Illustration Friday: Swelter

Illustration Friday threw the theme of "sweater" at us this week.  Well, this guy's sweatin' up a storm so I guess he qualifies.  This illustration from 2006 was from my Scenes of Faith and Devotion exhibit, which displayed at The Phoenix Theater in Bowling Green, KY and then at The Icehouse Cafe in Clarksville, TN.  Pardon the pun on this week's theme and keep your fingers crossed for no more snow (I've been snowed out of the office at my marketing job twice this week!)

(Click here to see all my Illustration Friday weekly entries)  

VIRAL (Create a Superhero For the Stan Lee Foundation)

Viral Concept Art / 2011 / inks on bristol

An experiment in subdermal networking and the exchange of information by touch transformed scientist Brian Marshall into Viral. He is one with the internet, leaving him omnipotent with the all-knowing eye and ability to control anything managed by computer or network including natural resources, entire weapons arsenals, and the flow of information. 

This is the story my good friend Dan and I developed for The Create a Superhero Contest sponsored by The Stan Lee Foundation, Prismacolor,  Todd McFarlane and Talenthouse.  The winner will get their design turned into a toy created by McFarlane himself.  Two of my biggest influences and legends of the comic industry will be judging the most popular entries and voting starts, well right NOW!  So I need your help-  just be logged into your Facebook and CLICK HERE and VOTE for Viral on my profile at Talenthouse!

The lucky winner gets a trip to the San Diego Comic Con to meet Stan Lee and a day at Todd McFarlane's Arizona studio.  Thanks for all the support guys!  (And be patient with these links... their site it taking a beating today with the voting just starting.  I'm just one of hundreds of artists so click again if it doesn't connect!)  You can vote through your phone or with Facebook... it's easy!

Sketch and Line Work for Viral Concept Art

Happy 100th Gipper!

"Cold War Hollywood" inks on bristol / 2009

Today marks the 100th birthday of former President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.


In the early 1940's, Reagan (then an actor and Democrat) became a board member and eventually president of the Screen Actors Guild where he began his life-long mission to rid the world of Communist scum.  In the heat of the "red scare" later that decade, he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee with a vehement defense of Democracy and denouncement of all things Socialist and Communist.  As an act of his own patriotism, Reagan even served as a Hollywood informant for the FBI, providing them with names of actors whom he believed to be Communist sympathizers.  In effect he helped author the infamous Hollywood Blacklist.  


Reagan's film and television career began it's decline in the late 1950's.  He flipped sides of the isle in the 60's after endorsing Eisenhower and then Nixon for their presidential bids.  He famously stated that "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."  After giving his famous, "Time for Choosing" speech in 1964 in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential run where he stressed the importance of limiting the government's role in the economy, Reagan earned the admiration of much of the public as a well-spoken political figure.  This catapulted him into the limelight for which he was nominated and elected Governor of California in 1967 and served as such for eight years.  In 1976, he attempted to dethrone incumbent candidate Gerald Ford for the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.  In 1980, he succeeded in gaining his party's support and was elected President, also serving in office at the White House for eight years.


Reagan never lost sight of his hatred for all things Communist.  In 1982, he said, "the forward march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history."  One year later in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, he called the USSR an "evil empire," coining a phrase which has stood to this day.  He also stated, "Communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written." Over the next few years, he would go on to fund anti-communist efforts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  He also deployed the CIA to train and arm groups of militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan to help fight off occupying Soviet troops.  This Covert Action program is credited for ending the Soviet occupation of the Middle East and at the same time creating the resistance movements which we ironically still fight and lose American soldiers' lives and limbs to on a daily basis today in the midst of our own 10 year occupation of Middle Eastern countries. With the Revolutions of 1989, communism fell in many European countries and Russia followed suit in 1991, just a couple of years after Reagan's presidency.  


Another staple of the Reagan Years (and the inspiration behind an element in my illustration) was his contribution to the War on Drugs (began by Nixon in 1971, who The Gipp supported.)  In 1986, he kicked the program into high gear by signing a $1.7 Billion drug enforcement bill, which also created a mandatory minimum sentence for drug charges.  This bill led to the overcrowding of American prisons and was criticized for creating racial disparities among inmate populations..  Drug trafficking in America and street sales only increased along with the inmate tolls nation-wide.  Nancy Reagan championed her husband's effort by creating the Just Say No campaign to attempt to educate America's youth about the dangers of experimenting with narcotics.  She appeared everywhere from Dynasty to Diff'rent Strokes to Good Morning America to music videos on MTV to campaign her cause.  In the end, a catch phrase had as insignificant of an effect on drug use as throwing money at the "problem."


During his terms as President, Reagan quadrupled the national debt while seeing through a peaceful end to the Cold War (mainly due to the eventual collapse of the USSR, not from "winning" the Cold War.)  He created "Reaganomics," changing tax brackets and policies nearly every year of his presidency.  The American taxpayer was footed with the bill to fund a bulging defense budget and combat drug use among our youth.  We created the largest weapons arsenal in human history and then signed a bill to curb those numbers and destroy a portion of the weapons we paid to manufacture.  All of this, after building a career around the idea of limiting the government's role in our finances and economy.  Reagan passed away on June 5, 2004 at his home in California.  His body was moved to Washington D.C. where nearly 105,000 people filed through his viewing. 

My portrait, "Cold War Hollywood" is available in my Print Shop! 

And now for the star-studded music video your tax dollars from the mid-80's paid for....

Illustration Friday: Tribal Idol

The theme for this week's Illustration Friday is "Reverse." Such a theme immediately brings to mind my Topsy-Turvy series. This is an ongoing project in my life. I have displayed two solo exhibits (one in 2006 and one in 2010) of these works. Each work of art from this method may be hung either side up to create a new image and refresh the work so to speak. These works deal with comedy and tragedy, opposite forces, cause and effect, etc.

"Tribal Idol" inks on paper / 2006

(Click here for more samples of Topsy-Turvy)

(Topsy-Turvy books are available in my bookstore right here!)

(Click here to see all my Illustration Friday weekly entries)

Rock Star Martyr: Sid Vicious

"Anarchy" inks on bristol / 2011

JoeBot has launched a brand-spanking new straight-talking, outrageous site at Rock Star Martyr.  This new site is now the home of his article about Hank Williams, for which I made a portrait earlier this year (click here if you need to catch up.)

Without any ado, here is my new portrait for JoeBot's article he posted today for the anniversary of this Sex Pistol's death.  Check out the site linked above to hear what he had to say about the Vicious one and bookmark or subscribe to him while you're there because we have a few collaborations lined up for your viewing and reading pleasure this year!

Click HERE for Prints of Sid in my Web Store!

Illustration Friday: Arresting Apple

"Arresting Apple" Inks on Paper / 2005

Illustration Friday has chosen this week's theme as "Surrender."  

My immediate train of thought when reading this was surrendering to temptation- which brought me to an older work about original sin.   This was one of the first works I ever displayed in a gallery setting at Alter Gallery in 2005 in Clarksville, TN.  I traded it to the curator, Miranda for some free framing!

Is the snake eating the apple, or infecting it?

(Click here to see all my Illustration Friday weekly entries)

In Loving Memory of Andy Casali III

Manatee Epic (for Andy Casali) inks on bristol / 2011

The arts and tattoo worlds lost a prince last weekend with the passing of Mr. Andy Casali.  Andy popped into my life about seven years ago.  Since then, we've traded art, exhibited art together, and of course, I had the displeasure of him drilling ink into my flesh on several occasions (the man was a sadist and loved his work.)  Casali was one of the funniest people I've ever met and we'd have to pause during our tattoo sessions for bouts of immense cackling.  Andy made me cry not in pain but with joy and laughter.    I was compelled to create an illustration for him in his wake and here it is for your viewing pleasure.

The manatee was a source of inside humor between Andy and myself.  There were a few stories based on manatee tattoos and we'd often joke about coming up with the most ridiculous ideas for such a tattoo that we could think of.  The imagery along the left side of the work begins with the great mother of creation at the bottom with a Dali-esque door coming from her (which is an element of the surrealist artist's work we both admired and Andy had tattooed a few times.)  The figure standing on the books in "ascension" is Casali himself with the mismatched socks only he could pull off.  Andy obsessively included the number 4 in his work, the reason behind it on the manatee's chest. All of these things will always make me think of my friend and fellow artist.  A common theme we shared was the idea of the light bulb in our work- rendering the inspired moment.  This piece will join my series of light bulb and lampshade-headed figures entitled Random Acts of Vibrance which I'm currently working on. 

Two of my tattoos from Andy (Left: Hurdy Gurdy Man holding my brushes in place / 2006) (Right: Buddha in a Flying Light Bulb / 2008)


And here is the process video of The Manatee Epic...

 

UPDATE 01/15/2012

Today is the one year anniversary of Andy's passing and I was compelled to translate an image I've had bouncing around in my head for the past several months.  Here is my portrait of Andy Casali III In Memoriam...

Inks on Bristol / 2012