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...

Dennis Hopper

Fridays in July (there are two left as I write this) Cinefamily in Los Angeles is doing a little Dennis Hopper festival. Sammy asked me to do a drawing of everyones favorite cracked nitrous huffing film icon and auteur for the cover of the program. They are showing truly impossible to find rarities. Stuff that, even in this age where everything can by found in the world of cyber, some of these films can't. It's worth a look.

some things to consider

Some things to consider

What they looked like in 1996

Following are some images from an installation I did as part of my thesis show before finishing undergrad in New Mexico. Before the buttons I simply glued cut out paper to nails. Not pictured: a chair I shot up and destroyed with a shotgun, then put back together and planted grass in. This show was the first incarnation of the work that has evolved into the recent button collage installation here. Returning the gallery to prior form involved hours and hours of spackling.








Immediately after graduation I did some portable versions of the work for a show at a gallery in Gallup New Mexico, at a gallery run by an eccentric Croatian expatriot. I remember a blizzard on my the way out there in which I literally couldn't see the front of my own car. The collages above are made from multiple images, the ones below are single images cut apart and spread out on the nails.

Two shows I would go see if I could

Tonight the first East Coast incarnation of the Post-it show (previously San Francisco and L.A.) opens at Giant Robot NY from 6:30-10. I have several pieces in it (see below). Twenty bucks each. Cash and carry.


Also, Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd (who organize the Post-it shows) have work on display at Sandra Lee in San Francisco this month until the 26th. Very worth seeing.

Some things to consider

Six more of said lists can be found here, also two other lists that don't end with food.