Arty Farty

Want!

nobody@vox.com(ArtyFarty) — Sat, 17 May 2008 08:01:08 -0700

I love Mary Blair. Her concept art of Disney was always amazing. Now these come up for auction...WANT

Speaking of Disney concept art, aren't you glad this scene never made it into the original Snow White?

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My Friends, They Be On TV

nobody@vox.com(ArtyFarty) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:27:43 -0700

My friend Mike Enright is one of the curators for the Philadelphia Film Fest. Besides his animation work, he is a kick ass painter. Here's an interview with him and Michael Lerman. I don't know how they watch so many films in the selection process and not go blind after a while!

My pal Shannon Okey was interviewed on the show "Applause" which will be airing a few more times on the Northeast Ohio PBS stations. Or you can just watch the interview here about 12:20 minutes in. Ah, Boiler Room, that movie cracked me up. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had seen Wall Street first.

Oh yes, I'm a part-timer now at www.StitchCleveland.com, so come on by and say hi! I'll be helping with some web stuff along with putting my touch on some new products. Yay! Here's one of my favorite things in the store right now...

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Art School Flashback

nobody@vox.com(ArtyFarty) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:04:12 -0700

This week I met with one of the assistant curators from Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art. She came and just did a private walk through the show, as viewing the images online isn't as good as in person and you don't get the full experience with the biographies and family trees etc. It is good to know the staff at MOCA like to be on top of what is happening in the area.

I was so nervous at first early in the day, I freaked out wondering if I would turn into my 18 year-old self at CalArts having to constantly defend my work and not really knowing how to do so. I thought I would get a slew of questions in the manner of a Spanish Inquisition and then have it turned around and thrown back in my face. Ah, those CalArts critiques, they didn't really teach me anything they just annoyed me to no end. Technique was never really taught, only theory. And being that installation art was the hot poop and figurative painters were looked down on didn't help. "Painting has been done to death, do something original!" I'd get all the time. This was of course right before John Currin and Cecily Brown started getting popular. Only a few instructors I could tell were supportive of us non-installation or conceptual students, like Jim Shaw, Derek Boshier and on occasion John Mandel. In recent years I have become better at talking about my paintings, but still I'm at a loss for words 40% of the time and find other people are much better at describing my stuff. To be honest, I think I went to college too young. I also think I chose the wrong school for what I was doing, but I did want to do film/animation and they gave me good scholarships, so I stayed.

At any rate, I was surprised how few questions the MOCA curator had which I was rather happy about. I mean there were questions, but not the totally loaded and combative type of questioning I was expecting. My work isn't some big statement about politics or the environment, nothing that is analyzed or with a message about the human condition. I just do what I like and what interests me without thinking hard about some big loaded concept. And that was what I got scolded for in school and by critics still at times. It is also exactly why I don't get grants.

But no, we talked about how happy we were the painting comeback, about the pros and cons of installation art and our disdain for Thomas Kinkade -- albeit we admire the empire he has built for himself. We also talked about the career fall backs art students need. Most people don't know that I was totally set on being an animator early on, that was my fall back to fine art. My career path I plotted out by age 19. I think I didn't pursue it hard enough once out of school due to getting married, low self-esteem about my animation and just the fact I realized I wasn't too great at it. It has gotten to the point now where every program I learned has been outdated anyways. I don't think we even had Adobe InDesign when I was in school. I don't know what people do these days out of art school for a real job since art school enrollment has gone up drastically the past 7 years, along with tuition. My mom told me that I should go to beauty school once I graduated as my back-up income making job. And I think she was right. Then again, there is only so much you can do with a lot of college degrees now isn't there?

My dream "day job" at this point? To just be someone like Diana Vreeland who spews proclamations about art, decor, fashion and get paid for it. I doubt I need beauty school or interior design courses to add to my resume for a "job" like that now do I? Because even though I love over-the-top and opulent decor, this is just disgusting and I could do better...

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$1 Art this week...

nobody@vox.com(ArtyFarty) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:06:16 -0700

Click image for larger size:

#1 8x11" Claimed

#2 8x12" Claimed

#3 6x10"

#4 7.5x11" Claimed

#5 8x10" Claimed

#6 7x11" Claimed

The Rules:

First person to email me for a particular piece gets it. You may only pick one piece, but can list 1st choice, 2nd etc. I will send you a PayPal invoice ASAP and you can either click the button for payment, or send me a buck via snail mail if that's how you roll. Please always include a mailing address in your email. You don't need a PayPal account to use it.

Artwork is mailed the same day as payment. Your art will not be mailed until payment is received. If payment is not received within 6 days, the artwork goes to the next person in line and so forth.

If you do not get a response email from me, that means someone claimed the art already and you can try again the following Monday.

Stuff to Know:

*All art is original, no prints no scans.
*Sizes may vary. Nothing is over 8.5x11 inches.
*Nothing is framed or matted.
*No you can't come over and pick up the artwork unless I really know you.
*No you can't bribe me by offering more money if someone else has claimed the artwork.
*I won't use your address again and annoy you with stupid junk mail crap.

Please use: arabella@elephantstonerecords.com

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Strange Films from Childhood

nobody@vox.com(ArtyFarty) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:16:58 -0800

Somewhere between my older brothers showing me horror films at a super young age, and not having much parental supervision with access to cable, I logged in many hours of strange movies and cartoons growing up as a kid. Not that it was bad; in fact it probably formed my aesthetics and love of the bizarre, tragic and just plain weird. Here are just 3 of the many movies I remember seeing and taping off HBO in the 80s -- watching them over and over again.

In the not too distant future, a very smoggy and overpopulated Earth government makes it illegal to have children for a generation. One couple, unsatisfied with their substitute robot baby, breaks the rules and gets in a lot of trouble. (Z.P.G. stands for Zero Population Growth.) This film pretty much scared the crap out of me on a social-political level as a kid. Most kids fear Nuclear War, I feared overpopulation. It was this movie that prompted my population control stance.

Based upon Richard Adam's novel of the same title, this animated feature delves into the surprisingly violent world of a warren of rabbits as they seek to establish a new colony free of tyranny and human intervention. Frightening and bloody in some scenes. Not recommended for young children. Oh yes, but I watched it, over and over and over. I think my mom got this for my niece when she was real little -- supposedly handled it okay until the very last scene with the dog.

It is very possible for weird music and creepy animated movies written by acid casualties to haunt us from childhood, and I mean haunt in a good obsessive way. If you just think I'm weird in liking creepy animation as a kid, well then read the buyer reviews for this bizarre 1970s version of Jack and the Beanstalk.
I had all the songs memorized, there's even some twists on The Carpenters in the melodies I think.
"Being another Japanese piece, Jack and the Beanstalk has never been told quite like this and probably never will be again. It’s a musical adventure, but very reminiscent of early 70's artist. It has a very classic scene with a dog, singing to the moon. With a giant, hypnotized princess, enchanted castle, a golden goose, and an evil witch, this film is a must see."

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