bassline

This Moment (entrance), 2009, acrylic on walls, dimensions variable

2009 Exhibitions

Condensed Fields, 2009
each piece: acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 inches





Condensed Fields (detail)

Staying busy in the studio. These are some new works on paper that I did in the last week. These are a continuation of some of what I began with the 'Glitch' series.

Ad from the Philadelphia City Paper:

“IS YOUR PC OR LAPTOP SLOW?

Your Computer or Laptop running extremely slow or even crashing? I know what your problem is.”

Well, computer genius, I’m sure your business is just booming with no contact information in your ad. I suppose someone has to know the right people to get in touch with you…

Just found this quote and had to share:

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

— James Nicoll

The Anthropologie store at 18th and Walnut Streets here in Philly has this great, bright orange art installation that flows around the lower part of the building and seemingly into its facade. It really brings a nice punch of color and movement to a usually restrained corner in center city. If this were my piece, I would have titled it, Orange Flow, or something like that. I might still use that title for one of my own works one of these days...

I don't know who got this tattoo, but they sure were quick.

I received news about his death via a text message earlier this evening.

I'm kind of still in shock about the news. I think one of the enduring legacies he leaves behind was his ability to bring a huge amount of people together with his music and energy. Not only that, MJ inspired and paved the way for a whole generation of younger black musicians and groups to have their music videos played on MTV and spread to a much wider audience than they might have gotten on their own.

At the same time, he crossed all kinds of boundaries, musically and socially. Regardless of the problems that marked his later life, there's no doubting the contributions he made to the world and the impact he had on the lives of us who grew up with his music and beyond. 

R.I.P, Michael

Best comment of the week, so far:

"You don't look married"-to me by a customer at work yesterday. 

Oh, and what does married look like? LOL!!
 

I knew Gov. Sanford was up to 'doing someone on the side' when Argentina was mentioned. Apparently, his wife was aware of the affair for the past five months, but to do something like this on Father's Day is just cold...

Happy summer! I'm told that the sun is expected to appear for possibly two days in a row sometime in the next couple of months. This perpetual cloud cover and rain has to let up sometime...

On another note, I received a brief mention in an article by Edith Newhall in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the current exhibitions at the Philadelphia International Airport. If you're passing through the airport any time between now and September and have a little time on your hands, wander over to Terminal F, Concourse 3 to see my works on paper. There's a lot of great art to see all over the airport, so it might be a good time to make PHL a stop-over art destination.

Alchemy

Sierra Hurtt-Alchemy


Letting Go - Sierra Hurtt


My friend, Sierra. recently put out an ep of original songs called 8 or 80 that's really amazing. You can hear more on her MySpace page and find links there to buy the ep, as well.

Sierra Hurtt MySpace page

Janelle Monae-Many Moons

My newest music obsession :D


Website

Myspace

Studio View (6.12.09)

New works in progress.

Studio view (6.10.09)

Recent paintings on the left wall, new works on paper on the right. The new series of works on paper is called Glitch and is focused on accumulation, movement, and chance happenings. Those 'chance happenings' being random drips and other interesting marks developing due to overlapping brushstrokes and the interaction of wet and dry layers of ink.



Glitch

( Two more )

I took these photos on Wednesday, after spending most of the afternoon hanging out with Tyrus Townsend, an art friend and freelance writer I'd only known previously on the 'net.  He has an art blog called, I Heart Art. Tyrus was in Philly gathering information for an article for Essence Magazine about where to shop in Philadelphia. In addition, he did a short interview with me that may be published online, but I'm not sure yet.

I worked Wednesday morning, but I caught up with Tyrus at El Vez around 1:30, after he had lunch. We talked for a bit and from there, we walked over to the gallery and wound up hanging out in my studio for a couple of hours talking about various aspects of the art world and so forth.

When Tyrus left, I stayed and worked on a couple of the pieces that make up Glitch. I worked on two of them earlier in the week, then did a third during this session. Three of them together was good, but I thought five would make a good number for the beginning of this project and did a couple more. The ideas in Glitch from a painting that was included in my last show called, Gravity's Architecture, seen below:


Gravity's Architecture, 2009, acrylic on panel, 16 x 16 inches

There was something about the illusion of structures created from the thinly painted, overlapping bars of color, and the force of gravity on the dripping paint, that made me want to explore this direction a little more.

I'm envisioning Glitch as an ongoing series on paper and possibly translucent mylar and exhibiting them in groups of five or six or more, depending on how things develop. I don't know if I'll explore this idea on canvas yet, as I have a bunch of other works that I want to do as paintings, so this will be a works on paper project only, for now.

RIP David Carradine

 

Lightstream, 2009, acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 inches

Tunnelvision, 2009, acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 inches

l: Tunnelvision

c: Gravity's Architecture II, 2009, acrylic on panel, 24 x 24 inches

r: Lightstream

 

Some recent goings-on from the studio