Aqua Art Miami

So all the festivities down south have kicked off with Art Basel, some cccrazzy things going on...just straight up epic! Check out Beau's blog over at 'dailyDuJour', if you would like to check out some of the goods.

'the little things'
20" by 23", graphite on paper

Here's another one of my pieces that I have in the aqua art fair down there. A big thanks to Cerasoli:LeBasse for giving me this opportunity. It sounds like it's going to be absolutely ridiculous! Hope you guys have fun down there...

And remember bros, if you wanna know how old she is, check her elbows. Stay alert, stay safe. :)

Gifted

So Ryan, Mel, and Martha and I were in H&M today, and low and behold what happens to come on....that's right, 'Last Christmas'. I'm not embarrassed to say that I sang it most of the way home. But now I can't get it out of my head...this is a problem.

Anyways, I figure now that we're on the subject of Christmas and gifts, I could share my contribution to Cerasoli:LeBasse's 'Gifted' show coming up on the 12th of December.

'a waking lie'
12" by 12", mixed media on paper

'Dreamworld'
12" by 12", mixed media on neutral grey Stonehenge

I'm pretty happy with how these pieces turned out, and actually had a lot of fun working on them, even though I hated them immediately after they were finished...but that might have been the lack of sleep and cold weather, haha. It felt nice to get back to some loose painting while still trying to keep with the unconscious sensation of drawing.

And with that, I shall leave you with some tender Holiday wishes from GM (cause lord knows I can't get it out of my head)

Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

take care folks

Artistaday

I was featured yesterday, November 23 rd, on the fantastic site that is Artistaday.com


I've been getting a ton of really nice emails and comments from people, just wanted to say thank you!

And an especially big thanks to Geoff! Really appreciate it dude!

Deafening Demons

'Deafening Demons'

20" by 23", graphite on paper

It feels like it's been awhile since I've posted a finished piece of work...let alone something I'm proud of, haha. I wanted to explore the nature of victimization with this piece and a lot of the struggles and strife that are associated with it. An idea that I sorted batted around was, that as much as this sort of thing can be born of an external trauma, someone or something making you the victim, it's sort of perpetuated by one's own defeating thoughts about themselves. The piece went through a pretty large evolution from the original concept to visual, in the beginning it was a more 2D concept with the image itself being a huge style jerkoff...but I wanted to push it further, so I could find a better way to marry the image and the idea together. After having a solid chat with Thom about the concept, I was able to develop a much clearer vision of the piece.

This is one of my pieces that I finished for Cerasoli:LeBasse's exhibit over at Art Basel Miami, in December, I'll post the other two images in a little bit. But for now I'm going to enjoy some of that fluffy white stuff on the ground outside.

Take care.

In Darkest day, in blackest Knight...

Sorry, I had to post this....
If you haven't seen this already...what the hell?!


Last year, Greg, Irma, and I went down to Gladstone Hotel in Toronto to see Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki give a talk about their graphic novel Skim, which is a really beautifully crafted book btw. Sidebar- we went out to this Ethiopian restaurant after and found out that Ethiopian food is reeeeally good. Anyways, not only is she hot and talented, but she gets to illustrate the BEST illustration jobs...like her most recent piece for Entertainment Weekly about 'The Dark Knight' and how it was one of the Top Entertainers of the year!

Here's a link.

She gets to illustrate Batman...sooo jealous haha

Gotta look up to get down

Here are the final versions of the Obama-Mccain pieces I was working on for my interpretive class. I'm not gonna go into the concept stuff with these two too much...mainly cause I don't want any crazy canadian Pro-Mccainer (like there are any) sassing me out. But it was interesting the way in which my teacher Thom, art directed this piece; Part of it was he pushed me to try and find a more harmonious use of the text elements and the visual itself, to see if I could marry the two.

It's been pretty awesome to have Thom as a teacher, I think the line he said to me on the 3rd week of class kind of sums it up, "Big things Nimit. Don't be afraid to get messy with it, I want you to scare me, really scare me with your work...let's f*ck it up!"



PS. I know I'm a little off with my Mccain...he's got more of a Cheney vibe too him for some reason. scaaarrryyyyy

Anyways,

take care folks

Rock N' Ritchie

So I was reading an interview with Guy Ritchie the other day, it was talking about what they described to be his "Rise and Fall, and Rebirth" from the film industry. It was pretty funny, they were really building him up to be the young gun with the bright eyes for film making and then boom! ....Madonna. All of this was to promo his new movie ROCKNROLLA, which everyone's been saying it pretty much marks his return to form or that "he really brung the heat with this one"

...and after watching the trailer a hundred times I'm dieing to see it.

In the mean time I decided to do an illustration about it for my interpretive class. I was trying to play with the idea of him being in a type of 'movie jail', and with the release of Rocknrolla, he's getting a second chance at the game.

Tsk, Tsk, TIFF

For my graphic design class, we were given the assignment to do our own redesign on the 'Toronto International Film Festival' poster campaign. I went back and forth with a few concepts that I wanted to go with for this project...I initially wanted to do a whole retro thing and go with a nostalgic sensation, but that wasn't really doing it for me...so I started thinking about it more and researching the festival further, and settled upon the idea that everyone who comes to the festival pretty much lives and breaths movies ('film-heads' if you will) and considering that it's the 2nd largest film festival in the world, next to Cannes, everyone there wants to stand out from the crowd. So this is what I came up with.

It was a lot of fun to just use straight photoshop for this project, with the drawing of all the characters to the background and all the shapes, even though it's a big no-no for graphic design. Sorry Ms. Dallas.

How sweet it is...

This illustration is about half way done, I'll be sure to post the final once i'm all done. Just wanted to show my support!

Note: i just saw this over on Francis Vallejo's blog and had to post it! Nice call dude!

Yes we can! hahah

Analog Color's Endless Reflections

The latest episode of the fantastic Analog Color series has just dropped...And I'm giddy like a goddamn school girl that I get a little cameo in it! I posted the preview for this episode a little while back, but again this episode is focusing on the Sandman Endless Reflections show.

Analog Color Episode 4 Nucleus Gallery/Sandman Tribute from Modus Films on Vimeo.

I absolutely love what Jeremy is doing with his Analog Color series, it's really great to be able to peak behind the curtain of what's going on with all these artists and events.

Keep on keeping on J!

Tessar Lo x Roq La Rue

Here's one last post before I head off on my Ottawa-Montreal Road trip...

This is a preview of my boy Tessar's upcoming two-person show at Roq La Rue gallery in Seattle, put together by the always impressive Mr. Lynch.

Tessar Lo/Roq La Rue Preview from Modus Films on Vimeo.

I was fortunate enough to have a little preview of the work for the show, and I was blown away. Mr. Lo is breaking boundaries in a big way! Honestly, I'm in awe.

The show opens on November 7th and is entitled "my love, it's on we".

a hand lifted to the clouds.

Just thought I'd throw up some photos of a few pieces in progress, and some of the goings on from the last little bit.

Here's a progress shot of a 'Good and Bad' piece, I was working on for my interpretive illustration class.

This year, I've had the luxury of living in a house with a 'patio-style' rooftop...sometimes i just stay up there for hours at a time, just taking it all in and enjoying it....in shorts and flip flops no less. It hurts me to say this, but I think we've come to a point where it's too cold to wear flip flops and shorts.

I've really come to enjoy the quiet time that it offers, it give me a chance to get out of my head, and sort of clear the air or habits and patterns and take it for what it is. I'm excited to see what it'll be like in the winter with all the snow up there...

Sadly, I may have to wear pants and shoes at that point :(

take care.

And I can't stop sh-sh-shaking...

I don't know what it is, maybe it's my diet or the sun's placement in the eastern sky, but I've been sooo damn tired these days...

I used to be able to stay awake for such long expanses of time, but these days I'm just tuckered out. I try to find so many excuses to take a nap. But at the same time I feel like a hypocritical insomniac....I just want to be awake all the time. Anyways...hopefully that all sorts itself out. Just thought I'd throw up some photos of things in my room.

It's not very often that you get to see the inside of the Dragon's Den

a sketch I'm doing for a pal
sometimes you have to buy things on principal...

More goodies from Mr. Lynch...

The charming and talented Jeremy Asher Lynch, of Analog Color fame, has just released two new trailers! The first is for the 'Blender' show happening tomorrow night at Cerasoli : LeBasse, the preview looks soo sweet, I wish I could fly down!

The second video, is a teaser trailer for the next installment of the Analog Color series. This episode is focusing around the 'Endless Reflections' that happened a little while back over at Nucleus, which I was fortunate enough to be apart of.

The Art of Progress

I love October...not only does it usher in my favourite season of the year, along with a flurry of birthdays, but it always proves to be a month full of exciting changes. As great as project:gallery has been to me, I am pleased to say that project:gallery and Cerasoli gallery have merged together to form the new 'Cerasoli : LeBasse' gallery. The new gallery has combined the best of both gallery's stellar artist rosters, of which I am so proud to be apart of!

Cerasoli : LeBasse will be having it's official opening this Saturday, October 11th, 2008. If your in the LA area, be sure to make it out and chat with some of the artists, and take in the new space with all the great work that will be on display.

take care.

Dream...

it feels like it sometimes....

Most of you have probably read or heard of Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' series...I am sooo excited to be apart of the 'Endless Reflections' tribute show that's going on. Besides being able to contribute a piece to such a tremendous mythology, I'm so grateful and honoured to be in a show along with soo many artists that I've looked up to for so long...I'm pretty nervous, haha.

Here is my contribution to the show
'fades away, without fear or pain'
28" by 24", mixed media on paper

Here are the details on the show.

And a few of the other contributors work
t.
a.
Can you guess who they are?

Take care!

A Weekend in the City...

Firstly, a great big thank you to everyone who was able to make it out to the show on Saturday! We had a pretty stellar turn out, and it was soo great to be able to talk to everyone. You don't know how much it means to me...

It felt sooo great to go back down to LA and see the bros and everyone again. Honestly, we'd been away for two months but it was like no time had passed at all. As soon as we got back downtown, we dropped our bags off at the loft and hit up the old spots for some laughs and some good eats....Zencu very much!
Tess even surprised Yuta and I with some news, that our boy Fred Hon was gonna be coming down for the show and to check out LaLa Land! Sooo sick to party with Fred and the guys -aaaiiizeeeeeee!!!
Here are some pics from the weekend,

Right before the show, and somehow this guy.... stone cold

Yuta, looking 'fresh'

hmm...whose this charming devil?? Must be Tessar Lo! Dom and Martha bringing some feminine charm to the show, if only Yuta and I looked this good...

project:gallery's version of a 'Jack and coke', big thanks to Jack for holding down the bar

*obligatory crowd shot**obligatory crowd shot* + Yuta

Culver City was burning up Saturday...the night was rammed with a ton of great shows. We were able to duck out for a few to go check out some of the other galleries, in particular Ian Francis over at Kinsey/DesForges. The show left me speechless.

Unbelievable

Edwin, Jeremy, and Keisuke...stunned
Some art lovers checking out Martha's work, the piece on the right...probably my favourite piece in the whole showBeau, getting all teary eyed about this being the last show at project:... actually, he's probably talking up the sweet new gallery space we're moving toGroup shot with the boss man, Thanks Beau!

After the show we hit up Hop Louie's over in Chinatown for some drinks, some dancing, and of course a whole lot of Journey.... "Don't stop believing!" We ended the night with some late night chinese, and some drinks back at the loft. One of the best nights I can remember...

Sunday we all woke up with a craving for some Pho, and after that we spent most of the day kickin it at Beau's. Seeing as it was our last day there, he kicked us out and told us to go to the beach....there's a reason why he's the leader.

So Yosk, wrangled the the four of us up and took us down to the beach in Santa Monica. The feeling of being able to put your feet in the warmth of the sand and to have the waves push and pull you....somehow, felt so right! haha

it really is as pretty as everyone makes it out to be

Big thanks to light pollution for the 'Kanye West'-esque sunset...the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

We'll see you soon LA!
Thanks for the fun, friends and fresh faces!


* here are a few more pics from the show, thanks Marcus!

Paper Tiger

I'm very excited to say that Paper Tiger is doing a limited edition of 10 prints of my "Spark" piece, from the 'fresh faces' show. The prints look fantastic, and are 12" by 16" signed and number. This was probably one of my favorite pieces I did for the show and I'm so glad that it's available for people bring into their homes.

"The spark that hath set fire"

Here's a link if your interested.
Thanks!

Preview

here's a fantastic preview for the show that was put together by Jeremy Asher Lynch.

There's nothing wrong with just a little little fun....

we were dancing all night long.

'A quiet rage'
20"by 23", mixed media on paper

So I'm flying out tomorrow for the Fresh Faces show, figured I could sneak in one last update before I head off (warning: this ones a hefty one). I threw up an image of one of the pieces in the show. I'm not gonna lie...I'm pretty damn nervous, but I know the shows going to be a lot of fun! Not to mention I'm stoked to be seeing my boys and rest of team project again. Beau's put out a preview of the pieces in the show, which you can check out here. I know I've said this before, but I'm honestly blown away by the work that Yuta, Dom and Martha produced for the show... soooooo sick! I wanna buy one of Martha's pieces soo bad! haha.
If your going to be in LA and have some free time, please check it out!

And for something a little closer to home....

If your in the Toronto area, there's a show going on at Jerome Jenner gallery this weekend, titled the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. Big thanks to Dustin and Jon for inviting Yuta and myself to put a few pieces in the show. My 'Dark Passenger' series from a little while back will be available, as well as a few gems from Mr. Onoda.

Also a big thanks to my boy Jon over at Sundtrak for the shoutout!
If you haven't checkout Sundtrak before...

a)why the hell not?! and b) it's probably one of the best music blogs out there...I'm pretty much dependant on it for music these days, haha!

Anyways, I'm going to go listen to American Boy on repeat for a couple hours to get me mind right. Hope everyone gets the chance to get out and enjoy some art this weekend!

Take care

Cgunit!

I was featured on the Cgunit blog, on August 29th.
Big thanks to Ben for the feature!

fresh faces

I am very proud and excited to be a part of project:gallery's annual 'fresh faces' show, in Los Angeles. Also featured in the show are three other extremely talented canadian imports, Dominique Fung, Martha Chan, and of course Yuta Onoda. The opening reception is on September 6th from 7pm-10pm. I'm going to be flying down for the show, so if your in the area please come by for the show!

I know that Yuta and the girls have been working hard on their pieces for the show, as it will feature all new work from the four of us...here are a few of my contributions to the show.

'World of dreams'
22" by 14", mixed media on paper

'The spark that hath set fire'

16" by 22", graphite on paper

If you would like to see a preview of the work and be put on the preview list please email project:gallery at info@projectgalleryLA.com.

Post Illustration

Here's an illustration I did for the National Post's Comments section! This was a lot of fun to do, the editor had a pretty interesting vision of what he wanted to do, and then let me loose on it. I'm really excited about it, and I gotta give a HUGE thanks to Kagan Mcleod for helping me out through this whole thing.


The piece is going to run Monday, so if you get the chance, please grab a National Post and check it out in print! I'll toss up a pic of the printed version tomorrow.

Here's a pic of the piece

Working through "it"....

On one of my recent Amazon binges, I picked up Paul Pope's 'Pulphope'. Along with being a visual feast of process/progress, the book offers itself up as a semi-philosophical manifesto onto the artists own limitations and connaissance...

I've only gotten to read a few of the passages so far but there was one in particular that I really enjoyed... and after talking to many of my peers, thought was pretty relevant to our current state of learning;

"You can't afford to only work when you feel "it". "It" is that precious quality which lets you make artwork which is better than good and sometimes "it" allows for work which is truly inspired. I learned early on, you can't rely on "it" to get you out of a mess. It is capricious and wispy, disappearing for periods at a time, sometimes only half returning, or returning for only half as long as you need it. It's also a problem to have to work without "it". That is a killer. Too much of that kind of thing will sink you into a strange kind of self-loathing, hard to describe, but which makes it hard to face yourself in the mirror. And sometimes it just inexplicably goes away. But you can get "it" to come and stay with you when you have great discipline and work hard without distractions. That is why I've always like working for three days straight, and why I built a trapdoor for "it" so it can come and go quickly when I lost the three day luxury. I find if you keep on working until "it" comes back, "it" always does eventually. It eventually gets curious and wants to see what you've been doing while it was away."

On that note, I will have some examples of my own recent rendezvous' with "it" to throw up soon...

take care.