Screen Prints

This week in the studio I have been working on printing a large scale reproduction of a collage for English (via Sweden) photorealist artist Howard Brookes [Falling pictured above]. He does amazingly beautiful, ridiculously detailed, magical realist/photorealist paintings. He works on some for as long as a year. He has been working on two in the studio for the last few weeks. Some of the paintings he does of his collages are just insane. And huge! Anyway, it has been really fun working on his images. We set one to print today at 36 inches by 48 inches. We are planning on printing one at 52 inches wide once we get our big Roland printer up and running next week. We are printing them on canvas so that we can stretch them and he can go in and embellish them by hand. He is also going to collage on top of the print to give it even more depth.


    Also, I got e-mail from A Paper Tiger today that they have a new series of screen prints going. They look pretty beautiful. The Freddi C [pictured above, left] and the Travis Millard [above, right] prints are my favorites. They are both three color screen prints on archival fine art paper. I am a b-boy at heart, so I gotta' rep the London street cred of Freddi C and the Travis Millard image reminds me of a cartoon dog fight. Not reminds, it is a cartoon dog fight. And I like cartoons, especially ones where dogs fight. Not real dog fights, though. That's just cruel, Michael Vick.

Speaking of screen prints, you should see some of the prints my boss has done. He has printed one of the largest silk screens ever produced. It is over eight feet on a side and was printed with over two hundred screens. Oh yeah, by the way, my boss is one of the most ridiculous screen printers ever, represent!

Oh yeah, did I mention, we did tequila shots at work this afternoon to celebrate Howard's print, an etching that Moises printed, success and praise on the botanical images we just printed, and a picture of the Rebbe that we printed. I am a little drunk. Don Julio!!!

I'm out.

Vodka With The Boss

Yesterday was a rough day at work. I am working on a new website for the gallery, which should be up soon, and my boss kept changing his mind about how he wanted the intro animation to look. First he wanted it to be a paint brush dripping paint onto our business card, then it flipping over to reveal the website. Then he wanted smears of paint going across the screen to become the website. But they were both too busy. Not clean and simple enough. By lunch, I was on the verge of exasperation. I took my lunch to do some meditation and calm down, got some caffeine and headed back to work. By four o'clock we had completed the intro animation for the website and it looks very nice, clean, represents the gallery well. When I am done with the rest of the website I will put a link up here for everyone to check it out. Anyway, my boss was so excited by the results, he busted out a beautiful bottle of vodka. We had to toast to our success. He had even showed it to Billy Dee Williams, who was also impressed. This was right before I was getting ready to leave for the day. So we did several shots over vodka, four or five, in rapid succession, finishing the bottle, with some blueberries to chase it, the only food I had eaten all day.

Then I drove home.

It didn't really hit me until I hit traffic on Sunset Blvd. I was overwhelmed by a sloshing sickness. My head throbbed. Vodka on an empty stomach is not a good thing. I much prefer it with some food or after a meal. When I got home, I figured it would probably be a good idea to eat something if I was going to throw up, give it a little substance. Also, I hate the dry heaves. So I ate a few handfuls of peanuts, some dry bread and yogurt. The yogurt did it.

I called in sick this morning. My boss understood. I am getting ready to head into work right now. We have an art walk this evening, so I will probably be there until nine o'clock, which will be a full day. If you are in the La Brea and Santa Monica area tonight, stop on by and say hi. It should be fun.

Speaking of fun, a few things for y'all folks:

Erick Scarecrow of ESC Toy Ltd. has a new 8" Micci plush coming out in September. It will be available in five different delicious flavors, Purple Lurple, Snow Attack, Pink Rage, Green Master, and Mocha. Available now? Soon? How much? We shall see... we shall see.

A Paper Tiger has a beautiful new Limited Ed. print from Nimit Malavia entitled The Spark That Hath Set Fire. Limited to ten 12" x 16" prints signed and numbered.

Update: It looks like they are sold out already.

There is a new iPod Nano and new iPod touch. iTunes 8 is out. The world is changing my friends. The world is changing. Now I gotta go to work!

Moving Right Along

This past weekend Anne and I traveled 3,004 miles (twice) at an average air speed of 452 miles per hour and ground speed of 45 miles per hour from Los Angeles, California via Atlanta, Georgia to Fenwick Island, Delaware. It was a grueling trip that began at 12:55 am (PST) Friday night in Los Angeles and concluded at 3:05 pm (EST) Saturday afternoon on Fenwick Island, but it was worth it. Somewhere in the Atlanta airport, I lost my mind. Luckily, I didn't sleep Friday night, so when you factor in the time change, I was awake for 38 hours straight. Sleep deprivation and traveling across time zones rapidly does some strange things, especially when you add alcohol, which I promptly did upon arrival at our palatial beach house, mere steps from the beach.
I didn't make it to the beach that first day, but I did eventually make it to bed. Before that, though, I was treated to the finest of foods: corn on the cob, hamburgers and Frogmore stew. The second day began with a trip to the beach for a little boogie boarding, volleyball and getting sun burnt as hell. Sunday afternoon, Seth grilled up some sickly delicious lobsters for lunch [pictured above]. They were indescribably good. After lunch we set up the horseshoe pitch and threw some shoes. That was fun. Sunday night I made a huge pot of paella with grilled chicken, sausage and shrimp for the family. It was delicious. I think some of the family might have had their doubts, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to paella. After dinner we had what everyone had been waiting for, Mama's chocolate bourbon pecan pie a la mode. I went to bed drunk and full again Sunday night. The sunburn and jet lag didn't help, though.

Monday, Seth and Gena left in the morning, then it was off to the beach again for more boogie boarding, walking hand-in-hand with Anne on the beach like two lovebirds and trying to keep from burning any worse than I already was. I wore the wrong shorts for boogie boarding, and lost them in the surf a couple of times, to everyone on the shore's delight. Lunch Monday was hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue chicken on the grill a la Scotty G. It was delicious, and still we begged for more. After lunch Anne and I walked down to a little skateboard shop called Rebel One to check out their 45% off sale. They had some decent wares, but I don't have any money to spend right now. But if I did, I would definitely get one of these exclusive Limited Ed. Yuta Onoda Wishing Upon a Star prints [pictured below] from the I am 8-bit show that are available from A Paper Tiger. It is a 12" x 16" archival print, signed, numbered, and limited to only 30.
Scott, Magnolia, Hip Hop, and Peter left Monday evening, then the rest of the gang ordered pizza and played Taboo until it was time to go to bed. Anne and I had to leave early Tuesday morning, but not until after a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes and french toast bagels. Back in the car, back on a plane, back to the Atlanta airport, and finally home to Los Angeles. It is still a little weird to call Los Angeles home.
Anyway, another Los Angeles, well Culver City, friend of Limited Ed., project:gallery, is moving. After their new exhibit, Fresh Faces [Yuta Onada's Libido, pictured above], which begins this Saturday, September 6th, from 7-10 pm (PST), they will be moving to a larger space just down the street. The new exhibit features the work of Nimit Malavia, Yuta Onoda, Dominique Fung and Martha Chan. I might try to make it there. I will see if I have fully recovered by Saturday.

Speaking of recovery, Lee "Scratch" Perry [pictured above] will be at Amoeba Music on Sunset this evening at 7 pm (PST). I would like to make it out for that, but I don't know if I will be able to. Anne isn't home yet, she will have Kallie the Kat with her and we haven't had dinner yet. It is going to be a mess trying to get everything taken care of before seven. I still might try to make it out, 'cuz I'm a huge "Scratch" Perry fan. Anyway, I am exhausted from work today. Check out my pictures from this weekend here.

The Wrath Of Con

Comic Con 2008 is upon us, and with it comes a shitstorm of e-mail, e-mail, e-mail about all the wonderful things going on and toys being released and artist signings, etc. etc. etc. It is like the earwig from the Wrath of Kahn, burrowing into my brain making me even more crazy that I already am with Anne and I moving to Los Angeles on Sunday! WTF!!!!!!!!! I still have three boxes of shiites to pack up. Don't tell the moving company, I think they are Sunni. Anyway, here is a mini-roundup of my highlights.

First off, A Paper Tiger will be representin' with a beautiful new Limited Ed. print from Tessar Lo entitled Kirin [pictured above]. A Paper Tiger's prints are just beautiful, great ink quality, exquisite paper. This print is limited to just 50 pieces, 25 available at the con and 25 available online for those of us who won't be out there by then. Tessar Lo was born in Indonesia and is a recent graduate of Toronto's Sheridan Institue of Art. He received his BAA in illustration and plans to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an artist. Sounds familiar. Lo his influenced by artists Takeshi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara and by japanese ukiyo-e printers and other traditional Asian techniques. He is at the Munky King booth RIGHT NOW (Thursday, July 24th, 2:30-4:00pm PST) signing prints and more!

Next up, project:gallery's very own Yoskay Yamamoto will be releasing his first vinyl figure in collaboration with Munky King. The Koibito [pictured above] has been much anticipated and can expected to sell out quickly this weekend. Yamamoto will also be signing a print and autographs at the Munky King booth all weekend and will be painting live with Scott Belcastro at the vinylpulse.com party tonight.

Also, Super7 will be unveiling their Shogun Warrior-esque Stormtrooper vinyl figure, which they produced in association with Lucasfilm, Ltd. and Kotobukiya [pictured above in the background with Brian Flynn of Super7 and a real live Stormtrooper]. This thing is giant and sweet as Texas barbecue beef brisket. When I was a kid, I had a Shogun Warrior Godzilla figure. That was one of my favorite toys ever. It had wheels in the feet and a flame tongue that would stick out when a lever in the back of its head was pressed. Its claws were sharp enough to cut my younger brother. You don't see toys like that anymore, I guess until now.

Well, that's all for now. I'm tired and I need to get back to work.

For The Birds

A Paper Tiger has got a new Limited Ed. print available from artist Nate Frizzell entitled Nest [pictured above]. The Giclee print is limited to 25 pieces printed on Sommerset velvet archival paper at 12" x 20". It will cost ya' a hundred bucks, but for a print this size of this quality limited to this few, that is definitely a bargain. Here's what A Paper Tiger has to say about Nate Frizzell:

"A recent graduate of Otis College of Art and Design, Nate Frizzell has spent his time since graduation dedicated to painting and honing his style. Using bold and colorful images of children at play - and in turmoil - Frizzell creates intimate stories that mask his own feelings of immaturity. Using both highly rendered images and softer graphic design elements, Frizzell weaves stories into his paintings that we all can see ourselves being a part of."

I'm not sure if I could see myself being a part of the story in this painting, but I definitely understand trying to mask my feelings of immaturity. I'm not that good at it.

Update: There is also a special artist's edition of this print available here for $350 that is 12" x 24", is limited to just five prints and has been hand-embellished with paint, ink and pencil by the artist. It also includes a secret bonus.

Don't Go Chasing Butterflies

A Paper Tiger has got a new Limited Ed. print available from artist Josh Petker entitled Chasing Butterflies [pictured left] in stock. Only five of these sensuous prints are available, in a large, 18" x 24" format, hand-embellished with paint, ink and glitter from the artist. So you will have to get to them quick if you are willing to plop down a little more than half a grand for these lovely ladies. According to the folks over at A Paper Tiger,

Joshua Petker is a self taught artist who has been stunning fans at his recent sold out shows. Influenced by everything from classical impressionists to old school graffiti artists - Petker is truly a contemporary painter interested in historical themes.

Sounds good to me. I need someone to write something like that about my paintings so I can start selling prints of 'em for half a grand a piece. Geez.