feather2pixels

“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

For what is likely my final offering in this record-smashing month of feather2pixelation, I am documenting some more stuff that I am finishing up for the CityArt April show.

I am most excited about a shadowbox prototype I slapped together for these Ocean Beach paper prints.  Increasingly influenced by the impeccable eye of zMom as well as the practical concerns of selling scrap cardboard in a commercial art gallery, I am very slowly warming up to the concept of picture frames.

The primary concern is empirical. To me, the danger of presenting art behind a bunch of glass and mat board is that emphasizes the image over the physical.   I don’t want people to approach this piece as a colorful picture of the California coastline.  Much more preferable is an innate sense that comes from experiencing in person a luxuriously thick slab of paper with a surface textured in layers of  saturated inks.  Otherwise why not just print the shit out on my Epson and save $255 a month on studio rent?

That might not sound like a big deal, but in a world where there is no shortage of images–if anything, we live in a state of image overload–the  more emphasis on the material properties of the art object the better.  If I can’t smell, taste, or touch the art object, I hope to at least see it for what it is.

There is a need for visual artists working today to think of their work less as an image and more as an experience.  This is partly for ego reasons and partly for the reason that not doing so would mean that there is no compelling reason for new visual art to exist.

Thought experiment: wouldn’t we be disappointed if we went to see the original Declaration of Independence in Washington and they had framed it in mat board?  Anyone can Google the text or even an image of the Declaration of Independence, so why do we still go to the National Archives and wait in line for an hour? To see the physical ink on the original piece of parchment.  It is a thrilling piece of paper to look at.

Cue the shadowbox!  I feel like this is a very ideal solution, especially for paper work.  That it is in essence a display case for a mere sheet piece of paper in a way serves to elevate the object in borderline absurd fashion (an exaggeration that has been thoroughly deconstructed in Twentieth century art).  This particular shadow box might actually backfire, as it is made out of 3.5 inch-wide fir slats, casting a ridiculously long and possibly distracting shadow.

And I am still at a loss to make perfect miter joints.

Also: some new signage and an alternate take on yesterday’s teaser.

City Art April 2013 teaser | 10x12" | Screenprint on plywood

Here’s the teaser for my third consecutive group show at CityArt Gallery.  Join me and two hundred of my new best friends for the April 5th opening at 828 Valencia!

And if not, don’t hesitate to stop in the gallery any other Wednesday through Sunday this month to check out wallspace number twenty-six.

Work continues on my 35mm slide project.

My friend, musician Dina Maccabee asked me to prepare the visuals for a show she’s playing later this month. I agreed gladly because it’s a great collaboration opportunity and because I have been meaning to start playing with the possibilities of fabricating slides. And so Dina has transmogified “playing with the possibilities” into “forcing me to experiment until I make something usable under deadline,” which is typically more productive.

So after a little reconnaissance at SCRAP (one of a few creative-resuse meccas in town), I discovered the  reusable and creative plastic slide frames that open up to allow you to interchange 35mm film clips between two glass plates.

A simple play session demonstrated that, to my joy, it is entirely possible to cram all kinds of shit in the frame, lock it, and successfully project.

This opens up an exciting avenue of projecting 35 mm collages and screenprinted slides.

[iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/62267316″ width=”600″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen]

I am starting a project that involves making and projecting 35mm slides from scratch.

I figured my first step should be to test my found projector with some found slides. To my delight, it worked great.

[iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/62141608″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen]

Soundtrack thanks: Ben, Joe, Nowell, Shal

I decided on a slightly darker stain for my second edition of Michelle’s Print.

BEFORE	AFTER

Michelle’s Print | 1 of 9 (2nd edition) | Screenprint on Pine | 12 x 18″ |2013

This is one of a few reoccurring episodes in which a particular observation has recently come to light. Not that I expect most people to take too much interest, but for me this simple detail could have repercussions on the way I make art.  Long story short: I have discovered that I can layer other media on top of my screen prints.   Even watercolors and stains.  All I have to do is properly heat set my prints.

Little Opera shirts! And bags!  Come see the cute little beasts perform at the Alcove Theater in downtown SF! Next week!

(Attending will grant you the possibility of seeing a few of those beasts  in color-coordinated and adorable micro baseball shirts.)

I was on assignment on this sunny Saturday morning, taking photos downstairs at Hillside Supperclub’s brunch shift.  Here’s some of the better shots.

I recently completed a piece for the beloved of a beloved friend.  Based on a photobooth picture, the piece was made entirely from materials I had lying around my studio. Bill (on the left) came out looking a wee bit feminine, but he is a very secure man and so I didn’t worry to much about it.

Bill and Christina | Ink,  Screenprint on Plywood | 18×20 in | 2013

Another year, another homemade Little Opera logo.

This one features some lovely lettering by Erin, pieced together from a fifteen page cursive drill we executed at Taqueria Vallarta.  Incidentally on our first date ever her and I shared a no sour cream no salsa regular nachos at Taqueria Vallarta. Yes, that’s pretty much just chips and beans.  Some cheese, too.

Due to popular  demand (!),  I did a second edition of Michelle’s Print from last summer.  Inspired from a photo my sister shot of some jerk in Santa Cruz, she specially requested the original project.  I made nine for her birthday and now there are eight more.  I just need to brand ’em. Decidedly more rainbowy than the originals, here is how one of them turned out:

Michelle’s Print | 1 of 9 (2nd edition) | Screenprint on Pine | 12 x 18″ |2013

I thought I would provide a little more detail on how I’ve been combining wet media with screenprinting. Basically I started by making a bunch of these two layer (yellow and black)  screenprints on very thick watercolor paper:

Then I applied the wash over the print.  And that’s the cool part: because the wet media is liquid and mostly transparent, I can work right on top of my image.  This is a lot more fun than the other way around, which would require inventing a way to figure out where the image will end up before it’s printed.

And here is my latest attempt, for the April 2013 “Pink” show at CityArt Gallery on 828 Valencia:

Cliff House | Screenprint and Ink on Paper | 18x 24 inches  | 2013

Here’s a random finished piece from my series of prints on trash.  I am submitting some stuff to a group show featuring art made with recycled materials, so it’s actually not all that random.

What was more random was the inspiration to fabricate these pine boxes over the summer.  I remember thinking it would be cool to design the one on the left with a sliding plexiglass cover so I could fill it with something later.  Turns out the something was landfill, and I really like the “art materials” bag visible on the end:

San Bruno Electrical Distribution | Landfill, Screenprint on Cardboard |  10 x 20″ each | 2013

Detail:

Here is one of two 8-frame motion picture studies that I screenprinted on oak panels earlier this year.  I’ve been  contemplating this idea in a bunch of new written proposals, shopping it around for an opportunity to expand the project.  The next step might look something like this.  I think I may have just that opportunity this June.  So I am getting excited.

Eight Ideas At Ocean Beach (A) | Screenprint and ink on oak | nine 16×16″ tiles | 2013