I made my Grandmother this Owl, that looks very much like her she is wide eyed and appears grumpy though that is often a facade. She was excited but had to say "OH, another Owl". Thankfully I have had years to know the differences in the glow of her eyes when she is excited or not. She told me she knew exactly the dresser top it belonged on facing her bed. I made this Eagle for my Dad, who told my mom he was jealous of the 1st Owl image my grandmother was referring to (which was much more realistic) that i made her at least 4 years prior. My Dad told my mom that he wished he had one, but of an Eagle. My Dad wears a lot of the t-shirts one would collect at national monuments and air shows, and they suit him perfectly. He is the guy who is rad in monumental shirts! I was so happy he wanted something made by me, and so specific, but it took me several birthdays and Christmas's past to finally get to it. I did get to it and with the fierce majestic spirit of the eagle! My dad upon opening it zoned across all of its horizons with relaxed eyes and Dad grin wide. I almost died. I have just begun making Jewelry, which will be for sale soon on my line I am calling "Charm Level". The above was made for my lady friend Amy. It features appropriate Dinosaurs, witch hat Nose and Eye for her charm needs. She told me I was the 1st boyfriend to give her jewelry, and that felt weird.....
Above is a set I made for my Sister. I saw her this morning and she was wearing them wich made me explode with excitement to see them in action. She told me she dug into her christmas gifts when she ran out of clean laundry to find her new hoody, socks, pants and top all matched the set I made her. Lastly this is the set I made my Mom. She had sergury on her foot today, and told me she wanted to wear them so all her co-workers could marvel at them HA HA (she works at the hospital where the sergury took place)!!! but she was affraid of loosing them while under anesthesia so she didnt. I fealt awesome, nervouse, and wierded out simultaniously.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Some stuff that is cool! I have a friend who has a birthday that is very soon! That friend's name is Aaron. Aaron has another name and that is Gejius! Gejius is what happens when Aaron gets fired up and busts out on some keys with some out- of- this- universe dance jams to rock yer body! Aaron / Gejius has been my friend and collaborator for several years now, and we have gathered our radness over many projects and songs. To put it lightly Aaron/ Gejius has enabled many of my dreams to come true! Our 1st ever collaboration was how we really started work'n it together. We met at our crappy day job, and flooded over our mutual lust for certain french house music masters, and the other dance acts that at our day jobs made us sound and look like aliens in a corn field. After displaying our rock finger actions and sharing what skills we individually had, it became clear that they must be merged! I had an art show, and some very synthesizer inspired work to display, so Aaron started writing some mega jamz while vibing off of my peices. It was going so radly that Aaron asked if I'd add some vocals and come over to record. I almost died! ME! IN A SONG!!! YES!!! The art show was rad, Aaron peformed a full set of all of the songs ispired by the work and we whipped out a package complete with the my work self printed with a cd of his music. Some time later I directed a music video for the song my voice stretched across, and we crafted a dance performance and this was only the beginning of our radness togethor. Since then we have recorded a project called Glass Moustache which we performed live 4 times so far to an awesome melt down of the audience! The music along with a comic will be released in the future. Aaron and I have collaborated on many further Gejius tracks along the way as well, the two of us co-writing mad hand claps and doing vocals together. In honor of his BIRTHDAY I would like to present these NUGGETS of his RADNESS and a GIFT inspired by him FOR him. This is a man I owe so much to. He is one of the only people who always believes in me no matter how ridiculous, and this is a man whose family bought me groceries when I was poor without question. Mega! 1st things 1st, GEJIUS has only very recently produced a brand new album called "FREE" and not only will it Free you and make you melt on the dancefloor, but it is in fact.... FREE! Also You may hear my voice upn track 1 of the the album:) Go here and download it now and show Gejius your love:)Here is a link to the original work Aaron and I collaborated on for that art show so long ago in digital fomat.And of course you should get rad to the Video I wrote and directed for him several years back as well, it makes me a little teary eyed re-watching it:)
Last but not least: A downloadable mix to jam to, inspired by and in honor of jam master Aaron's Berfday! click on Pizza & Burritos below and it will direct you to the magic mix! YESAAAAH!!!
If you click on the above image you will acquire the ability to download a mix that will dance your stress away into the direction of sublime pizza. I made this mix with my brother and the goals of pizza in mind.
A vibrant portrait of the me standing on a dock bare skinned in the wind of one of my favorite spots in The High Dessert of Oregon! The painting is by Amy Kuttab and the portrait of me by myself was taken by Katy ellis O'brien!
Dylan Williams has graciously Taken Photo's of Ghostwood Forrest, an art show I organized (& that Dylan Participated in with his powerful hands and talent) inspired by The television series Twin Peaks. If you are looking to either see or purchase something special this year that is a true work of original magic inspired by a master work of beauty, please view the work on the slide show by clicking on the above image. Or better yet please visit them in person at the alway exciting and satisfying Guapo Comics & coffee where the show is on display! You may find more then you would dream:)
This Thursday (Nov. 4th, from 6 til 10pm) is the official release party for The Heavy Hand, super Dood Chris Cilla's new masterpiece graphic Novel! The radness will take place at Floating World Comics, where chris will be signing books. The release party will also be celebreating Zack Soto'santhology Studygroup 12 #4 wich also inculed work by Chris and my girl Amy Kuttab!!! Everything will be drenched in liquid face drippings from theTim Goodyear curated Facemelterz art exhibit for wich I created a facemelter of my own to hang loose with a ton of Bro's. please come down, buy some books, have a drink, and let the flesh flow off your skull.
October--that magic month of costumes and candy, uneasy walks, and late night fear is upon us. The oncoming cold and colorful fall leaves blowing through the air evoke thoughts of death and rebirth, of the layers of the world, and the secrets behind everything, how the world has many disguises as do the people in it. The spreading darkness and growing damp is part of the soul of the Northwest. Nothing better evokes this sense of thrilling mystery, eerie magic, and melancholy abandon than that great, iconic TV show of the Pacific Northwest, David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks;Agent Dale Cooper and his need for a "damn fine cup o' coffee," sultry Audrey Horne, the Log Lady, and a murdered homecoming queen. It's a TV series that exudes all of the colors, smells, mythos and wondrous alien forests of our little corner of the world.
Guapo Comics has gathered together some of the Northwest's best and brightest cartoonists and artists to celebrate Twin Peaks and its intensity, fear, joy, and humor in an art show.
Ghostwood Forest debuts Friday, October 29th at 7pm. Free themed snacks and drinks will be available. And of coarse costumes are encouraged! At 9pm, the feature length Twin Peaks Pilot Episode will be screened.
I’m drunk, and I should be. I have had the worst week and a half ever and its going to be a while, and a lot of work till it gets better. I have been forced out of my home by bugs that were delivered by accident most likely on a birthday package from a friend who lives a million miles away whom I miss all the time. My girlfriend is sick and mad at me because my homeless problem is keeping me form being with her all the time. My comic that I have been slaving over has been heavily damaged at the hand of the bug problem, and my back is regressing into the pain zone all over again. Amidst all of this I am getting weird gilt trips from my mom. And then today I get the most bullshit invite from facebook ever!!! I have gotten this kind of thing before, but this time I can’t handle it! I make art work. I have shown and organized art shows in many places in Portland which is the city I live in, and also happens to be the city I was born in, in fact I have always lived here and never once lived anywhere else. In other words the term Portland native, and or Portland artists couldn’t be more me. The city of Portland in recent years has made a huge campaign over the importance of home grown local value and its importance and pride over its city and its wealth of creativity and beauty. This seems to have most heavily struck a cord in many transplants to Portland as something to live up to and in tern be proud of or possibly use to be accepted or something. I don’t know what the impetus is. But what I am tired of is this. I don’t want to receive messages that advertise the terms “A show of our favorite Portland artists” from a space run and owned by people who have moved here in less years then it takes to represent with the fingers of only one of my hands (and I have all 5 digits on both!). A space that in such short time has taken on to represent the city of Portland with a stereotype of NW values they adopted and weren’t raised in. Aaaand I especially don’t want that list of “A Show of our favorite Portland artists” to list a group of artists whom have lived here less then or equal to the same amount of digits previously mentioned! I especially don’t want the ENTIRE list of artists to be people who I know have only lived here barley long enough to count on one hand. For fucks sake! I don’t want those so called “Portland” artists to be people I fucking personally helped and encouraged to move here less then 6 months ago!!! I am a “Portland” artist. In an artist statement or bio for any other show in another city it would state that I am a “Portland artist”. It would state that because it is the city I am from, not the city I have recently resided in after living somewhere if not many other places for the 1st 18+ years of my life. Fuck, in Portland Maine it would state that I am a “NW Portland artist”! It’s a bummer for me to get an invitation to view and not be one of “ a show of our favorite Portland artists” when you and so few legitimately are. But it’s an even bigger bummer when you are invited to such a thing with such a statement from a space you have shown in many times, that knows your work. But what is truly offensive is being told that a bunch of people who are recent transplants to Portland, (an overgrowing city flowing with artists) are the “favorite “Portland artists”. That shit hurts. Maybe true Portland art is garbage, and I’m so “Portland” I cant see through any other eyes. But if you are going to play it like you are “Portland”, show some “NW tree hugger Green” style hospitality and be more sensitive.
A mega pal of mine, Jason Levian asked me to contribute some pages from my epic comic in progress to Arthur magazines Blog. If you go there now you can read the very nice things he says of me and read the 6 pages of "2005" I have given him. I recommend also checking out in there comics section, Chris Cilla's piece, its insane and as always disturbingly beautiful! HERES DA LINK!
Hey Doods! Are you ready to get mega wicked!!! Come see the dark side at Pony Club gallery this coming 1st Thursday of September! Yours truly is serving up a dish of pure evil in this Dave Nuss curated show. Yes Dave Nuss of "Revival House Press" and "Shit Beams" Fame! Wait you don't know this stuff?! Get over to the internet and buy everything this dood has!!! Wait NO! Make it even easier for your ass and walk over to the show on 1st thursday and buy them from Dave in person!!! I just picked up the new release "Everything Unseen" by Drew Beckmeyer at the Portland Zine Symposium (more on that later). Dave the "Rave" Nuss has found a jewel of raw beauty and futurez passion with this book!!! I am obsessed with it and I only finnished reading it the second time this morning and have only owned it 72 hours!!! I feel so lucky that this book lives with me!!! If you are unfamiliar with Beckmeyers work you should get all over his stuff, get yourself some juice and sit and melt with it for a while. He is truly brilliant, Beckmeyer just dove head first into comics like he has been at it for 20 years! MAN! YES!!! Ok, back to me. Um, The picture above is a detail from my new piece to be featured in the satanic panic in the attic style explosion opening 1st Thursday At the Pony Club Gallery. Call up your ex goth girlfriend/boyfriend and bring em on down! I'll see you there BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!
Yesterday Amy, Theo, Emily and I went and saw a Herzog movie called the Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser. It was totally rad! I enjoyed it most for all of its prompts for thought that it gave me. The story itself is full of mystery and questions, so you feel left with many. I found myself in a state of strange comfort simply listening to its Hero speaking. His voice had an interesting quality on its own and the character had a slow speech that gave you the feeling he was choosing his words with much care and visualizing them as a form coming from his mouth. After the movie I began to experience a nearly mentionless itch at my 1st finger on my power hand. It seemed like just a harmless scratch from a passing bush along our walk to the theater. Theo, Amy & I went and talked about the movie over a Beer. Over the coarse of conversation the drive to draw came over Amy, and she began doing portraits of the 2 of us on tiny squares. They were totally beautiful! Theo seemed to be at a loss without paper so I slid him my sketch pad and he began to go at it right away! Soon Theo and I had the need for some Pizza conveniently across the way! We were each able to select our individual allotted topping and promptly pizza Jammed! I asked Theo if he wanted to keep his drawing. With a glare of the unknown he left it in my hands. The next morning (today) I woke up and was totally astonished and near panicked to find my finger who told me it was a little itchy, had swelled to enormous proportions!!! I was terrified. I did all of the things one must do to get it to a doctor, and made haste for it with the aid of Amy and our friend Arial as they set off to go to a waterfall adventure together. Once at the Clinic, I needed to find something to occupy my mind and distract from my paranoid germy surroundings that are not dissimilar from my day job that I have negative feeling for as well. I found the comfort of Theo's sketch in my bag and it reminded me of a strange and magical story he told me a few days before about a magic and mysterious thing he happened upon. I began to draw and add on to it. It made me almost completely forget my troubled finger, and assured me it would all be ok and I would still be able to draw. Creation is powerful magic. The image above is the picture.
Here is a comic made up of buisness cards by Amy Kuttab that reflect my many daily positions of life. It is good for me to know I am doing these things as i reflect on the day by looking at these. AH HA HA HA H A!!!!!! YES! You should visit Amy's blog for the full story in more business card comics! YESSS!!!!
Hey Doods Come Get awesome at the Pony Club this coming 1st Thursday of August! I did 3 collaborative images with Theo Ellsworth and Amy Kuttab! The second of the images above is one of them, that I just finnished last night! I will also have an additional new solo piece. There are so many super rad friends in the show, I cant wait to see it all up!!! OH YES! INCLUDING AMANDA VAHAMAKI!!! If you don't know who that is, you neeeeeed to! part of her beautiful image is the Flyer piece at the top of this very post:)
Have you ever dreamed of taking a class that could possibly change not only the way you see the world, but also the way you interact with it? Have you ever wanted to be schooled and leave with the ability to express yourself with your own strongest inner voice through the medium of comics?........ HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!!!!Come be a student of "Soul comics" as guided by mega pals Theo Ellsworth, Julia Gfrorer, Amy Kuttab, Dylan Williams and my humble self! This is a weekend class waiting just for you! Sign up before its too late, and make your dream a REALITY!Click on the image above to guide you to further details:)
These are more pages from the ever growing "2005". Its getting weird finding that what in my mind seems like such a simple but important scene is far more complicated and lengthy, this scene is already 14 pages long and far from done.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Hey doods, If you want to get your peeps 'N' Paws on some magical beautiful print work go get rad at the Pony Club gallery through the month!!! SOme seriously rad stuff on those wall! I highly recommend you check out Daria's space doods and Theo's awesome dood, and Jennifer's awesome doodetes, Matts branches doods and OH MAN!! SO MANY RAD DOODS!!! Above is a collaboration between Matt Davison & I for the show, He is a mad talented printer!!! Im so happy with it, OH YEAH!!! P.s. ALL PRINTS ALL ONLY $25!!! WHAT!!! YES! GET EM!!!
3 of my 4 table mates at Stumptown comics fest 2010 Julia Gfrorer, Franklin, and Graham Kahler and off-screen is Tom Neely! Tom Graciously supplied us with a nice portion of his table. The Stumptown comics group couldn't fit us local doods in (It was Odd to see a full table go to a company that prints marvel themed mouse pads among others in place of actual comics creators, several of whom had tables cut in half to support the lack of space for demand.).
A team of maximum radness!
Here is a nice bit of coverage on a bunch of rad stuff from the Stumptown comics fest. Read on doods!
As a bit of side radness, I wanted to share yet another beautiful portrait I was handed by the magical Amy Kuttab. I feel loved!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
This is the most glamorous image that has ever been made of me in history! This was done by one of my favorite artists and 4 year old friends, Kaia!!! Thank you lady, Mega Love:)
Hey Doods, Portlands Stumptown Comics fest is nearly here and everyone is busting out there finest comics jamz to strut and win over the thousands of fans that will be passing through the double tree's doors! But just before busting through the double tree double doors, you should come to the kickoff party at Guapo Comics and coffee! Its always a beautiful display of comics radness and debauchery. This year they will be holding the Kukoc awards, focused on the finest Mini comics of the year with a special trophy hand designed and made by the super rad Andrice Arp! This years award comes with $450 in prizes graciously donated by, among others one of my favorite new comics publishers (of whom will be in attendance this year) Secret Acres! An array of new Mini's will be premiered at Guapo that night as well. The premiers include new works by mega pals Jesse Reklaw, Graham Kahler, Julia Gfrorer, and a new comic by Amy Kuttab in collaboration with me! Extra Special this year is an Art show from one of Portland's most magical hidden talents, Graham Kahler!!! You may recognize his name from above, and yes its true, We not only get a new comic from him but a whole beautiful art show to take our breath away!!! I cant wait to see it all! Come party and soak in all of the supernatural radness and inspiring visions under some beers sweets and treats, in one crazy knockdown kickoff explosion!!! BAM!
I made my Grandmother this Owl, that looks very much like her she is wide eyed and appears grumpy though that is often a facade. She was excited but had to say "OH, another Owl". Thankfully I have had years to know the differences in the glow of her eyes when she is excited or not. She told me she knew exactly the dresser top it belonged on facing her bed.
I made this Eagle for my Dad, who told my mom he was jealous of the 1st Owl image my grandmother was referring to (which was much more realistic) that i made her at least 4 years prior. My Dad told my mom that he wished he had one, but of an Eagle. My Dad wears a lot of the t-shirts one would collect at national monuments and air shows, and they suit him perfectly. He is the guy who is rad in monumental shirts! I was so happy he wanted something made by me, and so specific, but it took me several birthdays and Christmas's past to finally get to it. I did get to it and with the fierce majestic spirit of the eagle! My dad upon opening it zoned across all of its horizons with relaxed eyes and Dad grin wide. I almost died.
I have just begun making Jewelry, which will be for sale soon on my line I am calling "Charm Level". The above was made for my lady friend Amy. It features appropriate Dinosaurs, witch hat Nose and Eye for her charm needs. She told me I was the 1st boyfriend to give her jewelry, and that felt weird.....
Above is a set I made for my Sister. I saw her this morning and she was wearing them wich made me explode with excitement to see them in action. She told me she dug into her christmas gifts when she ran out of clean laundry to find her new hoody, socks, pants and top all matched the set I made her.
Lastly this is the set I made my Mom. She had sergury on her foot today, and told me she wanted to wear them so all her co-workers could marvel at them HA HA (she works at the hospital where the sergury took place)!!! but she was affraid of loosing them while under anesthesia so she didnt. I fealt awesome, nervouse, and wierded out simultaniously.
I made this for my friend Julia's birthday and celebrating her amazing comic "Flesh And Bone"
