Welcome To Cascadia: Collaborations.
My first two shows at the Goodfoot, were 2004 and 2005. Natalie Oswald and I worked together to create series of collaborations that we did in a improvised style, working on them at the same time, passing pieces back and forth. Some great work came out of it and I learned a lot each time, lessons that I apply to my solo work as well. Some concepts are Non-attachment to the outcome or the object, being open to new techniques, learning from others and being willing to share ideas and techniques because it only progresses a style/movement/scene.
This series has four collaborations so far. Natalie painted/printed the background for the “Glow Koi” piece. It has some neat gold iridescent effect on top of the fish print. I finished one piece and here is a detail of a second piece that she started, same as the one I finished.
Detail, Natalie Oswald koi block print (became background for “Glow Koi”)
I like working with artists that I know will bring their best effort and do something rad even if it’s not what I expect. For this series, I had requests as to what I wanted them to add, but was open to however they wanted to do it. Heather DeWitt does some super cool miniature scenes, so I asked her for a forest to put on a shelf in the foreground of my first volcano painting. She made a partially burned treeline and we co-painted the ground and trees.
“Welcome To Cascadia”, Collaboration with Heather DeWitt, 36×24 inches
Detail, Collaborative forest, With Heather DeWitt
For years, I’ve loved the cranes and herons that Heidi Elise Wirz paints and draws. I saw a crane that she did for the Brink show here in Portland, so asked if she’s do a version of my heron piece. I gave her the same background scene that I’d worked with and she did this:
“Fire Crane” 18×24 inches, with Heidi Elise Wirz
Detail, Fire Crane, I love that she took the sci-fi element to a new level with the mutant version of the crane! Lots of linework and stippling!
I had a few ideas for Jonny Luczycki, but with the show approaching we settled on a samurai. The samurai is an element that worked its way in because of the Japanese print influence. Now it’s part of the narrative in this future world. Why samurai? I like the idea that it’s a return to old ways. It makes sense to me that in the potential destruction of cities, collapse of the technology grid, etc. that the bad asses would return to a simple and noble code.
“The Way”, 18×24 inches, with Jonny Luczycki
Detail, The Way, I like the painterly style on top of the graphic background. It’s good balance. It’s satisfying for me to see the same palette in two approaches.
I plan to add more collaborations to this series. There are other collaborations that are not part of this series and those will probably show up here at another time…
Art Show At The Goodfoot (Portland, OR)
I have an exhibit at at The Goodfoot! The opening was super fun and the show looks great. Art will be on display for most of February. My paintings are hanging along side the work of Nathan Turner, Brett Bowers and Eric Buchman. There’s some nice overlap in style and technique. Check out the work here: http://thegoodfoot.com/gallery/
I feel pretty accomplished with my work for the month of January. I started out with seven pieces from a show in September. That was the beginning of this series, called “Welcome To Cascadia”. In October, I finished a collaboration that Natalie Oswald, started while we were working on our mural in Tacoma. (Check out the Mural video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpXaaUTX6K4.) In January, I Built 20 panels and painted backgrounds; I finished 14 new pieces. I also carved and printed two editions of linocuts and hung a few of the Analog Owls. I even printed about 50 custom drink coasters for the evening. I’ll probably finish a few more Analog Owls to add to the show next week.
I’ll keep posting the images from this show; here’s a few from the first batch.
“Seekers”, 24×36 inches, Acrylic
“Hunter”, 24×36 inches, Acrylic
“Migration”, 24×36 inches, acrylic (check out the purple iridescent in the reflection!)
“Glow Koi”, 18×40 inches, acrylic. This is a collaboration with Natalie Oswald. We’ve done a lot of collaboration work over the years. You can see more of that here: http://natalieoswald.com/collab_picto.html. These collaborations are always influential to the way that I paint, both in approach and style.
Here’s a new version of the Koi that I made in January:
“Alder Beetle”, 24×36 inches, acrylic
I’ve had a couple evenings at home, thanks to the snow in Portland. I’ve been taking a break from painting, to rest up and clean my house after the art bomb went off. I’ve been switching it up by doing some music related stuff, setting up my audio space and mixing a long dj set. I’ve also been doing some pinhole photography and carved a lino block for the Love Of Portland show. There’s a test print in my instagram feed. (below) I’ll post some links to prints for sale soon!
artdamagedportland 