Sneak peak. Inspired by an oil disaster. Some times you just have to address the latest crime against ourselves and the ensuing stupidty. Just like there is a kiddie ride depicting the Titanic at street fairs, I think a month or two after the oil spill is resolved, the parts of the country not directly affected will completely forget how terrible this is. This is a pencil drawing done for a show curated by Jason D’aquino that will appear in a group show with a ton of brilliant, cream of the crop, best of the best, the “Fantastic” in 4, the “kick” in ass, the “awe” in some, artists!… um, I’ll just post  it here then. I don’t think I’ll be able to top those accolades. I also can’t believe I spelled “accolades” correctly!

“Come in the oil is fine”

Lecture at Fashion Institute of Art (FIT) tomorrow! Wed. March 24th 2010.

Come see me mumble my way through how I got my first job in illustration if you are in New York City! And maybe a beer afterword.

I’ll explain later.

“Warmed Staples” oil on panel. 18″ x 24″

Detail of “Warmed Staples”

Detail of “Eyes in the back of my ass”. The full painting is 8″ x 10″ oil on panel and gold leaf (unframed)  The colors are a little more vibrant on these paintings than shown here. Just saying.

I’m teasing the parts of the paintings for now. Hopefully I’m not aggravating  everyone with showing just parts. I want people who come to the gallery to enjoy the whole painting once they see the unedited originals. “Warmed Staples” as shown above is the whole painting. I think I need to show full paintings here and there. Last Rites will have them up soon.

I’m available for commissions of people and animals, just in case anyone was wondering.

Here are a few samples of art for my upcoming show at Last Rites Gallery Feb 6th.

This already sold. It was in a show at Society of Illustrators NY, “Our Own Show”. It was associated with a charity to benefit families.

Thinkspace Gallery “A Cry For Help” group show. Part of the money goes to the animals.

Last Rites Gallery “13th Hour”

Detail  for my 2 person show at Last Rites in Feb. More to come.

I’m always available for commissions.  Especially dogs of late. They are really fun to interpret!

I’m now a Manhattanite. I tried out Brooklyn for almost 19 years, and I thought it was time to try the next borough. I have a small group show coming up at Manhattan Classic Car Club Thurs. Sept. 24th. 250 Hudson St. I decided to have a group show with a real curator to organize it. Last year’s solo show almost killed me and I wasn’t really happy about the lack of promotion. It was all on me and I didn’t have the time to do it right. Samantha Levin and Danielle Ezzo are curating. They have a lot on the ball. Free booze at the opening naturally! Check out the artists here.

I’ll be attending the opening at Copro Nason Gallery July 11 for the group show “Monsters”. Travis Louie is the guest curator and there will be a bunch of great artists in the show as well. Here is a review at Erratic Phenomena.

The story of my visit to Travis’ place to frame and then mail my art to Copro Nason. I signed a 1968 Prsche 911 out of the car club. Picked up my friend Steve Ellis who was also in the show. A stick shift from 1968 while being well maintained at the club, is not a good car for a trip over 40 minutes. Ours lasted 3 hours. Because of traffic and getting lost and with breaks, it turned in to about 6. Had to give the old girl a break every now and then. After about 20 minutes on the highway, I realized I was going to have 3rd degree burns on my clutch ankle if I didn’t move it to a more uncomfortable spot above a metal bolt that magically blew piping hot air right at my foot.  There were no air vents, at least that worked, to dry out the windshield if it fogged up. We had to leave at least one window down even when it was drizzling or I’d be driving blind.  Shifting sucked! 1st gear was down and to the left. It was a hard gear to find especially when I had to down shit quickly. From 1st it was esy to shift it in to 4th gear by accident. The front hood which is the trunk, leaked. Fortunately I didn’t put anything that could be damaged by water there. I had a Molly Crabapple’s water color in there but I had wrapped it pretty tightly in plastic. Molly is also in the Copro show.

Once at Travis’ place he went in to framing mode and put us all to shame. I gave Mark Elliot a ride in the car as well. He was there dropping off art also. Travis took the back seat as Steve took the passenger side while I drove us on a supply run. I don’t know if Travis will ever get in a car like that again. It was a challenge to drive, but I actually enjoyed it.

Sketched in Moleskine while on the train. My good friend, Travis Louie, gave me the initial spark for this idea. I recently had the experience of sitting in on a lecture from Barron Storey at the Society of Illustrators. I’ve always dug his work and now I love his attitude too! I also had to do some quick gestures as he spoke.

I’m moving in to a new studio. I’m excited to see how it affects my work. More windows!

Here is the sketch for a painting I’m working on for the “Monsters” show at Copro Nason Gallery in July.

I don’t do this promotion thing very well. I posted it to the right. I have a drawing in the “DRAW” show at Shooting Gallery in San Francisco this month. Last count, there were about 400 artists in it. I feel like a fish in a school, or a cog in the machine, or a “Where’s Waldo” thing. Where is Fred in this show? I think I’ll need a neon, talking, fire works shooting frame to bring any attention to my little pencil drawing. I did do some singling out in my own way by putting it in my “PREVIEWS” section. I guess you can present-view and after-view it also.

Just for kicks. I had the opportunity to see what a Lotus Elise can do. I went to the “Gunks” but it was too cold to rock climb.

Of course I’m kidding! I did this study a while ago. I started doodling on the train and I think I finished most of it at Verb coffee shop in Williamsburg in Brooklyn. It led to the painting called “The Politician” (or 2 Chickens in every pot) It’s hard to keep my titles straight sometimes because I think they evolve as much as the images. This is the 3rd pencil drawing in the “Delineations” show at Ad Hoc Gallery.

Some pencil drawings I’ll be putting in a group show called “Delineations” curated by Andrew Michael Ford at Ad Hoc Gallery.

Running title so far is “Botoxic with Beads”. This is a little dark because I wanted the subtle line work to show up. It’s a delicate pencil drawing with a lot of subtle tones in it.

“”Elusive Moose”, pencil on off white paper. This is the story of a non-moose taking himself out for a stroll and wagging his non tail at aliens in the parking lot… Don’t ask, I’ve had a shot of Talisker and it’s almost 4AM as I write this.