Happy 2015 To you, Happy Birthday To Me!
Without checking, I’m pretty sure that the last time I was here typing was a year ago, when I had a show at The Goodfoot. I wrote entries throughout my process of painting for that show. I’m here again, because it’s that time. Thursday Feb 26 is the opening for a 4 artist group show and I will be one of the featured creators. I’ve always loved showing at The Goodfoot and it’s been a key element in my last decade as an artist. For me, it exists as an environment and community, more than just a structure that has cool art shows, pool, pinball, craft beers, music concerts and amazing chicken strips. I wish that I’d been more consistant in my blogging entries, because there have been a lot of great shows happening there, and at other venues, that I experienced during 2014. But…I didn’t, so here we are starting fresh…sort of.
Here’s something new: I made a website for the series of volcanoes from last year (There will be more). This year, I finished 26 new pieces for The Goodfoot show. I put the final touches on them on my birthday, which was on Monday. It was a satisfying day.
So…Samurai.
That’s what the content is for my series that is opening at The Goodfoot. It’s really and extension of my inspiration from classic Japanese woodblock prints. I wanted to do more samurai last year and just didn’t have enough time. It’s all part of a bigger picture that I’ll get into later. For now, I’ll just start sharing some images.
Transferring small study with pen and ink into larger format brush and ink illustration.
Ink on Paper
Pen and Ink
Ronin Study
Pen and Ink with Watercolor
April Fools Day [no foolin!] Art Opening, Comic Book Style!
Art Opening Something Special for Comics Month!LED, CIRCUIT BOARDS, CIRCUIT TREES (two weeks left)
We are approaching the final two weeks of the current show at The Globe. It has been a hit and we held it over for another month. I have artwork up; however, I’m also the curator (isn’t that convenient?). The other featured artists are Hans Fuson and David Walker. The opening night was super fun and you can check out Hans’ photos here.
I’ve been wanting to show Hans Fuson’s work for a while! He makes some amazing lightbox creations that merge various technologies. He utilizes old-school and contemporary sign-illumination techniques, such as internal and external neon and LED lights. The imagery is created with techniques ranging from hand painted and hand-cut vinyl to high-tech digital photo-transparencies. Most of these fine art pieces are priced lower than a generic sign for your quickie mart, using the same technology (priced nicely). The glow from the neon and LED has such an impact, lighting the artwork from within and accenting every reflective surface in the room with subtle hints of color.
Thematically, Hans leans toward natural shapes and imagery. These digitally manipulated flowers, lit with electronics, and organic abstracts with Tron-like glow all suggest the merging of nature and technology.
I included circuit board artwork that was created for the Manor of Art at Milepost five, a couple Summers ago. These vinyl circuitry patterns are manipulated from actual circuit-board photos and reduced to vector art, mirrored and repeated. The effect is that they are possibly hand cut (actually cut by computer guided plotter) and hint at woodcuts, weavings, and woodgrain. Additional images of embryonic babies, wired into motherboards, suggest that maybe computers are learning how to be more human. Maybe humans are acting more like computers.
Tying it together, we have five paintings by David Walker. I like to call these Circuit-trees. They are exactly that, evergreens painted with the pattern of so many interwoven circuits and roots wired into the ground. These are the thematic link. Technology becoming Nature.
This show is hanging thru March, at The Globe (2045 SE Belmont, Portland, OR).
Crushed at the Goodfoot!
Art Show: Goodfoot. (Portland, OR)
Showing now through March.
I’m excited to have a featured show at the The Goodfoot. Curated by Jason Brown (and Chris Haberman), it is one of my favorite art venues in Portland. I’ve been a fan of the Goodfoot Lounge since they opened ten years ago, enjoying the live music in what some have called “Portland’s Livingroom”. The upstairs, however, is a few years newer, more spacious with high ceilings, and ample wall space. The reputation as “an artist hang-out” seems appropriate; it’s definitely one of my hot-spots.
This show features Adam Sheppard, Johnny Tragedy, Tripper Dungan, and Joel Barber (That’s Me). Although, our themes and styles vary, we all sure like to use color! My contributions include my “Interface(redux)” series, which was finished moments before the show opened, and a recent series that I call “Just Add Water“. It’s satisfying for me to show these two series together, as they represent abstractions of two elemental subject matters: landscape and the figure.
This is a paragraph from the artist statement for the show:
Joel’s work has often paired mechanical techniques and graphic design style with painterly texture, and natural material such as woodgrain. The influence of pop culture, graffiti art, and graphic design affect his interpretations of traditional landscape and figure. Visually, Barber dwells in the area where there is an oscillation between the paint on the surface and the image contained within.
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