skip to main |
skip to sidebar
You never offered me a job. Also, I never asked you for one. But you did threaten me. You tried to teach me a lesson about authority. Subordination. Obedience.
Instead, I'm on my second glass of wine, thousands of feet above the Atlantic. I wouldn't be here had I tried to impress you.
- notes from flight 437
To the left is the view from the backseat of the car as we took a small ferry from what was previously West Germany to what was previously East Germany. Our hosts shared stories about what the border was like during the Cold War, and we were able to see the old lookout posts. I guess German citizens who lived in the vicinity of the border used to have to carry special identification. Now you can get across freely, and all you need is seven euros and the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
We took an incredibly pleasant tour of the German countryside out to Appleslounge, where a friend of ours makes his own line of cider and specialty wine. I got to try wine that was really like nothing I had ever tasted before, and we ate outstanding food and got to see how the whole process of making wine and cider works. It was really cool to learn about making wine and running a business from someone who is so passionate and knowledgeable about it. I've experienced some of the most amazing hospitality while in Europe.
It's hard to even explain how peaceful the countryside is. Tiny, two hundred year old farming villages with thatched roofs amidst incredibly green fields and slowly moving streams with swans in them; chickens, geese, cows, and goats grazing or nesting calmly; giant, power generating windmills; and plums and apples you can pick and eat right off the tree. There's something really comforting about walking past a tree and having each of us stop to eat something from it. This may sound utterly trite, but it's nice to be reminded of the fact that this planet has sustained life for millions of years without packaging, deep frying, artificial sweeteners, or mayonnaise.
I'm not really sure what the plan is today, but I know the next thing I do will be obliterating the emotional little point I just tried to make in the previous paragraph by buying food from a cafe around the corner. To be fair, though, it is going to be plant-based! Vegetable sandwiches on fresh bagels just sound a bit too delicious right now.
Greetings from Hamburg! Saturday night was the opening reception of Das Pferd aus Illinois in Feinkunst Kruger gallery. The reception went really well. Jay and I spoke broken French with each other, paintings and drawings were sold, and I popped the cork off a bottle of champagne for the first time ever. Many pieces from the show have been sold, but there are still some available. If interested in seeing a full PDF with all the work in the show (and more) along with a complete price list, feel free to contact the gallery here, or email Ralf: info(at)feinkunst-krueger.de You can also contact me for the PDF, and I will send it to you, but all purchase inquiries are to be done through the gallery.Yesterday, we went to the Horst Janssen museum in Oldenberg, which was pretty awesome. Jay and I drink chocolate milk and German fruit juice, respectively. I had a remarkable cheeseless pizza from an Italian restaurant, and Ralf showed us the new location for his gallery.
I am eating bananas right now, and I'm about to head over to the gallery to meet up with these hooligans so we can head out to the country and have apple cider.
Next stop is Munich for a joint poster show with Senor Burns, followed by Flatstock Europe 6 in Hamburg, Colored Gigs 3 in Dresden, and 14 Years Orange Factory in Leuven, Belgium. Stay tuned!
UPDATED: All work from "Das Pferd aus Illinois" can be viewed here. This includes a few extra originals that were not part of the show, as well.
Please excuse the utter lack of updates on my little sliver of the blogoscape. I'm leaving for Germany this Thursday, and I've had a rather offensive amount of loose ends to tie up before I head to the airport. One of these loose ends included printing and signing an edition of 1,075 tour posters for James Blake's upcoming US and Canada tour. To the left is the big stack of all 1,075 prints (as well as some AP's) that I spent a good chunk of my afternoon and evening signing and numbering. I was kept company in part by an excellent documentary called The Voice of Free Labor, which is about the Freie Arbeiter Stimme, a Yiddish anarchist publication. The movie focused on the Jewish labor movement (specifically anarchist sects therein) in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Fascinating stuff.
I've been informed that all my new paintings and drawings have safely made it to the gallery in Hamburg, despite a brief delay in customs. Das Pferd aus Illinois will open this Saturday, September 10th at Feinkunst Kruger in Hamburg, Germany. As I've mentioned, this show will feature new (non screen printed) work from Jay Ryan and myself, and both of us will be at the reception.
I've got some packing to do, as well as a bit of shipping, email writing, invoice sending, and goodbye saying. Still a lot to take care of before I get on that plane.
Stay tuned for updates from overseas.
My pal Clay Hayes of Gigposters.com is proud to announce the release of Gig Posters: Volume 2. The highly anticipated followup to the first Gig Posters book is available for pre-order now at GP and amazon.com. This anthology is 208 pages and will feature 700 posters by several poster artists/designers. Also included are 101 perforated ready-to-hang full page posters.
Gig Posters: Volume 2 features biographies, rock posters, and stories/commentary from several of today's current poster artists. I'm very excited to be a part of this book.
Pre-ordered copies of the book will received limited edition art prints by the very excellent Landland (while prints last, of course!).
If you feel so inclined, I've made the last of the Lollapalooza after show posters available on my site. Included in this batch are Fitz and the Tantrums, Smith Westerns, and The Vaccines.
I've got plenty to work on before I leave for Germany (in less than a month), but I'm going to find some time to post a new mystery tube sale in the not-so-distant future. Stay tuned!
The last time I saw you, I was a bit of a wreck; I was actively resisting changes in my life when I should have been acclimating. It looked to me like you were taking on the world with grace and vigor. I envied you that.
You went back across the sea. I started working as an artist and moved to Montreal. Taking on the world with grace and vigor, just like you.
The earth kept turning when you left us. Maybe that's what makes something this permanent so difficult to fully comprehend. For whatever it's worth (and whatever it means), I hope you have found peace.
We all could go at any time, but most of us never think about it. Perhaps it's an adaptation to civilization that we put mortality out of our minds, making it a sobering thought when we finally are confronted with it. I just know I'm happy I knew you while you were here. Your kind nature, uniqueness, and zeal touched more people than I think you realized. I'm still inspired by your grace and vigor.
I have spent the last three weeks finishing (and starting) brand new paintings and ink drawings for Das Pferd aus Illinois, which opens in Hamburg on September 10th. Above is one of the new pieces, which is an ink drawing/painting on paper. I've been doing a lot of work with thin, layered ink washes (with a bit of pencil work here and there). I also am putting the finishing touches on some new acrylic paintings. I laid all the work for this show out on the floor today, and it's kind of hard to believe I actually made as many pieces as I planned to make. Such seems to be the nature of working on several paintings at once; once things finally start coming together, it seems like everything falls into place at once. I've got maybe another hour or so of painting left on this whole body of work. Then I'll be packing them up and shipping them off to Germany.
I hope I still remember how to screen print.
You never offered me a job. Also, I never asked you for one. But you did threaten me. You tried to teach me a lesson about authority. Subordination. Obedience.
To the left is the view from the backseat of the car as we took a small ferry from what was previously West Germany to what was previously East Germany. Our hosts shared stories about what the border was like during the Cold War, and we were able to see the old lookout posts. I guess German citizens who lived in the vicinity of the border used to have to carry special identification. Now you can get across freely, and all you need is seven euros and the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
Greetings from Hamburg! Saturday night was the opening reception of Das Pferd aus Illinois in Feinkunst Kruger gallery. The reception went really well. Jay and I spoke broken French with each other, paintings and drawings were sold, and I popped the cork off a bottle of champagne for the first time ever. 
Please excuse the utter lack of updates on my little sliver of the blogoscape. I'm leaving for Germany this Thursday, and I've had a rather offensive amount of loose ends to tie up before I head to the airport. One of these loose ends included printing and signing an edition of 1,075 tour posters for James Blake's upcoming US and Canada tour. To the left is the big stack of all 1,075 prints (as well as some AP's) that I spent a good chunk of my afternoon and evening signing and numbering. I was kept company in part by an excellent documentary called The Voice of Free Labor, which is about the Freie Arbeiter Stimme, a Yiddish anarchist publication. The movie focused on the Jewish labor movement (specifically anarchist sects therein) in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Fascinating stuff.
My pal Clay Hayes of Gigposters.com is proud to announce the release of Gig Posters: Volume 2. The highly anticipated followup to the first Gig Posters book is available for pre-order now at GP and amazon.com. This anthology is 208 pages and will feature 700 posters by several poster artists/designers. Also included are 101 perforated ready-to-hang full page posters.
The last time I saw you, I was a bit of a wreck; I was actively resisting changes in my life when I should have been acclimating. It looked to me like you were taking on the world with grace and vigor. I envied you that.
I have spent the last three weeks finishing (and starting) brand new paintings and ink drawings for Das Pferd aus Illinois, which opens in Hamburg on September 10th. Above is one of the new pieces, which is an ink drawing/painting on paper. I've been doing a lot of work with thin, layered ink washes (with a bit of pencil work here and there). I also am putting the finishing touches on some new acrylic paintings. I laid all the work for this show out on the floor today, and it's kind of hard to believe I actually made as many pieces as I planned to make. Such seems to be the nature of working on several paintings at once; once things finally start coming together, it seems like everything falls into place at once. I've got maybe another hour or so of painting left on this whole body of work. Then I'll be packing them up and shipping them off to Germany.
