S/ART/Q has some really exciting happenings in the near future. The first is our second annual Print Party which I created the poster and visual material for;

And in the next few weeks we will be presenting the next major exhibit (but you’ll just have to hold your horses for that news!). Stay tuned …

I am excited to start working on a video project with Ryan Nance, coupling a visual medium to his poem, Samarkand. It is one of the more challenging of projects, but something I have been interested in undertaking for a long time. Below are some of my beginning notes …

SARTQ presents the second print party located at 1421 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, Florida 34236

The event will take place on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 5:00pm – 10:00pm

Bring $5 per print and something to print on! Articles of clothing, sheets, bags, almost anything can get printed by one of the SARTQ Artists with the images of your choice all custom made by the artists themselves.

Click here to see photos from our last Print Party!

My good friend Shannon Fortner (http://meteoreyes.us) is putting together a very important event May 22, 2010 at Rosemary District in Sarasota, Florida. I have developed the logo, website and starter poster for media purposes. If you want to get involved or would like to participate in the festival, please go to http://harveymilkfestival.com

Harvey Milk Festival Logo

In consideration to the show’s theme, each artist will be exhibiting process work as well as sketches, drafts and other material to show inspirations and other realms of motives behind final conception.

For more information, please visit www.sartq.com

With time constraints, I had to quickly create an ad for media outlets (i.e. magazines and newspapers). This hindered my creativity in the sense that I wouldn’t have time to expose what I would have provided if I had more time.

The idea is to create a Three dimensional, hand created poster. My materials are graphite, frosted mylar, wood and light! I have traveled to the depths of electricity and figured out how to parallel wire lighting together in order to achieve my goals. Below are the pieces that will soon be put together. To see the completed piece, go to the show!

14 Fingers

14 Bulbs

To see the media poster please click here.

s/ART/q Inaugural Exhibit Media Poster

For more information on the exhibit and what s/ART/q is up to, check out the website –> http://sartq.com /// I will also be adding information about my inclusion in the exhibit in the coming weeks. Thanks for your interest!

On Friday, August 7 at The HuB (1421 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, Florida 34236), from 5:30-10:30pm. Partygoers are encouraged to bring their own textiles (anything from t-shirts to pillowcases) to have them silk screened with one of the s/ART/q artists’ original designs for only five dollars. s/ART/q is excited to host this free event and enjoy music, cocktails, and conversation about the future of the group and art in Sarasota.

The launch of s/ART/q, a new contemporary visual arts group whose mission is to provide mutual support, public awareness and exhibition opportunities for its members. As an introduction to the group they are holding.

http://sartq.com
I do have a print that will be available for purchase … [hint: ARMS UP!] reminding you to breathe, Panda … breathe. Unfortunately I will be out of the country at this time but the party is going to be a blast.

Ratatat!

Ratatat – Shiller

My painting is in progress for the Souvenir Series. I laid down background color and am working on the Florida reptile (an alligator of course!)

Working on a redesign for my company’s website. The American Tin Ceiling Company will be reconfiguring its homepage with some fresh designs. It’s been a little overdue, but its better late then never.

Tin Ceilings from the American Tin Ceiling Company

I am working on a few websites for friends mostly. Meteoreyes is getting a site, I currently have a non-designed foundation up so the members of the band can familiarize themselves with how WordPress works and what they are capable of doing. I have also done this for Halimah and will be looking into the project Nate and I took on for Creative Loafing in Sarasota.

Marty McGuire and I will be traveling to Berlin, Germany in August. This will be my first time in Europe. I am very excited to be able to go on vacation with my two very close friends, something I have never done before. Tobey Albright and Claire Michelson will be in Hanover, Germany so its sure to be a lot of fun. I am most excited to see the Bauhaus Museum, something my education was based on in college. It will surely make for a bunch of great posts in the future.

Gotta get back to work!

Directed By: Megumi Sasaki
Producers: Megumi Sasaki, Karl Katz, Catherine Price, Takeshi Yamasaki
Cast: Herb and Dorothy Vogel

Two of the twentieth-centuries most notable collectors of contemporary art are a postal worker and a librarian named Herb and Dorothy Vogel. Together, the couple has amassed a collection of artwork so vast that it took an entire wing of the Smithsonian to house, and yet they had acquired every piece on their modest salaries, and magically fit the entire collection into their tiny Manhattan apartment. Award-winning documentary HERB AND DOROTHY tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary couple with a passion that drove them to be two of the most important characters in the history of minimalist and conceptual art.

I highly recommend this movie!

Directed By: Michael Blackwood
Producers: Michael Blackwood
Cast: Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in Paris in 1958 and so began an extraordinary adventure in art, a series of spectacular public art works in many parts of the world that reached its climax in February, 2005 with the opening of The Gates in New York’s Central Park after more than 20 years of negotiation and struggle. In this portrait, the indefatigable duo reviews all their main projects since 1958 beginning with their small wrapped objects. Major emphasis is placed on their decades long effort to obtain permission for the Wrapped Reichstag project – a landmark event in the history of both art and politics.

I highly recommend this movie!

Directed By: Astra Taylor
Producers: Ron Mann, Silva Basmajian, Bill Imperial, Lea Marin
Cast: Kwame Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, Michael Hardt, Martha Nussbaum, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer Sunaura Taylor, Cornel West, Slavoj Zizek

How can philosophy answer the ethical concerns that dominate our times‾ The answer to that question is the subject of Astra Taylor’s thought-provoking EXAMINED LIFE. Interviewing some of the most profound thinkers of our times, Taylor explores a wide range of issues, from the ethics of consumption and ecology to the questioning of the limitations of the physical body in determining our identities. Engaging and accessible, EXAMINED LIFE raises delves into the role philosophy plays in our society while providing us intimate access to the thinkers at the cutting edge of our most pressing moral questions.

I highly recommend this movie! (this gets a wow)

Directed By: Doug Pray
Producers: Jimmy Greenway and Michael Nadeau

The twentieth century may be remembered as the age of the advertisement; with print, radio and television offering advertisers ever-expanding access to an eager public, the race was on to create the greatest exposure for an infinite array of products and services. ART AND COPY is Doug Pray’s illuminating look at the cream of the crop, the men and women responsible for some of the nation’s most famous images and slogans, the creative minds that grabbed headlines, made millions of dollars and bucked the traditions of Madison Avenue while transforming our cultural landscape.

I highly recommend this movie!

Directed By: Petr Lom
Producers: Petr Lom
Cast: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Each year, millions of Iranians send personal letters to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asking for everything from medical assistance to small business loans. Through the context of these letters, and with incredible access to the citizens who send them, Petr Lom (ON A TIGHTROPE, SFF 2007) explores the Iranian people’s relationship to populist leader Ahmadinejad, and their government as a whole. The result is an incredibly poignant and revealing impression of the new Iran, her people, and their dreams and struggles.

I highly recommend this movie!

I’ve been to the State Theatre a bunch of times before, but the sound last night was probably the best I’ve heard. Ran into other Sarasotians and everyone was in a good mood. I was impressed with the beats of all the acts and must say that Florida has shown me that it is a huge contender when it comes to hip-hop in America.

Below are the tour dates and locations; “Paint the Nation” Fall Tour 2008

11-Sep-08 Sioux Falls, SD Sioux Empire Expo Center
12-Sep-08 Omaha, NE Slowdown
13-Sep-08 Denver, CO Monolifth
15-Sep-08 Boise, ID Knitting Factory
16-Sep-08 Missoula, MT Wilma Theater
18-Sep-08 Eugene, OR McDonald Theater
19-Sep-08 Sacramento, CA Empire
20-Sep-08 San Diego, CA Street Scene
21-Sep-08 Bakersfield, CA the Dome
22-Sep-08 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst
25-Sep-08 Los Angeles, CA Wiltern
26-Sep-08 Las Vegas, NV HOB
27-Sep-08 Phoenix, AZ Edge Fest
28-Sep-08 Tucson, AZ KFMA Fall Ball
30-Sep-08 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
1-Oct-08 New Orleans, LA Tipitina’s
3-Oct-08 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution
4-Oct-08 Orlando, FL Firestone
6-Oct-08 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
7-Oct-08 Ashville, NC Orange Peel
8-Oct-08 Richmond, VA Toad’s Place
10-Oct-08 Baltimore, MD Ram’s Head
11-Oct-08 New Haven, CT Toad’s Place

Big ups to Lazy from Redtide (Tampa, Fl.) who is always extrememly cool whenever we run into eachother. Also a shut out to BC who was busy bouncin’ to the beats.