Here are a couple of process samples of a painting I’m working on. The idea is of a lone figure running away. She is a looming figure. The landscape is desolate and foreboding. Will she make it to her destination? Ideas come to us when we least expect it. I love the figure in all its aspects. Whenever possible, I will draw from life. I’ve been a model too and having that experience, I think, helps to elevate the work. After a certain point, you have developed so much muscle memory of drawing that you often will simply draw from memory and that results in some of the most spontaneous and authentic work.
With that in mind, I’m always open to commissions and have work for sale, either originals or prints. Just contact me for details. You can contact me here. And you can see some more of what I do here. I’m still considering what to sell and what not to sell. This project I’m showing you now will eventually be turned into a print. I will be busy next year, and the following years, with more comics and art conventions in the works. I will definitely be selling comics as well as prints at these events, etc. It just seemed a good time to post something about this activity and get the ball rolling some more. I continue to write, draw comics and make paintings!
It’s a long way through from The Elm to The Big Apple, and it’s not only the title to a collection of artwork by Raheem Nelson but a landmark in an exciting art career. As a kid, Nelson took a long commute from his home in New Haven, Connecticut, nicknamed, “The Elm City,” to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In order to save money on the expensive room & board on campus, Nelson had to take a long and arduous commute, leaving him with little room for sleep. But grit and determination have a way of paying off if you’re persistent. Raheem Nelson is such a person. Take a look at his art and you see what he sees: a urban landscape that can, despite the odds and the rough times, sustain a sense of wonder. Yes, wonder. And, I have news for you, style too! You gotta have plenty of style. I don’t care if it involves basic stick figures. If it lacks a sense of purpose, then why bother, right? Nelson has stuck it through and has excelled in carving out a niche for himself as an artist with a specialty for paintings rendered on the iPad. And his work, by the way, definitely has style.
Raheem Nelson is a hard-working artist. He teaches high school, elementary and middle school students, as well as conducts adult workshops. I was introduced to his inspiring iPad Painting workshop through the online courses offered by Arts Alliance of Stratford. Nelson has proven to be a favorite son of the community not only for his teaching but for his vibrant artwork that has lifted up locals. Recently, some of his portraits were turned into a mural to honor the Arts For Labor program for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
So, I invite you to check out the video interview. For those who have read this far, let me encourage you now to stick around for a special art demonstration. Nelson provides a wonderful sample here of the insights he has to share from his experience with not only the iPad but also from his background in traditional painting.
Ah, but there’s more. For loyal and curious readers, you have just unlocked one more door to art goodness. Check out Nelson’s website and you’ll find a treasure trove of art print options along with NFT art too. In this interview, Nelson provides in-depth profiles on some of his most popular works being sold as NFTs.
Casey Neistat in his element, a camera in the Big Apple.
Here’s a deep dive into what led to my latest short film. This one is ostensibly about urban sketching. I’m going to share with you a few things about a workshop that I just completed led by all-time great YouTuber Casey Neistat thru a filmmaking class on the platform, Monthly. I’ve been wanting to level up my moviemaking and this really helped me appreciate the beauty of editing. I came to a deeper understanding of the artistry behind a finely executed work. Just like any other art form, you get back as much as you’re willing to put into the process. It takes time to make connections and to see what to cut out and what to add in.
Lady Yum, Macarons & Mischief
When I began this particular video, I never thought I would end up discovering Lady Yum, the best spot outside of Paris for macarons! But that is the case. When in Seattle, you’ll want to make time to stroll around the Amazon section of downtown and then make your way to the main Amazon building. At street level, you’ll find Lady Yum. And you can always order online since they’ll ship anywhere in the U.S. But I would never have discovered any of this if I hadn’t been open to the process. One of the great bits of advice from Casey Neistat is to continuously seek out “interestingness.” Seek out the best and then, once in the editing process, really dig deeper. Be efficient! Be quick! Don’t be redundant! Don’t be dull!
Casey Neistat in his studio.
I did learn a lot and I still have a lot to practice. Casey compared the filmmaking process to writing. For instance, you don’t need a magic pen in order to write. And that’s very true. You can make awesome videos just from using your smartphone. But, more to the point, the metaphor holds most true in regards to creating order out of chaos. Bit by bit, you mold various random elements into a compelling whole. It is fascinating to see Casey speak to his art in more and more refined details, from one module to the next. By the last segment, he admits that it was enlightening for him to articulate, to “intellectualize” for an audience, the stuff he’s been doing for the last twenty some years, since he was a free-spirited teenager. Add to that the fact that he actually shows you all the nuts and bolts by going out and creating two videos from scratch. Casey has a long history of scrambling to create the next compelling viral-worthy video. He can now pick and choose his projects. It’s just a lot of fun to see him back in the ring and fighting the good fit for artistic excellence and integrity.
The Amazon Spheres
You can “learn” the process but then you need to do it for yourself. In a friendly aside, Casey asks, “You have been taking notes, right?” Assuming that no one has probably bothered to do that. He gives everyone a cheerful nod, “I hope you take as much as you can of what you’ve remembered!” To the very end, at all times, Casey Neistat knows how important it is to engage, relate, and get to the point!
So, I set out to leave the confines of the studio and go outside and make some plein air painting. That led me to the Amazon section of downtown Seattle, specifically the Amazon Spheres, erected in 2018, the two formidable globes housing more than 40,000 plants from the cloud forest regions of over 30 countries. This is a habitat for Amazon employees to go to in order to recharge and remain inspired. It’s quite a sight and easily makes one think of any number of other iconic landmarks, from the Space Needle to the Eiffel Tower. The Spheres are not exactly meant for the general public. There was some limited access inside, two Saturdays out of the month, but that’s been paused. That said, most people would just be happy enough to view it from outside. I was content to complete my mission and then I lingered because I knew I had really just begun. Only much later did I sort of stumble upon Lady Yum and that finally provided a way to hook into something far more interesting with a crunchy goodness.
Artist Elise Engler is like all of us who love to document. It seems that we all want to have our say and tell not only our story but contribute to the bigger story. But only a few generations ago, the whole idea of self-expression, let alone self-portraits, was mostly in the artist’s domain. So, now everybody documents. A lot of it is ephemeral and only some of it has that everlasting quality, like the daily dispatches of news items collected in Engler’s book that chronicle the events of that infamous year, 2020. A Diary of the Plague Year: An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020 is out now. You can read my review here. And I invite you to my conversation with the artist.
Double Portrait of the Artist
It’s the persistent vision that wins out in the end. An artist engaging in a process for an extended amount of time is like mining for gold or anything else with a less than certain outcome. There will be trial and error efforts but a person with a certain mix of qualities, like sheer determination, will reach a breakthrough. Engler’s art is about keen observation from collecting data: everything in her apartment; or everything in a series of purses; or everything on every block of New York City’s Broadway! Each of these, and many more, have been subjects for Engler’s work.
Medical tents set up in Central Park in 2020 near the artist’s studio.
So, it is a pleasure to have a chance to chat with this artist. We have gone through so much in the recent past. It’s good to have an artist of this caliber to create this special record.
Highlight from The Cathedrals of Art (1942) by Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944)
A traditional question that I don’t always ask but had to in this case was to ask about influences. Engler’s choices, once I had time to consider, suggested to me a more earthy approach with Marsden Hartley; perhaps a spiritual connection with the Sienese School; expressive with Philip Guston; and whimsical with Florine Stettheimer. Well, I hope I got it right. Suffice it to say, Engler has a very emotive and energetic style.
I invite you to view the video interview. I also happen to have created a brief movie introduction so the interview begins right after that. In our interview, we cover all you would need to know before reading the book. We chat about the whole idea of documenting and the concept of a news junkie. As I suggest, documenting, as well as an interest in the news, is something we can all relate to. Elise Engler proves to be an exceptional participant, taking bits of data, giving them a sense of order, and finding something transcendent.
A Diary of the Plague Year: An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020 is available now.
Francis Bacon was certainly on my radar during my time in art school. Just as I was completing my formal training at the University of Houston, I was aware of Bacon’s continued presence and activity. And then he died. I earned my BFA the year he passed away, 1992. Yes, Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was acknowledged as a heroic figure, a painter in the great tradition of towering romantic and angst-ridden artists. But what were we as art students doing with that information? What were our professors sharing with us about him? I mostly recall the awful jokes that he was Bacon the contemporary artist and not Bacon the great philosopher. So, in a nutshell, we didn’t do much of anything with Bacon looming in the background. Maybe I did more than most. I know a lot of students were lost in their own uneducated and overindulgent worlds or absorbed with the hotshots of the recent era as we understood it, people like Francisco Clemente, David Salle, even Julian Schnabel, especially Schnabel since he’d gone to UH for a short time. And, of course, there was no internet as we know it today and, in hindsight, I damn well could have used it back then!
Second Version of Painting from 1946, Museum of Modern Art, 1971.
After 1992, life’s circumstances gave me a bit of a bum’s rush from school and out the door. I’ve been cartwheeling ever since. Not to digress too much, but I’ve come out on top in a number of ways such as having the opportunity to gaze upon this dazzling show of Francis Bacon paintings at the Pompidou Centre! From the little I could glean from glossy art magazines, art history books and a few lectures, I was aware of Bacon’s raw and tortured energy. He was a rough cut fellow, is how I would casually put it if I was attempting to introduce him to someone unfamiliar with him and his work. Bacon’s career began in the 1940s and blossomed in the next two pivotal decades. Many an art student was familiar with Bacon’s landmark painting of the screaming pope, Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953. What did it mean? Where did it come from? We mostly chalked it up as subversive. That much we knew for sure and we loved it.
Gathering among Bacon.
That brings us to this current show at the Pompidou Centre. Jennifer and I had managed to arrive just in time to settle into it with little else than an introductory pamphlet. So, there was some adjusting to do as we both gorged upon Bacon. We were certainly not alone. There was a nervy energy running throughout the crowd of people. The show had recently opened for its run of 11 September 2019 to 20 January 2020. They had all come to see Bacon! But what did it mean to them? They knew his name and they knew about the famous work and the raw energy. There was that and there was a theme attached to the show–but gathering up so many Bacons in one space was more than enough, theme or no theme. It wasn’t until I’d made the turn into another room that I sniffed out the curator’s ardor for organizing, labeling, categorizing and zealous need to impose their ownership upon another’s work. After all, Francis Bacon was first and foremost a painter. He was self-taught. He, unlike countless academics and so-called scholars, got dirty and actually did things. This is not to say that a finely-articulated analysis is not welcome from time to time but it is often best to be taken with a grain of salt. Anyway, the idea for the show is to tie Bacon’s choice of reading with his painting. That’s why this show has rooms where all you have is a book on display and an audio of someone reading.
Oedipus and the Sphinx, after Ingres, 1983.
It does make sense to link Bacon to his reading habits given the fact he was such an avid reader. He loved books. They came naturally to him as they did for many a young rebel of his time. There are a number of choices on display in this show that would have been catnip for many a young artist back then and even today. At least, one hopes young artists haven’t changed so much now that they are, on the whole, bypassing gorging upon the works of Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Jean Racine, Balzac, Nietzsche, Georges Bataille, Freud, T.S. Eliot, Joseph Conrad, Proust and many others. Well, that is the formal tent under which all these Bacons have been arranged. Process that however you like.
Walking towards Bacon.
One thing that struck me about this show is how it feels like it is stretching past its own time, as if it is still pulsating, still preening upon the gallery wall space and not ready to succumb to a timeless role as a museum artifact. I mean, the work still feels “contemporary” to me. While I was an art student, we had to suffer through all the prattle from critics and tastemakers over whether or not figurative painting was dead or not. To think we were getting this kind of talk even as we’d been experiencing a bunch of interesting “new” approaches to figurative work by the likes of Eric Fischl and Jonathan Borofsky. Finally, fast forward to today, the big secret is that figurative painting will never die. It’s just too vital, too primal, too essential. I guess, seeing this show takes me back to sometime before Bacon’s death, a world where there was a Francis Bacon still making new paintings and even making definitive versions of previous work. That is what this show is about: Bacon’s last two decades of his career (from 1971 to 1992). I can feel that artist raging and creating, knowing time was running out. So, ultimately, this show is more than about books and painting. This show is about an artist taking what he’s learned about painting and setting forth with his final explorations.
Bacon was always raging and rebelling, seeking a way to be the next Picasso. He was being himself when it was against the law in England to engage in homosexual acts. It wasn’t until 1967 that sex between two adult men (21 years-old) was decriminalized in the UK. What’s a “British artist” like Bacon to do? Well, that’s easy enough, go where you are welcome: Paris, the city that is open and fluid, revels in bohemian excess, and welcomes sex in all its many flavors. It was at the Grand Palais show at the Pompidou Centre in 1971 that Bacon delivered a landmark show that earned him critical praise, and raised him to the rank of a Picasso. And the show was more about love and sex than books. You can add a variety of erudite references but, at some point, you need to acknowledge the human being writhing upon a toilet! The Grand Palais show revolved around Bacon’s lover, George Dyer, who killed himself the day before the opening. As Jonathan Jones describes in a wonderful piece in The Guardian, it was Bacon’s muse, in the form of Dyer, who made the show what it was and, with his suicide, nearly brought it all tumbling down. The new show at the Pompidou Centre, interestingly enough, covers the time after the celebrated Grand Palais show of 1971. Again, this has nothing to do with the connection of books to paintings, but it’s a nice theme to wrap around a body of work that defies the curator’s nimble touch.
The artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is a monumental figure in contemporary art for a number of reasons. To say that Basquiat was at the right place at the right time is a great understatement. In his case, he seems to have been born to conquer the art world despite the drawbacks of starting out with zero connections and zero money. Personally, for me, I had filed away Basquiat in my mind many years ago and hadn’t looked back. I look back fondly, and return regularly, to a number of artists ranging from Edward Manet to R.B. Kitaj but not Basquiat…not until recently. I happen to have been in New York and got to see a spectacular Basquiat show. It then dawned on me that, the further away one is from New York, the less is known or understood about Basquiat. Like it or not, Basquiat is an obscure household name! Some people love him and some hate him and probably for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t sure if one graphic novel could help shed sufficient light on the subject but I decided to find out by reading Basquiat: A Graphic Novel by Paolo Parisi, published by Laurence King Publishing. This new English translation by Edward Fortes will be a welcome addition to anyone interested in better understanding one of the most celebrated and enigmatic of artists.
Basquiat: A Graphic Novel by Paolo Parisi
Paolo Parisi is in many ways an ideal artist to create a graphic novel about Basquiat. Parisi has proven himself to have the right temperament for the job. His previous graphic novels include a book on John Coltrane and one on Billie Holiday. As he puts it, his graphic novels all follow a common thread that includes “jazz, art, painting and process, rhythm, rigor, improvisation, and spontaneity.” Well, you can find all of that with Basquiat, an artist that jumped feet first into his art at an early age and never looked back, as if guided mostly by instinct and sheer will. His was an original and singular vision.
Basquiat: A Graphic Novel by Paolo Parisi
Within this biography, the reader will come away with a good sense of the trajectory of Basquiat’s art career, from his early forays into street art to his mugging for the camera on cable access to his navigating the highest levels of the New York art world. Parisi does a great service to Basquiat by generously quoting directly from him and from the people who knew him best. Much of this book is made up of quotes, transcriptions from letters, and just the right amount of carefully composed dramatization. The bold use of color in this graphic novel is supposed to evoke the same bold use of color that Basquiat used in his own paintings. Alas, we somehow don’t explore any of Basquiat’s actual paintings! Diego Cortez, the curator of the famous Times Square Show that helped to launch Basquiat is quoted: “Jean had something different. He reminded me of Cy Twombly and Franz Kline. He didn’t even know who Kline and Twombly were, but he had instinct, charm, and energy on his side.” There is plenty of instinct, charm, and energy on display in this book. And you can take it any way you like: for beginners, it’s a wonderful first step; for those familiar with Basquiat, it’s a great New York fable.
Basquiat: A Graphic Novel is a 128-page hardcover, in full color, published by Laurence King Publishing, English translation edition (May 14, 2019).
Camilla d’Errico has something for you: graphic novels, how-to creative books, coloring books, paintings, prints, and so much more. Welcome to the world of Camilla d’Errico! If you’re into manga, Pop Surrealism, or even classic Italian painting, this artist is for you! You can call her a commercial artist or a fine artist. She’s definitely both. In this interview, we explore as much as possible in a brief video format. I offer up a new buzzword in Pop Surrealism, the idea that we’re living in the era of the Anthropocene, a time when us humans are dominating over the climate and the environment. Hope you like this short and sweet interview. Just click above.
Camilla d’Errico at ECCC 2019
If you’re heading out to Emerald City Comic Con, March 14-17, be sure to visit Camilla d’Errico on the main Exhibitor Floor at Booth 108!
In the Studio.
As I say, there is so much to love from the world of Camilla d’Errico, which includes melting rainbows, fuzzbutts, and albino rhinos! Be sure to keep with her in 2019. She has a new book out and new gallery art show!
POP MANGA DRAWING
POP MANGA DRAWING is a new how-to book detailing how to draw in the d’Errico style with pencils, available July 2nd from Watson-Guptill.
ZODIAC
ZODIAC is a new art show at Haven Gallery in New York that will run from May 11 thru June 16, 2019.
Femina & Fauna, by Camilla d’Errico, published by Dark Horse Comics
Camilla d’Errico has been making waves in the fine art and comic industries with her manga-influenced style. Ever the prolific artist, d’Errico is an urban contemporary painter, illustrator, designer, character creator, and comic artist residing in Vancouver, Canada. Nominated for both Eisner and Joe Shuster Awards, she has worked with Random House, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, and Tokyopop. Her creator-owned properties include the graphic novel BURN and SKY PIRATES OF NEO TERRA. TANPOPO, d’Errico’s passion project, has been embraced by fans and independent comics collectors for its highly original combination of classic poetry and literature blended with her unique “West Meets East” drawing style. She has collaborated with Neil Gaiman, Sanrio, Disney and Mattel. d’Errico has distinguished herself through her ability to seamlessly weave manga and western comic art, creating a unique style that bridges cultural and geographical boundaries, while remaining totally relevant to today’s varied audience.
Karl Stevens is quite an impressive artist. Now, he does let himself get tripped up over labels. Stevens confides this with the reader, along with a bunch of other juicy and fun things, in his new autobiographical graphic novel, The Winner, published by Retrofit/Big Planet. Just who is Karl Stevens to think you, the reader, are going to care one way or another as to how he sees himself as an artist and/or cartoonist? Well, he’ll readily admit that he’s confronting the artist’s lot in life of fighting off overwhelming indifference but that’s just the thing. Mr. Stevens is engaging in the fine old tradition of presenting a portrait of the artist and having the reader take of it what they will. In this case, there is much to take and much to celebrate.
THE WINNER by Karl Stevens
I, for one, celebrate the work of Karl Stevens–and I’m sure you will too! I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing his work in the past. I really enjoyed, Failure. This new book carries on that same level of excellent auto-bio along with a foray into other themes. I see here an evolving sense of humor mixing sharp self-deprecation with the wildly absurd. It’s as if Stevens is still too close to the real world gripes that he needs to play with different genres in order to cut loose. Stevens inserts a few segments of sci-fi, fantasy, and even horror, into his auto-bio narrative. These segments are experimental compared to his far more measured and earnest social commentary. Taken as a whole, the reader seems to get to know Stevens through all these various samples of the artist’s life, working process, and work resulting from sources other than direct observation.
THE WINNER by Karl Stevens
Stevens plays up his anti-social and elitist tendencies for the reader. Whether or not the Stevens on the page is the same as the Stevens in private is one of those games that can make you crazy. It doesn’t help that Stevens has such a deliciously realistic style that lures the reader in. The writing is crisp, the dialogue is sharp and natural. So, sure, you can easily lose yourself in these wonderful scenes of Steven ranting about the mindless masses while his wife, Alex, nudges him into a reality check. I suspect that there’s more truth to these scenes than fiction and that’s totally okay, better than okay! Stevens knows how to kid. For someone who can so consistently conjure up such exquisite work, the man has earned himself the right to complain as much as he wants about the dire state of affairs and us less than noble humans.
Getting back to the genre-hopping going on here, I think Stevens is still figuring out what he wants from this. Right now, I see an artist/writer of high caliber flexing his muscles and testing things out. That said, his work can be quite visually appealing. And his humor is wry, dry, and often silly. As it stands right now, I think Stevens is heading in a very interesting direction. I am curious to see how Stevens continues to intertwine his real world with the supernatural.
THE WINNER by Karl Stevens
The Winner is a 104-page full cover trade paperback, now available. For more information and how to purchase, visit Retrofit/Big Planet right here.
“Discount Demon Deals” is a hilarious mini-comic devoted to demons by Michael Koehler. Done is a wacky style that would fit right in on Cartoon Network, Koehler’s demons are at once hideous and whimsical. The idea here is that this is a catalog presenting the latest in appealing demons. All you need is your demon credit card and a reasonable number of souls in stock in order to properly catch up on this season’s demons. For more details, visit Michael Koehler right here. And, if you are in Tacoma, be sure to stop by and see an art show featuring Koehler’s artwork this Saturday, February 3rd, from 6-8pm at Destiny City Comics:
Lore of the Lords – Showcasing the Art of Michael Koehler
Here are some more details from Destiny City Comics:
Lore of the Lords – Showcasing the Art of Michael Koehler
February 3 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Free
A strange look into the modern folklore and fantastic characters imagined by artist Michael Koehler, Lore of the Lords takes a tour through the tribes residing within the elusive cult realms.
“You enter through a dark whirlpool to find yourself at the mouth of a great trench. As you look around, you find this world is full of strange and mystical creatures. They seem to be some sort of ancient looking, animalistic people. Suddenly a large reptilian scout spots you and bellows out a deafening screech as you try to find your footing along the loose, rocky chasm. You see flying in the cloudy sky above, a bat like figure quickly descending upon you. You scramble out of the way just as it swoops down at your feet. Looking up at you with three crazed eyes and psychedelic features, it lets out several high pitched chirps and begins lurching toward you. A gang of grotesque bat faced creatures surrounds you as you look for an impossible escape. Each wretched bat drips with slimy plasma and is armed with arcane tools and primitive looking weapons. As a tall, fiery red faced man-bat leans into your face and sniffs piggishly, you utter, “What… where am I?” It lets out a wild cackle and replies, “You have entered our world through the black void, and so now, you are ours. Just as everything that enters… Into the Cult Realms.”
Be sure to visit and experience this highly original art firsthand. Facebook Event Page is right here.
