mja home

mid august*. summer in nyc. yes it’s hot, yes it’s humid. but it’s also beautiful. the trees are vibrant green, the sky’s are electric blue, and the clouds are radiant white.

i decided to go straight to the moma from jfk since it’s free on friday nights (my plane landed at 330). so i took the air train to jamaica station and then the subway to 53rd in midtown. just as i walked out of the underground i stumbled upon an absolutely beautiful, hidden-in-plain-sight little park - paley park. i purchased a mint lemonade from the bakery right next to it and sat in the cool of the shade trees and enjoyed the mist from the waterfall.

next i was off to the moma, but i didn’t make it even 2 blocks when i caught the RCA Victor building out of the corner of my eye and decided to go gawk at it like a good little tourist. i absolutely love this building, it’s so beautiful.

then i was off to the moma once again. now, i had went to free fridays the last time i was in nyc, but that was in january. this time it was summer, and that meant there was twice as many people. after about a 20 minute wait in line just to check my backpack, i set out into the extremely crowded galleries. about that time, my post plane ride headache was setting in. i tried to enjoy the art but it was very difficult with that many people. i did snap a few shots of some things that caught my eye, and against my prior decision, i did visit the new ron arad exhibition on the 6th floor. which turned out to be really cool actually, his choice of materials, and the fabrication, was really impressive.

i didn’t end up staying long due to the crowds and my headache. i left the moma and hopped on the f train to brooklyn to meet up with my friend (and ex art nighter) frida. i was impressed by her neighborhood, which is right next to prospect park.

day 2

after a lovely frida-cooked-breakfast, she and i set out for the met to see the francis bacon retrospective. holy shit, that was good. there were no photos allowed in the exhibit but i did jot down a few names of pieces i liked. one of which was called “landscape near malabata”, this was probably my favorite one. the texture, color, and technique are amazingly beautiful.

of course, this photo does the painting not one shred of justice:

a few others i really liked were the “heads” series, the “men in blue suits” series, “three studies for a portrait of geaorge dyer”, and “portrait of isabel rawsthorne”, among many others.

i didn’t really have the energy to walk around the met but i did end up going to the roof garden, as i hadn’t seen it the last time i was there. along the way i snapped a shot of one of paul frankl’s skyscraper bookcases. he’s one of my favorite industrial designers for obvious reasons.

the met roof garden was smaller than i’d expected but it was still worth seeing (and while up there i heard a jazz style second line being played from somewhere in the park). it gave a good view of central parks sea of trees and it’s shoreline of skyline off in the distance.

i spent the rest of the day just walking around the east village, where i:

ate some noodles at ramen setagaya

bought some vintage sunglasses at fabulous fanny’s

went to a toy store called toy tokyo, that had a pretty good collection of japanese and american collectible, fan boy type stuff. as well as a cool spumco ren doll

*cut to january. the above text was written back in august. for whatever reason i didn’t finish writing this post and saved it as a draft. since that time i had forgotten that i even started it. it is now months later and i’ve become a bit fuzzy on many of the small details of the trip. i’ve also lost all interest in relaying the rest of the information about my trip. i will say though, that what is not mentioned here are the details of my 3rd day of the trip, my whole reason for going to nyc in the first place - the 50th anniversary frank lloyd wright show at the guggenheim museum. needless to say, it blew my mind….i suppose that says it all.

if you’d like to see all the pictures i took while on my trip go here.

oh my dear blog, how i’ve neglected you. i know you forgive me.

let’s see, what’s happened since august? well, one thing is that i sold this piece!

“Exit Perspective” - 96″ x 18″, spray paint on steel

notice the back color. that violet gave the piece a good color-bounce-shadow that was a good contrast to the green on the front. i talked a little bit about the reason behind painting the reverse side a contrasting color back in october of 08.

closer look at my “signature”:

there are very subtle fades of greens and yellows at the bottom of this piece that are nearly impossible to photograph:

speaking of fades. the black toward the top of the piece is krylon ultra flat black. man, ultra flat black has got to be one of the best colors ever invented. notice how the ultra flatness of the spray paint makes the glossy black of the paint marker lines look almost brown. that’s how black this stuff is. WHY, OH WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DISCONTINUE THIS COLOR KRYLON?! WHY?!!!!

a closer shot of the grainy beauty of ultra flat black. this stuff is like velvet. it’s just a beautiful paint. it almost makes me sick that krylon no longer makes it.*

*well, krylon does still make a paint called ultra flat black, but it’s not the same as the old one. in fact, compared to the old one, the new ultra flat black is complete garbage! krylon should be ashamed.

anyway, thank you to the couple who now owns “exit perspective”, and thank you david at objct gallery for showing my work.

you’d never think that an offer for a solo show would come from a stranger who just happened to find you on the internet.  however, that’s how this show came about, and i’m very happy how it all turned out.

i created 3 new paintings for this show (one of them even sold at the opening).  unfortunately i don’t have any good photos of them yet, but you can see them in the installation shots from the show.  aside from the new ones i included every other available piece i had.  some are very recent pieces, but some i’ve been holding onto for 3 years or more.

click the photo below to go to flickr, where you can see all my shots from the opening as well as a few shot by a friend of the gallery owner.

some highlights

for larger versions and many more photos from that night, click here to go to my flickr

from the time i set out on my first 2 wheeler until the last time i owned a bike (about 5 years ago), i’ve only ridden 20inch bmx/freestyle/street bikes.  everything from a redline proline, to a gt performer, to a haro sport, to an eastern hercules (my last bike - a street bike).  so to now start riding a road bike feels a little strange.  i’m just not used to it.  but i figured that if i wanted to get a bike for the purpose of getting some exercise/commuting to and from work, that a street bike probably wasn’t very practical.

i started researching road bikes and quickly discovered that i liked the way vintage lugged steel frames looked, as opposed to newer welded aluminum frames.  after a few weeks of searching (in my price range) i finally found this 76 raleigh.  it needed work.  i wasn’t really aware how much work it actually needed as i’m not used to what good parts and a good feel should be on a road bike.  that being said, after spending about 300 bucks on getting new parts and a tune up (ugh), i’m at last up and running.

here are the before and after shots.

when i first brought it home:

and after i changed the bars (i just can’t get used to drop bars), brake levers, stem, and wheels (the old wheels were complete crap):

we’ll see how long this lasts.  i might break down at some point and sell this thing for something that feels more bmx.  like the new 29″ big ripper by se bikes (29″ wheels on a race frame?!  sounds fun).  or maybe a specialized p2 or giant stp (i probably would’ve ended up with one of these kind of bikes to begin with if they weren’t so damn expensive).

oh, and by the way, my commute is 7.5 miles one way.  so i’ll be riding 15 miles a day, 4 days a week (with some hills).  that ought to give me a good work out.

thanks to the guys (paul and tom) at velo cult bike shop in south park for helping me get this thing running smoothly.

arrow deco club chair nestled in the curved glass facade of objct gallery.

it’s late. i’ve got to go to the airport in about 4 hours. NYC, the frank lloyd wright show at the guggenheim, and the francis bacon show at the met await my arrival. as soon as i return i’ll share tales of my trip, and photos from the show i had last weekend.

here’s a shot of the gallery, closed for the night after the show.

talk to ya soon.

NEW SHOW THIS SATURDAY THE 8th AT OBJCT GALLERY IN POMONA!

yes, pomona. i’d never been their either, but it’s quite a nice little city about 30 minutes east of LA. if you live near, or if you’re down to make the trek, this is going to be a good show. i’m going to be showing 3 new never before seen pieces, all spray paint on steel, as well as about 10 others.

what: “Metropolitan Moderne” featuring the work of yours truly
where: OBJCT gallery - 250 west 2nd street, pomona, CA 91766
when: opening reception, saturday august 8th, 7-10pm

will i see you there?

when i was asked to participate in the new show for Quint Contemporary Art (Homing In), a show which required a piece with size limitations (no larger than 2 feet wide), i didn’t have anything ready to go. i usually try and have a new piece for every show, but i didn’t get much notice for this one. i was already working on a huge piece for a commission job, and i wasn’t sure i’d have enough time to complete even a small piece.

after about a week of contemplating what to do, an idea came to me like a flash. all at once i knew what i was going to create, what it would be made of, and even where i wanted to hang it in the gallery. what you see here is the result of that flash - an ArrowDeco form made of steel and frosted acrylic. the only modification to the idea was that i used frosted acrylic for the arrow instead of frosted glass - the glass was going to take too long to get. as it happened, i didn’t have the piece finished until the night before the show…as usual. (at least i finished it!)

thanks to a great guy named elliot hathaway, a fine welder (and also a photographer), i got the steel welded just in time for a very reasonable price. thanks elliot!

ah, the perfect spot. just above your head, in the doorway, as you walk from the front to the back gallery.

there are more, better quality photos HERE

i’ve yet to get shots of this piece installed, but here it is outside of my studio just after completion.

spray paint on three 4′ X 8′ aluminum panels. they’re installed on a backyard fence next to a pool, with about as much separation in between them as you see here.

i didn’t get paid much, but i had fun making it, and i’m glad i had the opportunity. it was good practice to do something this large, as i hope to be able to do many other large scale pieces in the future.

left:

middle:

right:

and here’s the drawing for the piece:

go HERE for bigger pics.