&%^$#@!!!

I've been doing this face for two days now...

Well I was going to post some great pics from Halloween but I dropped my external drive, where all my photos for the least several years live, and it’s totally bunk now, has to be shipped off to a hideously expensive data recovery place.  AAAAARGH!  I’ve taken my head out of the oven (at least temporarily) and if the Gods of Computers are willing, they will recover the images (aaaaaall the images, which are not backed up, I know, I know, bad bad bad) and I’ll be able to post something… eventually.  (Along with the huge backlog of other stuff I’ve been meaning to post pictures of, like APE, etc.  Sigh…)  Say a little prayer for my drive!

Double Trouble

If you’ve heard the rumors, it’s all true — Lisa Petrucci and I will be descending on La Luz de Jesus on Friday, Nov. 13th at 6pm for a double signing event!  She’ll have copies of her new book “Kick Ass Cuties” and I’ll have “On Tender Hooks.”

We’re also working on a signed, numbered, limited edition button set just for the event.  Stay tuned…

Heads Up

One of my favorite things to do when I’m back in NYC is reconnect with old friends, which is why I always block out several hours to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This painting of “Judith with the Head of Holofernes” by Lucas Cranach the Elder was the inspiration for my painting “Golden Silence.”  (Don’t you think Jeannie would have gotten tired of saying “Yes, master” eventually?  I do.)  If you haven’t been reading up on your Old Testament lately you might not remember this one.  The Assyrians were pummeling the Israelites so Judith, being quite daring, got all tarted up and went to General Holofernes’ tent, seduced him, and when he fell asleep she lopped off his head. (Just like a praying mantis!  Well she didn’t bite it off.  She used a sword.  Much more sensible.)  The Assyrians were so freaked out by this that apparently they just packed up and left.  Judith, though beset my many suitors, remained single to her death.  (Maybe those guys were just being polite — I can’t imagine it would be easy to get a good night’s sleep with Judith — “Did I close the tent flap before I got into bed?  What if I left the goat’s milk out again…”)

Cranach revisited this subject quite a few times.  (You can play “spot the differences” with those two in the top row.)

Obsess much?

“And she smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him.”  The Book of Judith 13:6-9

I love that — is there some way to use it in conversation?  “Don’t piss me off or I’ll take your head away!”  or “Don’t make me smite you twice!”  I think there’s something there.

It might not be fair to say Cranach was obsessed — a lot of the paintings of this era weren’t that different from illustration in that the artist would get a commission with a directive (“We want a really BIG assumption of the Virgin right over here, I mean I want to feel myself being sucked up into the heavens.  Can you do that?  And make it fit around this sacristy?”)  But I do wonder how much of it was his own idea.  (“WTF? We asked for an assumption and we got this big bloody beheading! Nice hat though…”)

Lucas Cranach the Elder had three sons who were also all painters, John Lucas Cranach, Hans Cranach, and Lucas Cranach the Younger.  (I know what you’re thinking but it’s not as bad as George Foreman naming all five of his sons George Foreman.)  He also had a daughter Barbara — I’m sure everyone just called her Babs.

Hans was a chip off the old block, here’s his Judith:

Like father like son...

She looks a bit bored but maybe she’s just tuckered out.  And Lucas the Younger painted this nice young lady.  I like it but… I dunno, something’s missing for me…

Where’s the big bloody head? He must’ve been such a disappointment to his father.  (“Seemed like an apt pupil but he just never got the knack for viscera…”)

Chris Moore, wonderfully funny author of many books including the vampire novel “You Suck!” actually has quite a bit so say about the dozens of artists who’ve painted Judith in “History of Art IV – Judy Gets Some Head.”  Verrrry funny and well worth a peek.

Go APE!

You know you wanna be there!

If you’re in the Bay Area, get ready to go APE!   One of the country’s most popular and vibrant alternative comics shows, The Alternative Press Expo returns to The Concourse Exhibition Center (620 7th St., San Francisco), rolling into the city by the bay this weekend, October 17 and 18, 2009.

On Sunday, Oct. 18th, 5:00–5:45, come check us out for Pop Perversity: Parody in Comics and Art — “Isabel Samaras (On Tender Hooks) and R. Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics), parodists from the worlds of art and comics, show their work and describe how their sharp, sly images blur the boundaries between the popular and the profound, the propagandistic and the profane. Parody is a familiar part of our culture, but when done right it can still shock and awe, revealing deep truths while it makes us cackle.”  (Cartoons! Naked ladies and gents! Geeky in-jokes!)

The APE programming room is located adjacent to the Exhibit Hall.  Be there or be L7!

“Dementions”

Dementions at Eclectix Gallery opens this Friday!

“Jam packed with scary, fun, demented, surreal, strangely beautiful and emotive art! The ultimate in Halloween viewing, hung salon style. With works by more than 45 artists in all mediums: dark gothic portraits, monsters, sexy vampires, skeletons, devils, surreal landscapes, Day of the Dead imagery and cute pumpkins. From our own Bay Area Newbrow art stars: gleaming, anthropomorphic robotic sculptures by Nemo Gould, a dark surprise from Annie Owens, fantastic monster cake sculptures by Scott Hove and a Franken-animal by Isabel Samaras.”

Opening Reception: Friday, October 16th, 7 to 10 pm.
With live music by “Eclair De Lune”
The “SweetRoll” truck will be rolling by…
Catered by Fume Bistro

Home

“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”  — Robt. Frost

Well not only did they take me in, they greeted me with a brand spankin’ new copy of Beatles Rock Band, so I’ve been gettin’ my Ringo on.  Will post pics and tales of my quick dip back into NYC as soon as I finished downloading the camera.

Aw, NUTZ!

I’ve been keeping this under my hat because I wanted to wait and see how they turned out, but now the cat’s out of the bag.  Out from under my hat.  The chicken is flying the coop.  (How big is this hat anyway?)

Since way back in the lunch box days, I have wanted to make plates.  And I have made plates — I used to do a whole line of hand-painted ceramics.  But I wanted to manufacture plates that looked just like the Franklin Mint ones with Elvis on them — except with my artwork.  Well guess what?  (I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, what with the cat being out of the bag out from under my hat after flying the coop with the chicken and all.)  I finally did it!

Nutz (Sciurus vulgaris)

Pretty sweet, right?  They even have the little gold rim.  I’m pretty ding dang excited.  These are a limited edition of 100 porcelain plates, signed and numbered.  This is what the back looks like (this one isn’t signed — it’s just a sample):

The text on the back reads:  The Woodland Fabuous Collection presents “Nutz (Sciurus Vulgaris)” by Isabel Samaras from the series “Into the Woodz.”  Plate Collection Edition Limited to 100, Plate No.  ___

And as you might imagine, these are not food safe — decorative only!

Here’s the hitch — I’m hoping they come in time for the opening on Saturday but as of right now I only have the sample plate!  So if the gods are smiling, folks can pay-n-walk with a collector plate in a nice little box, and if not the gallery will take orders and ship them out as soon as they arrive. They can also ship to you out-of-towners.

If you can’t live without one, just contact the Shooting Gallery and snag one before they’re all gone!  libbyn@shootinggallerysf.com

Rip Off Artist

My jaw is on the floor after looking at this post about how Urban Threads is ripping off Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching).  Adding insult to injury, their versions lack all Jenny’s charm. (Aka, they suck on several levels.)

Photo courtesy of Dinosaurs & Robots

Read all about it here on Dinosaurs & Robots, get mad, and drop Urban Threads a note.  (There’s a link to do so at the end of the post.)

20 Questions

Batman & his new sidekick, Red Eye

Played 20 Questions with Juxtapoz this week — the results are right here!

In Touch

I realize that as things gear up for my show I’m kind of falling off the face of the earth, staying-in-touch wise.  Apologies all around, I’ll have more mental bandwidth for all this soon!  Meanwhile you can subscribe to this blog for regular updates or look for me on Facebook (both of which are a bit neglected, I know, but hey it’s something!).