Journal
Practice & process notes
Occasional writing on my art practice, techniques, process, and the ideas behind the work.
6 articles on Apostasy
July 6, 2016
Summer Exhibitions
This has turned into quite a busy summer for me, as I have various recent paintings scattered across the globe in several current group exhibitions. Even though it’s been a whirlwind of packing, shipping, emailing, posting, and filekeeping (custom-made art inventory Excel spreadsheet FTW!), I’m honored to have my work included in these shows. Check out the list below and see if any are near you! I have one recent still life included in the juried biennial of the Peto Museum in New Jersey ( see recent blog post for more info ). “To The Nadir”, oil on linen panel, 11 x 14 inches, 2016 I’m showing 4 recent paintings in Austin, Texas gallery Art For The People ‘s “Off The Wall, Off The Flesh” exhibit. I have 4 recent still lifes in Rome, Italy at the MACRO museum’s “Tattoo Forever” exhibit, featuring the fine artworks of noteworthy tattooers from around the world. “July”, oil on linen panel, 12 x 9 inches, 2015 I have a recent painting from my Apostasy series exhibiting in “Flesh to Canvas” hosted by Last Rites Gallery at the Empire State Tattoo Expo, a yearly group show featuring non-tattoo fine artworks by many of the top tattooers in the world. “The Offering,” oil on linen panel, 11 x 14 inches, 2015. After it returns from AFTP’s current exhibit, my recent still life is slated for inclusion in the 11th Annual International Juried Exhibition of the International Guild Of Realism, which will happen at Gallery 1261 in Denver Colorado in late August. “Dying In America,” oil on linen panel, 5 x 14 inches, 2015
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July 6, 2015
“Flesh To Canvas” Group Show
I’ll have my recent painting Singularity for sale in Last Rites Gallery’s annual Flesh To Canvas group show next weekend at the Empire State Tattoo Expo in NYC, July 10-12. Please contact the gallery for inquiries on this piece or my other recent work currently in their inventory, Sacrament (Vanitas). Singularity, oil on canvas, 18 x 20 inches, 2014-15 Sacrament (Vanitas), oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches, 2014
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April 16, 2014
April Magazine Exposure
By sheer coincidence I have paintings featured in 2 magazines this month, both from my ongoing Apostasy series. The painting Hand Of God II graces the inside back cover of anarchist journal Rolling Thunder #11 (with a beautiful 7-word interpretation offered by the editor), while a newer painting Sacrament (Vanitas) causes queasiness on the front cover of Tattoo Artist Magazine #37. Hand Of God II, oil on panel, 36 x 48 inches, 2013 “The operation succeeded, but the patient died.” To see some progress shots of the following painting, revisit my previous blog post about it. Sacrament (Vanitas), oil on panel, 17 x 22 inches, 2013 Sacrament (detail)
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February 2, 2014
Painting Gallery Updates!
One of my smaller New Year’s resolutions was to update this website with all of the paintings I’ve done over the past two years. Well, I’m happy to say I can cross that task off the list, so please check out the new categories in the lefthand navigation column. The last time I’d added anything to the gallery pages was early in 2012 after finishing the first 10 paintings of my Apostasy series (exhibited at Last Rites Gallery that year). Since then I’ve been blogging steadily about newer completed works, enjoying this venue as an opportunity to share progress photos, technical instruction, and to dive into the thought process and symbolism behind my paintings. I’ve fallen a bit behind on writing about some of my newer pieces in the midst of some distracting life events, and I may write more here about these paintings later on, but for now they’re all posted under the new 2013 category. I also want to say THANK YOU to all the generous collectors who’ve bought paintings and prints over the past few months. I’ve had an extraordinary run of sales lately, selling out my aluminum print editions and parting ways with a handful of various smaller paintings completed in the last few years, placing them in collections here in America and around the world. I feel incredibly grateful for the financial support, and honored to have my creations appreciated by others…not to mention relieved to clear some much needed space on my crowded studio walls. Of course, many of the paintings just posted in the galleries are still available (as well as various pieces from my last few series that have been posted for a while, Reclaiming and the aforementioned Apostasy), and are noted as such in the image details. Feel free to inquire if interested. To end this on a more interesting note, here are some progress shots from a recently completed painting. I can’t post the finished piece in its entirety just yet, as it’s slated for exclusive release on a magazine cover later this year. But for now, enjoy this sneak peak into the process:
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October 5, 2013
National Juried Trompe l’oeil Exhibition
I’m honored to have two paintings on display at the John F. Peto Museum in Island Heights, NJ as part of their national juried show, described on their website: “The John F. Peto Studio Museum invites artists working in the trompe l’oeil style to participate in its National Juried Show of Contemporary Trompe l’oeil. The purpose of this exhibition is to showcase contemporary art work that ‘fools the eye’ and demonstrates the innovative ways in which artists continue to express themselves through trompe l’oeil.” I’m glad they appreciated my contemporary and edgy take on the classic trompe l’oeil look, as I attempt to merge the traditional and modern into one presentation. The pieces chosen for the exhibit: “Denial Vanitas”, oil on panel, 11 x 14in, 2012 “Sacrificial”, oil on panel, 12 x 12in, 2012
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February 2, 2013
New Vessels
Lately I’ve been brainstorming and refining a new artistic vision, taking the opportunity of any downtime between large surgery paintings to complete some smaller, fast-paced still lifes with a much different palette and ambiance. These pieces utilize clean forms and simple compositions, attempting a confluence of opposites to symbolize the precarity of industrial civilization in the new millennium, the increasing sense of dread among many who see the global destructiveness and the coming end of late-stage capitalism: Serenity and catastrophe…the mundane and the dramatic…solidity and ethereality. Like much of my work these pieces are also influenced by Buddhist philosophy, with smooth surfaces representing the perfection of form that simultaneously experiences impermanence: smoke, flames, and ultimately, annihilation. These vessels are bodies facing their inevitable destruction through aging, inflammation and disease. These vessels are the purification of the ego, burning away its own delusion and illusion. Endgame II, oil on panel, 6 x 7in, 2012 Endgame III, oil on board, 6.5 x 7.5in, 2012-13 This budding series is an expansion and evolution of the themes broached in another less recent painting, which of course is also a metaphor for the edifices of civilization and their approaching collapse; the rise and fall of human achievement: Endgame I, oil on canvas, 5 x 7in, 2009-12 My plan (completely subject to change in the winds of artistic inspiration or be ground in the gears of other life obligations) is to continue to refine these concepts and build up to scenes of larger scale and higher complexity, as I wind down my Apostasy series this year. Who knows what will actually happen, but I’m excited and nervous about finding new challenges. So stay tuned for more updates on both endeavors. Small, medium, and large…
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