Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"One Hour of TV a Week" Show

This weekend I had the pleasure of setting up my "One Hour of TV a Week" Show at Gallery 543 in Building 543, a communal space for the headquarters of URBN Inc (which for the uninitiated encompasses Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People and Terrain) in the Philadelphia Navy Yard .  The space is . . . pretty amazing.  Coi ponds?  Yup.  40 ft tall bamboo indoors?  Yup?  Handy parking for WWII era aircraft carriers?  You better believe it.  You can also get a good cup of coffee and tasty lunch if you want to make a day of it.

I want to extend a big thank yous to: Lauren Addis for her support of the show and allowing me to do an extended setup (and make an extended mess), Josh Longo (of Longoland fame) for helping paint boats and put on the finishing touches, and most of all to Michelle Provencal who not only put up with my turning our apartment into a disaster zone, but who also helped out this past week with all the last minute preparations that I never would have been able to finish on my own (as well as my manic stress-isodes).  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

On to the show!!  So - some of you may recognize a few of the pieces from the "History of the World" show that was up earlier this year created with Owen Sherwood.  Initially, this show was going to be my half of that show, but - I like doing work - and wanted to repurpose some of the more autobiographical pieces from "History" into a different slant. So with a few new pieces and tweaks on old ideas, here's the "One Hour of TV a Week" show.

A little stage setting . . .
Is that . . . ? Yes, you're correct.  That is an aircraft carrier
looming outside of that large glass window.
"I'll Stop If You Stop", Latex Paint (thanks Josh!)
"National Little League" and "Bicentennial"

"I'll Stop if you Stop" detail
"I Hate Brian Smith", 6" x 6" drawings on paper.  
The story is - I got beat up by Brian Smith a lot.  Many bloody
noses - most of them deserved - I was a tag-along crybaby.  And I'm
still trying to get the last word in 23 years later.  Eat it Smith.
"Cancer" and "Magic 2"
"Magic 2" detail
"Cancer" detail
"A Concept of Four at Two" and "Magic" with the model planes I made and painted,
with help from the lovely Michelle Provencal.
p.s. - Do you know how small the landing gear is on a 1/144 scale plane?
About the size of this "I" with two "O"s on either side.  Teensy.
On the left are two new paintings - "Duplex" and "Ghostrunners" (shown in
my previous post)
"Duplex" detail - That's our old duplex featuring our upstairs duplex mate, Mrs. Maynard.
She was a nice old lady who kept to herself - we rarely saw her but well into her seventies she'd be
out shoveling snow at five in the morning if there was snow to shovel.
"Mango's, 1988", Latex Paint.  This is my squad from 1988 when I was ten and my
first team after I left National Little league for Twin Town Little League in the hinterlands
of upstate NY.
My little workstation for people to make cannonballs featuring: gliders as a reward for cannonball making,
my old D&D wallet (thanks Kate Glasheen), a vintage Queen postcard (thanks Colin O'Higgins), an old gas can I love (thanks N.C.), Wiffle Ball boxes (thanks Jen and Jed Heuer) and some childhood favorite books from Mom and Dad.
And to finish, I'll take an aircraft carrier and jet combo.
Make it a double.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

"One Hour of TV a Week" Show Dec 6th!

Im getting ready for my new show at the URBN campus in building 543 next week!  At this point it's half panic, half excitement getting ready for the install.  The show is really based on a lot of childhood images: little league, toys, fights . . . ahh . . . the good times.  So if you're around the city of Brotherly Love on December 6th (or anytime through the first week in January) swing by the amazing URBN campus down in the Navy Yard (pretty amazing in it's own right) and check out the new stuff!
"Ghostrunners" 22" x 22", gouache on BFK

Monday, November 21, 2011

Black Star

"Black Star," The New Yorker, December 5, 2011
Mos Def and Talib Kweli formed Black Star in the late 90's as a response to gangsta rap. They are currently on tour and will be at New York's Best Buy theater on December 3rd.
I just read that Mos Def is changing his name to Yasiin. He'll always be Ford Prefect to me...

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Stevezee

Just sent my piece out for the Bill Murray show out at Gallery1988 opening November 3rd!

Here's a little of the piece in progress.  Fun to do a big portrait!
"Stevezee" 24" x 24" Gouache on paper mounted on wood panel

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Gillian Welch

"Gillian Welch," The New Yorker, October 24, 2011




Here's my illo of singer-songwriter Gillian Welch for this week's New Yorker (along with some early sketches before I went in a "more Gillian / less cowboy hat" direction) and here's a song from her latest album, "The Harrow & The Harvest"—



She's performing at the Beacon Theater in New York on Saturday, October 22.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Video Gamery

"Forget-me-not", an homage to the blessed konami code, savior of the weekend Contra player.



"Nailbiter on Custom Track 'Hunter'"

As a kid who grew up with NPR, and only one hour of TV a week my only contact with video games was at friends' houses.  It was much treasured.  So here's my two contributions to the genre from the iam8bit show and the video game show at Gallery1988 Venice opening Friday the 16.  God bless Nintendo.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

House of Bamboo


"House of Bamboo," The New Yorker, August 29, 2011


Here's a quick NYer illo I did for Sam Fuller's House of Bamboo— "starring... Robert Ryan as the ruthless kingpin of Tokyo's post-war underworld!"

Thursday, August 11, 2011

New print to share: Surf Jaw!


Tiny Showcase just released a new print of my work, yay!
The cool part is some portion of the sales goes out to Pangea Seed, yep, that's how TS rolls, nice.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

High Places



"High Places," The New Yorker, August 15, 2011

Above is an illo of High Places I did for the NYer. Also included is an alternate sketch and an early palette direction (I liked the looks of it but didn't think it would reproduce well).

This was an especially fun piece because the WFoFers know Rob from our days at Pratt!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New Illos!

New piece for Annemarie Neff at American Medical News about the upcoming influx of twenty-somethings to the healthcare system thanks to the Obama plan.
New piece for Rob Schultz at MacWorld about creating safe wifi ipad/laptop network when you're on the road.
New piece for Scott Dvorin at the Observer.  These are fun one day turnaround pieces.  After about 6 hours of frantic work, they're a nice sense of accomplishment, and reason to go out for a happy hour beer!;)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Wet Hot American Summer Show! (and website update)

The Wet Hot American Summer Show opened up at Gallery1988, and my "Camp Firewood" map sold!  Yahoo!  I love doing these maps - they're a little bit of a nightmare, but gratifying when they're done.  My "History of the World" buddy, Dr. Owen Sherwood, contributed these guys (below) which look pretty sweet too - and if you want the Michael Showalter as Alan Shemper, too bad.  It's already gone.  Check out all the piece on the Gallery1988 site.




And . . . I have updated my site with some new goodies if you want to see, including some more of the History of the World show, as well as new editorial.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Turtle Power!!

I'm happy to be a part of the Autumn Society's (a Philly illo collective) "Shell-Shock - A TMNT Art Show and Tribute" opening this Friday at Brave New Worlds, a great comic book store in Old City, Philadelphia.  I really wanted o re-explore the sort of dry brush I did with the "Heavyweights" (below) in a little bit more of a serene setting with a little softer palette.  Why are they doing laundry?  Well, I do love nude turtles, but I really just thought they would have interesting laundry - those colored strips, and it's such a drudge job for teenagers, and I figured not a lot of people would do "slice of life" type images.  Just another day in the sewers . . .

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend! Here's a quick illo I did for the NYer:


"Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys," The New Yorker, June 6, 2011

Check him out in action here:

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Ronnie + Excitebike - 80's Bonanza!

"Endangerous", 22" x 28", Gouache on BFK
Thought I'd post another piece from the "History of the World" I just got around to tiling together from the scans.  Thank god Pratt has those big scanners and I had Matt Maher helping me out.  On a side note of self horn-tooting, Owen and I got nice write up in the Albany Times Union about the show!

Plus on a side note, here's a preview of part of my submission for the iam8bit Show out in LA.  I chose Excitebike - which for some reason was the most nerve wracking game I've ever played.  I just remember trying to push down on the gas so had my thumbs would be sweating and cramping.  What's more fun than that I ask you?!

Monday, May 16, 2011

When Your Cash Flow Slows


"When Your Cash Flow Slows," American Medical News, May 16, 2011

Read about doctors' "tactics for tight times" here.

Thanks, Jennifer!