Summer 2010 84" x 60" acrylic on canvas
Summer 2010 40" x 60" acrylic on panel
Summer 2010 40" x 60" acrylic on panel
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
"Self Portrait with Gun" goes global
For those of you who don't know about my piece entitled, "Self Portrait with Gun," it is a portrait made out of 200,000 dead ants. The artwork was recently exhibited at Alexander Salazar Fine Art in San Diego. AOL news international heard about it and interviewed me regarding the work, Fox 5 San Diego also interviewed me on their morning TV show, it was published in several newspapers, followed by Trendhunter magazine, written about in numerous blogs(Buzzfeed, Neatorama, Juxtapoz, Illusion360, Ixiqi, Koreus, and Dudecraft to name a few) and has recently sold to Ripley's Believe it or Not.
(The links are to the interviews, stories or posts)
Here are a few FAQs regarding the piece
A common question with the work is "Why is it called self portrait if it is an image of his little brother?"
Well, let me explain. When I was making the work I set out to recreate a memory of mine, the first time I intentionally tried to harm intelligent life. I was about six years old and my other brother (Jeff) and I attacked an ant hill and were bitten by red ants.
In this recreation it just so happened that my youngest brother Bryce was about the age that I was when this event occured (he was seven or eight at the time.) Bryce also looked a good deal like I did when I was six or seven and my parents even had my old cowboy boots which he wore in the picture. I set him in a suburban back yard, in character as a young boy dressed up like a cowboy and even had him pose with my fathers 22 caliber rifle(unloaded of course.) In this situation he was playing me, he was my model so that I could compose an image from which to work with on this project. It was very important to me on a conceptual level to have the image come from a photographic source which was then manipulated to imitate the faux western images. So when viewers ask who it is in the painting, it is both of us, it represents me and it actually is an image of Bryce. Its much like the way that Cindi Sherman does not consider the photographs of herself as self portraits.
"I feel I'm anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren't self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear." (Cyndi Sherman)
I will continue to post answers to FAQs in future posts.
(The links are to the interviews, stories or posts)
Here are a few FAQs regarding the piece
A common question with the work is "Why is it called self portrait if it is an image of his little brother?"
Well, let me explain. When I was making the work I set out to recreate a memory of mine, the first time I intentionally tried to harm intelligent life. I was about six years old and my other brother (Jeff) and I attacked an ant hill and were bitten by red ants.
In this recreation it just so happened that my youngest brother Bryce was about the age that I was when this event occured (he was seven or eight at the time.) Bryce also looked a good deal like I did when I was six or seven and my parents even had my old cowboy boots which he wore in the picture. I set him in a suburban back yard, in character as a young boy dressed up like a cowboy and even had him pose with my fathers 22 caliber rifle(unloaded of course.) In this situation he was playing me, he was my model so that I could compose an image from which to work with on this project. It was very important to me on a conceptual level to have the image come from a photographic source which was then manipulated to imitate the faux western images. So when viewers ask who it is in the painting, it is both of us, it represents me and it actually is an image of Bryce. Its much like the way that Cindi Sherman does not consider the photographs of herself as self portraits.
"I feel I'm anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren't self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear." (Cyndi Sherman)
I will continue to post answers to FAQs in future posts.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Studio Work
It's been a busy few months in the studio and I thought I would post up a few images of newer work.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Surface Strata
Surface Strata
Chris Trueman
Kevin Scianni
Alison Rash
Michael Cutlip
Joshua Dildine
Jay Merryweather
Eric Ward
September 4 – October 31
Opening Reception Sept 4 5:30 - 9:00p.m.
Main Gallery
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14thSt.
Oakland, CA 94612
Oakland, CA 94612
510.465.8928
Surface Strata is an exhibition at Joyce Gordon Gallery that calls attention to an approach in painting where the artist utilizes multiple or diverse formal techniques in the construction of the painting surface. The idea of surface strata is a paradoxical situation in which the surface is viewed from a topical and a cross sectional (strata) view at the same time. These paintings challenge the idea of internal stylistic continuity, logic and consistent treatment, and rather propose continuity based on the larger context of the field of painting itself. This “Pop” approach to painting suggests sourcing from popularized painting styles rather than icons of consumer culture. When viewing the works it is easy to recognize familiar styles (gestural abstraction, graphic, hard edged, flow painting) this leads to a reading that is simultaneously the sum and the parts, the semiotic and the experiential. These works connect to a broader sociological and seemingly generational, ideology that supposes nearly anything is obtainable, accessible and available for use, though often decontextualized and with newly reassigned meaning. This is an aesthetically and attitudinally driven tendency that draws liberally from historicized style while leaving behind the original associations and beliefs in which the authentic style originated. This exhibition is an opportunity to view the various ways artists have embraced this strategy in their painting practice. Organized by San Francisco Art Institute Alumni Chris Trueman, the group exhibit constists of California artists Kevin Scianni, Alison Rash, Michael Cutlip, Joshua Dildine, Jay Merryweather and Eric Ward.
The gallery is open to the public Wednesday through Friday 12pm-7pm and Saturday-Sunday 1pm-4pm. The gallery is also available by appointment for private events and showings.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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