"Make a Sad Boy Smile" Follow Up....

Found some pictures by one of the photographers I met at GreatEclectic's show last week.  She was pretty awesome so I thought I'd share the follow up here:

A.Dilla The GENIUS
A.Dilla The GENIUS Tumblr

Most Amazing Voice EVER!

Me with a Friend

Me with More Friends

I, sadly, did not get there in time for a cupcake

Studio 900, if only I had a spot like this...I'm working on it

A series that demonstrated my lack of popular culture knowledge quite efficiently

The Artist

GreatEclectic at Studio 900

My Favorite from the show. Photo from Art Nouveau Mag.

Last night I went to the Debut Solo exhibit of Kendrick Daye a.k.a. GreatEclectic called "Want to See a Sad Boy Smile? Pay him."  I had read about the artist and one night only how in the Creative Loafing article the very same day and decided it would probably be fun.

The show was entirely free, complete with music and a bar sponsored by Tree of Life.  The people watching was extraordinary and plenty of photographers were there to capture the trendy styles and the going ons of the party partakers.  I wasn't so impressed by much of the music excepting the final act which featured a mind blowing performance by a chick with a guitar with an incredibly powerful voice.

Photo from Art Nouveau Mag.

As for the work, I definitely enjoyed it and was attracted to the bright colors and haphazard collage style.  GreatEclectic's work is incredibly fresh and current, constantly keeping up with the media and huge icons.  For this reason, I knew that I would have difficulty with some of it because I always seem to be behind the times on current icons, particularly when it comes to the field of music.  Still, I definitely enjoyed the work and my co-conspirator for this event was able to identify all the subjects for me.

My problems with the work were mostly technical.  Corners of pasted on fragments come up off the papers and I am always distracted by that kind of technical detail.  Still, the artist, when I asked him about, agreed that at fist it bothered him too but it had become a part of the aesthetic and style and he simply had to accept that it was going to happen considering the way he works.  I'm not sure I think it looks intentional enough which is pretty important for that kind of style: either make it clean or make it look entirely intentional...I mentioned my favorite collage tool to solve this problem, durmaount, and he said he had been meaning to check it out.

Also, what should be noted about this artist is that he started the magazine Art Nouveau in 2007 and it has already won awards.  This guy is definitely someone I admire for his will and ability to accomplish the things he needs to to advance his career as an artist.

In-Between (Heart and Soul)/ Cover art for a friend

Last week in the midst of babysitting a 7 and 4 year old I did a small project for my friend Nick.  He is in the University of Georgia's Music Business program and was creating a few songs for a project.  Check out the music here...I really like it.  He asked me to do some art for it.  Thought I'd share the process (beware blurry pics because of crappy camera):

The original drawing based off what he initially said, something along the lines of: a I want a piano player with dark colors and maybe a flower or something but very surreal like with arms or legs coming out of it..."  I thought this would be too light for what he wanted.  Turns out he thought it was too serious...

Worked on the drawing some more..fixed the hand and tried to make it look less serious.  This was too "rainbow-y"...

Did some computer editing so I didn't have to start all over and he rather liked the colors and everything.  The only addition he wanted was some stronger lines to the figure and flower shape...

This was the final version I liked the best.  I think my computer screen must be brighter than most peoples because I thought it looked better but he thought it was too dark....

So this is what he went with.  Ta-daaaa!

The Second Friday Art Stroll at Castleberry Hill: April Edition

I don't know how I didn't know about all these art walks before but Atlanta seems to have quite a handle on them.  I experienced my first Castleberry Hill Stroll this past Friday evening.  Lately the area has been hot with art galleries and artistic events and this walk featured the opening of a new gallery (from what I understand anyway, I wouldn't have been able to point out which one was which!).

The building in the back is the pub itself...

As always, I didn't know quite where to begin so I simply chose to start at Elliott Street Deli and Pub where I had been once before with friends.  I was flying solo initially and so spent around an hour getting to know the bartenders Michael and Jordan (yes, those were really their names).  Mike told me about some of his sailing adventures and the proceeded to give me the lowdown on which galleries I had to see.  He is also one of the owners of Elliott street pub so he shared some of the startup pictures of the place and then gifted me with a poster of the image they used for their t-shirts this year!  The image was printed at Danger Press, which is a neighbor to Atlanta Printmaker's Studio (where I'm doing my residency).  I think I got the print because I recognized the name but it doesn't really matter...I'm a huge fan of free prints!  I will probably be making my way back to the pub on a regular basis because apparently they do a lot of art events, including a photography night on Tuesdays with live models.  Also, the craziest stuff seems to happen at the end of the stroll here, although I didn't get to stay out too late last Friday since I'm babysitting the little brother and sister.

Laffargue, "Sous La Voilette"

Since my art stroll cohorts had yet to show up by 7:30 (the stroll runs from 7 to 10) I decided to begin on my own.  From the pub I managed to stumble across Zucot Gallery.  Right outside the gallery was an art auction for what I'm not quite sure but it featured artist working on paintings and some nice atmospheric music.  Personally, and not just because I'm a printmaker and I need a press which is often difficult to procure for public events, I don't like the idea of producing work in front of others.  I admire people who do sign up for that sort of thing since I'm sure it requires some sort of gusto.  Of the work inside the gallery I really liked the French artist Laffargue's large paintings.  I asked (what I think was) the curator about the work and he could really only tell me that it was a Parisian based artist and that the work was very feminine.  I think he actually thought I could afford to buy something, for some reason, because he asked if I was interested in any particular piece and tried selling me on their feminine qualities.  Of couse, 3000+ is a little out of my budget.

None of the work really stood out to me at the next few spaces which included the Emerging Art Scene Gallery and Besherat Contemporary.  The coolest part of the former was the DJ they had on the balcony and the latter the three storied space with lots of potential for really interesting and dynamic installations.

By far my favorite exhibit was the Sketchbook Project.  Featured in both The Granite Room and Big House Gallery the exhibit is one that has been/is travelling all over the states.  It has 10000 sketchbooks that they sent to anyone who signed up and received back filled with whatever each artist wanted to do in relation to one of the many (spectacular) themes.  I almost signed up for this and am kicking myself for not doing it.  I'll definitely be a part of the next round.  Sketchbooks ranged from basic drawings or written entires to complicated puzzles to little book sized installations.  It was really interesting to see the range of effort and creativity as well as the interpretations of the themes.  I think in total I saw about 10 different themes but there were probably closer to 25.

I really enjoyed the ink drawings of this book.
A whole story about love amongst coffee and cigarettes.

 

I Believe the name of the artist was Duncan Reid...this whole sketchbook was filled with insanely impressive paintings.

While sitting at the exhibit reading (I was there for close to an hour) my friends finally caught up to me and we made our way onward.  Along the way to Marcia Wood Gallery we stumbled in and out of smaller galleries, some of which doubled as homes I'm pretty sure.  I think that might be my favorite part of the neighborhood, is how obviously geared it is towards this stuff.  I suppose when I moved to Atlanta, this is where I should have looked first.

It was getting late and I needed to pick up my kid brother and sister (who I have been caring for the past two weeks...that's another long and strange story) so we made out back to Elliott Street Pub where the late night show often features fire, intense crowds, and who knows what else.  I think it might have been a little early because the show was still tame.  It's alright, I have something to look forward to next month when I have no obligation to getting myself home early.  Apparently as the weather gets warmer these strolls get rowdier which is what I'm all about.

April Ponce Crush

I went to my second Ponce Crush here in Atlanta. The basic rundown is that it is a gallery walk down Ponce De Leon Ave between Beep Beep, Kibbee, and Youngblood Galleries They have opening receptions at each on the first Saturday of every month. The main problem is that Beep Beep is definitely a slight trek (although really not so bad for someone without a car who is used to walking, like me) from the other two. The other problem I've encountered is that I'm not sure if it's a huge group of people or just sort of a "do your own thing" kind of walk. Both times the galleries have been mostly empty which is somehow a little disappointing on opening night thought I'm guessing I just happened to have missed the crowd.

I did manage to run into a large group at Young Blood this past Saturday and that was, like the show itself, intense. There was so much work, and so intricately done that I wasn't surprised to find it was the work of two artists; David Hale and Kris Davidson. Conceptually I really enjoyed the work at Kibbee gallery the most. The artist, Yana Dimitrova, took some time to explain the work and I really enjoyed her perspective, particularly with respect to the installation she had in one of the rooms. It had a lot to do with prioritizing and planning and the things we do and don't do in life....all very interesting to me and relevant to me (seeing as I rarely get the things I need to done in any kind of respectable time).

The installation featured large "to do" lists. After completed items on the list, she would add "paint check" and every item on the list had a corresponding square painted in either blue, green, yellow, or red for different levels of priority. Only the squares of finished items got checks so we were able to visually judge the relative priority of the things she actually managed to get done.

In any case, I look forward to more exciting Ponce Crush experiences in the future. tomorrow night I attend my first Castleberry Hill Art Walk and I'm definitely pumped for that one.