Play Through The Pain

Sometimes there’s pain that even a double dose of Extra Strength Tylenol can’t touch.  American performance artist/composer Ze Frank posted a phone number and asked that anyone experiencing emotional pain leave him a message.  And they did.  From that raw, sincere and often distraught material musicians and DJs crafted hundreds of musical samples, which became Pain Pack.  It’s an interesting glimpse into a collaboration, and you know — misery loves company.

You can hear the original messages as well as the musical results right here.

Anyone Can Color!

Back in 1997 I was asked to contribute a piece to Plazm magazine — they were going to make a little pull-out coloring book inside the magazine, which was a super cool idea, plus I’d already done a coloring book myself, so I figured I could just re-purpose some of that artwork.

The coloring book is now available online as a free PDF download — and it’s full of fun stuff from a wide range of artists including Raymond Pettibon, Frank Kozik and Bwana Spoons.  Anyone can color — go get one right here!

And I know I’ve been a little “absent” from over here in Blogville but I’m coming back to town loaded with goodie to share, so hang tight.  I just did an illustration — can’t post the final until it goes “live” on Feb. 10th, but here’s a teaser…

R.I.P. Eclectix

Another victim of the crap economy falls — fabulous and fun Eclectix Gallery is closing it’s doors.  Patricia Zemanek ran a great space and always hosted rollicking fun openings.  This is a sad, sad day.

They are selling everything at deep discount right now, including collectibles, vintage clothing, art books, funky do-dads, jewelry and more groovy stuff that you can shake a stick at, as well as the furniture and fixtures.  Only 344 days till Christmas people, get it in gear!

Eclectix Gallery & Store,10082 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530. Open Tues, Weds, Thurs, 12 – 7pm, Fri & Sat 11 – 7pm, Sunday 12 – 5pm, closed Mondays.

New Brow in the Northwest

If you’re up in the Seattle area, don’t miss this chance (several chances actually) to see the fab documentary “New Brow.”

“New Brow presents interviews from artists, galleries and collectors who initiated and gave momentum to the New American Art Movement. The revealing footage captures the makeshift studios and gallery spaces where the movement began, and the intensity and passion required to birth a new genre. The film also sheds light on non-traditional influences that are often overlooked and under appreciated. These “low brow” references encompass everything from underground comix, Kustum Kulture, graffiti and tattoo to skate and surf culture, punk art and others amidst Californian sub-cultures.”

I’m in it for a few minutes too, but don’t blink or you’ll miss me!

Check the schedule right here for showtimes and info:  “New Brow” @ the Northwest Film Forum.

Cheery, Cherry Day

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

Goldy goes to the bears....

I was tickled to find out this morning that my show “Into The Woodz” is on the Juxtapoz 100 Best Moments of 2009 list.  Really made my day, especially because that show felt like a risky “departure” moment for me and I really wasn’t sure how people were going to respond.  I was following my mad muse off into the woods and absolutely loved what I was creating, but I couldn’t help but picture people wandering around the gallery going “I don’t get it.  Where’s naked Batman?”  The bubbling positive response to the show was incredibly gratifying, validated all my hard work, chased away my worries, and generally made me feel like a million bucks.  And this is just the cherry on my sundae today.

Check it out, I think you can even vote (though I’m not sure what that’s all about, and who are these haters voting “no”?!?  Yeesh….).  Top 100 Moments of 2009.

The other cherry on my sundae this morning (yes, there are several) is that I am frickin’ adorable.  But nobody is this cute –

The third, largest, and juiciest cherry of all is that my friend Rebecca (custom clothier to the coolest of the cool) says that my lifelong idol and muse Julie Newmar has my book and likes my paintings of her!  I’m not sure I can even put into words what that means to me.  We’re talking about Catwoman here people, THE Catwoman!  I can’t decide whether to scream or faint.  Maybe I’ll scraint.  Or feam.

Frankensteinia

Just found a fabulous blog, Frankensteinia, which tracks all things Frankenstein (you probably would have figured that out on your own but maybe you haven’t had your morning cuppa yet so I thought I’d spell it out for you).

I knew I was about to lose at least an hour when I saw this post about a fantasy craft book “Things to Make and Do with Boris Karloff.”

How I wish this was real!  But then I’d never get anything done — too busy making finger puppets.  (When I first saw it I almost immediately opened up an eBay and Alibris window to try and track it down.  Sigh.)  Micha Michelle, who dreamed this up, is some kind of mad genius.

Double Drawin’

Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin' ?

So yesterday my buddy Marc “Island Boy” Sanchez came over so we could have a big Art Day here in the studio and knock out some sweet stuff for Clam Lynch’s “CUT THE CRAP” show at 63 Bluxome St. Gallery –

We were just gonna work through the afternoon but we got so into it we just couldn’t stop, took a break for dinner, and kept rolling right into the night.  Here’s a little sneak peak of Marc’s sexy Yeti — this is now a full color painting on a lovely wooden oval, but I stupidly forgot to take a snap of the finished product.  (We were pretty punchy by the evening’s end…)

Lounging Yeti -- on a bear skin rug no less!

And I hunched over the table drawing a Sly Fox and a Wize Owl (yup, I’m still lost in the woodz).  Here’s some “in progress” shots…

And the finished drawings, getting mounted and cleaned up for framing…

And finally popped into their fab little vintage “Black Forest” frames.  These drawings usually sell for about $500, but this show as a $200 price cap so you guessed it — they’re going to be insanely underpriced $200 each, framed.  My holiday gift to anybody out there who’s craving a hip hop woodland creature.

HAWT!

This is a one-day event only, don’t miss it!  Support local artists and snag some great art at crazy prices!  And if you’re struggling with holiday gift ideas for your bestest pals, I’ve still got some button sets, postcard books (personalized and signed!), a very few jigsaw puzzles and a few other odds and ends.  If you’re in the ‘hood, stop by and load up!  (And yes, I’ll do mail order too if you’re non local, even though the P.O. is Hell On Earth already — because that’s how much I care.)

Happy T-Day!

Any day I can fire up the fire orange Kitchen Aid mixer is a good day.

Sorry I haven’t had time to post proper for a couple days — been gettin’ my bake on.  Knocked out three pies, my favorite of which is pictured here — the “chocolate ganache w/ toasted pecans in a toffee butter crust” or CGTPTBC.  People ask for it by name:  ”Gimme a slice of that CGTBUHG, the CHQWB… the CMKRS… oh hell just gimme a piece of that damn chocolate pie!”

Very important to taste test at this point. And every point along the way.

Anything that requires you to melt down several bars of Valrhona chocolate is high on my list of Awesome Things To Do.  This is a couple bars of their Dark Bitter Sweet, 70-something %, with a little bit of cream mixed in to create a ganache.  I’m pretty sure “ganache” is French for “euphoria inducing mixture.”

Happy as a kid making mud pies...

And the finished product — TA DA!

Go ahead, lick the screen -- you know you want to!

I also put in some of of this — the Dolfin bar, which is outstanding (and comes in a nifty little package like an old fashioned tobacco pouch, as if they know I want to just carry it with me at all times, ready to break off a little nibble).

Happy belated T-Day everybody!  Back to our regularly scheduled programming as soon as I recoup. (Burp!)

P.S.  I’ve already gotten a couple emails about the kitchen decor.  What? Doesn’t everyone have blood dripping down their kitchen cabinets?  Truth is I’ve decided to leave all the Halloween stuff up till New Years — I’m going to make tiny red Santa hats for all the bats, skeletons and monsters.  And yes, I’m serious.  You’ll see.

LA LA LA…

Okay, finally found the cable for my camera and was able to download photos (supplemented with several from the incomparable Lee Jordan).

I was happy to see that Los Angeles really rolled out the red carpet for Lisa Petrucci and I, there was definitely a buzz in the air and I could feel the excitement building as it got closer to the time for our Double Trouble book signing…

How sweet is that?  (Lee, how did you pull that off?  You’re not just a publicist, you’re a magician!)  Miss Kitty and I made a pit stop to the roof deck of the Standard Hotel for a quick libation and to admire the sunset.

Aren’t those red pods completely groovy?  Inside they have white terry cloth covered waterbeds, totally delish after a dip in the pool, and usually crawling with groping drunks after dark.  (I hope they wash the covers daily.  Kitty and I have seen some goings on in those pods, let me tell you.)

Somebody hoist me outta this thing!

I’ve never felt quite the same about topiary animals ever since reading “The Shining” (they didn’t have a silly hedge maze in the novel).  That damn book scared me so much when I read it as a kid that the actual, physical book itself started to freak me out — I’d have to pile other books on top of it at night when I went to sleep.  To, you know, keep it pinned down and closed while I slept.

Then it was off to La Luz for the signing — but we couldn’t leave the Standard without giving the folks a quick musical treat, so Kitty and I hit the organ for a brief medley of catchy Icelandic folk/old school punk mash-ups.  You haven’t lived till you’ve heard us warble  ”I Wanna Be Your Dog/Lofsöngur.”

Oh no, we couldn't, well... maybe just one more!

And then it was showtime!  Billy Shire was kind enough to host us at La Luz de Jesus, and Lee Jordan did a fabulous job getting the word out far and wide, so we actually had a decent turn-out, which was muy fantastico.

Billy, book-ended by broads

Apparently even Billy got the “totes rock the red and black!” memo. Old and new faces showed up — wait, none of you have old faces (there go all my friends, stomping off into the distance).  G showed up so we could take our annual photo of me peering over his back:

And yes that is my painting tattooed on his fine flesh canvas.

If you’ve ever been in Wacko you know it’s just about damn near impossible to get out of that place without dropping a couple hundred bucks.  They’ve got an epic and drool-worthy selection of books and miles of tchotchkes n’ do-dads and decorative items and art, art, art.  G scored this awesome, verrrrry classy item:

Don't be hatin' -- you know you want one too.

And then it was down to business — the business of having a great time!  I swear Lisa and didn’t actually coordinate our outfits (very un-girly of us, I know) but check us out.  (She did tell me she was going to do “hair up” since I was likely to be “hair down” so we wouldn’t look like twins.)

We even, briefly, had a little line of people waiting to get their stuff signed.  (I think they were actually all there to see Lisa, but I gabbed with anybody within gabbing distance.)

And big, big props to Lee — when I originally suggested to Lisa that we should do a signing together in LA, she talked to Lee and he made it happen!

And we signed and signed and signed and signed and… you get the idea…

Someone admired my black nails and I admitted that I’d done them in the airport, waiting for my flight that afternoon.  And that I’d also done my toes.  Which prompted G to say “Why not just give yourself a bikini wax while you’re at it?”

I think these four, wholesome gals could sell you just about anything.  (Let the caption contest begin…)

And if you were pining, wishing you could make it down there to score one of our button sets, well let me tell you that this is your lucky day — I have a couple left.  They’re a numbered edition, signed by both of us, for just $10.  (Only 32 shopping days left till Christmas!)  Just drop me a line.

Up next, Liz McGrath’s opening at BSFA, Andrew Brandou’s awesome studio, ghetto fish with The Pizz, and the Long Beach Swap Meet!

Home Sweet Home

Back from LA, and as soon as I download the camera (I swear my camera cable snakes off and slithers under the couch as soon as I turn my head) I’ll post a little travelogue of the uber-fabulous Double Trouble signing with Lisa Petrucci in LA.  Here’s a quick snap from the roof of the Standard Hotel, in the groovy “pods” by the swimming pool.  (They have very gushy round water beds in them — shortly after this photo was taken I tumbled backwards into the pod and had quite the struggle getting out again.  Stupid pencil skirt!)

In the meantime, check out this terrific wall installation!  Long time readers know I love it when someone sends a snap of the art in their homes, something I rarely if ever get to see.  (Once it departs my studio or the gallery, where it ends up is often a complete mystery.  They’re like bad children that leave home and never write.)  Beth Steiner was kind enough to send this picture:

What we’re looking at is one of my “Nutz” plates surrounded by images from “On Tender Hooks” and even an original b/w ink drawing!   It’s like a glossy little shrine and seeing it just completely made my month.  (She said the print from the deluxe Limited Edition of the book is in another room.)

I am so feeling the love.