Geordi La Forge

Whenever I wear a headband...

Stolen

I've always drawn these sloppy little cartoons, but whenever I try to make a "nice"version, I hate it.  So I'm just going to start posting them in all their unapologetic glory.

Dirty Baby

Moar cartoons.

The Yelling Game

Here's a doodle.

Cora is really good at the yelling game.

IMAGE Art Show 2012

The IMAGE Show is this weekend, ending today at four.  It's an annual thing for the East Central Minnesota region, hosted by a different arts group or organization every year.  This year the KCAA was running things, meaning that I should have been involved in planning and execution.  Unfortunately I've been a bit of a deadbeat member for the past year, what with reproducing and all.

Anyone can submit one piece, which results in a phenomenally varied show.  This was my contribution:

Sheep Skull, E.Belkholm

I won second place in the drawing category, hot damn!  It kind of surprised me, because I thought I was a little lacking, compositionally.  If I had had more time I would have like to make it a legit-ass still life with, you know, more than one thing in it.

Here's my submission from last year, which won first in drawing and the purchase award.

Study in Sienna, E.Belkholm

And from the years before, which didn't win squat.

Still Life with Onions, E.Belkholm

Stone's Philosopher, E.Belkholm

If you can't go check out the show in person, there are a few photos of it here and here.

The Husband desperately wanted to buy several pieces, all of which were listed as not for sale.  He's still grumpy about it.

Spookypants

I've noticed that the number of spookythings in my art increases around this time of year.

Wednesday's Child

Sheep Skull, in progress.

Pregnancy Sucks

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  Unless you have been or currently are pregnant, and it ain't nothing but a thang.  In which case I hate you.

I started compiling a list while playing scrabble with the husband last night; Why Pregnancy Sucks.

The Dark Knight Rises

You know, TDKR, it's okay to have more women in a movie than just the Love Interest.  No, the Romantic Foil does not count.  I expect these kinds of tropes out of Captian America and those other high budget, low substance movies, but not you.


I still love you.

Miskatonic University

I want a Miskatonic University sweatshirt so bad.

Unfortunately, being a fictional institution, they lack the folk who say "hey, we're an accredited institution of merit, we ought to have high quality merchandise to reflect our high quality education."  So most of the stuff out there is crap.  Clever, and often well designed, but crap.  In response to my frustration with not being able to find one that's suitably awesome, I started designing my own Fighting Squids! logo with the intent of making my own sweatshirt.  Not like "sewing one with cloth" making it, more like "purchasing a fine garment and bringing it to the local embroidery shop".

#1

#2

A) Tell me what you think.

B) Definitely tell me if you find some fine MU merchandise floating around the internet.

"Art" for Sale.

MNartists just posted an interesting article by Jay Orff on the broader implications of the "art" for sale in big box stores like Target.  I admit, the article was kind of a let-down; but that's only because I get way too impassioned about this specific topic.  I say "impassioned", the significant other might say "rabid" or "imbued with an unholy berserker fury"; and I was a little bummed when the author didn't share my unhealthy rage.

Don't misread,- I'm all for reproductions.  They're the only way I can have a Mucha on my wall.  But you don't see Mucha for sale in Target, or Titian, or Cezanne.  Hell, I don't think I've even seen the darling of the reproduction business Van Gogh at a big box store, unless it was on a toaster or some shit.

I want a piece that says "I love cats, comfort, and am dimly aware of art."  zazzle

What you get in home decor sections are, as the article puts it, "cheap knock-offs".

 "...the first thing I noticed when I stopped by my neighborhood’s iteration of the big box store was that all of the decorative art for sale at Target references fine art; that is, it’s meant to look like, or at least remind you of other fine art. In a sense, the art works Target sells are knock-offs, in the same way their cheap chinos are knock-offs of those you might find at The Gap or J. Crew..." 

I'm not entirely sure why this is.  You'd think buying the right to print some famous piece of art would be negligible in comparison with how many people would buy the crap out of anything you slapped it on.

Exhibit A.      Amazon

Maybe museums exercise discretion in who they allow to make reproductions, in which case, kudos to them.  Maybe they're just greedy bastards who want to monopolize the Goya snowglobe market.

...actually I would totally buy that.

Go figure.  At any rate, plundering the artistic corpse of long-dead masters to better hawk your sweatshop yields doesn't really bother me.  Mostly, I think, because it's so flagrantly crass.  Art, especially classic art, is synonymous with the bourgeoisie.  And we all know nothing says class like a cheaply-made bathroom scale with a sticker of one of Michelangelo's frescoes on it.  Nobody is being fooled into thinking you're a connoisseur.  And there actually might be something delightfully irreverent about it.  A hipster irony, if you will.

Yes I just took the time to make this.

No, what sets me a-foaming is the intent to trick the uninitiated into buying some "art".  Big box stores do not sell art.  They sell frames and canvases with incredibly low-quality photocopies in/on them.  Art implies creation, and it's interesting how rarely, if ever, someone is credited with creating these things.

You know what would help me swallow yall calling it "art" three times?  An artist.
Screenshot from Target.com

Someone had to make the original.  But I'm guessing "credited artist" pays more than "faceless production person".

Art needs an Artist.

Then there are the prices.  As said before, it's all painfully inferior stuff; and that's not looking at artistic quality, oh no.  We're just looking at the physical condition of the materials: frames, canvases, mats, etc.  It's all excruciatingly substandard.  Which is totally fine, provided the prices reflect that.  What the prices actually reflect, however, is the notion that art is valuable.  That this cheap-ass frame,- which cost fifteen cents to make and I can buy one aisle over for full retail value at $5.99,- is not the thing of value; it's the art within that I'm paying $39.00 for.

$39.00.  Seriously, Target.

But there is no art within.  It's not even a print.  It's a crappy photocopy of exactly the same quality as those filler photos of families playing tennis you throw away when you buy a new frame.

What most people fail to realize, and what these asshole corporations are cashing in on, is that tacking the word "art" onto something does not automatically increase it's value tenfold.  Here's a quick quiz to show you where the value of art lies.

A Picasso is worth the gross national product of Uruguay because 

A) it is a flawless demonstration of artistic ability and skill.

B) it's a fucking Picasso.

If you answered A, congratulations, you take the art establishment way more seriously than it takes itself.  The Proverbial Picasso, as a purely aesthetic piece, is worth as much as you are willing to pay to look at it.  The Proverbial Picasso, as it exists in the world, is worth as much as you are willing to pay to say that you own a Picasso.  It's a subtle difference.  Putting a big sign that says "art" over an aisle does not justify a 1000% markup.

You know what, I need to stop.  I'm getting all riled up.  Maybe I'll address all the other issues I have with this crap later.

Fun Links for You.

I go to Clients from Hell whenever I start to think I should go back into freelancing.

Cleaning Hard Paintbrushes

I'm going to have to try this.

http://www.totalartsoul.com/blog/64-cleaning-hard-paintbrushes.html

Masks: A Love Affair.

I have a weird aesthetic obsession.
I love me some masks.

Here are some of my current favorites!

Odumado Mask

Mayan mask

Sande Society mask

Aztec mask

Japanese mask

Olmec Mask

Noh mask

Olmec mask

The MIA has an epic collection.

Excellent Artists - Terri Huro

Check out another excellent artist.  Terri Huro is a Mora local, and crazy-involved in the arts scene around these parts.  But more importantly,- great art!

Monticello in January, Terri Huro

I started to say a bit here about my feelings on photography in general, but it kind of turned into a raving diatribe about photographic elements and how so many people who call themselves professional photographers aren't even dimly aware of these, and it makes me sad.  But that's not the point.  The point is that Terri is a Good Photographer™, and her pictures make me happy.

Look a birdie!

Slow shutter speed red-winged black bird, Terri Huro

There's an incredible amount of experimentation happening in her work, and not necessarily in the digital sector.  We're talking old-school photographic investigation.  With dark rooms and chemicals and eighty-year old cameras.  Way commendable.

In the Garden, Terri Huro

Her experimentation is not remotely restricted to photography, however.  Lately Terri has been creating some beautifully colored watercolors with very engaging linework.  It's the colors that get me; vibrant and blended without getting muddy.

Terri Huro

Watercolor #10, Terri Huro

View Terri Huro's FB page, MNartists page, and Prizm Tattoo's page.

Chubby Birds - In progress

For the past week the entirety of the dining room has been stacked around my scanning area.  The art is piling up...

So many birds...

My conte has been calling to me.  And I've obliged.  What do you think?  Is color a good look for the birds?

He loves you.

Printmaking Day!

I had, through secondhand means, amassed all the bare essentials for linoleum printing save one, I needed a brayer.  It's like a little rubber paint roller, and they can be kind of hard to come by if you go the discount route like me.  Guess what I discovered at a garage sale this weekend.

Ooo!  Speedball, even!

Clearly it is a sign from the gods.  I shall make prints.

I didn't even cut myself once!

My sampler platter of linoleum was purchased with the intent of discovering which was my favorite; and let me tell you, you get what you pay for.  The cheapest was first to go under the knife,- Dick Blick Golden-Cut, and it sucks ass.  Hard, yet flaky and crumbly; how do they do it?  Granted, I have cheap-as-free linoleum cutters from when I studied in Italy, but they're also sharp as hell because I got a whetstone for Christmas.

Artools, the Wal-mart brand of Italian art supplies.

Next up was Dick Blick Wonder-Cut, which, after that Golden-Crap, was like cutting butter.  It's got a texture almost like cork, and it prints like it too.  I can see where, in an effort to prevent the grainy quality, you might end up over-inking.  Kind of like the texture myself, though.

Haven't prepared myself sufficiently to cut into the others; Dick Blick E-Z Cut, Soft Kut, and Speedy Cut.  They all feel dreamy.  Must resist the urge to keep them in their pristine, uncut state.

Excellent Artists - Martha LeDuc

Browsing mnartists in search of fabulous art I came across Martha LeDuc's work.

Lincoln Park, Martha LeDuc

This style of painting gets me all weak in the knees.  Interesting, solid shapes of color applied with a painterly brush.  It is, in my humble opinion, the only way to make a landscape engaging.

Train Tracks, Martha LeDuc

N.E. Minneapolis Viaduct, Martha LeDuc

And there's a few abstract pieces thrown in there for good measure.  Good abstract art is, in my opinion, one of the hardest things to do.  It's not like you know when you're done; you just have to work until it's as good as it can possibly get, and identifying that point is challenging.  People who do abstract well have my undying admiration.

Abstract Monoprint, Martha LeDuc

View her full gallery here.

Some Art Links and Why They're Awesome

If you're looking to spend waaay too much time enraptured by sociological profundities, check out PostSecret.

You'll laugh, and you'll cringe.

If you're a Minnesota artist,- and I do mean artist in every sense of the word, musicians, dancers, etc,- go peruse The McKnight Foundation.  The scope of their funding is crazy-broad, from International Collaborative Crop Research to Neuroscience to, of course, the arts.  Yours truly even received a grant.

If you're a fan of book art and would like to have your mind blown, check out Brian Dettmer's work.  Even the most vehement of bibliophiles will have to admit; maybe this book is more interesting cut all to hell.

Insert Twilight joke here.

Chubby Birds

More Chubby Birds.

Chubby Bird #5

Is anyone else out there kind of fascinated by staining paper?  I need a support group.  Tea-Stainers Anonymous.

Chubby Bird #6

Chubby Bird #7

Chubby Bird #8

More are in my Deviantart gallery.  A few are in my Etsy store.  If you see anything you like, let me know and I will post in on Etsy for you.

Sketchbook

From my trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts back in February.

Torso of a Faun, 1st century

Goat skull sketch.

Someone gave me a goat skull last year, to keep my bear and wild pig skull company.  Makes my studio look a little terrifying, but I have so much fun drawing them.  The goat is definitely my favorite.

I've done like, four of these.
Goat Skull on Scratchboard

You know what, just to balance things out, here's a sketch of a goat with it's skin on.  This is Baby, one of our goats, and she is a shit.

I'm sorry, was this your garden?