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.

Tony Hawk

...Has nothing to do with this post. I'm very grateful to have been able to contribute a piece to the SK8OLOGY show at the ISM: gallery, in Long Beach. This was my first time I've painted on wood in a couple of years, let alone 'skateboard wood'! It was a right good time! The show goes up on August 23rd, so if you like skateboards...and skateboard related charity events...you should check it out!

I apologize for the glare in the photo.

Note: Here's a better quality image of the piece, taken at ISM.

Kind words...

I was recently asked to do an interview, over at Erratic Phenomena.
You can read the interview here.
Thank you so much, Amanda.

*
just got word that I was also featured on Right Some Good. Thanks Kirsten!

soo much love today!

I can't sleep...

There are too many things that go bump in the night.

I am Nim-bit!

I was fortunate enough to be able to contribute a piece to this year's Iam8Bit! show at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, in Hollywood. Believe it or not, coming up with a concept and image for this piece was probably one of the most vexing experiences I've had with a piece in a long while...it was kind of nice.

'Endure'
16" by 18" mixed media on stonehenge paper.

Here's the black and white version.

I ended up going with my own take on Mario...I know what your thinking..." Where's the moustache? ...that don't look like no Italian Stallion?!".

Star power!

Here's a flyer for the show, if your in the area you should definitely check it out...Nerdcore knows how to party like rockstars!