Notes on Patriotism (NEW LIVE PAINTING)

When the Third Eye opens and funnels the Universal Artistic Spirit into swirling images in your mind, you have to take charge and act as translator.  As it works with visionary energies, you don't get to choose oftentimes when this rush occurs.  Yesterday I had a vision at work inspired by a song which serves as the soundtrack for the video I made when I left the office.  I got to let out some political aggression which has been building within me lately.  I was blessed with a beautiful day of Tennessee weather to work in and the results are what you see here...




God Bless America and A Special Thanks to my fellow artist and amateur super-villain Charles Bennett for letting me do this in his back yard so I wouldn't get arrested in the parking lot of my apartment building for such anarchy! 

As an afterthought-  Youtube has an uncanny Big Brother way of recommending you watch their recommendations and after posting Notes on Patriotism, they spat a bit of Penn & Teller at me which I found served as a wonderful statement about my own reasoning behind burning my American Flag Painting.  Enjoy...

And from my buddy Jason, numbero uno fan of Mr. Show...

LET THEM ART!

LET THEM ART this Saturday will be the 3rd lowbrow group exhibit hosted by No Egrets Tattoo and curated by Joe Melanson which I've participated in. I'll be painting live in the flesh and the show is to help raise money for Second Harvest Food Bank with artists donating work for a silent auction.  This will be a great chance to get some affordable art and guess what, you can even write it off on your taxes!!!  I certainly hope to see a slew of my Clarksvegas and Nastyville folk down at the show for more art than you can shake a stick at, LIVE Painting, NUDE Body Painting, PHOTO Booth, LIVE Music and much more MADness!

Click HERE for the Facebook Event Page

Also, check out my blogs about our previous two exhibits at No Egrets to get an idea of what you're in for Saturday Night...

RETRO T.V. NIGHT and FLASHED PHOTOGRAPHY

PRESS YADDAYADDAYA...

A one night only=
ART EXHIBIT
ART EVENT
SILENT ART AUCTION
NUDE BODY PAINTING
...MUSIC
FOOD

NO EGRETS
1128 College St. Clarksville, TN 37040
931-802-8318
Saturday, August 27th 7pm-10pm
***donations at door gladly accepted. all funds raised at the door will be given to The Second Harvest Food Bank ***

Come join us this Saturday, August 27th at No Egrets Tattoo Studios from 7pm until 10pm for a one night art event called LET THEM ART!!

Your senses will be treated to a HUGE ART EXHIBIT and EVENT by some of Nashville and Clarksville's finest low-brow under-ground highly talented artists.

+ Visual art brought to you by:
Ricky Cavaness
Gin Edwards
Jeff Bertrand
Brandt Hardin
Ash Sivils
Charles Bennett
Mark Griffin
Brooke E.
Amber Fair
Heather Brothers
Kevin Rupe
Leah Roach
Tania Risko
Yessica Gazangaz
Katie Wilson
Joey Petrone
Antonia Cassida
Amy Rouyer
Skip Pollock
William Howe
Micah Caputo
Trent Singer
Chad Spann
Mike Coriatty
Joe Melanson

+ Nude body painting by:
Michelle "Body Paint" Thornhill (model will be wearing a bikini)

+ Photo booth by:
Anjeanette Illustrations.
open to all who want to participate.

+ Jewelry showcase of high end punk/military gear by:
April Haven Nicolaides

+ Stencil work on garments by:
Maria Drawdy

Many of the artists have found it in their hearts to donate a work of art towards a silent auction. All money made by the artists will be given to a charity of their choosing. Come on out and support the cause and help the artist's achieve their quest to raise money for a program that will help deserving people in need.

+ Live painting by:
Jeff Bertrand & Brandt Hardin

+ Music brought to your ears by the 2 hottest dj's on the art circuit:
Taco Garay and Ugly Lovely
...phat beats and flawless spins

+ Cupcakes provided for you by:
Gin Edwards

Food to chomp on and water to fight off dehydration.


Come out to view Clarksville's biggest art event on
Saturday, August 27th.
7:00 pm til 10:00 pm.
No Egrets 1128 College St. Clarksville Tenn. 37040
931.802.8318

LET THEM ART brought to you by Joe Melanson and Ben Drawdy of No Egrets tattoo studios. 

UPDATE 08/28/2011

If you missed the exhibit last night, Joe Melanson and the No Egrets Staff provided us with another finely executed display of some wonderfully talented folks!  I was also in good company with a slew of local friends showing out to lend their support to the arts.  Here are some pics from the show...

The real reason Joe curates these shows is to get Gin Edward's cupcakes!

Here's the live painting I did with Jeff Bertrand and Charles Bennett.  Jeff had brought a sketch in for this painting session for which we called him a dirty cheater.  We decided it wasn't cheating if we ALL drew Jeff's sketch so we worked up three interpretations.  Note Jeff (center) and Charles (right) have flying figures with wings while my guy has the power of flatulence.

Anjeanette Illustration set up a photo booth to take pics of the patrons and artists of our show!  I'll share some of them as well just as soon as she has them ready!

...here also with her own display of recent works.

Here's a pic Aurora got while Anjeanette was working with her backdrop and getting pictures of some gals who were painted live at the show!

Dustin Dirt!

Taco laying down the jamz for us

I thought Skip Pollock stole the show with these new works!

Brooke E and Julian Herrera

Aurora

Ash Sivils getting a bid in on Joey Petrone's painting

Chad Spann's new works, one of which we took home from the silent auction

Charlie was happy to get ahold of the Jameson

Jacobi Christ

Paintings by Jay Mean

Styrofoam Art - now THAT's lowbrow!

Anjeanette Illustration is both a very accomplished illustrator and photographer.  This past weekend she set up at our show and took some great shots which she released as she edited them this week.  Here's some familiar faces and what she did with them...

Myself, Jeff and Charles with our live painting from the show that night

Art is Hell chewing Tennessee Humidity in a Warehouse

Aurora and I

Our Curator Joe Melanson

Randi and Scottie

Some of my folk from the show!

Doug and Amber out on their Anniversary weekend!

Here's a few more shots I couldn't help but pass along...

Myself with Jacobi Christ - Photo by Chad Spann

Balls by Chad Spann (The most coincidental picture I've ever seen)

Joe Melanson by Chad Spann

Cool shot by Mark Griffin of my recording of our live painting

Southern Pop Surrealism: CLOSING

Southern Pop Surrealism will run through THIS Friday at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center in New Orleans, LA.  Drop in for you last chance to see a slew of artwork from myself, Charles Bennett, Jeff Bertrand and Dustin Dirt!  Back on July 16th, we had our opening reception for our four-man exhibit at which we did a couple of live paintings.  Here's the video of us slinging some paint in The Big Easy (one some genuine NOLA wood found via scavenging..).

Click HERE for the OPENING reception of Southern Pop Surrealism!

Click HERE for more Live Painting for Southern Pop Surrealism!

Click HERE for our Heaven & Hell Paintings for Southern Pop Surrealism!

Southern Pop Surrealism Live Painting

Ink, Spray Paint and Acrylics on Wood / 2011

Next Saturday night at 6PM, Southern Pop Surrealism OPENS at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center in New Orleans. I'll be on hand doing some live painting with Jeff Bertrand, Charles Bennett, and Dustin Dirt!

To countdown to the show next week, here's some shots and video from a group painting session we did a few weeks back. These panels will be exhibited in the show along with works from all four artists.

I had a beer- Dustin Dirt! drank it all up...

There is nothing more adorable than a Charles Bennett Yeti

(Left) Charles Bennett  (Right) Jeff Bertrand

Here's a time lapse video of our paintings for the group show in The Big Easy... 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the latter half of this painting session, where we collaborate on Heaven and Hell- with each artist painting their own Angel and Devil.

Click HERE for a stream of all the posts about Southern Pop Surrealism

Illustration Friday: Bad Pig, No Donut

Inks on Bristol / 2009

"Warning" is the theme for this week's Illustration Friday entries- something I wish more coppers would do in our police state.  In a capitalist country, nothing is free and everyone has a quota including our police forces town to town and state to state.  "I'll let you off with a warning," is a phrase which has practically disappeared over the past couple of decades.  It's all about the money, kids.  Lawyers, court fees, fines, probation fees, even racking up a daily tab by being imprisoned by the state are all forms of government fund raising. 

My illustration for this week is "Bad Pig, No Donut," which comes from a small series I made for the 2009 Southern Low Brow Extravaganza show [click here for more about the show.]

The US has incarcerated over 1/2 Million more of it's citizens every decade since 1980 and the rolling out of the War on Drugs.

Southern Culture Low-Brow Extravaganza II

This weekend, we're in for an unique mind-bending celebration of the South at the 2nd annual Southern Culture Lowbrow Extravaganza this Saturday. Fasten up your saddle and head on down to Charlie Bob's Drive-In on Dickerson Pike in Nashville around 6PM!

Last year, I had the pleasure, honor, and High Life-drunk rapture of attending first Southern Culture Low-Brow Extravaganza. This year should be even better with a broader line-up of southern low brow and pop surrealist artists including Dustin Dirt!, Chad Span, Michelle Duckworth, Erin Lord, Charles V. Bennett, Jeff Bertrand, David Pound, Amanda Grantham-Sekulow, Ash Burress, Brooke E., Melissa Brenner, Jonny Lashley, Mai Harris & Brittany Danielle Smith

This event was ushered into reality last year by a couple of gals listed above who wanted to create a show to celebrate all things southern. It went off famously with live music, live painting, cheap beer, and tons of sick amazing art as well as pulled pork courtesy of our hosts, Charlie Bob's, where we'll be returning this year for much much more of the same.  Here are some images from last year's show to give you a taste of what you're in for...

- The three works I displayed for the 2009 Southern Low-Brow Extravaganza -

Live Painting from the 2009 show

This one-of-a-kind event is F-R-E-E free so all we need from you is your can in a seat and your eyes wide open... feel free to wear overalls. No weapons allowed, but farm tools are welcomed.

Southern Culture Lowbrow Extravaganza II

Charlie Bob's Drive-In

1330 Dickerson Pike / Nashville TN


(Click for the Nashville Scene Plug)

Update 11/21/10

The exhibit last night was a full dose of some awesome pop surrealist and low-brow paintings and artwork from some of the best and wildest folks here in Tennessee. Much of this same group will be involved in VERSUS, which I will be curating at MIR Gallery in March 2011. Until then, if you missed the show last night, here's a few pics to wet your whistle...

The Barnstormers from Alabama tore up the house for us with original tunes and some great covers!

"Monkey's Worship"
2010 / inks on bristol

This was really the centerpiece of what I exhibited last night.  It was a fairly complicated piece for me as far as the sketch and composition of all the figures.  I was glad to get an audience this particular work as I had been anxious to show since making it several months back.

I exhibited three new illustrations from this year including "Southern Gothic" pictured to the right of my blog, which has been on view here for some time in it's tiny digital form. Nothing like seeing the real thing and if you aren't involved in your local arts scene, get out to an exhibit soon... you don't know what you're missing!

"Egg Fart"

inks on found card / 2008