be quite an awesome show for sure! I'm also still working on my personal art to have more prints & what not available sooner rather than later.  The Staple! Expo is in March here in Austin which I'm excited about.  I didn't sign up for a table since I wanted to get my poo more in order, so I'll definitely be networking & gathering ideas for next year. 

And on a completely unrelated, final note...today is the release of Adam Green's horror film Hatchet II on DVD/Bluray.  I'm a monstrous fan of the first Hatchet film & horror in general & when the sequel came out in selected theaters (VERY selected) back in October, I was pumped.  There was a giant hoopla & great controversy surrounding the film since it had an unrated rating.  AMC stepped up to release it, but after the first weekend it was pulled with many questions being asked from the fans.  This was quite a story that reached CNN & other major headline news which you can read all about on director/writer Adam Green's Blog.  Anyhoo...I was one of the few, extremely lucky people to witness this film on the big screen & what a damn fun flick this is.  Starting off directly from the final shot of the first Hatchet this gory goodness gives you exactly what you expect: buckets of blood, unbelievable death scenes & slapstick laughs.  After seeing the film almost 4 months ago, I had to sketch out our hero, Victor Crowley, after committing one of the most twisted killings in the film.  Take a look & yeah...I should've added more blood, i know:

So even though it now carries a rated 'R' rating on it's DVD/Bluray release today, go out & buy 'Hatchet 2' to support independent, unrated horror.  Hell...go buy both of these films.  I did!

Alright...we'll talk soon.