i didn’t get a chance to take very many shots opening night.

looking in the front window:

front window 2 different angles:

me in front of my 2 newest paintings. the one on the left is called “Up” - and the red on the right is called “30 story ranch house”. both are 2′ X 5′, spray paint on steel.

that’s me standing next to greg and amy. they’re the owners of the gallery, and two very fine human beings.

my dame in front of her favorite piece in the show (she made that skirt specifically for the opening)

the other 2 ladies in my life. my mother and sister.

that’s all i have from the opening. good thing i went back during the day and shot some more.

the facade:

the front door:

this is the work of tom thewes. he’s a painter and gallery owner from detroit. i really like this piece. it’s very fortunato depero (one of my favorite futurist painters):

next we have the work of sculptor greg brotherton, a very talented young man:

and finally, on to my stuff. i currently have 8 paintings and 4 drawings up in this show. that’s the most work i’ve ever had hanging in one place at one time. i love looking at it all together. it looks so much more impressive than just leaning against the wall in the corner of my studio. some of these paintings are 3 years old and have never been shown. others are brand spankin new. let’s look:

first, a couple of cut-n-paste-panoramics to give you an idea of the layout of my pieces. click both thumbs for very large view:

man, i love these 2 new ones. i think that white one on the left might be my new favorite:

a closer look at “Up”:

a closer look at “30 story ranch house”:

i also painted the back of both of these pieces a contrasting color to the front. the idea bing that when they’re lit, that light will bounce off the white walls to the color on the back of the steel sheet that’s floating 1 inch from the wall, and in turn that color will cast a very faint reflection around the piece. it worked, but it’s not as dramatic as i’d hoped (at least not with the current lighting of the gallery). so, on the white one i painted the back orange - the orange glows very faint around the piece. the same happens with the red one except the back of that one is green:

the back wall (both angles):

there’s been a lot of interest in that tall thin piece on the left. it’s called “A.D. - 15″, and it’s spray paint on aluminum:

i suppose that about does it.

new work is brewing.

ad in the new art ltd.

sneek-a-peek-a-loo at the 2 new pieces for this show:

half finished but lookin good.

see you there.

there’s a nice little review of the L street gallery show i was in over at Sezio.

there’s not many people taking the time to review art shows in san diego. it’s nice to know there’s at least someone who cares.

and speaking of the lonely few who care to report on the san dieo art scene, you might also want to check out Art as Authority.

and oh yeah, me and trista’s piece is badass.

instead it was in a nice, glossy paged, hardcover book. cool! apparently the article is in one of their “guestbooks” which is published annually(?). the guestbook is basically a travel guide all about touristy stuff to do while in san diego - dining, clubs, museums, and so on - and it’s distributed to hotels and such in the san diego area.

anyway, here’s the cover:

looking inside the book, and towards the middle, we get to the intro spread of the article. that’s a photo of the san diego tijuana border - the article is about how adapta is bringing tijuana and san diego artists together in an effort to gain attention and recognition of the growing art scenes in both these border cities.

turn the page and on the left you see a picture that was taken at adapta’s show Army of icons at the san diego childrens museum, and on the right is a piece by artist and adapta member Jorge Tellaeche

turn the page again and your hit in the face with a full page of arrow deco. man, i wasn’t expecting to be so prominently featured. and on the right is a photo of 2 of my pieces from adapta’s Phantasmagoria show back in august of last year (has it been that long?).

thanks to the adapta trio (jorge, jaime, and kinsee) for being such a supporter of my work, and to Where’s mark hiss for the full page eye candy.

then i photocopied it a couple times, cut it out, and taped it together to make a neat little subway car skyscraper that sits perched on a shelf in between some art books and some ultra flat black.

next, 2 more drawings that will become paintings very soon, and will be unveiled on september 27th at the Device Gallery in la jolla.

“30 story ranch house”

“up”

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.

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.