Posts Tagged ‘art’

I’ve been a bad blogger/web admin. I know this. And I know I tend to only post when I have something to promote. I’m SORRY. But just ask my long-suffering lifemate Sara: She doesn’t see much more of me than you do, because the unfortunate side effect of being so busy making stuff is that there is little time to do anything not directly related to said stuff. This week’s “stuff” is actually a lot of different stuff all at once, mostly revolving around the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival and the release of my band‘s new album, Unknown.

But we’re here today to talk specifically about the new exhibit I’m curating at the Marjorie Barrick Museum at UNLV, “Spinning Tales from Fremont Street.” Like the last show I assembled there, “Seduction of the Innocent,” it’s an awareness-builder for the Comic Book Festival. However, this show actually is all about the art, specifically the original art from the stories featured in the new anthology I edited and published to benefit the festival this year, Tales from Fremont Street. Beyond just comic pages, sketches, notes and scripts, the gallery space has also been transformed into a reasonable facsimile of a run-down Fremont Street motel. Most of the credit for artificially decaying the space goes to my co-conspirator, F. Andrew Taylor. Here’s some of his handiwork on the wall behind this lovely art:

Mighty convincing, no?

If you’re so inclined and available, you should attend the opening reception for this exhibit tomorrow, Nov. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. It’s free, most of the contributors to Tales from Fremont Street will be there, and it’s also your first opportunity in-person to buy the comic (only $5!), from which all proceeds benefit the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District‘s support of the Comic Book Festival. (And if you don’t live near Vegas and want a copy, you can order one here.) And we can hug! You know you love Pj hugs!

I’ll be back with a post about other stuff you can do and/or buy soon. So keep your eyes peeled, and hope to see you tomorrow night!

I’ve known for months about Alternate Reality Comics owner Ralph Mathieu’s plan to convert the old dressing rooms in his retail space into an art gallery, so I was pretty happy when my Vegas Seven editor (and good friend) Cindi Reed gave me space to write about its opening in this week’s edition of the magazine.

In truth, this was supposed to be just a blurb in the Fall A&E Preview issue a few weeks ago, but it was rescheduled, which meant I could actually spend more space and time on it. That was fine by me, because I had to cut out a lot of material, mostly about the delightful, talented and charming curator of the new gallery space, Michelle Irish. While the concept for the “Artist Spotlight” was conceived by another Alternate Reality employee, Paul Tompkins, Michelle is the one who ran with it. But I guess you can read more about that in the article, huh?

I just wrapped up two other editorial pieces and an illustration commission, so hopefully you’ll be seeing/hearing more about that stuff soon. Otherwise, I’ve had my head down as I forge ahead with Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival-related projects, a few of which I’ll be blogging about here very soon, including the opening reception for “Seduction of the Innocent,” an art show celebrating Banned Books Week that happens next Friday. Stay tuned.

Want a perfectly good excuse to check out the Arts District’s newest lounge while supporting a terrific cause? Then you’ll want to buy tickets now for the First Friday Las Vegas Summer Fundraiser being held this Thursday, June 23 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Lady Silvia (900 S. Las Vegas Blvd. on first floor of SoHo Lofts).

For only $20 (in advance), you’ll get complimentary “signature” cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while bidding on great art and gift packages donated by local artists and businesses, with all proceeds benefiting Whirlygig, Inc., the nonprofit organization that puts on the monthly First Friday art walk and street festival.

Say what you will about First Friday — there’s ongoing debate about its growth from an art-oriented event to a giant street party — but there is no denying that month after month, no other single force draws SO MANY bodies into the Arts District at one time to enjoy live music, patronize businesses and get out of the suburbs. Whether or not actual art is selling in galleries on that night is irrelevant (but it is, at least out of my wallet!). The mere fact that tens of thousands of people flood the streets around Main Street and Charleston Boulevard for hours on end every First Friday has enabled more and more businesses to open, draw new fans and thrive in the days and evenings between events, and that is something that would not have happened if not for the success of First Friday.

But as someone who has known the hard-working (and oft-maligned) organizers of the event for a long time, I can say if you’ve even attended First Friday once, you’ve reaped the benefits of a lot of others’ sacrifices for the cost of almost nothing, and much like consuming all that public radio programming for “free,” this is the perfect opportunity to give back and say “thanks.” I’ll be there, likely bidding on more art I don’t have room for, so come down and have a cocktail with me. The drunker we get, the higher we’ll bid.

I’ve been hinting at what’s been occupying most of my time the last two weeks here, but overtly giving peeks at it on Facebook, however, I haven’t completely revealed just what the heck I did in the windows of the Contemporary Arts Center until now. OK, technically the art installation itself was revealed to the public Thursday, when I put the finishing touch on it. But I haven’t really explained what the heck is going on.

Basically, the CAC separately curates its large, front window display facing Charleston Boulevard separately from the exhibits running inside the gallery. These “East Side Projects” essentially let an artist use the entire display to execute his or her vision. I was asked by the CAC board if I’d be interested in doing something with the window for March related to my comic book work, specifically The Utopian. I was honored, of course, but a bit apprehensive. After all, I’ve only had a few little piece of “art” shown in a few group shows, and had never done anything on the scale of filling a 22-foot-wide space, especially one that would be viewable 24 hours a day on one of the busiest thoroughfares in Las Vegas. Also, I didn’t want it to be (nor did the CAC) want it to be an overt ad for The Utopian, but I did know what I wanted it to be: fun, colorful and representative of my illustration style.

The concept I ended up developing was the effect of a passerby looking at life-sized comic book panels. I wanted to get across a few of the major themes of The Utopian, including the tendency to render the past with overly nostalgic eyes, and of course, the message of real change coming from the group up — something extremely relevant in light of the uprisings in Iran, Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere. To my surprise, the initial designs I submitted — a combination of art and text culled from or inspired by the original comics — were accepted wholeheartedly, which left me to figure out just how I’d fabricate all the parts of this giant diorama.

There were three major elements to this installation: The two different backgrounds, the “stand-up” characters, and the foreground lettering (speech balloons and captions). It became almost more like set design. After initially considering producing everything digitally and printing in large format (which would have cost much, much more than the approximately $200 I poured into this project), I ended up doing everything by hand. The back walls — one a forced “exterior” perspective, one a high school hallway — were hand-painted with a combo of house paints and  acrylics. The stand-ups (four of them) were drawn onto and cut out of 5-foot-tall foam board, painted with  acrylics and outlined with a Sharpie. I created stands from left-over foam board. The lettering was done (poorly) by hand on poster board, and then suspended from the rafters with clear thread. Other elements were also created on the cheap, such as the “PRINCIPAL” door plate (white adhesive letters on black foam board) and a homecoming poster.

It took me about three days to paint the backgrounds and a day and a half to cut and paint the stand-ups.  Installation of the stand-ups and hanging elements took another day and a half. I did it all myself, with some last-minute assistance from Sara.

Feedback so far has been very kind. I personally think it turned out just “OK.” Of course, you lose a lot going from a perfectly controlled digital design to a real-life environment. But the effect is there. And it definitely brings attention to the CAC’s windows. If you get a chance over the next few weeks, swing by the Arts Factory and check it out.

Finally went to Go Raw Cafe yesterday. This is one of those places like Whole Foods where it’s dangerous for me to walk in, because there are so many good and interesting food items for me to buy, and it’s far too easy to spend a lot of money there. Aside from making all-raw, all-vegan dishes (with creative ingredients such as “nut cheese” — better than it sounds!), Go Raw also carries a variety of raw grocery items, including “breads” (made from sprouted seeds and soaked nuts), snacks, cookies, beverages, cooking supplies and other goodies, including a large selection of books on homeopathy, raw cooking and other health topics. Oh, and it has a salad bar, too.

I walked out spending about $40 on two prepared meals, a smoothie and a bag of  spicy “krispys” (basically, raw tortilla chips). I know that sounds like a lot of money, and believe me, it is. That’s the reason I only go to Go Raw on special occasions. A typical lunch for two would cost about $20, and while that’s not actually much more than even going to a sandwich shop (once you factor in sides and drinks), it’s probably more than most people want to, or should, spend on a normal basis. But the quality of the items Go Raw creates is so good (and the process going into making some of these items is so involved) and tasty, it’s worth it.

After getting my hair cleaned up by the always-adorable Kimberli Lopez at Tease Boutique Salon (a long drive for me, but she does such good work), I headed to the opening reception for “Drawn in the Dust,” the comic book art exhibit at UNLV’s Barrick Museum in which I have a few pages hanging. The turnout was surprisingly good. It may have helped that this was a dual reception — another show of art by UNLV faculty and students was opening just on the other side of the wall from our show — but there were definitely a bulk of people over the two hours who came specifically to see our silly little comic drawings. I had a great time seeing new and old faces and comparing notes with other artists about our respective processes. It’s still a little weird for an industry veteran like Deryl Skelton (who’s worked on dozens of titles over the last few decades, including a great 1990s run on Star Trek: The Next Generation for DC) to consider me a peer — and an honor to be his editor on Tales from the Boneyard — but it’s also a nice feeling. I shot some video of the event last night, but I’m not sure how the audio came out, so we’ll see if something actually turns up.

After that, I headed downtown to the El Cortez for Vegas Seven‘s “The Tell.” When I was talking to host Dayvid Figler a few nights ago at another event, he described the ballroom space in the El Cortez to me, explaining that it used to be a buffet, so there were still buffet bars lining one side of the room. He noted there was seating for only about 80 or 90, between the fixed booths and the portable chairs. Well, it turns out about 200 people turned out last night. It was pretty amazing. Two hundred people on a Friday night for a storytelling event. Admittedly, it was free, and it was being heavily promoted by both Seven and the Vegas Valley Book Festival, and among the Vegas culturati, it was one of those “must-attend” events. But still, impressive. And it was great. Seven storytellers from or connected to Las Vegas sharing their experiences with cheating — whether romantically, professionally, academically or otherwise. Many drinks were purchased and consumed (none here of course!), the room was standing-room only, and most everyone seemed to really enjoy the loose, fun atmosphere. This is apparently the first in a series of such events, so look for more installments of “The Tell” in the near future.

I called it a night right after that, however. It was 11:30 p.m. by the time everything wrapped up at the El Cortez, and while my friends were very insistently asking me to go to the after-party at Downtown Cocktail Room, I just wanted to head home and sleep. I had been up since about 6:30 a.m., as I did manage to go for a run in the morning as planned — about 2.6 miles total running and walking — and I didn’t really want to be around a lot of smoke and stuff during my “detox” week. But it did bring me back to my straightedge days, when I’d hang out in bars all night drinking only Sprite and still had a good time (for the most part, when I wasn’t soberly aware of people getting obnoxiously drunk) without defiling my body as much. I was genuinely enjoying myself last night without libations, but I was still pooped nonetheless.

Geez, give me a schedule to blog, and I’ll just ramble about nothing for a while, huh? Ack.

Anyway, you came here for yesterday’s menu, didn’t you? FINE:

• Pre-run/post-run snack: Coconut creme pie Larabar
• Breakfast: One apple, one cup Dynamo juice blend
• Lunch: Caro-bana smoothie from Go Raw (carob, tahini, banana, dates)
• Supper: Two veggie wraps from Go Raw (pesto, “almond cheese,” tomato, avocado, sprouts, onions, cucumbers and carrots wrapped in collard greens)
• Dinner: Lentil and vegetable soup with three spicy “krispys” (buckwheat, chia seeds, flax seeds, oranges, yams, sunflower seeds, garlic, olive oil, basil, rosemary, Himalayan Crystal Salt, jalapeño)
• Late-night snack: Three slices pineapple
• Beverages: Water all day, plus the above-listed, and a few sips of Kombucha tea

Have to get this article for David magazine done today. For real. Tomorrow I have band practice and other nonsense, and the rest of the week will be insane prep for Long Beach Comic Con, so … yeah. See you kids later.

Yep. I’ve got art in another group show, this one a showing of original comic book art by Las Vegas-based creators (not to be confused with the other original art show I’ll be in next month as well at Blackbird Studios; more on that to come) called “Drawn in the Dust.” Curated by my man Dustin Wax at the UNLV Barrick Museum, it features all of the fine people listed above, which is a pretty diverse crew. I’ll be showing two pages of original art from my story in Omega Comics Presents #3. Which you should have pre-ordered by now, right? RIGHT?

It would be lovely to see all your faces at the opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday. I’m sure there will be refreshments, and I believe most of the artists should be in attendance to bask in your admiration and worship. As I am in the midst of Detox Week 2010, I will not be drinking, and I will probably be starved, so if I sniff your hair or bite your arm, well, sorry in advance.

Oh, and after that, you should head downtown to the El Cortez, where Vegas Seven is presenting “The Tell,” a Vegas Valley Book Festival pre-event featuring an evening of seven true, unscripted stories about cheating. It features a number of friends including host Dayvid Figler, Cindi Reed, and a number of other respected storytellers. The thing starts at 8 p.m. for cocktails (none for me) and 9 p.m. for, um, talking. Here’s a Facebook event!

Zombies + Conan? Brilliant.

Last time I did a stint at First Friday, it was specifically to hawk comics, at the urging of my crazy followers on Twitter. This time, it’s because my friend Jennifer Henry — fashion icon, fine artist, drinker of refined spirits — is curating the outdoor exhibition spaces at the epicenter of the monthly art walk/block party, and sucker that I am, I couldn’t help but say “yes” when she asked me to apply for one of the free tent spaces.

OK, so that’s not the ONLY reason. There’s also the matter of the upcoming Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, which could use a little promoting, as well as that little Tales from the Boneyard anthology, so it might be the case that I’m coincidentally going to have fliers promoting both of those intertwined projects. And, yes, I’ll also probably have some comics and prints to sell as well. But what artwork will I be outdoor exhibiting? Well … as you guys may or may not know, most of the illustration work I do is all-digital. That means there’s no “original” artwork per se. Everything is a digital copy. But I DO actually have original artwork from my last few comic book projects, including my Tales from the Boneyard contribution, and the third chapter of my “Omega” serial from Omega Comics Presents. So, since I’m doing promotion for the Comic Book Festival and related items, I figured I’d show the original Boneyard art, which will also be a little sneak preview of the original art show we’ll be doing in November at Blackbird Studios.

At the aforementioned Blackbird Studios (1551 S. Commerce St.), owner/curator Gina Quaranto is hosting a zombie-themed art show, 28DAYS2A Zombie Apocalypse, which is coincidentally opening the same night as my appearance on the main drag this Friday. And, um, not coincidentally, I’ll have a piece in that show, called “The Insult That Made a Zombie Out of Zac.” A tiny little version of it is somewhere on this page. Yes, it’s a riff on the classic Charles Atlas comic book ads, but I spent a lot of time on this one, much more than expected, and you can see the full, 11×17-inch result at Blackbird Studios all month … or this Friday night. Or both! I think it turned out really nifty.

So … between 6 and 10 p.m. on October 1, I’ll be either under a tent somewhere near Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, or at Blackbird Studios on Commerce Street. Come on down and take in all the art, food, music, booze and nonsense. It’s the eighth anniversary of First Friday, which officially makes it the longest-running cultural event in Las Vegas by a million times over.*

*Approximately