Image for Gristle

My friend Sean Steppanoff has been putting together his new issue of "Gristle" and I'm one of the artists in that one. It's an issue about Death. So here's the image I came up with for it. I thought I would just do a montage of symbols and little flashes of things that make me think of Death. I think I'll make a postcard image out of this one.

Systema Naturae at Nucleus Gallery

I tend to bitch and whine about getting my ass over to Alhambra for a show at Nucleus, but every time I get there I feel glad I did.

Nucleus Gallery

They have a great space and always strong little shows. I went to see the work of my friend Frieda Gossett mostly.

See Frieda's Web Site

She created these leather dimensional sculptures of Birds. It's like a leather Hitchcock film in that space. Cool leather creatures perched and ready. I have no idea how she made these. I only just learned how to "Bedazzle", so it's all a glorious mystery to me. And she's not the only one in this show. Here's the list. Frieda Gossett, Jamie Zollars, Andrea Offerman, and Michael Brown. It's selling out fast, so check it out before it's over.

The Marion Peck Show at Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery

As usual it's taken me more than a week to finally post this, but the show is still going. Great show too. If you can get over to Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City you should see the show. Many people will compare Marion Peck's work to her boyfriend Mark Ryden's work for obvious reasons, but I see many differences between them. She is undeniably in the "Ryden" zone though. But her paintings have a very "French" quality to them. They are very flowery and ornate and rich to look at. Her work has a very aristocratic quality to every stroke. And like Mark her work is just inspiring to take in. It's an event for sure. So here are some of my usual blurry shots. Someday I will learn how to take a sharper picture, but some of these aren't so awful. I hope they respect the art.

Promotion Time...

This is what my new mailer image looks like that I just got out. It's a digital piece made for the Children's Publishing Industry, so I hope it snags me some interesting calls. Now that I'm no longer working freelance for the animated tv pilot in North Hollywood that I previously mentioned I am back to promoting my illustration and cartoon work again. Seems like old times. I know the drill. It's my personal goal to get one mailer out each month for roughly 6 months and each mailer will target a different type of client, so I better get my rest. It's an ambitious goal, but I gotta do it.

Saul of The Molemen

There's this great new show called "Saul of The Molemen" running on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Sunday line-up and I wanted to share. If you loved "Land of The Lost", "Doctor Who" and "The Sid and Marty Croft Hour" you will eat this shit up! It's beginning to hit it's stride so check it out. Here are 2 parts of Episode 2 for your perousal.

Easter Peeps

Now that my car has a new clutch I could take my sad carcass on over to Mark Todd and Esther Watson's Easter dinner at their place in Sierra Madre. It was a room full of good people and good food. And kids hunting for Easter Eggs in the back yard. Just a small gathering, but man am I glad I got out of my little studio to trek over to their place. It's a world of difference from the swinging bachelor pad here in West Hollywood. It's hard to see but Esther made this amazing cake in the shape of a giant mutant chick with removable eye. I think that was her homage to Sammy Davis Jr. Here are some really blurry photos of the highlights. Happy Easter!

The Tree Show (New Work by Mark Ryden)

I'm finally posting these images to my blog since I've just been too busy, but here they are for my friends back in New York who couldn't make the show. Mark as usual put on a mind-blowing show. He is a tour de force to be sure. I went to school with Mark back in the day (the freakin' 80's! WOW!) Anyway, it was like going to school with a Mozart or an Einstein. He was always good and has always worked his ass off to do what he very simply does, which is blow your mind with his work. There were lines all day from noon to after 6 pm that took 30 minutes just for patrons to enter the gallery. He even had a separate line for his signature. It was exciting to see people treat the experience of seeing an exhibition that way. Mark's work does that to people. It's incredible. I took some photos while I was out for an afternoon run of the window display since the gallery is in my neighborhood. Enjoy!








Visit The Michael Kohn Gallery for the full experience. March 10 - April 28, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 10 from 1:00 - 6:00 pm

For more information, please contact: info@kohngallery.com or 323-658-8088.

The SILA Show at Billy Shire Fine Arts

Since my car had been in the shop for a week getting a new shifting cable and clutch I took the opportunity to burn a few extra calories and cycle on down to The SILA Show at Billy Shire Fine Arts. It turned out to be a pretty fun show. And some of my friends like Mark Todd and Esther Watson were also in it. Here are some of my badly shot and focused pics of the night. Hmmm....and I didn't even have any wine. You'd think I could take a better picture.

The Fluffer and Nutter Experience!

Lights! Camera!....ACTION!

Finally I am deep into the world of animation as I make the first short for my cartoon "Fluffer and Nutter", based on the weekly comic strip of the same name. I did a story in my zine "Guilt Trip" called "Wet T-Shirt Contest" that the first of the 3 shorts is based on and they all will run about 5 minutes in length. Here are some images from the completed scenes so far. I had some great people involved in the recording and voice talent for this too. We had a real fun time improvising and getting it just right. So I really cannot wait to post them to my YouTube page as well as my web site and other sites. More to come on this I swear.

From July of last year to late January of this year I was strapped into a chair working on an animated pilot for a small production company. The show was called "Eddie and The Squid" by Brett Merhar. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears....and a lot of unecessary drama too, but that's another story. I was really proud of working on it and also of Brett's work. He tinkered with things as much as he could to make it better and better which I feel has inspired me to use the same attitude as I do my own shorts. That whole experience has made me appreciate being in the moment and completing my own animated stories and characters. All in all it's a good thing.

I'll be updating this as I finish the first short, but here are images from several completed scenes.

Boston Freak Out!

It's been a while since I had the chance to write here in my blog but that's another story. I'll write about what kept me so long in my next post. Today there are stranger stories afoot. I am still reeling with how stupid Bostonians must be to think that those litebrite guerilla style campaign boards were bombs planted by terrorists. I think that if the same thing happened in Los Angeles there wouldn't have been any ruckus because we are so pop culture savvy and aware of stuff like that out here. Back east in cities like Boston and New York people are not as aware about pop culture. Just no time for it really. And there's an elitist attitude in Boston anyway about television and pop culture in general. It's just not how they are built. I lived in New York for many many years and it's the same thing. I guarantee you that if the campaign happened in New York City there would be bomb squads and media everywhere. And that's exactly what the people over at Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting were hoping for. That's why they'd never try that in LA. Now MILLIONS of people know what "Aqua Teen Hungerforce" is. I am so envious of the person who came up with this idea. Just brilliant. Now I have to come up with something to top it when "Fluffer and Nutter" finally get animated. Maybe I'll just silkscreen my characters on big black bomb-like bowling balls with lit wicks on them.

Post-It Show Deux

OK, now...I am one of 42 artists in this great show over at GR2 (Giant Robot) tomorrow night. You have to come see this massive friggin' thing. I helped for 6 hours to hang this entire show and it is a wondrous thing to behold. Come for the art...stay for the banjo music! Hope to see you all there.

GR2
Giant Robot
2062 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310.445.9276 www.grs.net

Saturday August 19th, 2006-------September 13th
Opening Reception Saturday August 19th 6:30pm until 10 pm