|
Yesterday, after uploading my "protesters" drawing to Instagram, my friend Catrina let me know that Works/San Jose, a local non-profit art gallery, had a call-for-art and that my drawing fit the theme. I looked into it and found out it's for a memorial exhibition for George Floyd, Breona Taylor, and the countless other black people who lost their lives due to racism. From the Works website: "Rather than issue corporate statements, Works seeks to amplify creative voices calling for justice. We ask artists to thoughtfully respond with work for a community exhibition respecting those who have faced the ultimate deadly disrespect." My drawing fit the bill so I submitted it last night. This morning Works/San Jose posted my drawing on their Instagram page. The show is online only, since we're still dealing with Covid, and officially goes live June 19th (Juneteenth) 2020.  I went over all 4 of these drawings today and whited-out any mistakes. I probably missed a few so I'm gonna over it again tomorrow. Besides that, they're done. They're gonna go in frames but I want to take some hi-res photos of them before framing them to make prints later. The original plan was to show these at my exhibit at the SJSU/Martin Luther King Library, which would have ran thru May and June but was canceled due to the Coronavirus. I'm hoping there's not a 2nd wave, now that things are reopening, so I can look for a place to hang my work for a future art show. Fingers crossed! I think I'm gonna try and knock out one more piece this size, if not more, while I stay SIP.  Today sucked. I felt depressed all day and I didn't know why. Maybe the loneliness of sheltering-in-place is finally getting to me. I barely did any work on my Hearts & Stars piece, just made a quick digital mock-up with a black background but didn't lay down any ink. I couldn't get myself to workout or go for a walk. I went for a long drive, took Capitol Expressway from east San Jose all the way to Campbell, but didn't feel any better when I got home. Later that night, still in a funk, I noticed the the note on my calendar, "MLK Exhibit Day One." Today was supposed to be the opening of my art show at the Martin Luther King Library downtown. I wonder if that's why I down all day. I wasn't aware of today's date but maybe subconsciously that's what has been bugging me. For the past few weeks I've kept my head down and worked on my drawings for the show. It was a goal I was working towards. I recently got confirmation that my art show, and all other exhibits, were postponed until further notice. Now I don't have anything to work towards, besides finishing my current drawings. There are no DJ gigs till June, if at all this year, and no event vending opportunities in the foreseeable future. I hope this depression was a one-day thing. I don't want to lose any more momentum and risk undoing everything I've worked so hard to do over these past few months. Wish me luck! As seen on Insta: "Next Friday would have been the opening of my exhibit at the Martin Luther King Jr Library. The library is closed until further notice so there will be no exhibit but we might do something virtually over the interwebs at a later date." This is kinda what it looks like when you go to @sanjoseday on Instagram and scroll to my post. It's one long seamless image broken down into 10 slides. I laid out a bunch of different digital drawings & designs I've made over the past few years. It was fun making this and participating in the virtual art show since we're all still sheltering in place. The actual San Jose Day event has been postponed to July 18. Hopefully we'll be over the 'Rona by then. Fingers crossed. April 8th (4/08) is San Jose Day. There was originally an event planned for this Saturday, the 11th, but it was postponed to July 19th because of the Covid-19 pandemic we've been dealing with for the past few weeks. Instead of just waiting till July, Haley, who runs San Jose Day, thought it would be fun to host a virtual art show via Instagram on 4/08. She invited me and a bunch of local artists to submit up to 10 images/slides that will go on a single post. I had fun with mine and pulled an all nighter yesterday working on it. I can't wait till everyone sees it! Here's a tiny sneak peak, follow @sanjoseday on Instagram to see the whole thing on Wednesday 4/08  My good friend Arely was recently asked to display her artwork at the Jennifer & Philip DiNapoli Gallery inside the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. She hung it up a few days ago and today I went and checked it out. She's a bad-ass artist and I'm glad she was asked to exhibit in this space. This is the same gallery I'll be hanging my work in in a couple months. I already started asking her questions about the installation process :) Arely's work is on display for the whole month of March so please check it out if you're in San Jose. Also visit her website: www.arelycardenas.com I forgot to share this yesterday. The promo artwork and short description of my upcoming exhibit is on the website for the Dr. Martin Luther King Library (also the San Jose State University Library) The working title is "A Whole Lotta Frankie" I got the idea from the AC/DC song "A Whole Lotta Rosie" Link: library.sjsu.edu/exhibits   Last Saturday at The Arsenal's art auction I won this piece by the homie Fernando aka EPH KUE. (@nandoid2485 on Instagram) I fucking love it! It's 19 inches long, 3 inches wide and made of wood. Made to look like a Sakura solid paint marker aka "streaker." It now lives on my desk near my books. Please give him follow and visit The Arsenal when you need art supplies. I was asked to submit an image and a 30 word description for my upcoming art show at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library for a newsletter going out to San Jose State students, faculty & staff. I hate writing about myself so I started with the image. It began as a pencil & paper sketch then brought in a photo of the library into Adobe Illustrator and started playing around. It's not perfect but I'm liking where it's going. I might make a few tweaks before submitting it and probably do more by show time. Now to go write a description...  I think I'm done with Head Thing 2. I might come back later if I think of a good background for it. The next project is to update these 3 old drawings, from an old art show that never happened, and ink them. They're the same size as Head Thing 2. Big. I originally drew them with 2" white borders but now I'm making them edge to edge, full bleed. They're all based off much smaller versions I drew back in 2014 & 2017 Today I finally shared the news that I'll be showing my artwork at the Dr. Martin Luther King Library, in downtown San Jose, from May 1st thru June 26th. It's happening in the Jennifer & Philip DiNapoli Gallery on the 2nd floor. I've gone and measured the walls where I'll be hanging my stuff and have an idea of what I'll display but there are some things to consider. I'm not allowed to drill or tack things to the walls. They must be hung with wire. It's also in a very public place with lots of foot traffic, and I'm solely in charge of protecting my work from theft & vandalism, so I have to rethink how, or if, I'm going to show my smaller & more delicate pieces. Keeping those things in mind, I want to make it fun and eye catching for everyone who sees it. I'll be posting more details as we get closer. Today I dropped off the printed award I designed and helped put it in its frame. Mission complete. I'm looking forward to the event next week where it will be awarded, along with a cash prize, to the recipient. I'll post pics of the award and more details after the event. After delivering the award I went measure the walls where my art show will be next May. It's a big space and I want to turn that sucker out. I'm even thinking of building a miniature version of the walls & exhibit area to help visualize the show as a whole. After measuring and taking notes I came home & warmed up to go to the gym. I'm trying to work off of some of this recently acquired end-of-the-year chunkage. After sweating my ass at the gym I came home to shave & shower then headed out to pick up the DJ gear for my gig tomorrow. I just finished prepping music. All that's left to do it write this blog and maybe watch some Stranger Things before bed. Goodnight. I've been cleaning house these last few days. Knocking out some to-dos, clearing out email and deleting old shit. Today I came across the flyer for my first, and only, solo art show. (October 1st, 2011 at 8:00 PM,) an animated gif I made from a drawing (Plantimal,) and a crappy picture of the Hoverboard prop I made for my Marty Mcfly Halloween costume many-many moons ago (that's where Frankie Mcfly came from) And in other news:
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I visited a site where I might be displaying my artwork. Today I got confirmation that my application has been approved and I will be showing next year. I'll be announcing more details as this thing start coming together.  I recently posted these pictures on my Insta and said I might be revisiting & finishing them soon. The characters in the picture on the left were drawn with oil markers. The middle piece was done in spray paint and the canvases in the right picture are brushed on acrylics. Some are over 6 years old. I used to display them at my booth at Subzero but didn't sell any. They also kept getting damaged from always moving them around so I left them as-is. I might have an opportunity to display them all which means I need to finish them and maybe make more. I went to check out a space today for a possible art show next year. Nothing's official, so I won't share any more details other than it's in downtown San Jose. This is really exciting. I'll share more as things progress. The pics below are from my last, and only, solo art show at my brother's old studio. I took the pics the night before, when I finished hanging everything. I forgot what year it was. It might have been 10 years ago now. |
Frankie Mcfly's
|
RSS Feed