I am participating in the annual LACE benefit auction as part of Liat Yossifor's group.

CURATORS
Doris Berger, York Chang, Ryan Conder, Meg Cranston, Sarah Cromarty, Shana Nys Dambrot, David P. Earle, Amir Fallah, Luke Fischbeck, Howard Fox, Michael Ned Holte, Nina Katchadourian, Alex Klein, Molly Larkey, Lisa Mark, Karen Moss, Kristina Newhouse, Renaud Proch, Elysa Voshell, Liat Yossifor and LACE.

ARTISTS
Kim Abeles, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Justin Baldwin, Steven Bankhead, Jen Bervin, Alison Blickle, Jennifer Boysen, Kelly Breslin, Madison Brookshire, Delia Brown, Paul Butler, Juan Capistran, Guillermo Carnevale, Jamie Chan, Mariano Chavez, Fritz Chesnut, Young Chung, Alice Clements, Genevieve Coutroubis, Liz Craft, Dorit Cypis, Cali Thornhill Dewitt, Molly Dilworth, Sarah Dougherty, Chris Duncan, Shannon Ebner, Amir Fallah, James Benjamin Franklin, Gustavo Godoy, Joe Goode, Michelle Grabner, Tm Gratkowski, Iva Gueorguieva, Shane Guffogg, Lia Halloran, Channing Hansen, Doug Harvey, Kathleen Henderson, George Herms, Katie Herzog, Peter Holzhauer, Peregrine Honig, Channa Horwitz, Pearl C Hsiung, Ben Jackel, Corrina Peipon and Jill Spector, Alexander Kantarovsky, Flora Kao, Amy Kaps, Michael Kelly, Alex Klein, Becky Kolsrud, Shio Kusaka, Stella Lai, Molly Larkey, Margie Livingston, Sharon Lockhart, Karen Lofgren, Brian Lund, Jerome Marshak, Christopher Michlig, Allison Miller, Katie Murken, Karina Nimmerfall, Jeff Ono, Ruby Osorio, Arthur Ou, Jim Ovelmen, Mike Pierzynski, Max Presneill, Sarah Rara, Josh Rickards, Steve Roden, Miguel Rothschild, Shizu Saldamando, Chris Scarborough, Susan Silton, Alex Slade, Curtis Stage, Thad Strode, Kenneth Tam, Mateo Tannatt, Camilla Taylor, Cody Trepte, Chris Trueman, Marjan Vayghan, Erika Vogt, Ellen von Unwerth, Christine Wang, Chris Wilder, Lisa Williamson, Brian Wills, Andre Yi, Brenna Youngsblood, and more.

Speculative Materialism:

Abstract Art and Its Conditions

Burley, 78" x 66" acrylic on canvas, 2011

Opening: April 9th, 6-9pm, D-Block Projects, 218 N. Promenade, Long Beach, Ca.


Press Release:

This survey of sixteen abstract artists looks at how abstraction has become a speculative practice in the wake postmodernism. At the level of form many of the artists included in this show mix different mediums, participate with site specific concerns and embrace an aesthetic that doesn't view the architectonic and the organic as mutually exclusive. Outside of these formal similarities each of the artists in this survey is invested in negotiating a distinct set of conceptual problems that range from kitsch to technology to entropy and beyond. While there is no defining ethos for twenty-first century abstraction the artists in this exhibition continue to provide a relevant set of conditions for continuing to speculate about the nature of the abstract.

Artists in the show: Brandon Anschultz, Seann Brackin, Hollis Cooper, Alan Disparte, David French, Richard Galling, Kent Familton, Steve Hampton, Greg Kozaki, Ashley Landrum, David Michael Lee, Alison Rash, Samantha Thomas, Chris Trueman, Grant Vetter and Stephan Walters.

New work summer 2010

Summer 2010 84" x 60" acrylic on canvas

Summer 2010 40" x 60" acrylic on panel

Summer 2010 40" x 60" acrylic on panel

"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.

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.

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 14^thSt.
Oakland, CA 94612

510.465.8928

http://www.joycegordongallery.com

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.

Vial Piece

2500 hand filled glass vials.
Click here to see more images of this piece