Graduation + Probably Last Drawing of the Series.

Hey everybody. It so happens I'm graduating this month and getting my degree woo hoo!  College has been a crazy experience.  I'm gonna miss everything and it's going to be weird not waking up and going to school or learning.  Now it's gonna be like wake up and go to "work" then do art.  What I'll miss the most is the critiques but I'm trying to create a group based in Alameda to discuss art.  It'll be called "Hot Tamales You Can't Afford" and we'll have meetings with lots of booze and chips.  I wanna find people who sort of resonate with my style and who'd be willing to post something about their art monthly on another blog.  The main idea is to discuss the process of art making and gaining experience as a group and maybe have group shows.  If that sounds like it's something you'd like to do email me some JPGS of your work and your name and I'll decide if you'd fit the group. Yes there are a couple of people already in it. 

The drawings above are from my last drawing of the pens and sharpies series.  I've been repeating shapes a lot recently and it kinda has to do with the fact that repeating shapes- not necessarily exactly the same way- gives this idea of movement and basically brings the shape to life.  The gesso helps give the 2d shape a 3d space so it feels like it's moving away further into the paper.  You can't really see well from these pics it's more like a personal experience type of deal.  I'm having a show at AUTOBODY FINE ART in August so you'll be able to see it better if you attend :)  It's a group show so not all my pieces will be in. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't!

New Art and Inspiration

I have been thinking lately about the meaning of art and what it means to be an artist and I hate the fact that most artists seem to be ok with being people that make drawings for other people to enjoy.  Just last week I was finishing a class and was kinda discouraged of making art because one of my teachers would say things like "you can't sell this" or "people won't like to buy things from you" and it's kinda like where is the sense of being somebody gone to.  Can't we make art that's for ourselves and have people appreciate the fact that people like us exist?  I'm a bit scared everything will just pass me and I'll be left wondering why I wanted to become an artist the first place.  I'm working with these new exciting materials and couldn't take the idea that people think I make art to please others so I wrote "I like paintings that make me think" on it to kind of signify this sarcastic view I have when making art.  Below you'll find also some of my pens and sharpies drawings hung the way i want them hung. I hung them in my room :P so I can live with them a little bit. 

2nd Big Drawing done, Working on a New One, and Trying to Get a Show.

Here it is the second drawing! all finished and good to go.  I created this little atmosphere around the subject so there's like a 3D kind of effect to it.  I wanted it to feel like a lava lamp or at least have some rhythm to it which it does and I'm. Enjoy the pics!

I am currently seeking galleries/ cafes to showcase my work.  I think my body of work is strong and will please everybody in many unexpected levels  (yes!)  I showed some of my drawings in the B.F.A show at school and there were a couple of paintings that I liked that stood out.  One is Pam's abstractions which she paints with latex.  The concept is very cool.  I love the textures latex can form into and the use of weird colors makes these paintings seem like they came from another world.  It's very innovative.  I also liked Tony's work because it kinda resonates with some of my earlier work and style (which is still inside of me believe or not)  I like it that he's not scared to used urban art even after all the crap I went through when I tried it.  Here's some pics of the show! I also included my trio with a close up!

Also this week I started on my third biggest drawing for the series.  I decided to follow some advice from Dickson Schneider and others  and started on a small drawing made on a big piece of paper.  The idea is to over emphasize its delicate aspect and also add a sense of fragility with all the white space.  The same drawing on a normal sized piece of paper would not have the same effect.  For this drawing I'm going for animation of a single subject.  Here are some pics enjoy!

Newest Drawing, Portrait for My Sister, and a Little More About My New Series!

                  

Here's my newest drawing for my pens and sharpies series.  This one is turning out really well and I like the transparency effect the object is giving. I tried taking close-up pictures so you can experience these to its fullest.  If you were in a gallery and these were hanging they would easily inspire the urge to get closer and check out the details.

                                                 

Here's a copy of the statement for my new series:

"Everything I do is based off spontaneity. When growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil and California I was drawn to the random vandalistic acts on street, both graffiti and actual violence. My work feeds off this type of spontaneous energy by exhibiting street art-like tendencies through a non-conventional use of materials; using paint substituting for spray cans or reintroducing pens and sharpies as fine art materials.

For this new series I have decided to use pens and sharpies as the main medium. There's a lot of versatility in seemingly common everyday objects and I showcase their potential for art. My work has become very obsessive and has passed the norm; the pens are no longer a sketch material because of the work's size and complexity.

When people view my work I hope they realize that art is not limited in any way. Art materials are not only found at Michael's or Blick's. I hope to elude to the fact that art does not have last forever, but can be ever changing and unique in its moment in time like living organisms. "

I was also painting this portrait of my sister because I forgot to give her a birthday present.  It came out really cool looking actually and I was happy that I was able to layer so many colors on top of the skin even though I'm using acrylic paint.  I love working on skin for hours.  There is something magical about creating skin that breathes.  Who knows I might explore painting again on my next collection of art.

Don't forget you can subscribe to this blog to get alerts whenever I update it!  It's on the right under my profile picture.  Thanks for all who visit!  It makes the art experience a lot funner :)

Myartplot.com and finished the tallest drawing in the series.

There's new website that's starting some shit around the art world.  It's called Myartplot and its intent is to bring art from all artists in the world in a non-elitist kind of way.  So I opened an account to check what this was all about and was quite pleased actually.  The website works very much like things the internet has brought to us already like flickr and myspace.  

What separates this from other art profile websites like myartspace.com and deviantart.com is the simpple design and accessibility.  The layout is very light and not overworked and pretty much to the point and portfolios open up in flash which makes the single webpage presence of your profile more comfortable.  Uploading and updating information in the art works similarly to flickr so there's no surfing from page to page which can be very annoying when you have a lot to update.  I also like many of the other features.

The feature I like the most is the sales where you can set your price and safely sell your stuff and I already mentioned I like the portfolio layout.  The only thing I wish you could do is zoom in in the artwork because some of my stuff is best presented on details and I think zooming capabilities would enhance the art experience.  I would also like to see if some type of way of embedding MAP's portfolio to blogs or personal pages.  

MAP also offers a network system like myspace or facebook which is very helpful for artists who think alike.  Creating communities is a very powerful tool in the art world and networking seems to be one of MAPs fortes.  It would be nice to see this grow into different groups within the website or have online shows featuring interesting groups in MAP.

If you are tired of rejection letters or just want to get your art out there right away or maybe you just want to meet other artists MAP is the way to go.

In other news I have finished my ambitious pens and sharpies 6ft tall drawing.  I'm having trouble naming these so I guess I'll call em numbers.  This is number 9.  I'm working on another semi-big one and I guess I can onlly do 1-2 more of this series until I officially close it.  Time to get those packets going.  Be sure to check my MAP profile and see what the website is about by clicking the banner below ;)

MyArtPlot.com . Arts & Crafts Community, Platform, Market

NEW SERIES DEBUT

Here's a 8 drawings from my new series. Enjoy!

Moving Along

I've been working on the huge drawing (right side) alittle bit more and as you can see it's vertical now.   I just need to add a few touches and I think I'll be comfortable saying that it's done.  Now I just gotta start on the second huge one!  The painting on the left is something I'm toying with for new ideas.  I decided to use club/ bar experiences as a base for amazingly cool psychedelic paintings.  The idea is to kinda live in that moment but have not seem as literal as it's seen.  I going to send out packets for galleries hopefully soon and hopefully I'll hear from them so a new show might be around the corner. I can't wait till it happens all again and hopefully I'll see people I've seen in previous shows cuz that's the funnest part of attending opening night!  Picking out an outfit is also fun :))))

This is a cover song I did for Snow Patrol's song Run. I really like this song :)

Run Victor Cover.mp3