New Group Show!

First Friday! January 2nd, 7pm

MUA at 2442 Webster (across from God's Gym on Broadway) in Oakland!  (Muaoakland.com)

The show is put on By Maniac Gallery.  

irons

"I was intent on making something that didn't tell people what to do." -John Cage

This painting walked into my studio at school and seemed interested in something I was working on. I asked him the other day a yes-or-no question about the composition of the piece I was working on. He looked sort of confused and went off about options of meaning in the piece; what each compositional decision would mean. 

I relate to things. I don't pick them apart. How can there possibly be an observed meaning in everything? How can you look at a piece of art and not just look at it for at least a few seconds before you stop feeling and begin thinking. Does everyone else look at art and immediately file them under as a kind of art historical reference? 

I spend a lot of time looking at things and appreciating them. Sometimes it's comforting to know what they mean and how they work but i associate them more with how it looks and what it's made of and how many people were involved. What was involved? How many steps were there? 

What it means is an opinion. I can come up with my own. It's nice to find out what the intention was, but it's not my main concern. 

I look at an iron and I don't wonder how it works. I think about the one person who put the small parts on it and continued to do this over and over in the same spot with many other people in their spots and what's it like to go home and how does it feel after your hands do that all day with your feet on holding you up all day and what does their house look like and do they have to wear a hair net and who else lives in their house, do they have a cat, how do they feel about putting parts on irons that get sent to many places so people can make fabric smooth and do they ever use an iron?   

That's what I'd rather know. 

Group Show!

Hey! Here's a great Holiday Gift idea! 

Buy some are for under 400 dollars (don't worry it's not all going to be like $300 either)

at FIVEten Studio! on 9th and Broadway in Downtown Oakland. 

The opening will be on Saturday, December 13th, from 6-9. 

There will be many different artists showing like me and my friends Lori and Justin and Georgia! and Lori's friend Miguel who I just met and many others who I haven't met. but I should and so should you!

the exhibition will continue through the month of december. 

here's a new painting from october:

I have a website now!

plasticforest.com

Recently I've been disconnected from the internet which is okay because I get to watch movies from the sixties and make collages.

I've also been interning at this sweet gallery called FIVEten on 9th and Broadway (downtown Oakland). They have some sweet products by local designers and fine art shows. Go there for your fashionable holiday shopping. I'm there most Fridays if you want to hang out. And it's right next to the Downtown Oakland Farmers Market! Hella cheap veggies. They have exotic dates on the branch and thai eggplants (round eggplant!) and cashew sorbet. Do it. 

I have another painting to add to the site and i hope to complete at least one more before the semester ends. 

And I will be having an upcoming group show in January (the reception on the 2nd with all the other first friday openings) at this restaurant/bar in a big lofty space called Mua on webster (where webster and Broadway meet at 25th) in downtown Oakland. It's curated by this wonderful person named Petra. She's got a gallery called Maniac on 17th and Franklin- a block from Broadway.

collages/drawings

I've been working in the studio constantly for the last month. I haven't documented the latest paintings. Here are some older gouache and pencil drawings and newer collages. more coming soon. 

         

who chooses these stills? That would be such a specific occupation.

Isn't it nice to think of specific occupations?

Bernardo Justin Sanhueza Campoy

A painter I found while perusing the New American Paintings website. It's my favorite art magazine because its just full of pictures of paintings and then short artist statements and none of that other junk they put in art magazines. Anyway. Check out the website I really like this guys style. 

my favorite is ratatat to get me motivated for this stuff. 

when you were thirteen on the oldies station.

that you don't believe we're on the eve

This is my friend Jake's blanket that he loves. It reminds me of upsetting things in a really funny way. Especially that ram on the left.

old stuff

I used to go to this liquor store in oakland and these cousins ran the place. This first one of Askar--he always sat on this mini-fridge and you never noticed him when you came in. He was quiet as a cat. Then Ali would always ring me up and be humming these songs but he never said anything usually. I think they said they were from Yemen originally.

Askar, 2007

Ali, 2007

Untitled Abstract thing in the Ocean, 2008. Oil and Acrylic.

I was just wasting time on best of craigslist and I came across this essay that was really funny and sad.

RAVE: My Life Since Getting Out of Prison

plus, it includes a picture of this guys dog that totally makes me laugh. What a cutie fug. Reminds me of my goldie.



I just love the way this guy writes. Just real genuine.

collaboration

Collaboration with Matt Momchilov (2008)

Drainage ditch. May 2008

Driving through Gilroy,CA (the Garlic Capital) I see a lot of tract housing on the side of the 101. These communities really baffle me. They aren't really viable for a future without reliance on long commutes to San Jose or where ever. It's also an interesting contrast between this culture that relies on commuting and the surrounding agricultural economy.

Hoover Dam painting. maybe cut the bottom third off--gets a little drippy. I just love the shape of the clogged up Colorado river.

Tuscany

This is the oldest of what I've got for you. It's based on the Tuscan landscape from when i was in Italy (near Pienza) last summer. I haven't made anything in this style since but I was pretty into it for a minute. It reminds me of feathers.

The Point is Amusement

Hey Kiddos!

Blog is basically going to be a place for my art and news about other peoples work plus a good dose of culturally related random informations.

About me--I am a painting student at CCA (California College of the Arts)--so I paint, and I also make stuffed animals, clothing, linear fiber sculpture (knit/crochet).

I've been doing much landscape and abstract, but suddenly I have the desire to make people again. That will happen after a year of lanbstract. So I will be showing you all my paintings and scanning in some drawings as well. Enjoy and please post comments and critique!