LAST LA SHOW OF THE YEAR!

Thanks all who came to see the Robot Carnival at Gallery 1988.  It was fantastic group of artists and so nice to meet everyone, so often I'm just trapped in my studio working alone that I forget what it's like to get out and meet art fans and artists for a nice hang out.  This is my last LA art show until next year.   In January I will have a new piece in the Conjoined show curated by the always fantastic Chet Zar.  I promise you this new piece is like nothing else I have ever done, say tuned.  

Two other shows I'm doing for 2016; Telluride Co in August, and New Mexico in Nov.   New Mexico will be a first for me I'm looking forward.   And Telluride was such an amazing success I'm coming back.   I believe we will be open for the art walk in Aug 2016 if I survive the ski season!  No worries I'm taking it easy on the slopes these days.  More details soon and some WIP pics of my new creation for Conjoined 2016.

CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS JIM HENSON EXIBIT!

Anyone who is a fan of puppetry or more specifically a Muppet or Jim Henson enthusiast you must go to the Center For Puppetry Arts in Atlanta Georgia.  This permanent exhibit has more then the smithsonian when it comes to all things Jim Henson puppets from the earliest part of he and Jane Henson's career as well as personal items the light up paper mache moose head that was in his office for his whole career.

From Sam and Friends to Dog City this has museum has it all.   The world puppetry exhibit also has an amazing collection of historical puppets from all over the globe to stop motion puppets from Coraline, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Gumby and Pokey the original masks from Julie Tamor's Lion King and the list goes on!

If you live in the area or planning on going to Dragon-Con next Sept put this on your schedule!

you can see Emit Otter's row boat!

What about sprocket from Fraggle Rock?

Or this little known character who's name I can't remember.

They also have live performances, the next big show is Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer.

Someone thought I look a bit like Hank the Elf, they may have a point.

STILL TIME TO SEE THE ROBOT CARNIVAL!

Just a few more days and the Robot Carnival leaves town.  The art will be available at the Gallery 1988 Website for a while after the show closes.

We had a great opening night, thanks for all who came down.  At one point the Robot Tightrope Riders took a fall, due to my faulty engineering.  After a little super glue and some pliers it was back up and running.

Hung out with some great people and artist!

Sean Chao

Brent Bushnell of Two Bit Circus

Photographer Frank Schaefer

Artists Shane Geil and Anthony Ausgang 

Artist Robbie Conal and his wife Deborah Ross

(I was telling them about how big my hair used to be)

Fixing the tightrope.

Robbie, Deborah, and my partner in the show Mark Bryan 

Young artists, with the old artist.

Women love robots.

Discussing the finer points of ridiculous cartoons with Tom Stern.

Everyone hoping it will stay up in the air.

The show officially closes on Sat Nov 7th.  I'll keep you all posted on more upcoming shows and  events!

SILK SCREEN POSTER!

The Robot Carnival limited edition silk screen posters have just arrived.  They look amazing, I based the design on those old carnival posters with just a few colors and a block of white to stamp the info of what ever town they rolled in to that week.   Mark Bryan and I collaborated on the characters. this is a limited run of 100 that will be signed a numbered by Mark and myself, and if you come to the opening I'm sure you can get some of the other artists to sign your poster.

WORKING ON THE ROBOT CARNIVAL!

Still more art to make before the big opening next week.  I'm at the point where I believe it will all come together but there's so much to do it's hard to tell.  This is the almost finished piece: "In The Future All Carnies Will Be Replaced By Robots."   No mater how futuristic we get someone has to mop up the vomit.

FRIDAY OCT 23RD!!!!

Finally we are getting close to the opening of Robot Carnival at Gallery 1988.   I have been painting, and building a couple of moving sculptures that are proving to be way more complicated then I expected.   Also there is going to be a collaborative limited edition Silk Screen show poster by Mark Bryan and myself.   We have 8 other amazing artists participating in the show:

David Chung

Joshua Ellingson

Geoffrey Gersten

Aaron Jasinski

Gabe Lanza

Shaunna Peterson

Wade Schin

Lawrence Yang

so there's going to be quite a bit of cool Robot art!

Old school freak show posters were my inspiration for two of my larger pieces- Mermaid-O-Matic and Automated Evil.  It seemed like the Mermaid and Devil themes were popular, sex and evil will always attract a crowd.

A little WIP shot of Automated Evil.

There will be a couple more posts  as we get closer to the show looking forward to seeing you all there!

ROBOT CARNIVAL IN OCTOBER!

  

Working on my upcoming Gallery show Robot Carnival at Gallery 1988 opening Oct 23.  I will have some automated sculptures hopefully a couple the mechanics are a little daunting, one day working fine test after test, the next day it's like it never worked.  More WIP pics on the way!

ASTRO SLOTH DEBUT THIS WEEKEND!

Also the Astro Sloth will be available this weekend at the MOAH show, then on my website Monday July 20th.

I'm finishing the painting this week and they will be boxed and ready to ship!  There are only 20 so don't wait!

THIS WEEKEND!!!

Proud to announce the opening of "The Art Of Toys" - A Left Coast Retrospective Of Designer Toys will be opening in Lancaster CA the is weekend.   Curated by Julie B and Heidi Johnson this is the first museum retrospective of the vinyl collector toys.   If the show is popular it may travel but we will see.  For those of you in Southern California I'm looking forward to seeing you all there.

ASTRO SLOTH LIMITED EDITION RESIN!

Here it comes, the limited edition In Honor Of Astro Sloth resin to be released at Museum Of Art & History in Lancaster CA  There will be 20 Astro Sloth sculptures cast in resin and hand painted in a faux bronze finish by myself, signed and numbered.  

Molding and casting is being done by the amazing team at Pretty In Plastic.  Retail price and how to purchase details to follow.  The MOAH show: Play Create Collect- The Art Of Toys: A Left Coast Retrospective Of Designer Toys opens July 18th and runs through September 6th.  

ASTRO SLOTH LIMITED EDITON RESIN FIGURES!

A sneak peek of the work in progress Astro-Sloth limited edition resin figure.  Pretty In Plastic is working with me on casting a resin of my sculpture In Honor Of Astro Sloth.  I'm not sure what the edition number will be I want to make an original "bronze finish" version and I think a full color version might be cool.  They will be hand painted by myself signed and numbered.

This is the casting master ready to be painted and loved.  Keep checking in for more info!

MAKING AN ANIMATION PITCH!

Many times I am asked about who to put together a pitch for an animated show, this question can be difficult for me to answer because I have steadily weaseled my way in to animation over 21 years.  And frankly I don't really know!  What a pitch consists of changes over time, and since I'm not a writer what I put together for a pitch is very different from someone who is a writer creator.

All that said here is a link to a video from the CTN Expo (Creative Talent Networks) a talk by Heather Kenyon about how to create a pitch bible.   This is the best instructional talk I have ever seen about creating a pitch bible, for all beginners and professionals alike.  My one little piece of advice that I tell anyone who wants to tell me their amazing animated show idea; "Write It Down."  The more you talk about something the more diluted it becomes.  The exercise of sitting and writing is also good training for harnessing your creativity.

Watch and absorb.

KING OF THE NERDS ROBOT SCULPTURE!

Last Friday on King Of The Nerds my Robot sculpture "Early Version Of A Modern Vacuum" was revealed as the challenge prize.  I was honored that the producers of the show asked me they could use some of my art work.  Besides the Revenge-Bot sculpture in the lounge this smaller example of my work is more the size that I sculpt.

The idea of somewhat sophisticated machines doing un-sophisticed tasks has always amused me.  Like this guy here is able to have emotions, communicate and balance on one gyroscopic wheel, yet still just pushes a broom.

Super Sculpey and Super Sculpey Firm are my chosen clays for making a one of a kind sculpture like this guy.   I start with a scale drawing and make the parts to size, then figure out the form bit by bit, like building a model kit.   Since he was to balance on one wheel I wanted to run a piece sturdy armature wire through the middle and mount it to the base.  He is cocked slightly forward to give it a bit of motion.

Another technique I use with a complex piece like this is not to sculpt every thing at once and try to have the form fully built with unbaked sculpey.   It works better to bake, sand and set the lower parts as I work my way up, kind of a stacking technique.  Also notice the wooden base is just a chunk of old 2X4 better to work on a temporary base that can get messed up during sculpting and transfer the finished piece to the final wooden base when complete.

The juxtaposition of angular shapes with smooth round shapes helps to give a sculpture / character more textures.  To make the wheel I rolled a tube of clay, then wrapped it around the hub.

Then fit it snuggle under the fender smoothing it with some 90% Rubbing Alcohol.

This October I have a big art show in Los Angeles with Eric Joyner.  Eric is another one of my favorite robot artists

You can bet there will be more robot sculptures to come this year.  More info on the show soon!

EAT YOUR ART OUT 8!

Angel City Derby Girls are having their annual benefit show EAT YOUR ART OUT 8 "Next Stop The Twilight Zone"  Silent Art auction.  This is one of my favorite events to participate in it's a chance bid on some great art and benefit the Angel City Derby Girls.

  

My piece this year is "A Dimension Of Mind" Acrylic on artist block 24" X 6" a substantial piece that will be up for auction.  I plan on attending the event Sat March 7th 7 PM at Titmouse Studios in Hollywood so I hope to see you there.

NEW EPISODE!

A new episode of "How To Do Everything With Garrick And Marvin" is up on DreamWorks TV.

Garrick And Marvin try and teach you How To Play Guitar, with disastrous results.

In one shot I wanted Marvin to put out Garrick's flaming hands with a fire extinguisher device I used an upside down can of compressed air basically to shoot out the propellant.  Of course it's flammable so I made a quick cut from blasting him with fire to blasting with freezing propellant.
It worked out.  Lighting dolls on fire, always fun.

KING OF THE NERDS!

Not myself, I'm not smart enough to be a nerd.  In School I was more of a social misfit even shunned by the nerds.   I'm talking about the new competitive reality show King Of The Nerds in it's third season airing on TBS.  This season my largest sculpture Revenge-Bot is a features art piece in the Nerdvana Lounge.  It was very cool to be a part of the show, and in the 7th episode there is more of my art you will have to watch and find out.

 Installing the piece was made much easier by the crew building a fantastic purple carpeted platform
with a big double door near by for loading in.

The art department did an amazing job transforming the given space into the lounge you see on the show

See there he is in the background.  This summer I will be hauling Revenge-Bot out for another art show and will keep everyone posted on the Gallery and dates of the show.

The very beginning back in the fall of 2012 at the Pretty In Plastic parking lot.

Trimming down some of the metal brackets 

The foam adhesive was another sticky un-dissolvable expanding glue

that managed to get everywhere.

Getting closer to the finished form.  The dust from the sculpting foam is very harsh and

it gets everywhere, worse then sand or sawdust since it clings by static electricity and is not water soluble.

Complete structure ready for resin coating then prime and paint.

Two coats of auto primer

Rolling and brushing several coats of metal acrylic paint.  The paint is infused with iron so it does have a metal base for real rust.

After the metal paint the sculpt is sprayed multiple times with a copper oxide solution 

this is what creates the authentic rust finish.

Now looking very rusty in the blazing sun.

A couple of finishing touches at the gallery...

And it is done!