Born In Concrete

STRIPOLIS

2012-02-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic of the piece I had published in the latest edition of Serbian comic anthology Stripolis. This independent publication is the brainchild of Serbian comic author and illustrator Branko Djukic and a small group of collaborators. Their goal is to revive the production of, and the interest in, the ailing Serbian comics industry. This is the third volume of Stripolis to be published.

When Branko asked if I would be interested in contributing a piece to be included in the book, I was eager to participate. I've had a first hand experience of the poor state of the Serbian comic industry. Last May several of my pieces were stolen, altered, and used on the cover of the leading Serbian comics publication Politkin Zabavnik.

Not only is the book full of nice work, but the intentions of the creators and collaborators are commendable. Copies of Stripolis #3 can be ordered through the Stripolis website.

Thanks again to Branko Djukic for inviting me to contribute to Stripolis #3.

NEXT LEVEL GAMES

2012-01-30T23:26:00.000-08:00

Well, after 9 great years the time has finally come to move on from Next Level Games. My time there was amazing. I had a blast while working on 7 shipped game projects (plus one that is about to wrap up), 7 demo projects, and countless game design pitches. Over the years I also had the opportunity to heavily contribute to the company branding and identity. I learned a lot, and grew not only as an artist, but as a person as well. While the work and the growth were great, the best thing about Next Level has always been the people. They were the ones that made coming to work everyday so enjoyable and rewarding. I've worked with some of these people since the beginning of the company, and others before that at the original Blackbox Games studio. Several of my good friends from animation school work there, along with my good friend Nigel, who I've been sharing my artistic path with since we were 10 years old. So they will all be missed, and walking out of that studio for the last time on Friday is going to be tough. But it is time for a change.

I'm going to be moving back to Victoria and taking a position as a concept artist at the new Microsoft studio there. I have a couple personal reasons for moving back to Vic. as well, but this is an exciting opportunity. There will be some familiar faces as several ex-Next Level people are working there, along with a few I know from the Blackbox days.

As there will be a lot going on in the next few months, moving and getting settled, things here will be slow, but hopefully I'll find time to work on, and post some new stuff.

As for Next Level I wish them the best of luck. Not that they need it, I'm confident anything they do in the future is going to be great. Cheers guys, and thanks for all the good times!

INSOLENT MOCKERY OF THE DIVINE UNDER CENTRIST RULE

2012-01-17T23:31:00.000-08:00

Here is one that I picked away at over the holidays. As with other pieces in this series, this one was inspired by one of the deriding slogans painted on the walls at the Entartete Kunst exhibit in 1938. Room One of the exhibit was reserved for works of a religious nature, featuring works by Max Beckman, Wilhelm Heckrott, Karl Schimidt-Rottluff, along with a large selection of work by Emil Nolde. The title, "Insolent Mockery of the Divine Under Centrist Rule" was scrawled on the wall featuring Nolde's massive nine panel alter piece "Das Leben Christi" (1911/12). This slogan, invoking the nazi concept of Judeo-Bolshevism, is a simultaneous indictment of the art and the church.

Ever since I read those words, and from the beginning of this project I've wanted to tackle this image, but I was a little hesitant given the religious content. I'm somewhat of a spiritual person, but not a religious one. That being said, when it comes to religion, I'm sensitive to, and respectful of other peoples beliefs. I tried to represent the Christ-like figure, with all that that entails, without turning it into a caricature or parody. How successful I was will be for others to judge.....

Although most of the titles of the images in this series are displayed in German, I felt this particular title was more powerful in English. The German phrase "Unter Der Herrschaft Des Zentrums Frecher Verhohnung Des Gotterlebens" seemed to be lacking the impact of "Insolent Mockery of the Divine Under Centrist Rule" (probably solely due to the fact that I am English speaking....). Plus that title in German is so long I had a hard time fitting it on the image!

Enjoy!

Higher rez. and a few more details on my Flickr.

SCHWARZ AUF WEISS

2012-01-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of the piece I contributed to the art book: Schwarz auf Weiss Vol. 2. The book was published last fall but I received my copy over the holidays and I only just got around to taking a few shots now.

As the title suggests, and as I mentioned in a previous post, this book is a celebration of black and white art.

The book is full of solid work from contributors like Alexis Marcou, Nook, Bayo, Aro, Pavel Ripley, Luke Painter, and Carolin Morin just to name a few. The book is very well put together, featuring a minimalist design that emphasizes the artwork, embossed hard cover, and nice paper stock.

Thanks to Christian Schupp and SNNC for inviting me to be part of the book!

Schwarz auf Weiss Vol. 2 was published by From Here To Fame Publishing and is available from Amazon, etc. etc.

Well worth checking out.

SPECTRUM 18

2011-12-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of the two pieces of mine that were published in the latest edition of Spectrum. I was pretty pleased that my Dystopic piece was printed on a full page, and the other piece, A.R.A.R.I.T.A., seemed to hold up on the half page size.

This edition is quite large, and features some amazing work, including a nice cover piece by Jean-Sebastien Rossbach, and another banger from Fearless. Definitely worth checking out.

THE STAR (emperor)

2011-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

This new one was created as a design for a possible 2nd model kit for Michael Fichtenmayer's Industria Mechanika. The first kit, based on my Dystopic (ventilate) piece is currently in the master modelling stage and hopefully I'll have some progress images to post soon!

As the 28th piece is this series this one was inspired by the 28th path on the the Tree of Life, "the ruler". The colours are from the four worlds, and the tertiary graphic elements speak to correspondences of this path. The title comes from the tarot association, The Star. In divination the meanings of this card are hope, guidance and future possibilities, represented here by the female cosmonaut curled in a fetal position. Her fixed gaze tells us she has the determination to grasp one of these possibilities and to reach her chosen future potential.

The subtitle "the emperor", while possibly reinforcing the title of the 28th path, is more of a nod to Crowley, who proclaimed that Tzaddi was not The Star, and that the true Hebrew letter for this path was Heh, a letter more traditionally associated with Path 15 and the Emperor.

High res. and details at my Flickr.

ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP

2011-11-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of a spread I had in Advanced Photoshop #88 last month. My EK piece "Drifting" was chosen to be featured in one of the "How I Made" sections of the magazine. These are 2 page features that describe the piece, the artist and outline a particular Photoshop technique, or effect used during the creation of the image. As I don't use any Photoshop effects, I had to try and outline my painting process in 3 steps!

The rest of the magazine is full of great digital art, articles and a 6 page feature on Maciej Kuciara. The magazine also comes with a CD full of brushes, tutorials and other media.

Thanks to Adam Smith at Advanced Photoshop/Imagine Publishing for inviting me to be part of the issue.

BLOOOM

2011-11-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the work I exhibited at the ARTISHOX Gallery booth at the Blooom Creative Industries Art Show that was held in Cologne, Germany over the last few days.

ARTISHOX finished my prints off with Dibond/Diasec. I had never heard of this process before. It involves fusing a piece of acrylic glass to the print, and mounting it on a aluminium and plastic plate. Apparently the colours are more brilliant and the image is sharper than framing behind standard glass. Anyways, I was happy with the end result and thought they looked great.

I had the honor of exhibiting with other ARTISHOX artists Michihiro Matsuoka, Esther Barend and Philip Bosmans.

Huge thanks to Ben Wouters for putting everything together, hauling everything to Cologne, and for curating the booth!

More pictures here.

ARTISHOPIX

2011-10-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

ARTISHOPIX, the online shop/gallery of the ARTISHOX Gallery, is up and running. A whole bunch of my limited edition Entartete Kunst fine art prints are available on the site.

The shop also offers the wonderful sculptural works of Michihiro Matsuoka and paintings and fine art prints by Philip Bosmans and Esther Barend. The work of additional ARTISHOX artists should be appearing on the site soon.

Check it out here.

THE PASSAGE

2011-10-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Finally a new EK Piece.....it has been awhile since the last one back in June. I had a busy summer, and finding time for personal work proved difficult with several vacations, a kitchen reno, another set of boards for Endeavor, and spending a lot of time with the kids. As we settle into fall I plan on having a little more time for my own work.

The sketch that this one grew up around was started back when I was working on the piece for Rooms Uncovered Magazine, and shares the same two panel layout. The title, The Passage, along with the birth like imagery of the main panel, and the altered or evolved state of the right hand panel (here represented by the colour shift and time passage), speaks to the changes that have occurred within us, or that we feel have occurred, when we emerge from an experience.

Having emerged from a forced break from my own work, along with other recent events related to these pieces, I feel I have a new perspective of where I want to take this series.

High res. and details at my Flickr.

BLOOOM

2011-10-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'll be exhibiting some pieces at the Blooom Creative Industries Art Show in Cologne, Germany later this month. My work will be exhibited at the ARTISHOX Gallery booth, along with work by other artists the gallery represents.

This is a large show, with a host of galleries and artists exhibiting their works. The show is also running in conjunction with ART.FAIR, so there will be lots to see and experience.

The show runs from October 29th till November 1st, 2011 at Staatenhaus AM Rheinpark, Cologne, Germany.

If you are in the area, go check it out.

CGWORLD MAGAZINE

2011-09-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here are pics of the interview/feature I had in CGWorld Magazine. The issue came out back in January but I haven't posted it because due to several mail snags I did not receive a copy of the magazine until now.

CGWorld is the largest and most influential monthly magazine in China's CG Industry. This high quality magazine is full of amazing art from around the world, interviews with creators and also publishes material from US industry magazine Cinefex for the Chinese audience.

Thanks to Chief Editor, Yu Zhuo for the opportunity and for all his help.

ARTISHOX

2011-09-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce my joining of the ARTISHOX Gallery and Art Agency. The gallery, located in Hasselt, Belgium, will carry a selection of my current works and I'll be creating a new series of works specifically for the gallery in the future. As an agency they will also be representing, promoting and managing my work.

For those unable to make it over to Belgium, my work will also be available on the ARTISHOX online store, ARTISHOPIX, that will going live in the near future.

ARTISHOX exhibits and represents a host of amazing artists working in a wide range of mediums and subjects including Michihiro Matsuoka, Raf Veulemans, Philip Bosmans, Lex Tintel and Esther Barend to name a few. Check them out on the ARTISHOX website.

Thanks to Ben at ARTISHOX for his belief, commitment, effort and guidance.

INDUSTRIA MECHANIKA

2011-08-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to announce that the guys over at Industria Mechanika are going to translate a few of the figures from my Entartete Kunst pieces into model kits. The first one up is going to be "Dystopic", a piece I did last year for Ventilate. The figures will be roughly 12 inches and the kit will consist of resin parts and wires for cables and suspending orbs. We are just getting started on this so they won't be available for a few months but I'll post updates as they come.

Industria Mechanika is also working with Ian Mcque and Adrian Smith to bring their amazing work to 3 dimensions. From what I've seen so far the results are incredible. Check it out here.

THE BRIDGE

2011-06-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

This one began as a piece created for inclusion in the second edition of the art book "Schwarz Auf Weiss - Style Needs No Colour". As the title suggests, the theme of this book is that a strong design or illustration should be able to hold up in black and white, that the composition, the line work, the rendered values, etc. should create a solid piece, without the use of colour and/or "flashing techniques". That being said, this book is less of a manifesto, and more of a celebration of the strength and impact of black and white art.

When Christian Schupp (AROONE), the creator of the book, asked me to contribute a piece I was eager to participate. I always envision my work in colour, almost always work these pieces up in colour (as opposed to painting in greyscale then colourizing later), and often like to use colour to reinforce the meaning or idea behind the piece, so I thought it would be fun, if not a little challenging to realize a proper EK piece in greyscale.

The piece itself has no particular meaning. It has yet to be determined if the figure is falling/jumping from, or being pulled back up to, the the construct I began calling "The Bridge" during the production of this piece. The title is a reference to this, as well as a bit of a nod to the German expressionist group of the same name. The artists of this seminal expressionist group, including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Emil Nolde, Erich Heckel, and Max Pechstien were to suffer at the hands of the proponents of Enartete Kunst. After the Nazis secured power in Germany these artists were among those who had their work was seized, sold off or destroyed, and they were refused to display their work in public. In the case of Nolde, he wasn't even allowed to paint in private.

It is an interesting note that the artists in Die Brucke created a lot of black and white work, mostly in the form of woodcut prints and etchings.

After sending this piece over to Christian for the book I ended up adding a couple of hits of colour. One was the red hexagram, to cement the piece in the series, the other was a blue field behind the horse and rider symbol on the one of the orbs, a nod to the Blue Rider Group. Maybe for me style needs colour.....

Volume 2 of "Schwarz Auf Weiss - Style Needs No Colour" will be published later in the year by From Here To Fame Publishing. From the small amount of the work I've seen from the book, it will definitely be worth checking out.

High res. and details at my Flickr.

BORNINCONCRETE.COM

2011-05-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

I've finally created a website to feature my personal work and other various projects I've worked on over the last few years. All the Entartete Kunst work is on there along with the Endeavor Snowboard stuff and a few other projects as well. The site also has a built in shop for the giclee prints I offer, which up until now, were only available privately and at art shows. In the near future I'll be adding some of the concept art I created for the last few game projects I worked on, so come back for another look. Check it out at borninconcrete.com.

POLITIKIN ZABAVNIK - WHAT THE FUCK?

2011-05-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

Last week a couple of my pieces showed up on the cover of issue #3093 of Serbian comic/entertainment magazine, Politikin Zabavnik. While it is flattering to have my work considered for the cover of this popular and historic magazine, my work was used without permission, and was altered/censored (hexagrams and text elements removed), from it's original form without consent.

It is unfortunate that the the editors at Politikin Zabavnik didn't just ask to use my work. I'm happy to cross promote with magazines, I've done this in the past, and I'll do it again in the future. If they had asked me in the first place, I could have provided them with high resolution images that would have made their cover, and my artwork, look better (as opposed to scaling up low res. images off the web for print).

The altering/censoring of my work without consent is completely unacceptable. If they had an issue with certain elements contained within my work, or thought that these elements would be potentially offensive to their readership, then that should have been a clear sign not to have used my work on the cover of their magazine. To add insult to injury, their paint over job is poor, creating a false impression of the work.

I don't know if anymore of my work appears within the magazine itself, and if so, if these images have been treated in the same disrespectful manner.

I've sent an email over to the editors of Politikin Zabavnik asking for an explanation. Not surprisingly, I haven't received a response yet......

STROKE 04

2011-05-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

I've been invited back for the next instalment of the STROKE Urban Artfair, to be held in Munich from May 26 - 29, 2011. I exhibited some work at the third STROKE, held in Berlin last October, and heard it was a great show (I couldn't go because I was broke.......still am). I'll be featured in the digital exhibit along with a host of great artists. As with the last exhibit, our work will be displayed on large flat screen displays.

Anyways if you find yourself in Munich at the end of May go check out the STROKE Urban Artfair at - Zenith - Die Kulturhalle / Lilienthalallee 29 / 80939 Munich.

Thanks to Marco Schwalbe for inviting me back!

ROOMS ART UNCOVERED

2011-05-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a couple pics of the cover and feature published in Rooms Art Uncovered #4. I received my copy of the magazine a while back but I've been so busy lately I'm just getting around to posting it (this also explains the lack of new art posts as well.....). Print copies and a downloadable .pdf are available from the Rooms site. Print copies are also available in bookshops in various cities in the UK, continental Europe, and Asia, check the stockist list on the Rooms site.

Thanks again to Eva, Anna and Adan at Rooms!

STATE OF THE ART

2011-04-19T23:41:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pics of my wall at State of the Art. I hung giclees of my board art for Endeavor's 2011/2012 line, along with an example of one of the finished snowboards. As usual the show featured some great art from a host of amazing artists. It was nice to exhibit with friends and work colleagues (one present, one former), Rory Doyle and Nelson "Dedos" Garcia. I shared a whole wall with Doyle and his wonderful "Wood Grains and Chest Stains" series.

The Endeavor exhibit showcased the whole 2011/2012 line of boards. Here my "Always in the Dark" board is sandwiched between Doyle's awesome Next and B.O.D. boards.

The show is up until April 23rd, at the Whistler Conference Centre.

Thanks to Kassia O'Conner for her hard work curating the show, and to Jean and Angus for putting me up while I was in Whistler!

SLEAZE MAGAZINE

2011-04-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

I had a little spread of my work featured in the latest edition of Sleaze Magazine. Sleaze is a lifestyle magazine published out of Berlin and features articles about fashion, music, art, games, etc. A full digital version of the current issue can be viewed off the front page of their website.

Thanks to Sleaze contributor/graphic designer Sascha Thau for including my work in the magazine. Sascha is also a contributor to my Enartete Kunst series, by providing me with the German translations for the titles of the pieces. He has saved me from linguistic embarrassment on numerous occasions. Cheers to you my friend.

STATE OF THE ART

2011-04-07T21:06:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be exhibiting some of the art I created for Endeavor Snowboard Design's 2011-2012 line at this years State of the Art show up in Whistler. This show always showcases some great art, and the opening night is good time, so if you are in the area come by and check it out. The show runs from April 15th to the 23rd, at the Whistler Conference Centre.

UNCOVERED

2011-03-01T16:39:00.001-08:00

This is a piece I created for the cover of the upcoming issue of Rooms Art Uncovered Magazine. Rooms is a London based quarterly art magazine that offer their publication in both print and as a downloadable .pdf. Each issue is full of an eclectic mix of art and is worth checking out.

The theme of this piece was inspired by the concept of the magazine: "rooms is dedicated to all those spaces which are filled with ideas, emotions and creativity, and our mission is to uncover all these artist's dens and bring to light as much art as possible".

I pushed this statement through the "EK Filter" and came up this piece that features a cosmonaut, the motif for the artist, creative force in this work, emerging from a capsule or room. He is surrounded by other capsules that are also filled with individuals, ideas, and emotions but at the moment he is the only one brave enough (or foolish enough), to expose himself to the outside world. In the inset panel on the left the close up of his face gives us the impression that he isn't quite sure of himself, but because he is driven by passion, he carries on.

Wicked Golden Dawn font courtesy of Hydro 74/Legacy of Defeat.

In addition to the cover I'll have some work featured on the inside of the issue along with an interview. I'll post again when I get the details.

High res. and details at my Flickr.

HIGH 5

2011-03-01T15:44:00.001-08:00

As mentioned in a previous post, here are the graphics for Endeavor's High 5 board for the 2011/2012 season. These graphics differ from the original "I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have To Be Destroyed By Me" pieces in that they have been lengthened to fit the boards, minor text changes (the title pluralized as Max Jenke thought it would better represent the Endeavor crew), and the addition of patch graphics and info. text.

The base graphics are patches that incorporate the central figures of the topsheet image as well as some of the other symbolism of the patch that inspired that particular board.

The top image is a promotional shot of the 155 "Sneeky Pete" board, the second is from the 2011/2012 Endeavor catalogue and the third is my final design sheet.

DRAINED

2011-02-19T21:24:00.001-08:00

For the last three years every January/February has been a rough time of year for me. With kids that during the winter months are bringing home illness, and me, with what must be one of the weakest immune systems known to man, I'm constantly sick. This aligns with a number of mandatory social engagements that cannot be missed. Work at the studio always seems to be crazy busy during these months and I usually have a number of side projects on the go that require attention. This all adds up to me being completely drained physically and mentally.

I think I stated working on this piece in anticipation of all this descending on me but so far this year has been different. I haven't been sick (unfortunately the kids still have), mandatory social engagements have been minimal (and the ones I have attended are enjoyable because I don't feel like crap), and work at the office hasn't been busy at all. My energy levels are high and I'm excited about the side projects and personal work that I have on the go.

Now I'd like to think that I felt the need to work on this piece because I was being told that I was done with be plagued in this fashion. Time will tell. Knock on wood!

I COULD TELL YOU....

2011-02-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have To Be Destroyed By Me is group of five pieces created for Endeavor Snowboard Design's High 5 Board for the 2011/2012 season. The project was based on material from Trevor Paglan's book of the same name. This wonderful book is an examination of the visual culture of the American Military's black/classified programs, presented through the patches worn by the units involved in these programs. For each of these mysterious patches obtained by Paglan, a rough history is given and the obscure symbolism is deciphered (or at least an attempt is made). It is a small but fascinating glimpse into a hidden world.

Max Jenke from Endeavor gave me the book, asked me to read it, and come up with a graphic based on, or inspired by the contents. I struggled with it at first. While I'm a bit of an aviation geek and know some of the history of this material, I had a hard time getting over the bravado and cheesiness of it all. But I had faith in the idea and there was enough interest in the symbolism involved so I sunk my teeth into that and learned to embrace the less desirable aspects of the material.

The central figure in each piece is an interpretation of the major design element of a particular patch. This central figure bleeds out into a dark area that contains elements from the symbolism and history of the program that the patch relates to. These elements are faint, incomplete and obscured, and this, along with the heavy use of black speaks to the idea that these projects are from a world hidden from view. As a large portion of the patches in Trevor Paglan's book deal with projects that involve aircraft, at the bottom of the frame is a mash up of aircraft, both real and theoretical, that were developed out of American black military projects. Again these elements are kept dark and obscured.

The work presented here are the pieces in their original form. They were lengthened for use as topsheet graphics on the snowboards, and base patch graphics were designed for each board. I'll post images of these in the future when I get some shots of the prototypes from Endeavor.

THE TURTLE

2011-02-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

Here's one that I've been picking away at for awhile in between a few other projects. After working on a few EK pieces that were a little more conceptual in nature it was nice to get back to the free form, and work on something that was looser and a little more impromptu. This one started as a rough character sketch that I thought looked like a turtle, so everything grew out of that. There is some symbolism involved but it is secondary to the image and I won't go into that here.

Higher rez., and details at my Flickr.

Enjoy!

LUCX PROJECT

2011-02-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

I recently did an interview for the LUCX Project, an ever growing collection of interviews with creative individuals compiled by the Blank Company. You can read the interview here.

Thanks to Otis from the Blank Company for inviting me to be a part of this.

DEFAULT MAGAZINE

2011-01-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

I had a little spread in .default magazine this month. .default is an online art magazine that focuses on design, art, fashion, music, etc., and is compiled out of Istanbul, Turkey. It is full of cool stuff, and worth checking out.

The current issue, #8, can be seen here. The previous issues can also be viewed on their site.

Thanks to Editorial Director, Bugu Melis Caglayan for inviting me to be part of this issue.

SPECTRUM

2010-11-29T15:15:00.000-08:00

I found out several months ago that a few of my pieces were going to be included in the latest edition of Spectrum, but since then I had been wondering how they going to be layed out, given my long vertical compositions. I was afraid that they would be crunched down to half a page and the detail would be lost. When I received my copy of Spectrum 17 in the mail last week I was happy to see that not only were the images printed full page size, but they were also bundled together in a little spread (along with a nice piece by Ching Cia Ee).

As usual the book is loaded with amazing work, with a nice mix of styles and mediums. There is also a nice balance of representation between Spectrum regulars and new comers. Throw in a great piece by Fearless and you have a really nice art book.

DYSTOPIC (ventilate)

2010-11-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

Michael at Ventilate asked me to be part of their latest poster series. Ventilate had featured some of my work a few months back and their site is great (check it out), so I was more than happy to say yes and work with them. When I found out that the theme of the series was "dystopia" I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I had worked on a number of dystopic projects over the last few years and I was kind of tied of the whole genre. But I soon got over that, really enjoyed creating the piece and was pretty happy with the end result.

The geometric forms in this work, that represent the ideas of intolerance, discrimination, and conformity, have taken of the form of a cityscape. This city, with its monotonous forms and dull, limited palette is meant to portray a dystopian society, perhaps one that has become violently egalitarian. The cosmonaut represents the non-conformist (the artist, the magician, the outsider), unable and unwilling to submit to the limited regime of the majority. His mind remains high above, "in the clouds", holding on to the fragments of a life now lost. But he nurtures and cradles a hope (here displayed as a sage plant), a hope for a better and more fulfilling future.

This poster is available for free download, at print resolution (24"x 36" @300 dpi), at the Ventilate website.

Thanks to Michael Brown, and everyone at Ventilate for inviting me to be a part of this project.

CARNE MAGAZINE

2010-11-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

I was invited to contribute a few pieces to the current issue of Carne Magazine. Carne is an online visual arts magazine based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Every issue is packed with a great selection of photography, design, illustration, street art, etc. by artists from all over the world. It is definitely worth checking out. Download Issue #6 here.

I had to crop a number of pieces as the template of the magazine didn't really work well with the aspect ratios of my work, but I think in the end it turned out well, and gave the images a new perspective.

Thanks to Ignacio Sauri Torres for inviting me to be part of this issue.

AVANTGARDE/STROKE.03

2010-10-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Avantgarde Digital Exibition at the Stroke .03 Urban Art Fair in Berlin that I contributed a few pieces to. I wasn't able to attend but apparently the show was a great success with a host of amazing artists, over 8000 visitors over the 4 days (Oct 7th-10th), and a lot of media attention.

Thanks to Marco Schawlbe for offering me a spot in the exhibit and to everybody that helped put the show together!

ARARITA

2010-09-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

This is one that I've had in my head for awhile. Using the orbs in a planetary formation, with a large orb representing the sun surrounded by smaller orbs representing the planets, is something that I've wanted to do since the beginning of this project. I've focused on the seven "traditional" planets as these correspond to the seven points (six exterior points and one in the center), of the Hexagram, although I've also placed Uranus and Neptune in the distance. The character is the Earth (with the Moon orbiting his helmet), and more specifically mankind as a whole, the qabalistic Adam Qadmon. He represents our unique position in, and our relationship to the rest of the solar system/universe. That he is solitary refers to the fact in some ways we are all alone....and that we are all human, all related, that we are all one.

The title ARARITA is a qabalistic name of god formed by a notariqon of the Hebrew phrase "achad resh achdotho resh yechodo temurahzo achad" or "One is His beginning, One is His individuality, His permutation is One", and speaks to the unitary nature of the divine. In the tradition of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn the name ARARITA is used in the Rituals of the Hexagram, with each of it's seven letters assigned to one of the planets.

Higher res. and detail here.

AIRHOLE

2010-09-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images I created for Airhole's 2010 facemask line. These pieces were for the "Aviator Series", and I guess they figured that I would be good for the job given my apparent love for helmets, cables, wires, hoses etc. Anyways, these were a lot of fun and they should be hitting the shelves in the fall (if they aren't already!).

STROKE.03

2010-09-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

I've been invited to take part in the next installment of the Stroke Urban Art Fair. Stroke.03 will take place in Berlin from October 7th to the 10th in Hall 5 Station-Berlin. From looking at the previous installments of Stroke, it looks like it will a great show, with wide range of art, including street art, poster art, paintings, videos etc. Some of my work will be included in a new aspect of the show that features digital art. For more info check out the Stroke.03 website here.

ENTANGLED

2010-08-27T22:05:00.001-07:00

Here is one I squeezed in between a couple of side projects. The title is reference to my own feelings, and position towards this project as of late. I would love to spend more time on it, emmerse myself in it, make it better, but a busy life prevents me from doing so.

All the orbs represent different aspects of my life (which I won't go into here), which entangle me, and compete for precious time. Some of these aspects are good, some bad, and a few are much more important than my digital scribblings, but they pull me away regardless.

I don't know why the figure is female...maybe my anima is surfacing...

Details and higher res. images here.

FLICKR

2010-08-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

I've created a Flickr page to post higher quality images, along with more details. This will help address Blogger's short comings and hopefully give me more control over how my work is viewed (and spread around the Internet).

Moving forward all the details of the pieces posted on this blog will be posted on this Flickr page.

Check it out here.

HIGH 5 VIDS

2010-08-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos featuring the Endeavor High 5 board that features the Hexagram images from my Entartete Kunst series. The first is a product knowledge video produced for Endeavor by Randy Ross. The product shots look amazing and I don't look like a total fool (I hate being on camera)......You can find it here or on the Endeavor website.

The second vid is from Snowboard Review.com at their 2010 Snowboard Test. From the print review:

"This was the last board which I tested at the 2010 UK board test and it was so nice to finish off with a traditional cambered twin which had, in our opinion, the best graphics of any board at the test. The topsheet was basically made up of Endeavor's 'Cosmonaut" graphic which was beautifully printed and the base shared the same burnt orange colour with very detailed Space-odyssey style sci-fi space 'things' painted on it. The cost of such elaborate artwork cannot have been cheap and this board looked so good I was desperate for it to work for me on the hill. Fortunately, I was not to be disappointed."

Check the video here.

THE TOWER

2010-07-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

I'd had been picking away at this one on and off for awhile, but spent the last few nights finishing it off before I lost all interest in it. Now that it is done(?), I think I'm pretty happy with now it turned out.

The title "The Tower" is a reference to 16th card of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, and represents the breaking down of established forms to make way for new forms to emerge, divine energy descending from a higher reality, or in the case of Yeats, the location in which the descending lightning of daimonic inspiration is received. The large angular figure takes the place of the tower while the other figure, bracing himself to receive this energy, represents the artist, magician, poet, etc. hoping that his soul will be transformed by the creatively destructive gift of daimonic inspiration.

STATE OF THE ART

2010-04-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of my wall at the State of the Art exhibit that ran for a week up in Whistler. The show was good, with some great work by some really talented artists, and it was nice to hang out with some old friends before the heading over to the opening party.

Thanks to Kassia O'Connor for organizing the event, Max Jenke for giving me a spot at the show, and to Richard Alm for doing a great job with the giclees!

Photos courtesy of WSSF.

DRIFTING (Apologies to Charlie Harper)

2010-04-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

Here is one I started awhile back and just got around to finishing. This one grew out of a period of low energy. The whole family was ill (those kids can bring home a lot of germs, and I seemed to catch every bug brought into the city during the Olympics), it was pissing rain day after day, I was pretty busy at work, and was just run down. The form, the mood, the palette and the title sum up my mental, emotional, and physical state at the time.

The subtitle is a reference to Cincinnati based artist Charlie Harper (1922-2007). My wife introduced me to his work last summer, and his minimalist style really appealed to my own graphic sensibilities. As a gift to her I bought her this wonderful book by Todd Oldham that collected a large selection of of Charlie Harper's work. I went through the book, cover to cover, numerous times. I hadn't looked at the book for a few months, but as I was finishing this piece I happened to be flipping through the book, and to my surprise I looked down and saw almost the very same image on the page. I didn't recall this image from the book at the time, but it must have bored it's way into my subconscious. It is humbling to realize how derivable your ideas are. Maybe one day I'll have an original idea.

I've included the Charlie Harper image (from the Giant Golden Book of Biology, 1961),with the detail. Enjoy.

STATE OF THE ART

2010-04-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've been invited to be part of the State of the Art exhibit up in Whistler again. Last year was a lot of fun and I think a number of the artists that participated in the exhibit last year are returning this year, so it should be a good show. The show starts on April 18th and runs for a week at the Whistler Conference Center. If you are in or around Whistler that week you should come and check it out.

THE IDEAL - CRETIN AND WHORE

2010-03-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Here is another image inspired by one of the deriding slogans from the original Enartete Kunst exhibit in Munich, 1937. "The Ideal - Cretin and Whore", along with "An insult to German Womanhood", were slogans used to describe works of art that certain Nazi art/cultural theorists felt graphically expressed base sexuality and exalted people of the lower classes, likes pimps, prostitutes, idiots etc, above the German bourgeoisie. In the exhibit these slogans largely referred to the work of Otto Mueller and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

I was interested in these two judgments, the cretin and the whore, but was at a loss at how to portray them (without defaulting to stereotypes), or how to incorporate them into a composition. At first there was just a single character, and various attempts were made using different compositions, poses, colour schemes etc., but it never seemed right. It came together when I added a second character, each symbolizing one of the ideas.

The cretin is located at the bottom of frame. Her features: the submissive pose, the blank expression, the cool colour scheme (with an almost sickly green), are meant to represent her stunted, or limited mental nature. The whore, with her more open posing, and the red based colour speaks to her sexual nature, but the desaturation and her inversion indicates that this apparent promiscuity is excessive, forced, unbalanced.

The hit of red represents the anger and intensity of these words, this judgement. The red is splattered on the page, representing how quickly theses judgements can be made, and how the effects of these ideas can bleed out in unanticipated ways. The orchids growing out of these trails represent the true strength and beauty contained within these individuals that is obscured by the judgements placed upon them.

HIGH 5 - "5th"

2010-03-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Since there were five boards in this series I had to create a fifth top sheet image. While this image is not considered part of the Hexagram series, and is exclusive to Endeavor, I did follow the same elemental inspiration for it's conception and design. The colour, and symbology all relate to the spirit element and has hits of the other four colours representing that this element is the embodiment of the other four combined.

I've included the two top sheets that I created for this fifth board. The female one was done first, but I was then asked to change this (along with the yellow/air Hexagram image), to a male for the sake of the "jibbers". I've also included the base graphic, which is actually a chunk of the second Entartete Kunst image, "Milkcow" (see below), re purposed, as I was running out of time to get these done!

HIGH 5

2010-03-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Endeavor Snowboards used my Hexagram Series (see below), for the graphics on their High 5 board for their 2010/2011 line up. The images were perfect for boards, with their long vertical compositions, and the helmets fitting so well into the nose of the board. The top two images come from the new Endeavor catalogue, and the boards will be released late summer/early fall 2010.

The third image is the final the design comp (that's why they are all the same length and have the same info.), where you can see the graphics a little better. The images had to change a little for production. Some changes were minor, like lengthening the bottom of the images to fit the board dimensions, while others were quite extreme, such as changing the female form on the yellow image to a male. This was done as the Board of Directors at Endeavor felt that the gnarled old male faces would be more appealing to the the target market for this particular board ("jibbers" I believe they called them).

Thanks to Endeavor for making this happen, and thanks to Max Jenke and Rob Dow at Endeavor for their time and feedback.

Photos by Scott Serfas, courtesy of Endeavor Snowboard Design.

MODEL

2010-02-20T23:31:00.001-08:00

As the Entartete Kunst project grew out of a need to move away from production art (something I have create almost daily as a concept artist), I thought it might be interesting to try and create a piece of production art, a model sheet, based on the figures seen in the series. It soon became difficult and felt wrong so the final product was scaled back from the original intention. I couldn't bring myself to create a character turnaround or get to formal or final with the details and any attempt to describe the design elements only produced more questions. But in the end I think I prefer it that way, choosing interpretation and subjectivity over the rigid structure of design.

SPECTACTION

2010-02-20T23:13:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting the blog again. The reasons for this are many: family stuff, sick kids, trying to re-watch past episodes of Lost before the new season starts etc. etc. Anyways I have a few things to post in the near future so I'll start off with a few pics of the pieces I hung at the Spectaction event from before Christmas (two months ago! - I told you I was neglecting this blog).

Spectaction was a party put on by The Arts Benevolence League (ABL) to help support Camp Goodtimes and the Canadian Cancer Society. The event was sold out (500+ people), featured some amazing artists and was an all around great time.

Thanks to Christian, Max and everyone at the ABL for putting on this event and thanks to Max Jenke for curating and giving me a space at the show. Photos courtesy of Vivo Headwear and The Arts Benevolence League.

THE CULTURAL BOLSHEVIKS' ORDER OF BATTLE

2009-12-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

Here is another new Entartete Kunst image. This one wasn't part of the original vision for the series but popped into my head after coming across the title while researching the concept of Entartete Kunst in the excellent book "Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany"(Stephanie Barron ed. 1991). The title, "The Cultural Bolsheviks' Order of Battle", like the previous post, comes from one of the slogans painted on the wall of the exhibit, deriding the art on display.

I took the idea of "the order of battle" pretty literally, representing it through the collage of Soviet-era military vehicles, the Mars symbolism, the left palm print representing the left hand path, the sharp shape language and the use of the colour red. The intravenous therapy suggests that this false world view is something that is not self-sustaining and generally unhealthy.

Again I've included a few detail shots.....mainly because Blogger sucks for viewing images. I'll be putting together a Flickr page in the near future for better viewing!

SPECTACTION

2009-12-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be contributing a few pieces to the Spectaction Benefit Party. The other featured artists are great and all proceeds go to support Camp Goodtimes. The exhibit is on Dec.19th at District 319 here in Vancouver. It should be a good time so come out and support a The Canadian Cancer Society and their Camp Goodtimes Program. For more info go to The Arts Benevolence League.

NATURE AS SEEN BY SICK MINDS

2009-11-30T20:56:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since the last post. I had a busy fall with various side projects but they are pretty much all wrapped up (I haven't forgotten about your tat Doyle!), so hopefully I'll be able to settle down for the winter and create some more stuff for myself. We'll see how it goes.

This image has been trying to force it's way out of me for some time, as it was one of the first envisioned for this series. It speaks to the fact that even in the darkest, oppressive world-view there can be an element of hope, light and potential. The title is taken from one of the deriding slogans painted on the wall (largely referring to the work of Karl Schmidt-Rottlff), at the Enartete Kunst exhibit in Munich in 1937.

I've included a few detail shots as the image is large and a lot of the details get compressed for blog posting.

UNDERGANGENS ARKITEKTUR

2009-09-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest Entartete Kunst image. I had this one in my head for awhile but I was at a loss for a title. Then I happened across Peter Cohen's excellent documentary "Architecture of Doom"on Google Video. The film argues that the driving force of Nazism was largley aesthetic, and the concept of Entartete Kunst is explained in some detail. Since the discriminating nature in this work is represented by structure, hard edges, and geometry, and since these forms played such a large roll in this image I thought the tilte would fit. Funny how you often stumble across something just when you need it.

I also included a detail image because these images are quite large, being 12"x20", or 12"x24" in most cases, and a lot of the detail is lost when crunching them down for blog posting.

ELF

2009-07-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Again it has been awhile since the last post. The summer here in Vancouver has been great, so I'm spending a lot more time enjoying the weather with the family, and a lot less time in front of the drawing table or the computer. With a couple more vacations coming up, and no end in sight of the good weather, this could be the last one for awhile. Enjoy!

HEXAGRAM prt.2

2009-05-31T23:33:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since the last post. Sick kids, sick me, busy at work and lots of other stuff going on. Anyways, this is part two of the hexagram piece (see below), the earth and air aspects of the symbol. I had originally decided against creating these two images, and to focus on the water and fire aspects of the hexagram (again, see below), as they speak to the nature of creative inspiration, but then a project materialized (that I cannot mention at this time), that required me to move forward with these images.

STATE OF THE ART

2009-04-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

The State of the Art show opened last Saturday up in Whistler at the Telus Conference Centre. The show is part of the Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival. Here are a few pics of most of the work that I displayed at the show. There is a lot of great work up there, so if your in Whistler between now and Sunday, go check it out.

The opening night party was a blast. Thanks to all my friends that came up from Vancouver to see the opening. Thanks to Rory Doyle for setting up my wall, and thanks to Max Jenke and Endeavor Snowboards for giving me a space at the show!

GICLEE

2009-04-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of a couple of the giclees I had printed for the State of the Art show up in Whistler this past weekend.

Thanks to Richard Alm for doing a great job with these, and for sharing a few pearls of wisdom.

DICTA 1 & 2

2009-04-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

Here are few screenprints that I created over the weekend. I used to screenprint in high school, and my friend Nigel and I had small t-shirt business back in the mid 90's, so it has been awhile to say the least. But it was a lot of fun and also quite frustrating at times since there is no undo button.

I screened acrylic onto digital prints of a pattern that I created in photoshop. I've included the original designs used to burn the screens.

The slogans come from original Entartete Kunst exhibit (Munich 1937), and speak to the discriminating judgments cast against that which we fear, or don't understand.

ZYDOKOMUNA

2009-04-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

This was the first image created for the Entartete Kunst series. Entartete Kunst is german for "Degenerate Art", and was a term developed by Nazi theorists to describe most modern art, as they felt it was socially corruptive and Judeo-Bolshevist in nature.

I find these discriminating ideas absurd, but I have adopted the Judeo-Bolshevist theme in this work (the cosmonauts, the hexagram etc.) as a starting point to create these images. As mentioned in a previous post this project is about returning to a more expressive way of creating art (after 10 years as a production artist), and about overcoming my own discriminating views on expressive art.

Zydokomuna is a polish term for Judeo-Bolshevism.

As a disclaimer I'll add that I don't hold any fascist, racist, or anti-semitic views......if you don't believe me....well there's not much I can do about that.

PEACE

2009-04-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

Taking the cosmonaut theme a little further, this one was inspired by various images of Russian space capsules. The name, Peace, is taken from the Russian space station Mir and speaks to the comfort and contentment that can be found in solitude.

DIAMOND

2009-04-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

Last year I designed the graphics for Endeavor Snowboard Design's 09/10 Diamond Series. As a women's freeride board the graphic was meant to encompass the ideas of strength and beauty. The overall style (linework with "hits" of colour), was predetermined but I had complete control over the content. So I created a hand drawn visual collage constructed from elements that symbolized these two ideas in magick, mythology, and the Qabala.

Above is a shot of the preproduction model (thats why the graphic is a little off center), my final design sheet with the topsheet and the two bases as well as a sample of one of the clothing pieces created using the artwork.

This project was a blast. Big thanks to Max at Endeavor for giving me the opportunity and for keeping me on track with the base graphics! Thanks to Rory Doyle for setting the whole thing up! Photos courtesy of Endeavor Snowboard Design.

DESTRUDO

2009-03-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

While not a favorite in the series, this one has some redeeming qualities. I thought palette, subject matter, text treatment and the depth worked well on this one.

THE HEXAGRAM

2009-03-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more images from "Entartete Kunst". These two pieces are paired together and represent the two interlocking triangles of the hexagram, "The Chalice" (blue), and "The Blade" (red). The Chalice represents the aspiration of the artist, magician, etc., while the The Blade represents the inspiration that comes down from the Genius, Daemon, Holy Guardian Angel etc.

If you believe in any of that stuff.........

MILKCOW

2009-03-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

After getting tired of Quarless's badgering, and the need to have some sort of online presence for promotional purposes I've started a blog.

For the time being posts will mainly consist of pieces from "Entartete Kunst", a personal project I'm using to explore a less structured, more expressive way of creating art (as opposed to my day to day job as a video game concept artist).

This image is the 2nd in the series, entitled "Milkcow".

Enjoy!