Happy Mother's Day Weekend (with bats, comics, Einstein's wedding and recycled art!)

My mother and I at Sacred Texts

Coming off a mother of a weekend, I thought I'd share some of our shenanigans with you here from DREGstudios!  I just had a fantastic sushi dinner with my own mother just an hour or so ago.  The least I can do is buy the gal some flowers and dinner once a year for spitting my huge melon of a head into existence to paint the universe as I see it.  I'm not sure she's come completely full circle with all my subject matter, but she has supported me with my decisions to follow my lifelong dream of simply being an artist.  Thanks for all you do Mom!

Our pet bat for a day...

Of course, the day before before Mother's Day, Saturday held one of the most important holidays across the nation for it's legions of worshipers- Free Comic Book Day.  Ironically, on my way out the door of our apartment in the morning, I noticed a visitor in the breezeway, of which my wife got some pics.  My favorite comic hero is Batman and I took this as an omen.  Aurora and I stopped on our way in to Nashville at The Great Escape to make good on the industry's promise.  We made out like bandit's with our grab bags.  My wife score a run of Spider-Man comics through Marvel's Civil War line.  I got a bag of random Superman issues with some dating back to the 70's.

Here are some cool pics Aurora got of some of the fans who showed to collect their bounty and celebrate the most glorious day of the year!

A whole legion of Ghostbusters!

These guys are getting married in a few months!

Miranda with "Hide" (cereal box type recyclables

)

Our main purpose for going to Nashville Saturday was actually for the Art Walk and to see the last exhibit to ever be held at MIR Gallery.  For it's finale, owner and curator Miranda Herrick displayed collected works of her own- REDUCED, REUSED, RECYCLED.  I gave Miranda some of my free Superman comics since she's one of the biggest fans I know. I was lucky enough to exhibit my own work at MIR Gallery with my Cult of Personality series in 2009 as well as other group opportunities.

"Rocket Science" (sewn Starburst wrappers)

Design from Cherry Dr. Pepper Cans

A lot of Miranda's work including her illustration, involve and evoke strong and intricate patterns and designs.  With these works, she used recycled post-consumer materials to make art.  She displayed one of her rugs crocheted out of plastic shopping and newspaper bags.  Other works included panels with cut-up aluminum cans arranged in beautiful kaleidoscope looking patterns.

"I must first gather the dozens, or hundreds, of shapes and remove them from their original designs before crafting my artwork.  The ease of this accumulation serves as a more evident reminder of the vastness of our culture's consumption than the consumer's flippant toss of a can into the recycling bin or -egad!- the garbage can."

-From the Artist

At the show, I delivered a commission piece for Miranda to give to her own mother, Barbara, for Mother's Day.  These zany gals were having a funny conversation about who Miranda wanted to be her daddy.  Among the top contenders was none other than Mr. Albert Einstein.  Miranda employed me to make this a reality for her mother with this wedding portrait!  Barb is also an artist herself and I even traded her for one of her mixed media works as a gift for my mother a few years back. 

The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

VERSUS at MIR Gallery

This Saturday night from 6-9PM, over twenty of the wildest pop surrealist, fantasy, and low brow artists of the Mid-South converge in this no holds barred, kick-in-your-teeth group art event.  This will also be the first exhibit I have curated in a couple of years and from the looks of all the works, every last artist brought their A -game and a brutal, bloody and fantastic outcome to the simple theme I threw at them...

Each artist has one work of art displayed following along with the title of the show, VERSUS.  Creators pitted forces of nature, elements of architecture, cartoons, celebrities, and icons against one another (and in a few instances against even themselves.)  Every single artists represented their craft with beautiful execution, pushing my theme to the limit.

The artists choose the combatants and you get the front row seat during Nashville's Downtown Art Crawl!  Click on the flier to get the full lineup and check out the sneak previews below to get a taste of what you're in for!  VERSUS kicks off at 6PM this Saturday night, March 5th at MIR Gallery (44 Arcade Building / Nashville, TN)

Here are some process pics from the creation of my own entry for the show, Cyborg Steve Jobs VERSUS Cyborg Bill Gates!

Initial Sketch

 

ENTRIES FROM OTHER VERSUS ARTISTS
 

Monster and Zombie Artist Extraordinaire, Billy Tackett's Frankenstein Vs. The Cube

Erin Lord's Earthworm Jim - "Worm vs. Self"  Groovy indeed

Thomas Payne's "Battle of the Cosmos"

Siamese Twins Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse by Brooke E

Brooke is a very talented up and coming artist who is getting pop surrealism on lock down with her own unique style.  If you like it as much as I do, good news is there's more at www.unfriendlythings.com!

The Dragon vs. The Man of Steel by Roly Viruez (oils on canvas)

 Roly is already an award-winning tattoo artist after only a few years pushing ink.  He can be found at Tattoo Technique on Madison Street here in Clarksville.  I don't know how long he's been slinging oils but he has a masterful control of the medium and also paints some verrrrrrrrrry nice pinup girls.

American Religion II by Jesse Shaw (layered woodcut prints)

See much more of Jesse's intensely political creations at his website, www.americanprintmaker.com.This guy has an ethic like no other when it comes to his craft.  Each work is a few feet tall and takes a month or more to hand carve out of wood blocks and print.  You can stare at this one for hours.

[Click HERE for an interactive map of the Art Crawl including shuttle routes, where to park, and participating galleries]

OPENING RECEPTION

 UPDATE 03/06/2011

Last night's opening reception for VERSUS was one of the most entertaining nights of my life.  Every artist who participated in this group exhibit really knocked it out of the park with our theme.  There is a tremendous group of visual artists right here in the south making some outrageous and stunning artwork and we got a full dose of them.  I need to offer a very special thanks to Miranda Herrick (MIR Gallery) for hosting our event and trusting my vision for the show.  We had the perfect number of hand picked visionary creators who blew us away with what they came up with.  Hundreds of Art Crawlers (thank you too for braving the cold rain!) converged through the Arcade galleries and provided many of the artists with energetic and insightful feedback on their works.  I saw people pointing, jumping up and down, laughing, arguing their sides, and giving us a full range of emotional response to our artwork.  The crowds at MIR Gallery on first Saturdays never disappoint.  I found myself talking about each and every piece as the night progressed amidst the bedlam of VERSUS!

My finished Cyborg Steve Jobs vs. Cyborg Bill Gates.  I chose a slick brushed silver frame for it that kinda looks like static along with a purple and black double matte. 

My wife, Aurora doesn't take any flack from the likes of me, nevertheless from a joker like El Hombre!

Charles Bennett (El Hombre last night) with his work, "Spoils."  This is another addition to his Hug Life series where men dressed in stuffed animal costumes battle to the death.  Charles really brings the gore and hilarity of it all to life with his watercolors!

Dustin Dirt! with his painting Man vs. Self.  Dustin's hot rod west-coast inspired style is getting him all over the place. 

Aurora with Miranda (MIR Gallery)

Brooke E and Anjeanette Illustration

Dustin Dirt!

Jeff Bertrand

Miranda Herrick

Randy McQuien Jr

Roly!

Michelle Duckworth makes some beautiful works on wood using a variety of inks and stains.  I'm anxious to add one to the collection myself!

My buddy Dan with El Hombre!

We moonlight as security for any event.  Contact me today for rates and details.

 

 

Knoxville Anime and Comic Convention 2010

This past weekend I took the advice of several folks I've encountered this year and set up stakes at my first comic con! I'm a total comic nerd and truly enjoyed the experience. I mean, what a freak show. Makes me think of the Michael Franti lyric - "All the freaky people make the beauty of the world." I was certainly entertaining to see so many people comfortable enough to dress up and get into character to run around this small gathering of dealers trying to earn their votes for a costume contest. Though a modestly sized event, the weekend afforded me the opportunity to get my feet wet and gab with dealers and artists about such events.

Saturday night, my wife and I got to lay low and enjoy the DelMonaco wine we picked up on the way into Knoxvegas. DelMonaco is this swank little vineyard off the cut in Baxter, TN just off of I-40. We got to sample the recommendations of their British distiller who apparently got stuck at the bar and wasn't even really sure how to ring us up. We almost got a steal until the owner finally made her way by.

Sunday was a gas despite a very passive crowd. One costume wearing gal gave me a very humbling compliment by comparing my work to that of west coast legend Robt. Williams (the first time I got that one... I'm usually just called a sicko or sadist.) The highlight of the weekend in all honesty was meeting an artist to recommend to you now constant reader. He is Billy Tackett, zombie artist extraordinaire. Billy had some great advice for me from his travels on the circuits pimping his zombie work to the masses. Billy has some really cool Uncle Sam zombies and a forthcoming comic, Dead, White, and Blue. Look out for it.