Friday, February 10, 2012

A title that means something

So I do abstract art, right? And it's hard to title abstract stuff, right? Well for the first time, the title of one of my paintings told me what my painting was about...

"Beneath the Surface"


I painted this almost two years ago, but for some reason last night I fully processed it's meaning... A journalist from BurnAfterReadingMag asked me about the piece and what it meant to me, all my abstract-ness aligned into words and I could suddenly describe the piece, to my own surprise! I have made conscious efforts to title my pieces with meaning, but I had no idea I had been successful.

To me the piece describes the heavy armor that an individual uses to shield themselves, a steel suit of coldness and exaggerated self. People don't want others to see their true self, their complexity, their vulnerability... It's easier for one to stay inside and let their hard shell take the abuse. In the painting, the shell is lifting up and away from the organic beauty that lies beneath, like a butterfly liberating itself from a cocoon. Bam!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Score!

Remember when I mentioned I was working on a concept for a public art piece in Denver? Well I just heard back from my partner Brian (@Monolith Fabrication Studio) that our concept won! I'm not quite sure when we will begin fabrication, but I would hope to start in the next few months...

The piece will be installed in front of a parking lot where headlight glare is a concern. The client wanted to solve the issue from an artistic approach; functional, pleasing to look at, recognizable. Our concept is a 60ft long wall that produces a low-fi animation (similar concept as a zeotrope) when driving by, and a static image when one stands still. Here's a few photos of the 1:5.6 scale concept:



^^^Detail of the business branding portion of the wall. Vector files were made to scale of the wall for pricing out our materials and also to laser-cut a bunch matboard to make a physical mockup... Lasers are fun btw!



^^^This is scaled down dramatically from what the real wall will be, but it's still 11ft long and tricky to move around. Shown here with red matboard to simulate rusted steel.



^^^Video cameras on skateboards... If I ever get it edited, I'll post it.

I wanted to thank all of my friends that encouraged me during this last month of agony figuring out the inner workings and research for this project... There's a lot more to this idea than I had originally imagined, but now it's one step closer to reality! Good job Brian!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

My art at I♥DENVER store

Please support me and all of the local artists by shopping at the I♥DENVER Store. I have original pieces and prints for sale there now! The store is on 500 16th Street, second level of the Denver Pavilions, right behind H&M.