Drawn and ReDRAWN

I will be exhibiting a few drawings this summer at Jeffrey Boone Gallery alongside the work of Anna Plesset and Biliana Velkova. The theme of this exhibit, titled ReDrawn, is the artists' use of drawing as a form of appropriation. It is part of the citywide drawing festival, DRAWN. The works I will be showing are a number of reworked drawings by one Emily Franey. The original drawings are dated from the mid-1800's but there has been some doubt as to their authenticity. They don't feel that old, only one of the dozen or so of her drawings that I acquired is significantly yellowed and there is an odd consistency to the quality of the lines which has led to discussions with a few people about the possibility that they are tracings. A minor mystery of no consequence. The original drawings, regardless of their origin, are lackluster.

Show is on from July 16 - August 15th. The opening is Friday, July 24, 6-9.
1 East Cordova Street unit 140, Vancouver, BC

The Drawing Center

I'm super thrilled to have had my work accepted for the Drawing Center's online viewing program. The Drawing Center is a not-for-profit gallery in NYC that puts on some great shows, I always visit when I'm in New York. I mean, I've been there twice. A little about them...

"The Drawing Center has been a unique and dynamic part of New York City's cultural life since 1977. The only not-for-profit institution in the country to focus on the exhibition of drawings, it was established to demonstrate the significance and diversity of drawings throughout history, to juxtapose work by master figures with work by emerging and under-recognized artists, and to stimulate public dialogue on issues of art and culture."

No dominance exists in the coterie at Christmas.

This seasonal mash-up contains one found drawing with ground squirrel then photoshopped with text and Ben Reevesesque snowflakes.

A quick browse with wolves.

For anyone who missed seeing my latest exhibit in the Attache Gallery, Lee has posted it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGjyL83BKA8

Locomotion on land is ungainly.

Here is one of my most recent alterations to a small watercolour I recently acquired. I was able to remove the existing paint quite easily and then add the details of this harp fur seal pup. The painting is roughly 3 1/2 x 5 inches.

Old news but good news.

I received a BC Arts Council grant this year to continue my found drawing series. I've been buying drawings from Ebay with a $25 cap per drawing (not including shipping which can be extremely reasonable at times and absurdly overpriced other times depending on the whims of those doing the mailing.) The monetary cap is somewhat arbitrary but was made with the idea that the artwork has been deemed to have little monetary value therefore it removes the implication that I'm destroying something of value or using the value of the existing work to give my own work value. (I mean, I'm no Chapman brothers able to go out and buy a suite of Hitler's watercolours and alter them. Not that that wouldn't be super fun.) Nevertheless, some people can get up in arms about "art" whether they are artists themselves or not, and place another kind of value on it, a sort of universal law that thou shall not tamper. More on all that later. Here are some of the drawings I'll be working with...

also...

I've designed a number of album covers for Jason Zumpano's band Sparrow. This isn't the most recent as those in the know will know, his band's name now being Attics and Cellars. I was going for a Penguin Book cover look with this one. The image is from a series of drawings where I'm working on found drawings. Generally speaking, in this body of work, I've added animals into existing landscapes. Here is another drawing from that series...

oh, and by the way, you can download that album from zunior for only $8.88!