5 years...

work in progress for Thinkspace Gallery's 5 Year Anniversary Show coming up
next month, opening on November 6th.

earlier process shots here & here.

congratulations to Thinkspace, to their amazing 5 years of artist support and more to come!

Self-portrait in progress

for an upcoming show at London Miles Gallery,
titled "Idol Hours", i've decided to take on the subject of self portrait.

each artist is to choose an older masterpiece from the past to re-interpret,
which is such a daunting task (for me, anyway).
i chose Egon Schiele's Double Self-Portrait (1915) below :


the reason for picking it among all the other amazing works was
because i thought i could tackle it from the angle of subject matter, at least,
without tainting the original artist too much...

many people have told me that they thought i paint my own face...
(like this piece, for example).
but this above is my first time...

and you can obviously see that i don't model for my paintings normally,
as the face is drastically more... boring & flat.

i've always wanted to experience painting a real person,
and i never thought i'd be my first real model, and what an interesting experience it has been.
after painting made up, nationality-less faces for years,
it's odd to paint a face that i can't... "control" the looks of.

now, i feel oddly detached from the images of my face as if it weren't my own,
but maybe the uncomfortable familiarity has settled in.
the painful imperfections and all.

at the moment it does look quite a bit like me (according to matthew),
but who knows what i'll end up adding onto this.

some sketchbook warmups :


click the image below for more info :

Beyond Eden Art Fair, Los Angeles

a multi-gallery art fair is happening this weekend in Los Angeles,
Beyond Eden at LA Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park:

Beyond Eden Art Fair
4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles.
October 9th & 10th.

here's my contribution along with the piece below from before :


Remember. 11"x14". Mixed Media on Wood. © 2010.


Magic Mountain. 9"x12". Mixed Media on Wood. © 2010.
from this show before.

..........................................

this year has been an interesting journey, as far as my art goes.
the relative sporadicity(?) of the shows & piece to work on has allowed my
thoughts to seep better into my piece rather than just running at full speed
like other years.

so i feel like i hardly notice the changes that others might see, from the process
having been so slow and quiet, to me at least... comforting, in an odd way.

the more i paint faces (which borders obsession), the more i get interested
in layers that live underneath our skin, the hidden emotions, the buried words
and thoughts that wants to hide and expose themselves at the same time...
that you find hard to ponder upon or look at, yet can't stop doing so.
things that betray the best of our intentions...