Roadmap to Withdrawal secures position at Winchester
***LV CITYLIFE REVIEW***
I hung my recent paintings at the Winchester Art gallery over the weekend.
Reception is Sept 12th at like 6pm.
New stuff
Working on stuff for the show in September.
Run Silent, Pentagons, and unstretched canvas.
And here’s what’s going on that unstretched canvas
NEW August 28th
Roadmap to Withdrawal
Winchester Cultural Center Gallery
September 2 through October 24
Reception date: Friday, September 12, 2008 5:30-7:30
Real Men Hang Here
Sean Russell
REAL MEN HANG HERE
Richard Tam Alumni Gallery, UNLV
March 31th-April 25th, 2008
Reception: April 4th, 6-9pm
“Many works of the past (and of the present) complete what they announce they are going to do, to our increasing boredom.” ‐Philip Guston
My favorite bar in the United States is the Buckhorn Bar in Laramie, Wyoming. It’s an old Brunswick bar, with all handmade wood furnishings such as carved eagles, scrolling volutes, and various inlays. Behind the bar is a giant mirror, cracked and fragmented by a bullet hole from a 1970’s drunken disagreement. The walls and shelves contain taxidermied animal heads and parts, as well as make‐shift shrines to deceased patrons. I’ve only been to the Buckhorn five times in my life, but I usually see the same folks there. It’s a mix of blue collar locals and bold college kids, all of whom aren’t afraid to drink a shot of Rebel Yell or descend into the murky basement to find the bathroom.
The title of this show was the unofficial motto of a bar I worked at back in Wisconsin, called The Great Escape. It wasn’t fancy; there was a dance floor for karaoke night, sand pits out back for summer volleyball leagues, a couple pool tables and dart boards, and your standard NASCAR posters. The patrons were a strange blend of college kids, Hmong ginseng farmers, and local Swiss Miss Pudding factory laborers. I enjoyed working there, the tips were better than one would expect, and I was allowed to sneak a cocktail for myself every now and then. This was before smoking bans, so many of the patrons smoked constantly and I often returned home smelling of cigarettes and fried duck strips. On the far end of the bar, attached to one of the many smoke-eaters, some unknown patron had hung a noose and attached a handmade sign which read “REAL MEN HANG HERE”. It’s to this sign I would point when burly construction workers didn’t want to finish the last of their shot of Wild Turkey.
My artwork stems from experiences and memories obtained in bars and taverns, like the Buckhorn and The Great Escape. I appropriate drunken conversations, machismo exaggerations, dirty jokes, and long winded stories into subject matter for my work. I use bar room signage and advertising as organizational devices to contain marks and areas of color or information, as well as to link my work with certain time periods or regions. I research the rich histories of beer and liquor companies for stories and slogans that might work aesthetically within my paintings.
Like these stories, my artwork changes over time. I destroy layers, remove and protect areas, and negate information on a daily basis. As if coming out of a drunken stupor, a new day brings little remembrance of past actions. I go through a process of reworking a painting given hints and clues by previous layers. Bar patrons often embellish anecdotes with exaggerated facts just as I vigorously restate lines and marks of alternate colors. And in the end, when the work feels like a half‐truth conversation in a dirty bar, I declare it to be complete.
Straw cases and the Star Trek Bar
My buddy Pete sent me some 3′ long straws, for the purpose of making the Warp Core Breach at Quark’s Bar easier to drink. As it commonly works out, we went a little overboard with the display and presentation of these straws. Chris Bauder, Evan Dent and myself all created cases for the straws - I have no idea why in retrospect. My case is adorned with Borg logos, Evan’s has a woodburned TNG Federation symbol, and Chris’ looked and felt kinda like a tribble. Here’s some photos of this amazing event:
And here’s some shots of my case:
Chris Bauder’s:
Evan Dent’s:
The thought process and designs for this can be seen here: http://bandwagonpatriot.com/straws/
Evolution
I started a 60×48in oil painting a few weeks ago, and thought it would be neat to watch it grow and evolve. Much of my work centers around creating and revealing layers, sectioning off shapes, protecting and destroying areas, and generally fighting with the painting for awhile. I’ll touch up the photos as much as I can, but my garage doesn’t really have amazing lighting.
Stage 1: Nice shapes, I like the text and discernible symbols. Should be fun to obliterate it.
Stage 2: Oh boy, too much color. Time to push it back a bit. I like the vulture so I guess he’s safe…for now.
Stage 3: Some sort of Landscape has started in the back area. I’m trying for a deeper sense of space on this one.
Stage 4: The clouds have returned.
Stage 5: Blocked out whatever was behind the cloud shape, added a “crisp” bud logo behind the middle area - painting is coming together now.
Reno, NV | Mike Sarich Retro
We went up to Reno, NV for friend Michael Sarich’s 30 year retrospective at the Nevada Museum of Art. Here’s some pics:
Sarich with friends / Mike McCollum and Jim Pink / Evan Dent
Mike Ogilvie / Me
The day after the party we went up to Virginia City, NV to “tour” some old-timey bars.
Pahrump, NV
A couple buddies and I decided to go visit Pahrump, NV.
I don’t know why we went, but it was a lot of fun.
New Drawings
I’ve been working on a series of drawings based on the shooting we do out in the desert. I haven’t actually used pastels for a long time, so it’s fun to get back into them. Based on the work I did for the Stop and Glow project, I’ve been loosely trying to make these drawings look like images from an old monitor or TV.
The second set I made today as well. The first is of Vladimir Putin, in honor of his Time Person of Year designation. He’s just got an awesome face. Second, is a drawing of some Kobe steaks I made a few nights ago.
These are mostly unfinished.
Kidneyhawks
Here’s the final evolution of my “Kidneyhawks” painting. It literally had a diagram of Kidneys in it for awhile, and some sort of windmill/iron cross.
