52 posts tagged “cleveland”
So the big news this week is I finally got a studio! I will be sharing a studio with Shannon Okey at the Lake Erie Screw Factory...hehe, screw. I figure that this will keep me from bumming around when I need to do actual work, as well as provide me with a cat hair free environment. Larger work to come? Quite possibly since space is no longer an issue. I will also have my studio open to the public, especially for the Open Studio events that my friend, and Screw Factory neighbor, Gina puts on. The building itself is an active warehouse and factory, but at night resembles the movie Mute Witness. At least I conquered the ancient freight elevator, and if I get really drunk, maybe I'll take some of the forklifts for a spin! Hoping to have moved in by late June, still need some dry wall and my "day job" work schedule is going to be crazy the next few weeks or so.
On a totally unrelated topic, did you know the singer from Glass Tiger wrote a motivational book? I'm glad I don't have cable, because yesterday I got sucked into some VH1 Classic and got this damn song stuck in my head. The video is a perfect example of what happens when Canadian musicians do too much cocaine at the peak of bad 80s fashion.
This weekend is your last chance to catch "Poise, Posture and Profanity" and it will also be the last time I show in the Cleveland area for quite a long time. Never fear, City Artists at Work is taking place this Saturday and Sunday with extended gallery and studio hours.
Saturday May 16th, 11AM - 6PM
Sunday May 17th, 12PM - 5PM
I will be hanging around William Rupnik Gallery (formerly Artchitecture) in the late afternoon Saturday, so come say howdy! Lots of my artist friends will be showing work at their studios and such throughout midtown; you can find a full list of artists and buildings open to the public at www.CityArtistsatWork.org
After starting our celebrations on Friday night and ending them last night I think I feel normal finally. I'm pretty sure I did it a little too hard this weekend and my IQ points went down a tad. A brain fart isn't supposed to last for two whole days, is it?
Today I had a photo shoot with Herbert Ascherman Jr. for his artist series. Spiral kimono, saber tooth tiger skull, an oversize gilt frame and me with a champagne hangover? It's like I'm back in L.A. almost isn't it? I'm quite impressed with how fast the process was (less than an hour) and Herbert is great at directing people like me who will look bored and slouched over if not posed properly. We tried to do something that will look like one of my portraits, he also managed to talk me into taking my shirt and bra off for a few shots -- I'll let you know how it all came out.
My new digital camera arrived and it is black, and shiney, and small, and it almost gave me an orgasm. So far I have just been doing pictures of the cat, but I'll test some artwork out tomorrow. Going from 2 mega pixels to 13.6 mega pixels is like a whole new world for me. I really don't know how I've survived!
On the agenda this weekend in the Land of Cleve?
Pecha Kucha at MOCA on Friday, and
The Screw Factory Open Studios on Saturday.
On Saturday, May 2nd if you feel like swinging by, stalking, or chatting, I will be at William Rupnik Gallery to meet with a few collectors and take more photos of the show for my archives. It goes down in the afternoon and the City Artists at Work is doing the whole tour shebang the weekend of the 16th & 17th too.
Speaking of photos, I'm so excited I am getting a new camera, I've had the same one for 9 years! Nothing is that wrong with it (okay it is a bit wonky when you have to take the batteries out and put them back in just to get the power to turn on) but it has become clear I need something really ace, especially if I am doing larger work that can't fit on a flatbed scanner.
There's an interview with me here on CoolCleveland.com which is neat; no one in the area ever reviews my shows because I didn't go to Cleveland Institute of Art (I went to the other CIA), so it is nice to get some write-ups here and there. Thank you Cleveland Bachelor and Hello My Name Is Art, again. Most of all thank you to you people who buy art, in Cleveland, in a recession. I'm still amazed!
Other than that, I finished two commissions in record time, I'm transcribing interviews for the Red Hot Chili Peppers book that will be coming out soon, and have barely had time to wipe my butt while my apartment looks like a Whitney & Bobby crack den -- again. Truthfully this has been an awful week in different ways and I cannot wait until Friday when hubby and I start our 8th Anniversary celebrations. A girl never needed champagne so bad, but, I'm thinking a Lady in White might do the trick.
Thanks to all who came out to the show last night. I will have more photos soon. Of course I forgot my camera so I'm slowly collecting photos all my friends took. The pairing of Andrea and I turned out fabulous and the show looks great, and if you missed the reception, it is up until May 17th and you can swing by during the City Artists at Work gallery/studio tour as well.
People really liked the stories it seems, and many thought the bios were real until they got to the end with the various cuss words. I've also been hit up to do many cat portraits; unexpected and funny. Glad so many people turned out, some even driving in from far and wide.
Signs of a good reception? Besides quotes like, "I want to marry that portrait 'Kiki' I really do", "I can just feel the presence of those cats licking me" and "I'm going to take these paintings home and masturbate to them", the staff was closing up as they discovered one gallery goer ended up on the roof somehow, and were then invited to come watch an orgy taking place in the building across the street. I guess the orgy people really liked the show and they were all set and ready to, um, you know, do their thing after viewing it. Cleveland art people are randy aren't they? Everything kept leading back to sex somehow with this show. Maybe I should give it a subtitle? "Poise, Posture and Profanity: It'll Make You Horny"
Hello My Name Is Art was nice enough to do this little plug for "Poise, Posture and Profanity" opening this Friday. He "gets" me, which is nice. Below are some partial shots I took of us laying out the show. Should be fun, and I think a couple pieces may have sold already....
In the meantime I just finished a few commissioned 5x7s. I'm really nervous because it is of someone I know, and they don't know a mutual friend put me up to it as a surprise present. Doing work of real people is way harder for me than doing work of actual living people -- way stressful.
Yesterday I was at the outdoor mall that pretends to be a city (Cracker ass Cracker Park), and there I was: Prada purse, Prada shoes, Starbucks in hand, and Sephora bag slung over my shoulder. What happened to me!? My 15 year old self would be wailing on my ass right about now. I think I need to go set some fires, graffiti up city hall and mug some junkies for fun or something, just to counteract this feeling I'm having. Ick.
By the way, no signs of a recession here kids. At least not in my little pocket of the city. Cleveland friends are getting jobs within a month of lay offs, no parking at the mall on a Friday afternoon, restaurants are packed (went to 4 tonight until I found one that didn't have a ridiculous wait time), and people were buying art last night as I made the rounds of various exhibits. Freaky, huh? I'm sure you have read the WSJ article (which I don't completely agree with and a lot was left out) and in comparison, we have this video. If anything, the truth is that this town is a mixed bag; I suppose it depends who you have as a tour guide.
Speaking of art, went to lay out the show opening this Friday. I was going to show some more sneaky peeks, but I though this photo of Spike the gallery cat was all I needed. He picks out what he wants when a show is going up you see. At first he went directly for the portraits of cats I will be exhibiting, but in the end, he settled on "Mrs. Turner".
I guess I'm on the right track, according to the New York Times at least. Truthfully I think the painting of Selma is awful, and really, before you a get portrait done, you need to realize it won't be like a photo.
I've seen photos from both the "Yum Yum" show and "Forgotten Saints", amazing stuff. If you missed the black carpet opening for the "Forgetting Saints" show you can view it here in the pics section.
Next California exhibit is in April @ The Alternative Cafe & Gallery who have been doing some fab shows as of late (Bansky, Shawn Barber, Chet Zar to name a few). In fact, you should check out the "This Is The End" exhibit my friend Josh is curating on March 6th if you can.
Also in April as you know is my dual solo show w/ Andrea Heimer here in Cleveland. I've leaked 4 or 5 new baby paintings I've been doing, but that's all you are getting. I gotta be good and keep a lid on the rest. You can view some of what to expect here.
Last night I attended a large open studio event here in Cleveland that included private artist studios, galleries, an auction house and the ever curious Xploited Cinema. It was a strange night and made me and my partner in crime feel as though we were in a David Lynch film. I had been in the building many times on the ground floor, but never saw how developed the rest of the property was -- very nice spaces indeed. But, nice space isn't enough to always look professional and not look completely shifty! It brought up a lot of points about open studios if you are planning on hosting one yourself.
- Clean your space up! I understand if you want to have your space look like Francis Bacon because it is all "tortured artist" or something, but at least clear off your surfaces where it looks a little bit like you tried. This especially goes if you are a gallery or an auction house! I'm not going to buy something from you if it looks like you are going to lose my paperwork in a mountain of magazines and trash. It says to me that you are a disorganized mess.
- No one is going to buy an old painting at auction that is cracked all to hell, because I can imagine paint chips eventually falling into my carpet.
- Dust your artwork, especially if you are trying to sell it for $14,000.
- Have business cards, hoping I remember your name to google later on isn't such a practical way of trying to market yourself.
- Lights, they're handy, I can see things when lights are put on them.
- Don't tell me how you've never exhibited, or sold work, because that would then make you a commercialized whore for the dollar and you want no part of that. It isn't cute, and it doesn't make me think you are somehow noble.
- Don't try to sell damaged prints to people.
- Don't have acoustic music or weirdo neo-folk people play art openings. That's just wrong.
- I can smell your pot smoke, we all can, you are fooling no one with the Oust air spray.
- If you have busted frames, throw them out and get new ones. No one wants to buy busted art.
- Being nowhere to be found when there is a possiblity of journalists who might want to photograph or interview you isn't such a good move. This goes for artists and the gallery owners.
- Not leaving bio information of any sort near art that I actually want to know more about, it is a no no. Especially if it is an artist not in attendance who can't be there to promote themselves.
- Not giving price lists anywhere, but instead saying to people, "make me an offer". That is vague, and totally unprofessional. I mean dude, come on.
I could go on, but these were instances that came up that I can remember.
