Alright, so in keeping with my promise to adhere to no schedule whatsoever, a lot of time has passed since last updating. This is only because so much awesome stuff is going on.
First off, I am currently on a bus headed for Boston for the opening of
We Still See the Black, an awesome metal art group show curated by myself and Alex. I of course mean metal-art not metal/art. The concept of the show was to bring together a bunch of artists operating within the metal underground making cool art. I will also be heading a gallery talk and walk through with a couple of the artists before the opening, which should be interesting. One incredible thing about this show is that it's in a re-purposed church so there are stained glass windows all throughout the show. The starkness of some of the work against them is pretty beautiful. Also, it's metal art in a church. Duh. We ended up having to install a week earlier than had been agreed upon so the space wasn't quite ready upon arrival, so the whole space was patched, sanded, painted, cleared out, mopped, installed and lit in two days. Plus you can't buy fucking beer in Boston after 9pm! Grueling.
Here is an excerpt from the press release: "
For these artists heavy metal is a portal into alternative realms where darkness is a catalyst for change: rebellion, destruction, or transcendence. Each artist represented here not only makes reference to heavy metal in his or her work, but also collapses that culture, manipulating its aesthetic and historic aspects into a personal language or style. They create contemporary folklore, myth, and tragic comedy from their own lives as well as their shared (sub)cultural experience. In this show they confront the viewer with Metal’s unique emphasis on self-identity in relationship to fantasy and how seemingly misanthropic and chaotic expressions can create a sense of community where one might not be expected." It also got a sizable write up in The Boston Phoenix 'Metal Issue', so here's a link to that:
http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/125780-newtons-new-art-center-exposes-heavy-metal-from-w/
Originally, a couple years back, this show had a different name and was proposed by me and Alex along with Jack Schneider and Todd White who both played big rolls in helping us get everything together this time around and who deserve a big thank you. So, thank you guys.
... and here is the logo designed and created by Jack Schneider:
Also up right now is the second and final installment of
Brutal Doodle, Brutal Doodle 2.0. The first one was in Boston, this one is in Brooklyn at Fountain Studios. It's another really good group show with work by myself and 40+ other artists, some of whom are good friends of mine, some of whom I've never met. There's some really good work that looks great though and it was put together by Alexander DeMaria, Jack Schneider and Todd White. The curatorial process worked kind of similar to a pyramid scheme where each person selected selects a certain number of people, there's a cool drawing that Jack made that kind of traces the selection process like a family tree but I, unfortunately, don't have an image of it.
Next, while Alex and I were at Wassaic I was privileged enough to participate in
Dreams Were Made For Mortals a one night group show at St Vitus in Brooklyn curated by Karlynn Holland and Samantha Marble. In addition to art, there are a number of DJ sets focusing on a variety of grind/death/black blissful cacophony. I was really bummed to miss it (especially because artists drink free), but am happy to be participating once again in the second installment. There are a few other people returning from the first and then a whole slew of new folks and the list of DJs is pretty awesome. I will be putting in a couple drawings and then a new wall sculpture I am working on that relates to a piece I made 3 or 4 years ago and just haven't had the space to return to the idea since, I'm pretty excited about it.
Also, shortly after returning from Wassaic, I tracked the vocals for the upcoming Trenchgrinder
release. I'm lucky to play with such a talented and cool group of dudes. We're currently mixing it and are hoping to have it available at our next show on October 1st (with Bad Dream, Mortals and Gypsy Hawk at The Acheron), but if it gets held up in production we'll definitely have it at our show on October 29th which is going to kick ass. We recorded in The Acheron and the Hull practice space with their drummer Jeff who is really putting in some time on it. If I were going to describe it I might say that it sounds similar to what you would hear if Bolt Thrower, Amebix, Slayer and Motorhead beat each other with clubs - but I'm not going to describe it.
Finally, I'm currently without a home and for some reason I thought that not really living anywhere would mean I would get a lot of art made. Like it would be similar to a residency where you just live in your studio. It's not really proving to be the case yet, but we can keep hoping. I'm listening to Windir.
Deinstalling Sonic funeral:
Last weekend I went upstate to Wassaic where there is an artist' residency and installed the latest Under the Same Shadow piece. Under the Same Shadow is a collaborative project I do with Alexander Demaria. It was incredibly hot the first day and then rained seemingly non-stop for the remainder of the three days. Because most of what we make is composed of wood and electronics the rain was a real pain in the ass and, when raising the 20' pole of logs bolted together, pretty dangerous. We did finally get the project done with the help of Jamie Horgan who works with Alex on Middle Kingdom. The piece still has some wiring that needs to be done, but we thought it wouldn't survive two weeks if the storms continued and are going wait to finish it off until we go up for the festival. It's based on a Malaysian burial pole and slightly resembles a giant birdhouse. I guess this is okay.
