URBAN ROCKSTAR: The Set Up

This Sunday was the day me and Lovekin set up for our show, URBAN ROCKSTAR, that'll be part of first friday this upcoming friday.  We both decided to take 2 walls each and I thought of decorating the space but since Lovekin has tons of art the place didn't need any extra things :)  The whole set up came out looking very nice but some of the lights were not working so half of the paintings are not lit up.  We should have that problem covered by friday.  While transporting the artwork from my car to the gallery I passed by this KOREAN PLAZA place on Telegraph Ave.  I love asian chips so I went inside and bought some. I bought one that had portuguese writing on it along with the asian characters.  I also bought these really oily steamed buns that gave me a headache later that day.  Anyways here are some pictures from the set up.  Enjoy!

I didn't update my blog in two weeks because I was so busy dealing with the show and all.   I'll resume my weekly posting schedule after the opening woo hoo!

Looking for an Opening Outfit

My show is coming up and it just hit me that I don't have anything cool to wear.  I usually don't care about clothing but because it's the opening and there'll be people that potentially want to meet with me I  have got to present myself properly.  I was thinking of different outfits but I can't think of any outfits that would go well with this event.  I know people in Oakland usually dress very grunge and punk like and my art has a little bit of that taste.  But how can I translate it to an outfit?  I went to San Jose to find answers and came up with a couple of solutions.  I think I might do the vest thing you know?  Like a dress shirt and a vest with some jeans cool belt and shoes.  This style is getting overdone though so I have to find a really weird vest that would break the cycle.  Another idea I had was to find patterned everything.  Blazer, dress shirt, pants, with solid black socks and patterned shoes and black gloves.  When I talk about patterned I mean super patterned almost to the point of being tacky but still having it balance somehow.  The idea is to have me look like a big piece of fabric walking around. the last thing I thought of was to wear something weirdly simple and modern as a way of asserting myself in the art world but having this hidden idea that I already passed modernity  with my hair style.  It's confusing but trust me it would work.  I found nothing of the sort at the mall and everything was super expensive.  We'll see what actually happens to my outfit at the day of the opening now won't we? ;)

Another problem the show has sprung up for me is redesigning the space.  I really like the black floor but I think it is my duty as an artist and philanthropist to spread my essence on the window and the back- ugly- wall.  We also need to find a DJ if anyone wants a gig this is the perfect time to send in a sample to me via email ;)

URBAN ROCKSTAR- The Buzz has Started!

Yes it's coming very soon.  I have already started some buzz for my show at the Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland and right next to this text is what the postcards will look like.  The other artist, as you may or may not know, is James Lovekin and he's a pretty cool guy.  His art is both stylistically and conceptually connected to mine.  WE are both inspired by subcultures and use imagery from street art.  I don't think we replicate it, we are just inspired by it.  His work also shares that rebellious feeling and spontaneity I always talk about.  I think it will be a very sweet show and Irene Ross, the curator, was wise to pair us together.  Just by seeing both sample pieces you can see how well they hang together!  I'm not sure if we are going to hang our paintings side by side.  Could work out great but it's still a hovering thought.  What do you guys think? :)

I'm including a new painting for this new show which I think will add something new to the already existing series "Verses."  I painted this after an exhausting day of driving and working and going to school and having to go to work in the morning again with only 2 hours and 15 minutes of sleep.  I somehow felt like I was losing control and that something bigger was taking over and I thought about how unfortunate it would be if someone was in the same position but got caught in this spiral.  I asked to  not be scheduled in the morning anymore and tried to get at least 6 hours of sleep daily.

Dead squirrels and Attitude

So I was walking my dog Bubbles the other day and in the middle of our walk we came across a dead squirrel.  Unlike most dead squirrels this one did not have any tire marks on it or was completely hard like most of them are when you find them dead on the street.  It was just lying there back on the ground and looking up to the sky.  I assumed it fell from the lamp post but my sister who was next to me said "you're an idiot."  A couple of days later I came across another dead squirrel but this one was in front of the driveway of where I live.  It was lying on the ground just  like the other squirrel we found the other day.  I knew something wrong was going on.  Squirrels are falling from high places and killing themselves! It's worst than the disappearing bees around the world!  I was so puzzled that I decided to take a picture of the poor animal but I was too late.  A car parked on top of it.  So I made a small drawing of it. 

Last week I decided to clear up things around my room because it was getting too crowded.  I threw many things away like plush toys, tourist sweaters, small souvenirs, and old notebooks for classes I've taken years ago.  I came across a lot of old technology like web cams, microphones, and little sound systems for computers. I had to throw those things away because I already have all of that built-in on my laptop.  Technology changes way too quickly y'all.  After clearing up most of the garbage I was collecting I started to feel the space reappear again in my room.  I decided to post drawings I like on the wall because I don't ever hang my art on my bedroom wall but this was the time.  I found this drawing of two women facing the viewer from the back and posing with attitude.  I decided to put them both together because I thought they made a good team.

Book review+ I was fat+ Very First Drawing

I've been reading this book called The Accidental Masterpiece by Michael Kimmelman.  It's very interesting and easy to read.  Kimmelman writes about the beauty of art which is very hard to define but he somehow does it by mentioning various works that are considered art. When I read most of it it kinda seemed that everything could be art if you just gave enough thought.  But then as you read more and more and how photographs taken by "normal" people can be passed as art- taken in consideration the randomness of the shot and the idea that an untrained eye taking the photograph- Kimmelman starts to uncover the other factors of art-making that are often not thought about or even noticed as art by most people.  His criticism of the art included in the book is also very helpful if one wants to  understand what critics think about when viewing art- and apparently they think about EVERYTHING.  If you read this book you will definitely have more to contemplate when viewing art other than just technique and retinal qualities.  

On other news, I've discovered that my skin is highly elastic.  This results from the time I was a little more spacious than the average citizen (220 lbs.)  I wore pants that were size 40-42 and ate a crunch bar religiously everyday.  I also had tons of pimples and my forehead looked like the back of the crunch bar I was eating.  But I lost it all. It happened when I decided to stop eating burgers and drinking soda and started exercising regularly.  Now I'm super hot and everybody loves me. Well not really, but it does feel good to lose all the weight.  

This is the very first drawing I made from the drawing series I'm working on.  The concept of it all is to have drawings which people can associate with by seeing that they were drawn with ball point pens.  I want people to feel the human hand but not the artist human hand but a anyone's hand like "I could do that too" type of feeling. I use gesso instead of white out because white out is too messy and gesso sends the same I-did-this-with-office-supplies-and-lots-of-time feeling that I want people to feel. I'm thinking about making a new drawing this week inspired by the flying 7' x 6' slab of concrete that hit me and my sister on the 880 freeway here in CA and once its done I'll post it.

Mama Buzz cafe + San Francisco + World of Warcraft

Last week I went to Oakland to discuss my upcoming show at Mama Buzz cafe in October with Irene Ross, the curator, and James Lovekin, the other artist exhibiting alongside of me.  The show will run from October 3rd to the 25th.  Me and Lovekin's art is similar in many aspects.  We are both inspired subcultures and our art is popping.  I'll be exhibiting all my paintings from the Verses shows and he will be exhibiting from his Sideshow series which I think is currently up in Luca's cafe in Oakland.  Irene is super nice and we had a friendly smoke when we went over things.

The space is nice but I'm still thinking about redesigning it a little bit. I want it to feel like a show rather than an exhibition and I hope I can create an environment attractive enough to draw some attention.  I'm thinking something black and dramatic to go with the white walls.  We can't really abuse the walls so I'm thinking of things that'll stick. 

On other news we went to San Francisco because I haven't done anything fun in a while.  Sometimes it's good to take time to yourself and just kick back and drink a mocha and think about things..

We also saw these cool sunglasses ads and decided that our sunglasses should be part of it.

On a sadder note I quit playing this really infamous online game, World of Warcraft.  I played it for about a year and a half but lately it's been just very monotonous so I decided to stop.  In-game I joined a guild (you probably think I'm nerdy) and I did help people in it when I had time.  I always thought my acts of kindness- running people through dungeons, helping them in arena battles, or just protecting them from the opposing faction- would always be taken for granted because of the nature of the game.  But when my last day came and I bid farewell to all my guildmates they actually thanked me, each one individually, for things I've done to help them in the past.  I couldn't believe the amount of responses and people whose game experience I changed by just lending them a hand.  It was very touching :.)  I felt moved and I think it was because when I used to live in Pomona, CA I felt sad that I had to leave all the friendships I created and all the people that changed me or whom I changed.  Everything comes to an end someday and only after a while you realize how good it was. 

"This is the End" and new drawing added!

This weekend was very hot. Not only did the heat get to me but also my friend (in a non-sexual way), Allen Yang, from UCD came down to Hayward to visit me. I told him before hand that I wanted to make a song up and record so i could post it on my blog. We both enjoy music and for different reasons we can't always play because of other things (i.e: being an artist, studying for med school, or just taking poor bubbles out for a stroll.) We went to the music dept at CSUEB and found a room and created "This is the End" in which he gets to play a scorching solo and set up sexy intricate chords that not even the BEST of the BEST can expect in a song recorded on my laptop.

The lyrics were written by me and the base melody was created by both me and Allen. The arrangement and piano is Allen. I hope you guys enjoy the end result. Very Jazzy ;)

This Is The End.mp3

This is another drawing I've finished.  I used shapes to define bigger shapes and only used vertical lines to draw everything.  The more you look the more shapes you can find and the whole composition starts making sense when your occult finds those shapes.  I felt very accomplished when I saw this up in my studio.  I'm diving into deeper and deeper depths with my art and it feels like I'm going to end up somewhere great.