Blah blah blah...

Hello again friend (s)

Last we spoke I was off to New York City, the big time. According to plan I was going to blow up overnight. sell all my work to a famous gallery and hang out with celebrities, appear the Daily Show, etc. In reality I showed in a small bar in the village, met a few cool people, got someone to talk shit about all my work unbeknownst to them it was mine, survived a hurricane, ran drunkenly through the streets of Brooklyn barefoot and shirtless with my friend Steve during said hurricane, lived off beer and hot dogs and found my two favorite bars in the world, Cha Cha's at the end of it all, Coney Island. If you don't know Cha Cha's, you don't know nothing! and the infamous McSorleys. Historical pub in the village with 2 drinks on the menu, light and dark, both were great and Steve and I knocked back about 12 pints of the stuff, a piece. Came back broke, did a little work here and there, kept showing with Travonna and 83 Gallery and setup at Independents Day with Cap City Creatives. Great day there, sold two pieces for around $200 total. Both of which I failed to take photos of apparently.

Let's see what else? Finally got back in touch with Hayley Gallery in New Albany who I had talked to last Spring and they asked for tamer work, well I delivered and now have 4 pieces showing up there, swing by if you're in the neighborhood.

I also finally got it together enough to show with Daniel at CS Gallery and had a great time at the opening there. Even tied with another artist for the prestigious Roscoe Award and put $25 in my pocket without having to sell a piece.

That pretty much brings us up to present day, I'm sure there are details missing but those are the big ones. In the coming weeks I'll be moving with my girlfriend into our first place together, CzechsForSEX!!! will be playing 83 Gallery during Highball on Oct. 28th or 29th, Friday and I've heard rumors of a simultaneous bootleg release of them, Then Mickey Mauser will be playing the following day down at Skatopia's big halloween bash. Should be a raging and brutal weekend. We also played a show 2 weeks ago without a pa so, being mauser, we said screw it and went accapella and screamed over full volume amps and drums, never say die!

That is all for now, new pieces in the works, stay tuned!

Start spreading the news...

I'm leaving in a day. That's right kids. New York, New York! I'm leaving in the morning and heading off to the big city. I was invited to show with Antagonist Art Movement at their space in the village. Pretty hyped on that. Only a one night show and a few pieces but you've gotta start somewhere. I'll be showing with another artist and a group all the way from Berlin, Germany so that should be sick. Hopefully we get a good crowd and I can sell a piece or two so I have a car payment when I get back. Here's the flyer, just in case any of you happen to be in town tomorrow night.

Of course this means I won't be painting at Urban Scrawl but the sacrifice is well worth it. My friend Steve is joining me on the trip and we're trying to put together a CzechsForSEX!!! show sometime while we're there. Our friends from Hopeless Otis in Queens might be able to hook us up with that. Played with them here a few weeks ago and had a good time. Joss Parker, Arlo Moon and Chris Cropper are still teaming up on four panels at Scrawl and my group Cap City Creatives will have a tent set up so head on down to 400 west Rich St. This Saturday and Sunday if you're looking for a good time.

Other than that I've just finished two new pieces this morning that I'll be taking with me. Hopefully they don't come back even though I really like them. One is my first sort of ode or tribute piece to anyone and who else than Charles Bukowski? The other is, well, an octopus. Another equally awesome creature.

"Bluebird Buk"

"A portrait of the artist as an octopus"

That's all for now, see you guys next week and month at the usual places, might finally make a CS Gallery show too if I can get my act together. I also have a new project in the works that should get me some sweet exposure, keep your ears and eyes open for more on that in the future. Ciao.

To the edge and back again...

Without fail, down to my final fourteen dollars and it happens, email from Geoff at 83 Gallery. At last another big piece has sold.

"Ale Whars"

This one I just finished yesterday and took to 83 last night for my big Meet the Artist night, a new thing the gallery is going to do every couple weeks. I met about 13 people, sweat out about 12 pounds and drank about 5 beers. Overall I'd say it was a success. Someone gave me 5 bucks for a couple sketches I had in my free for all box of old things so I thank you for that. I have one other new piece I'll be dropping off for next months hanging.

Pretty hyped on it, my girlfriend gave me the idea, based off an Avett Brothers song, I suppose I owe her commission if it sells.

In other news, Joss Parker, Arlo Moon, Chris Cropper and I are most likely going to team up on a mural at Urban Scrawl. Pretty stoked for that, had a blast painting with Cropper, John Stommel and the crew last year and looking forward to another fun day in the sun, actually I think it's two days this year.

Stopped by Joss' solo show at Clayspace 831 Gallery last weekend. Looked sick, big fan of his new Sylvester/Tweety bird piece. Went over to the ABX show at CS Gallery after that. Hung out for a minute, had a beer, ate some hummus and was mistaken for Arlo, should have sold him a piece and pocketed the money. Hehe.

What else? I have work up at CommonWealth Sandwich Bar this month. I need to stop in and see how it looks. Also we have the big Cap City Creatives 2 year anniversary show during August Gallery Hop at Bros. Drake Meadery. CzechsForSEX!!! was supposed to play but we got booted because of our notoriety for noise complaints, the kids today just can't handle a little rock and roll and tinnitus, oh well, we'll be out again soon enough.

Looks like we're well on our way to the European Festival dream.

Mauser has 4 upcoming shows after a long dry spell. This Sunday at the Boneyard with Disaster Strikes, the 29th will be our first Bourbon Street show, then The Punk Porch on the bike trail on August 1st and the Airplane Room on the 12th. 3 new venues, several new songs and our bass player is back in town. Very hyped on that.

That's all for now. I may finally have a regular part time job. Seemed pretty cool and laid back and it'll be nice not scraping for cash all the time and banking off of last minute art sales.

See you all in the coming weeks! Time to develop what is hopefully a sick roll of film, been putting it off for awhile.

Praise the lord, the drought has ended...

Laziness? Procrastination? Sheer, unadulterated depression? Who knows, but the drought has ended. I haven't started a new piece for over a month now, until tonight, and I already feel better. I've kept putting off a new post in the meantime too. It's been 3 long months but I assure you I am alive and well. Since we last met I have finished a couple new pieces, fixed a couple, sold next to no work, played a couple shows with my bands and considered quitting all of it and moving to Montana, but ultimately decided against it. So, let's catch up.


I was off to fame and riches last we spoke what with my article and all, I have since returned to reality. Cap City joined the other Columbus collectives at the Columbus Arts Festival two weeks ago. They kind of put us in the ghetto but it was better than not being there at all. We had a 6 ft talking head that spewed art from its mouth, luckily for me I was elected to be the voice for most of the weekend, you're welcome. We considered torching it but it's looking like it may make a few more appearances, not at comfest though. Thanks assholes. CzechsForSEX!!! has since played three trainwreck shows. Totals for the three are 1 broken tooth, 1 noise complaint shutdown and about 16 people total to enjoy the show, but hey, that's rock and roll, we had a show the other night but it got cancelled last minute. Don't worry though, we're coming for you Columbus.


Mauser has been at work with some new songs and our first cover, Blister in the Sun a la Violent Femmes, trust me, it's sweet. I shot some photos with Ricky the other day but have not developed the film yet, I also found a lost roll, hopefully there's some magic on it, I have no clue what I shot.
I inherited some free photo paper today from a friend of a friend from way back when, Need to get back into some darkroom work and see what I can make of that. Also, anyone have a free desk I can have? With the finally warm weather I have a photo shoot I really need to make happen but need a desk and 3-5 volunteers who aren't afraid of water. I suppose that's all for now. Guess I don't have as much to fill in on as I thought, nothing much to say when I haven't been too busy, mostly working and hanging with my girlfriend. New work is coming, tranferring files from my camera now so hopefully I'll be able to post some images soon.

So for now, let's talk about the business and life of art making.
Do you have anything in your life you absolutely need to do? I haven't worked on a new piece for several weeks and have been losing my mind. I can't really explain it. I can't force a piece to happen, I wish I could. It's the same with writing. I have no idea what to say anymore. If someone gives me a subject I can put the words down and make it sound good but it's not mine, it didn't come from me. And I think that's the issue, I need to get things down that are straight from me, it's not the act of creating, it's the thought, the developing of the thought. Once I have an idea, the work itself is easy. Anyway, just thought I would share where I'm coming from with this. Anyone could recreate my work, or anyone's work. It's not a skill thing, it's the idea and thought that makes it work. It was good talking to you Arlo today, motivated me to get shit rolling again.
Should have more new work by weeks end. Blah blah blah, etc. et.c.
See you soon!
Ciao.

Live Slow, Die Fat...

Hello friends,

Still at it.

Finished a couple new pieces in the last couple weeks. Need to work on a few more. The red one is a little blurry but I'm not getting the camera back out right now. Deal with it

Cap City Immersion show had a great turnout, especially for being on Gallery Hop night on the opposite end of town. Several of my friends made some sales and good times were had by all. I hung there most of the night and then bounced over to 83 for the show there. Those pieces will be up til the 26th then the next day my friend and fellow 83 artist Arlo Moon is having a show I'll be a part of. Going to try and switch out some of the work. That'll just be a one day show so don't miss it! Next month 83 is doing a solo show for some guy out of L.A. so all of us will be moving down the road to a location tbd for Gallery Hop, where, my band Mickey Mauser will finally play for all of my art friends. Should be a blast. We have a new drummer too who kills so, I'm excited for that.

Thanks again to Jill Bremiller for having me in the Cloudhaus show at Via Vecchia. Thanks to her these two pieces and one other have found a warm and loving home!

My 614 article came out. Looked good and made me sound like I knew what I was talking about. Thank you Travis, Elissa and Meghan at Photolosophys.com and everyone else at 614 Magazine.

That's all for now. As for the photo at the top. "No, wine never impairs my judgement" Note to self, when checking to see what's clogging a tube of paint...STOP SQUEEZING!

Riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...

The good times are most definitely not killing me, keep'em coming. Chicago show went off without a hitch. Not much in the way of business but had a damn good time and made some good friends. CzechsForSEX did not play because the other half of the band got black out drunk and disappeared into the Chicago night. Ran into Hellmouth day of show by chance in a big big city and got to go see them play. That was a strange and pleasant surprise. Came back and got ready for the Love, Cloudhaus show at Via Vecchia. Thank you Jill for that. Will have pieces up there for the month. Actually showed three new pieces I took to Chicago for that show then came back next morning to swap out and take those same pieces to Basil for the MS Society benefit I've been working on for the last couple months, well, working on lining up art anyway. That show was a huge success. They raised over $4,000 and I sold 6 pieces, 50% going to MS. Imagine that, getting to feel good about contributing and making money. I was able to donate more money through that than I ever would out of my own pocket. Getting back to work this week for two shows this weekend. 83 Gallery and Immersion, the newest Cap City show at 831 Clayspace, both this Saturday, March 5. Be there. Busy tomorrow stretching screens for screen printing. Picked up a yard for dirt cheap. Going to start experimenting with doing screenprint series mixing print with hand painted elements, keep an eye out for that.

Let's see, what else...

Mickey Mauser has finished our first demo, 4 songs, sounds good, look for a post soon on the Mauser blog and more shows in the future.

Working on a new piece I should have done in time for the Cap City show this weekend. I never get this far into a post without a picture so, here you go...

Not sure where to go colorwise but do have some words jumbling around in my head.

Went to the big protest at the statehouse today, shot some photos, drank some beers with Ricky and Gina. I like all this action and protest, feels like we could be on the brink of a big era. Things have felt so stagnant for so long. What else? Joss gave me one of his Marilyn pieces my girlfriend had been eyeing for awhile. She was pretty excited about it so, thank you Joss for that, good luck in NYC and elsewhere.

I think that's it for now. I'll post some protest pics and screenprinting updates when I get to them. Feel like I should post another picture so I'll find something to leave you with until next time. Don't forget to come out this weekend, see you all around!

Oh yeah, just remembered. Try and pick up the newest issue of (614) Magazine if you see it. There's a feature on yours truly. I probably sound dumb in the interview but hey, you can't win'em all...Ciaofornow.

Spring is (almost) in the air...

But until then, here's what's going down.

This weekend, one night only...

83 Gallery in Chicago!!! Oh yes. Going to be a good birthday. Doing a one night show there. Showing my new pieces I've done lately. Including this gem.

There is also the possibility of an in gallery performance by the newly reformulated CzechsForSEX!!!

In other exciting news I did an interview with 614 Magazine this weekend that will run in their March Issue. Super hyped on getting some pubicity. I'll sign your copy in exchange for 40's and tallboys.

I've also been playing with an enlarger I recently purchased to varying degrees of success. Planning on learning some more from my friend Robby Staebler, he's got a nice dark room setup, hit him up to rent it out or get some prints made.

I've also decided to recycle my test strips into art pieces. Waste not want not or whatnot. What?!

Mickey Mauser is working on new songs, look for new shows from us in the coming weeks. Here's my schedule for the next few weeks as far as art goes.

2-19 83 Gallery show in Chicago

2-26 Cloudhaus show at Via Vecchia Winery, 485 S. Front St. 6:30 p.m.

2-27 MS Society Benefit and Silent Auction at Basil

3-5 83 Gallery March opening

3-5 Cap City Creatives show at ClaySpace-Gallery 831 4-8 p.m.

I think that's all for now. See you all soon.

Winter creeps along...

ever so slowly. I haven't quite given up on my plan of churning out a bunch of new stuff during these slow months but it's not happening as quickly as I would like. Trying to get back into the swing of working on stuff everyday. Finished my skyline piece with some flowers and uplifting words.

It's not even dry yet, I seriously just finished it. The words will clear up once its dried. If you can't read them it says "Someday mankind will stupefy itself into oblivion, it's cities will burn and the Earth will be better for it."
Now I know what you're all thinking. Such a downer, right? Wrong. I like the earth and I like people for the most part. I don't want these things to happen, rather, I hope that by saying it like it is atleast a few people might stop and think for a change and stop being such shitheads. I just want better for you all <3>

Starting on another posi-piece just as soon as the base coat dries. Another one of my favorite topics, greed. I'll keep you updated on it as it progresses.

In other exciting news, I was contacted through Travonna by someone setting up an MS benefit and they want my art as part of the event. Going to have some wall space and also a silent auction. I was left in charge of the art aspect and so I'm having a few of my friends in the show as well. We'll finally get to see some of the Polaroids Ricky's been hoarding. Gina Gordon's going to have some prints and Arlo Moon will have a few pieces as well, possibly a few others.

And wait, and wait, there's more excitement still. Word on the street is there's going to be a 83 Gallery show in...Chicago! Oh yes. Even sweeter is its the weekend of my birthday, Feb 18. Apparently there'll be two shows. One in a warehouse space and another alledgedly in a mansion of some sort in which we'll be staying. Details are vague but me and the Mrs. will most likely fly out and join everyone.

That's all for now. Mickey Mauser is running strong and working on new material after moderate success with our first four shows despite my having laryngitis. See you soon.