Back to earth

Months ago I signed up for this cultural exchange arts seminar type dealie at Mass Art and Northeastern University. This weekend I woke up all early both days and headed into town to the campuses to attend presentations from people all over the world speaking about exchange programs for artists.

Like exchange students coming to the U.S. to stay with suburban families. But instead of students, it's artists of all disciplines who may get to stay at an incredibly serene rural artist resort in Oregon, or a beautifully renovated foundry in downtown Montreal, or a government funded museum-quality exhibition/living space in the art district of Shanghai.

I went into this the way I, being a small time guy, go into every setting: "How in the hell is a schmuck like me going to be able to achieve something in this environment?"

The international seminars were a little daunting and my doubts grew as the first morning rolled on. Then on Saturday afternoon I caught a presentation by a woman who spoke about exchange programs in the U.S. which are available to artists who are just starting out, emerging artists with a small following... all the way up to seasoned pros. I felt much better.

I went home Saturday with a ton of pamphlets and handouts and a healthy sense of "I can do this. I will apply to several places and possibly travel solely for the purpose of creating art."

Then Sunday morning I had a one-on-one session with the art director of an artist's collective located an hour from Paris, France. I showed my website to this dude. Who's name was Jean.

In a nutshell, I have... some skill, no real direction, and his favorite piece was not a painting but the mixed media "Hell On Earth" that I put together in photoshop. I confessed that it was my attempt at ripping off an artist named Sophie Toulousse.

Awesome.




I admit I walked around for a while by myself pretty crestfallen. Then I got home, pulled my head out of my ass and started working on commissions.

Here's the work I did on the Geisha tonight.





And Caity... I started on your painting. It ain't much tonight, but give me time.



I'm not a deep, emotional, tortured artist who paints from the soul about current events or timeless themes. I'm a douche from Quincy who's making cool paintings for people who have never bought original art before. I felt pretty down about that earlier today. Now after working for six hours in my own element I feel pretty shitty about ever letting that dude get to me.

www.hookermedia.com

Triptych 3

For anyone not familiar with my triptychs let me give you a bit of background.

I had no idea what a triptych was until I discovered Francis Bacon in highschool. I tried copying this one in art class...



A while back my friend Dara had a photo exhibit and I went and I really wanted one of the framed photographs she had on display. I offered her a trade and she went for it. In the back of my head I always sort of feel like I'm swindling someone when offering to trade one of my paintings for something.

She wanted a painting but she had no idea what she wanted a painting of.

I had her give me a list of words. Adjectives, nouns, verbs, anything. I came up with this.



Next triptych started when I ran into some highschool friends at the Fort Point open studios. Same deal. No idea what they wanted to I asked for a list. Here's what came of that...




The third and latest triptych came once again through a trade agreement with an artist in Washington named Counsel Langley. I hornswoggled her into a trade and she gave me a list and promised me this painting...





So here now is my third triptych which will soon be shipped out West to it's rightful owner...




Enjoy the weekend, everyone.

www.hookermedia.com

Kroenen on wheels

Anyone who is familiar with either the comic books or the recent movie Hellboy knows the character Karl Ruprecht Kroenen. He was born in 1897. He had angelic features and a voice to match. He sang until puberty ended his career. He was also a sadomasochist and cut his own eyelids and lips off. He looks cool as hell in my opinion. Well, with his mask and stuff on. Without it he's terrifying.



Last week Skip and I took our first ride together on the motorcycles. It was marvelous. Riding 2 x 2 just like in CHiPs. Ponch and ... the other non-Ponch guy.

We stopped by an Army Navy store downtown to get some new goggles for night riding. He chose some big ass fighter pilot goggles. I chose a highly uncomfortable, mark-leaving, bug eyed pair of Swiss goggles. After I tried them on we remarked on how Kroenen-esque they would be with a black mask. Sweet.

Here they are. I am channeling Tom Waits' brilliant performance as Renfield in Bram Stoker's Dracula.



Here's what I looked like when I rode around Friday after buying a balaklava. Not baklava. Balaklava.



And after I remembered that I have this sweet hat hanging high on my wall.



Enough about that. Pinhead is nearly done! And he has a pet tiger. A ceramic pet tiger. The frame will be on soon, but I have to take a router to the wood on the back this week in order for the canvas to fit.



www.hookermedia.com

Memoirs of a gayshur

Hi ho.

Hi ho? I have no idea where that came from.

Counsel, your triptych will be posted. Don't worry. Promise.

So the weather has been nice. Until just now when I was on the bike without the full face helmet getting pelted by stupid rain. But the weather has been nice and I'm thankful for the sun and heat and my non-burning olive skin. (thanks mom)

As I said a while back I'm getting started on a painting of a seductive geisha for my seductive friend Lili. I tried in the least creepy way possible to ask her for a reference photo since she said she had a kimono-esque robe... and knows how she wants her own painting to look. Well she took a few but they weren't quite right. No tripod, no Asian heritage, etc. So I asked the only two Asian girls I know if they'd be game. Both of them date dudes in the same band and had a show to go to last night. Nuts. So I finally asked my friend Danielle who's no stranger to being in front of a camera. She's a Suicide Girl.

Danielle was nice enough to let me come over for five minutes before she had to leave for work and I got a useable shot. Life as an artist is tough. I have to drive around all day on a motorcycle in perfect weather in search of girls to take pictures of.

The pose is semi suggestive. Either she's coming or going. Or just did. OH! She has her robe down off one shoulder. Not off both shoulders, as made popular by Naomi "Skeeter" Harper.



Today it's gone from blank canvas to this so far....



Up next... the tale of the '32 Ford hot rod. A badass car makes a badass painting. Hopefully.


www.hookermedia.com

Hellrisen

So a week or so ago I stopped in this tiny antique shop in Roslindale in search of cool frames. I found a badass gold victorian frame that was a little beat up for $20. Awesome.

I thought for a few days "what would I like to put in this awesome frame?" I didn't come up with anything good.

Then last weekend I went to the Fogg Museum on the Harvard campus. I had no idea Harvard even had museums. It has many. My new thing lately is finding destinations when I have no idea what to do with myself during spare time. Museums and historical homes and stuff.

So I hit the Fogg museum and saw portraits by a French artist named Ingres.

Here's my favorite that are on display at the Fogg....




I researched Ingres a bit (went on wikipedia.org) and found out that his last name rhymes with "bang" with a little a tiny trace of the R on the end. It reminded me of the time went to Trader Joes looking for a grain called quinoa that I read about in Men's Health. I searched and searched without knowing what the stuff looked like. I finally stopped this little bespectacled employee and asked where the "kwah-noah" was. He looked at me as if I had just asked him if I could poop in his shoe. Then he finally laughed "oooohh... you mean KEE-noa" Whatever. Ingress.


So anyways, back to my frame. I had no idea what to paint but I knew I wanted it to be Ingres-esque. Well, to the best of my ability anyway. I'll most likely never be in a class with him or his Frenchy peers.

Bleh yeah I chose to paint a portrait of Pinhead from Hellraiser.



Here's the progress for tonight. More to come.

Oh and after painting for like three hours I found out that I had blue paint all over my face.



Then after looking at the photo of my face I found out that it looks like I'm wearing lipstick or something.

And Counsel, your triptych is done. Pictures later in the week.

www.hookermedia.com

Sho nuff II

Worked on Mr. Nuff for a while today. Once this dries I should be able to finish what I need to on it. With luck.

Been lazy

Sort of. Been lazy about blogging.

Friday sucked ass. I couldn't get work off for my own art show, so sorry to everyone who was planning on going.

Here's some progress on the latest triptych.



It's like London meets Seattle as far as weather goes around here. It hasn't broken 45 degrees in .... ever. I'm bitter and full of delicious hate nougat. That's all I have for today.

I'm trying to get my new website together. That's the main reason for the sporadic posting.

Am I..... the baddest?

SHO NUFF



You never know what commission is coming next. This is for my friend Pat.

I have more good stuff on the way. Come back and check for progress as always.

Soon I'll be tackling paintings of:

A seductive geisha for my friend Lili.

A view of Boston only visible from the exit 20 ramp to the Pike/Chinatown. It's my favorite part of the commute on the bike. Makes me feel like I'm flying into some futuristic city whenever I hit that ramp. This painting will be for my friend Caity.

What else what else...

I'm sure there are more but I am sitting amongst too many unfinished paintings for Friday's show. Time to get back to it. After this beer.



I'll ship out a free print of my choice to whoever can guess the musical artist I was listening to when this photo was taken. Try as often as you like in the comments.

www.hookermedia.com

Art show time

This Friday I'll be having another art show opening party at the Red Dot.



Come out and see some new paintings of mine as well as tons of other cool stuff from the artists listed above.


Weekend was good. Friday I went to a bar for the first time since ... hell I can't remember. I lasted for one shot (which was more like a half cup) of Jameson and one Guinness. Age has waned me drinking capacity. Probably for the better.

Saturday I took the bike out without the full face helmet. My eyes felt as though someone held a vacuum attachment to them for ten seconds afterwards. Although it was sunny and is right now and has been for several days, the temperature hasn't broken 40 degrees. Alright, dude it's April. I know you're New England and you're an asshole, but seriously. Enough.

Sunday I took the bike (like a stubborn moron) an hour down to Cape Cod to my grandparents' house. The ride down was fine. Couple coffee stops and I made it alright. The ride back was crap. Traffic. Colder. Sitting on a needle that could easily thread the rows of crappy traffic, but I held off and didn't drive like a dick.

Well I'm off to finish up paintings and start on new commissions. Stay tuned. Hope to see you Friday.

www.hookermedia.com

Ahoy

I have work to get done within four or five days for the show I have coming up but tonight I worked solely on the new triptych.

This is turning out to be one of those rare ones that just flows like water once I start it. I wish I could bottle and sell the work ethic that certain paintings bring out. Some are just more fun than others, some are easier despite detail or size, some are done in a night... some just click.

She ain't done yet but here's the progress.



Here's to Thursday. Hey is that a unicorn over there?

www.hookermedia.com

Moving on

I spoke with my spiritual web advisor the other day and we discussed options for total website rebuilds. Something is going to change soon, so I'll keep you posted on that.

In the mean time I've been working nonstop on paintings galore. Commissions, content for my next show, trade pieces.... everything.

Sarah, I'm happy to report that Paris is done. I hope Adam is feeling alright.

It's a gloomy day so my camera isn't grabbing the best shots ever, but here's what I have for updates sake.




Here's the reaper. Not completely finished yet. I'm giving it a rest and coming back to see what kind of critters or happy clouds I want to add to him.



This is my latest triptych. It's being done for the mighty Counsel Langley. We're trading paintings and I couldn't be more excited.

The painting I'm getting for this triptych is featured this week on Juxtapoz.com just like mine was a few weeks ago.

"Cityscape 15"

In the misty morning

Good morning. Go listen to "Children of the Sea" by Black Sabbath.



Weekend was pretty cool. Nice weather up until last night. Now it's grey and wet outside and Merle Haggard is lamenting over the speakers of my laptop.

I worked a bit on the couch painting but for some reason I was just rushing the hell out of it. I ended up washing out everything I was trying Saturday night.

Last night I worked on Paris and will finish it soon after the paint from last night dries.

I worked on the reaper painting and also need to let that dry before moving on. I updated the photoshop reference sketch for that one. I'm debating whether or not to give the reaper sweatpants in the painting. Given my love of all things sweatpants I probably will. You gotta reap souls in comfort.







Crap season is almost over at work so that'll be nice. I have to get focused and finish these paintings this week. The show opening is April 13th.

www.hookermedia.com