Fun Bags

27 May: I led a tour through the various independent convenience stores of the Division, Clinton, Belmont and Hawthorne neighborhoods. The bags provided held a black plastic bag to conceal the conspicuous activities of those who participated. I released them in an edition of 9. The price is $250 for bag and tour per member of the tour group. Contact me for more info. 

Left Brain Influences

These images depict my dad and my sister, Natalie. Despite her tenure as a photographer, my mom has lever let me take a picture of her. These images date from 2006, the last series before more humor and conceptual strains entered my work. They're very sentimental, but I don't mind. 

J&K-Photo Work

 These photographic images are part of two different uses for photography. More documentary than expressive, the image to the left is an ongoing performance piece. Every summer of my whole life, I cultivate a set of tan lines, reflecting the various states of dress and undress that particular season. Often overlapping in style and duration, some tan lines on my body date back several years. This particular image was taken at the end of the summer of 2007, when I worked 8 hours a day outdoors. Using my body in this way allows me to humorously compartmentalize certain aspects of anatomy (i.e. skin, limbs, etc.) to analyze notions of public image and environment. Please note the dual leg tan lines. 

The B&W images below  draw from a photo series entitled '2itles' (2007). Each pair represents a dyptych, each image with the same title. The top pair, 'Small Shirt' (2007)puns on body size and relativity of measure. The lower pair, '2 Elbows' draws from the multiple referents of 'elbow'. The entire series examines both visual and linguistic systems that interlock and inform each other. I intended the use of humor here to disrupt and rearrange the systems in order to utilize and understand their functions from an alternate and more objective perspective. 

Sketchy: Works on Paper and Journal Concepts

I collected these text works/concept works over the past 3 years, examining ideas in both journals and sketchbooks. Many of these ideas will forever remain concepts on paper and in mind. Each work is self-explanatory and they all are 'untitled'. 
Should they ever manifest themselves in a physical form, it is simply one incarnation that articulates the idea. And now that they are available on the internet, every time they are viewed is different, though the idea keeps proliferating. 

Bend and Flex: Rawhide Series

The images on this post consist of watercolor, pencil and sculptural pieces on rawhide. Partly influenced by post-structuralist artists, Rob Smithson and Eva Hesse, part American mythology, part Joseph Beuys social sculpture, the rawhide pieces tie together both figurative, minimal and prosaic strains in my work. The hide is subject to environmental changes in temperature and and humidity, often taking its own form based on the surrounding conditions around a certain points of resistance. The use of browns and blood tones in the 2-D material allows for the paper to render in the form and appearance of rawhide. As an existential object, rawhide itself has a distinctive history, including its practical, spiritual and industrial uses. In both representing and supporting practices (literally and mythologically) of the West, rawhide ties together several mythological strains. Substituting or including rawhide with oft used materials, the old tools become figuratively constructive in a new mythology of the West. 

RAW

he weekend of 8 May I curated a show of artists working in Portland and Buffalo, NY. Turning my living room into a gallery space, the intimate setting brought together a diverse range of artists. The multimedia show entitled, RAW consisted of painting, sculpture, drawings, photography, prints and installation along with musical performances by Snake Plisken, Arterial Spray and l8r. Whether the brutality of Arterial Spray's metal or the rawhide sawhorse, the work revolved around various perspectives on raw, natural states. Participating artists include: Bobby Griffiths, Taylor Brubaker, Jason Levins, Amy Bernstein, Tasha Ligel, Grant McGavin, Naomi Zeikner, Lasmo, Marina Mitchel, Simon Metcalf and Sam Korman. 









top to bottom
front to back: Grant McGavin 'untitled' (2009) pool cue, bike stand, beer can; Tasha Ligel 'untitled' (2009) works on paper;

Amy Bernstein 'untitled' (2009) mixed media on paper and vellum

top to bottom: Sam Korman 'untitled' (2009) rawhide and sawhorse;

Installation View;

l8r members (l-r):Danny (bass), Sam (guitar), Patrick (radio), Wyatt (drum machine);

l8r (performance view)

top to bottom

Bobby Griffiths 'untitled' (2009) ink on paper and envelope;

Tasha Ligel (top to bottom) 'untitled' (2009) watercolor on watercolor paper; 'untitled' (2008) triptych etching;

Taylor Brubaker 'untitled (boats)' (2007) c-prints;

'RAW' poster on door

Bye Bye Blues

New Blog on my art, music curatorial and food stuff. I wanted to greet everyone with a little color, so you get a blue wave and a piece from the new photo series I'm working on: 'Thumbs Up Blue' (2009). Welcome.