mja home

last weekend was really fun. it was comic-con, i was part of a cool group art show, i had friends in from out of town, i had 4 days off from work, i got to meet and be semi-insulted (all in fun) by ashley wood while he signed my poster and gave me a custom sketch, and i got to watch my lady be a star for a day while she walked around comic-con in her ironman costume that she made from scratch! here she is posing with the “real” ironman:

here she is during one of her many “paparazzi moments”:

eventually she hooked up with some fellow avengers - captain america (that girl was tiny. her and trista entered the marvel costume contest together and got into the finals but didn’t win), and nick fury:

speaking of hand made clothing. here’s trista and i the night of the art show - she’s wearing a skirt that she made just 2 days before.

the art show went relatively well. three pieces sold, although unfortunately mine wasn’t one of them. still, it was fun. plus the show will be up for another month, so who knows, maybe it’ll sell.

i was originally told that this was a comic book themed show, although it turned out to be not so comic book related. nevertheless, i adapted my style to the comic book theme. the piece is a diptych titled “Metrotham” - 48″ X 37″, spray paint and paint marker on 18g steel. The word metrotham is a combination of metropolis (as in the city of superman) and gotham city (where batman fights crime). i used relatively the same drawing for both cities with subtle differences. the idea being that metropolis and gotham city are both based on the same city, NYC. the one on the left is metropolis - red, yellow, and blue are to represent superman. that red streak in the clouds is superman taking off from the daily planet building. the right then is obviously gotham city. it’s black and gray, the colors of batman. the design has changed slightly by omitting the daily planet and adding smoke stacks, a bat signal moon, and a W to the top of wayne tower. in both pieces there are subtle differences in gloss, satin and flat colors that are almost impossible to photograph. for instance the background of metrolpolis has 3 different whites of varying textures and gotham’s background has 3 different blacks. you can only really tell in person….so go see it. it’s up til sept 15th.

i had done 2 pieces prior to this on aluminum but this was my first on steel**. i had a 1″ square steel tube frame welded for the back of the steel sheet so that i could hang them without outside frames. i JB Welded the tube-frames to the sheet and painted the back white:

here’s a shot of the back signed, titled, and dated. “metrotham: metropolis” and “metrotham: gotham city”

**i’ll be working on steel from now on. it just fits better into the whole arrowchitectural decograf concept. graffiti was painted on steel trains, skyscrapers are built of steel, and so on.

Group art show including yours truly @ L Street Fine Art Friday July 25th, 6 - 9pm. What’s that you say? you’re sad to miss it but you’ll be at comic-con that day? Well, unless you plan on staying at the con until late you don’t have to worry. The L Street gallery is RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the convention center! So as you’re leaving the con on your way to the car, or the trolley, or dinner, or whatever, stop by the gallery and see us. There’ll be live music, refreshments, and of course some great eye candy. Plus, if you’re not going to the con and feel you’re not man enough to brave the downtown comic-con crowd, you’ll have all the way until September 15th to see the show. I do however encourage you to come on opening night. It makes us artists feel special when people actually show up to see what we’ve been working so hard to bring you.

Also, here’s a very small peek at one half of the brand new diptych I did for this show.

Titled “Metrotham”, the piece is times two 4′ X 1.5′ (4′X3′ overall), spray paint on steel. It’s about NYC’s dual super-world disguise - Metropolis and Gotham City. Executed in glorious Arrowchitectural Decograph, of course. As with all art, this is a must see in person to appreciate kind of deal. We all hope to see you there.