new site design

dektown,usa just got a much needed face lift. view the new gallery section with bios! news and exhibition sections also.

first friday at the willowhouse, january 5th

janurary 5th, willowhouse, 149 W McDowell Rd, Phoenix
southeast corner of 3rd Avenue and McDowell

first friday at the new wet paint gallery 12/01/06

downtown phoenix, 7-10pm
718 N. 4th Street, Phoenix
sw corner of 4th street and Mckinley, in the anti space community

leona up for auction

the painting of leona will be up for auction friday, november 10th for the aiga art auction with proceeds going to free arts of arizona. the event will take place from 6pm to 10pm at monorchid studio, 214 W Roosevelt, Phoenix, Arizona.

brooklyn dj tee

a t-shirt of the brooklyn dj is now for sale at cafepress for a limited time, available on several different shirt styles.

brookly dj - final piece

here's the end result. spray paint background by koleszar, dj and tables in oil paint by me. available for view at wet paint until the end of october.

collaboration

working on a collaboration piece with spraypaint stencil artist john koleszar. we selected a piece from some older pencils i had (i had started a painting for these pencils, but hadn't worked on them in over a year):



this is the background that koleszar will make his stencils from. it's set up to mimic the perspective of the pencils:



and this is how it should fit together when i begin to lay my paints down:



we'll see how it turns out. hopefully it will be up in time for the final friday show at wet paint on september 29th.

finished lebowskis

jojo

finished oils:

first friday at first studio

september 1st, 2006. first friday, downtown phoenix



featuring art from jenny ignaszewski, bob ellis, and myself.

marty, sunday morning

just finished this one. it's called 'marty, sunday morning.' the title is a mix between edward hopper's 'early sunday morning' (where the background buildings come from), and johnny cash's 'sunday morning coming down' (beer for breakfast and all).
the beer he's drinking is hinano beer from tahiti. i can find it when i go to hawaii, but can't seem to find it on the main land. holler if you know where to get this wonderful beer.

here's a pencil to paint comparison:

jojo

a work in progress, here's the pencils for 'jojo':



and here's painting in progress (excuse the terrible glare):



his skin won't really be green when i'm done, that's just the underpainting.

the big lebowski tribute show (continued again)

here's a phoenix new times article:

the big lebowski tribute show (continued)

here's some more info on 'the big lebowski tribute show' beginning friday, the 28th of july.

the official release from wet paint gallery:
Tempe, AZ, July 18, 2006 - What movie says the word "man" 174 times and "dude" 194 times? If you guessed the movie The Big Lebowski, you are right! From nihilists to pornographers, from bowling alleys to sandy beaches, the movie has gone from a Hollywood flop to a mythical cult following. Across the nation every year Lebowski festivals are held in honor of the one and
only dude. The first ever Tempe, Arizona Big Lebowski art show is coming soon to Wet Paint Art Supply & Gallery. The show will feature, of course, a screening of the movie accompanied by live music from the band Slapdash. As homage to the film, various artists will be showing pieces based solely on the movie. You're sure to find your classic characters such as 'the Dude', 'the Jesus', or 'Donnie'. And if all of that is not enough, the show is free and includes food and beverage. "The dude abides."

an article by the arizona republic

Coen brothers film basis of Tempe art exhibit

Geri Koeppel, The Arizona Republic, Jul. 27, 2006 12:00 PM

"The Dude" would be proud.

An exhibit of art based on the 1998 film The Big Lebowski will be at Wet Paint Art Supply & Gallery in Tempe at 7 p.m. tonight.

For those not in the know, the movie is a cult classic by Ethan and Joel Coen (also famous for Fargo) and starring Jeff Bridges as "The Dude," a California slacker whom thugs mistake for a millionaire by the same name. John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi and John Turturo also are in it.

"I wanted to do a gallery show based off a movie and didn't know what movie to do," said Clay Elliott, a manager at Wet Paint.

The Big Lebowski was one of his first thoughts, but he also spent a couple months polling people. The film was the most popular choice.

"People just get really excited about it," Elliot said.

He thinks the film struck a nerve among artists, he added, "because it's so random, there's so much imagery in it . . . There's so much material to choose from, and it's light-hearted; it's funny."

And, it's such an underground phenomenon that there are festivals held in various cities devoted to it. Elliott said the organizers didn't even know that until after they started to promote the exhibit.

The show is part of the gallery's "Final Fridays" exhibits, which are the last Friday of most months and include submissions by art students as well as emerging and established artists.

Elliott said he expects 15 to 20 artists to submit work, including many pieces done on bowling pins. Wet Paint handed out 30 pins, donated by a local bowling alley, because bowling is a major theme in the movie.

Phoenix artist Ray Rivas owns a copy of The Big Lebowski on DVD and heard about the show when he went into Wet Paint to buy supplies. He airbrushed Bridges' character on one side of a pin and Goodman's character on the other.

The work is so detailed, it looks like he clipped photos from a magazine and shellacked them on.

"That's what my girlfriend said, everyone is going to be trying to peel it off," he said, with a laugh. "There were so many iconic scenes I wanted to paint, but there's only so much space on a bowling pin. I wanted to show off what I could do as far as the detailing."

Other works have been done in charcoal, oil, acrylic and even spray paint on canvas. One artist submitted bowling-themed lamps. Most pieces will be priced at about $100 to $200, Elliott said.

The gallery will show the film from 8-10 p.m., and during the screening, members of the band Slapdash will perform songs from the soundtrack at the appropriate times.

Elliott expects the show will attract not only the usual art crowd, but fans of the film as well. Summer exhibits usually only draw about 100, he said, compared to shows during the school year drawing closer to 300.

But, he added, "For this show, I'm expecting more."

flyer by me

the big lebowski tribute show

this friday at wet paint in tempe is the opening of the big lebowski tribute show. come check it out if you're around.

the show runs for about two months (around september 27th).

shirts available now at cafe press

got some shirts up now at cafe press, two designs. click on the side menu to order. and check back often, as i will (hopefully) be changing them periodically.

terrence at vinesia beach

two more samples of pencils vs. final image.

leona

another before and after:
here are the pencils for leona,



and here's the final oil painting.



i laid the background in with a pallet knife, kept it choppy. the skin, sweater and hair was put down and blended with a brush.

photos from concrete jungle

thanks to everyone that came out to check out the concrete jungle show. if you missed it, there's the artist reception on the third friday (june 16th). come check out the art work, meet the artists, grab a beer, give an artist the finger...you know, just live it up.

here's some photos from the first friday:

the concrete jungle is here

today starts the run of the concrete jungle at the paper heart.

the show got a nice little write up in the phoenix new times (06/01/06 issue), check it out:

final firday at wet paint, 05/26/06

final friday went well. some good art by clay elliot and koleszar.

my painting of the one8 is up there now as well.




here are some photos of the event.

concrete jungle, at the paper heart

new exhibition at the paperheart in downtown phoenix, the first friday in june (the 2nd).

these three pieces of mine should be up (from left to right, iago, terrence, and othello), plus two new ones that i'm trying to finish up (always working till the last minute, but if finished, it'll be leroy the younger, and marty (sunday morning). maybe avri the bartender as well, who knows).

if you are unable to make it to that, come to the artist reception on the third friday (the 16th, but i think you'll have to pay to get in that night, it's also a wine tasting night).

details on the calendar of events at www.thepaperheart.com







The Paper Heart presents Concrete Jungle

Feturing
- jw miller
- Greg Pentkowski
- Ralph Brekkan
- John Koleszar
- Adam Allred
- Colton Brock
and many more!

Musical guests TBA!

Special appearance by Velocity Circus
A San Francisco-based Arts & Entertainment Company.

Description: Concrete Jungle
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: urban area
Synonyms: asphalt jungle, city, downtown, inner city, mean streets, metropolis, municipality, urban complex, urban sprawl

FREE AT 7pm
the paper heart
750 nw grand ave. phoenix, arizona 85007       
602.262.2020
www.thepaperheart.com





(the girl in the lower left is leona (as mentioned in the previous post). i don't actually know if she'll be at the show, my friend lee who made the postcard above liked how she worked in the design, not whether she'd be at the show. blame lee.)

portraits from dektown usa, pt.2

portraits of dektown extended until may 21st. check it out!

i added 2 new paintings: one of the One8 (shown above) and the other is leona, she's on the flyer for the next exhibition at paper heart.

portraits from dektown, usa

gonna have some stuff on display from march 20th to april 15th (or so) at a stinkweeds recordstore in tempe, az (www.stinkweeds.com). these two pieces will be in it, othello and iago, as well as quite a few more, but i'm not sure which ones yet. hopefully i'll be able to finish some of the new stuff that i'm working on.

here's what the pencils of these two looked like:





and here's what the complete images look like:





iago lost the snake tattoo in the oils, hopefully it'll get put back in some day.