My good friend, Gin Stevens, has an art show opening this Friday at the
His work is evolving. The new series uses a much more lush, almost painterly, sand-paper scratchboard technique that he tints with watercolor. His subject matter has matured as well. He has moved beyond the realm of illustration to a more expressive, individualized vision of narrative portraiture. The new work is a series of tattoos and tattooed people. No longer is he merely illustrating a narrative story, but rather telling you the story through a stark image of a hand, foot, face or torso that is covered in years of history. The tattoos of his subjects are steeped in personal symbolism which give Gin's new series a self-expressive touch that I haven't seen in the past.
This is Gin Stevens biggest, and most impressive show yet. I highly recommend everyone checks it out this month.
December 2nd through Jan 1st at
Opening reception Friday, December 2nd, from 8 to 11 pm
4633 Hollywood Blvd. (in the back of the Wacko store)
Los Angeles, CA 90027
More info at the La Luz de Jesus website:
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Check out my friend: Gin Stevens
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Two Premieres this week!
If you register (it's free) with Channel Frederator, you can login, vote, and make comments about the cartoons.
You can watch the episodes online, but now I'm tempted to go buy one of those ipod things... I'm also happy that Episode 5 includes Le Building, a really cool short French cartoon that came out last year. Also Berd and Skwerl is rather funny, but I really love the surprisingly wonderful way that bird is animated.
2) Friday night is the premiere of the new Nickelodeon cartoon "The X's"! I've been a background painter on this cartoon since around episode 3 and it's been a lot of fun. I've only seen 2 episodes so far, but I thought they were very funny, and the stylish design of the show is pretty original. The hilarious
Friday they will air 3 episodes back to back in prime time.
Friday, November 11, 2005
The Incredible Shrinking Art Show
I'm in a agroup art show in Long Beach, CA this month. Opening reception is Saturday, November 12th, from 6-10 pm at the
Check the 
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
New York Report...
I'm back from a great, but too quick, trip to New York City. I saw lots of great things, ate lots of great vegan food, and got to walk around that beautiful city holding hands with my best girl, Mona.
On the first day I was on my own, and I spent it by going to see some art. I met up with my friend,
I had a delicious, but expensive, vegan lunch at
Anyway... the Ware show was great... but even greater was the
I tried to go to the Odilon Redon show and the Pettibon show while there, but I just didn't have enough time... 
As I mentioned last week, I went to the city for the book release party of American Illustration 24. The party was fun, but unfortunately I didn't know anyone, and there wasn't really much of a way to know who anyone was. At some point a nice girl named Anika took pity on my lonely state and introduced herself. She then introduced me to her boyfriend 
At the party, they were projecting the images on the walls. They went by pretty fast, but I did manage to get a picture of my paintings projected behind the sea of people. I'm really glad I went to the party, but I'm disapointed by my lack of ability to meet anyone while there- flashbacks of Junior High School dance parties where I was always a wallflower. I did meet a few nice people there, though.
The book looks great, and I'm really happy to see my paintings in it. I received three pages (pictured below)- two of them are full pages of my artwork! There is a lot of other interesting art in the book, but I haven't had time to really go through it and pick out my favorites. It should be available for purchase on the 
Mona arrived and we got to spend all day saturday wandering around the city together. We had a delicious vegan brunch at a little cafe (can't remember the name) in the East Village. We went shopping in SoHo at the vegan shoestore 
We did our one tourist duty and went to the Empire State Building. We had no idea that it's turned into a Disneyland style attraction where you have an endless maze of lines, gift shops and photo booths to trap you into spending tons of money. As they parade you through the labrynthine line, at one point they unexpectedly stop you in front of a cardboard cutout of the building and take your picture. We didn't really know what was going on, and the picture came out kinda hilarious, so we had to buy it. 
We finally made it to the top. The weather was perfect and we had a beautiful view of the whole city (see picture at beginning of post). After that we trekked down to Greenwich village in hopes of finding a cool bar to hang out in, but it seems that the area has been overrun with touristy crappy restaurants and sportsbars. So, instead we went back to the East Village for some yummy vegan dessert and wine at
Thursday, November 03, 2005
New York- here I come!
I'm off to New York City for the Book Launch Party for American Illlustration 24! I'm really excited to be included in this book (that's the cover on the left) and to have an excuse to go to NYC for the weekend. I've got my New York Vegan Restaurant Guide ready to take me to all the delicious veggie-places in the city. I hope to see the Odilon Redon show at MoMA and the Chris Ware show at Adam Baumgold gallery. 
I can't wait to see the book, see all the other artists who are in it this year, and see if my paintings look good in print. Four of my paintings (including the one to the right) were accepted into this book. I don't know what to expect at the Launch Party, but I'm hoping to meet some of the other artists and people involved in the illustration world.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
San Francisco Lecture...
I just realized I never followed up on my
Check out my friends: Part 3
How can I even begin to tell you about
She's the bestest, most creative, most prolific, most bestest cartoonist ever! I love her work. I don't even know how to talk about it. Her style achieves effortless perfection that is both quick and expressive but also technically beautiful. The content of her work is both cute and devious and balances that line between being accessable and thought provoking at the same time.
Lark is the creator of the series Mr. Boombah and Long Tail Kitty, as well as countless other comics and stories. You may have seen her work in recent issues of Nickelodeon magazine or on the cover of
