Marc and Anders 2015 West Coast Tour Sketchbook parts 5-7

Bell/Nilsen Tour Diary 2015 parts 1-4

Happenings in the press

BOOOOOOOM just put up a little interview with me on their site and they managed to make my book look very attractive. I think I might start requiring people to gather a nice rock, some tea and a bit of crochet before reading my work. Also there has to be a bit of sun coming in the window. How good does that look? Damn. They are also giving away a couple of copies of the book to people who leave a favorite poem in the comments section. I managed to shout out some favorite people in Chicago and elsewhere, and work in a little thing about how Benjamin Franklin supposedly had to be naked to get any writing done.

Some of what happened at PFC

Here are a few images from some of what happened at PFC last month. The little wood guy that pops up here was originally drawn during an exercise by Helge Reumann, and subsequently became something like the main protagonist in the group book we all made. As seen in the last image, he made an impression (two people got tattoos of him after it was all over).

Marc Bell

Jillian Tamaki

Anders Nilsen

Marc Bell

drawing: Jillian Tamaki, Text: Marc Bell

Drawing: Jillian Tamaki, Text: me

Not sure who this is.

Helge Reumann

Top: Ines Estrada, Bottom: Nylso

Marc Bell

Antoine Marchalot

Not sure who this is

Laura Park

Jillian Tamaki

Antoine Marchalot

Antoine Marchalot

Summer Tour Dates

D+Q just announced dates for Marc Bell and my tour in Minneapolis and up the West Coast. I'm also doing a talk at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago on July 1st (somehow I got invited despite indicting their reason for being in my book's title) and of course I'll be at Autoptic back here in Minneapolis August 8th and 9th. If you're in one of these cities, come say hi. I'm really looking forward to reading from the book, and last time I toured with Marc his slide reading was epic.

The Car Engine Invitational Drawing Show (and a flood)

I just posted some info about the new show at Lula at the Lula's Walls blog and thought I'd put some of the images and the story of THE FLOOD here as well (see below). Following are installation shots of the show and then some of the individual pieces. I suggest clicking on Chi-hoi's drawing below (the textured cube) the text is good.













Shown above are pieces by Marc Bell, Dan Zettwoch, Jeffrey Brown, Chi-Hoi Lee, Jay Ryan, Gabrielle Bell, Esther Pearl Watson and Andrea Bruno. Also in the show are Marijpol, Tommi Musturi, Jordan Crane, Sammy Harkham, Mark Todd, Anders Nilsen, Peter Thompson, Luke Ramsey, Doublenaut, Michelangelo Setola, Sonnenzimmer, Nick Petersen, Doug Shaeffer and Ron Rege.

THE FLOOD


So, it's been a rainy summer in Chicago. Two trees on my street have been blown down over the last month or so, and the strange colors of the sky and the lightning shows have been frequent topics of conversation this year. Last weekend it rained and stormed for a solid eight or nine hours, all night long, very unusual for Chicago, who's storms generally come and go fairly quickly. And the basement of Lula flooded. Like, 3 1/2 feet, with freezers picked up and dumped out, computers and files and wine bottles floating around in an apocalyptic mess. Among the casualties were a number of pieces of art--from past shows and a few pieces waiting to be hung for the opening reception. Of these, most have proved more or less salvageable, a number have spent several days pressed between layers of newsprint and under stacks of heavy art books in my living room, and early indications are that they might make it. But two pieces in particular, by Marijpol and Tommi Musturi (shown above) having been stored in rolls which collapsed, were torn in places in addition to being swamped. Prints by Jay Ryan and Jordan Crane were also affected. My intention is to hold a silent auction at the opening, or perhaps online to benefit Marijpol and Tommi, possibly for a private commissioned drawing from them or something. More on that as details are ironed out in the next few days.

There is also a concurrent exhibition of small pencil drawings at Lula right now, by Amanda Vahamaki and Michelangelo Setola. More on that show, including images, soon...