Silent Water

I had to take another break from the big lino.
These Carny Hands are nothing but little claws, lately.
And I wanted to see some tangible progress.
And I'm less likely to fall asleep screen printing than I am cutting the lino...

Silent Water is a 2 color silkscreen (dark blue over light silver blue)
Image size is 18" x 24" printed on 22" x 3o" paper
From a photoshoot I did last year in the Los Angeles River

Looking at the prints hanging behind me, the dark blue is darker than the above photo. It dried down some. It's more contrasty.

The title comes from a song by the band The Telescopes from the album As Approved By The Committee. It's one of those songs that I wish I had written. Or at least had an excuse to sing.

More than other cities I've lived, names and places here constantly evoke bits of song, dialogue or scenery from film. etc. If I'm downtown crossing the LA River, I invariably envision a young Emilio Estevez puking over the bridge in Repo Man. When I cross it on my way to work I hear the second verse from Some Other Time by X:

this midnight
i will
turn into a beer
i will
dream of you between nightmares and wars
and toss and turn
ain't you gonna take me for a ride
drink and drive
down to the l.a. river bed
i'll make no mistakes and
i'll behave

Another inspiration for this piece came from the cover of the soundtrack to You Light Up My Life, which my in-laws have displayed in their living room. We were back east recently, visiting family, and I fixated on the cover, especially the tasty duotone color scheme.

I've been revisiting Twin Peaks lately, as well.

Now it's back to the lino.

After Schongauer

Eduardo came over earlier this week and helped me print.

I'm trying to figure out various options for printing the big lino.
I've never printed linocuts onto canvas before.
Never liked canvas, much. Always preferred paper and wood...
I've been thinking about various lighter weight options-such as rice paper-
but I want materials sturdier than that as well.
The linen seems a likely candidate for the big lino.
But not the rice paper we used this time.

I'm not sure if the photo conveys it, but her face on the linocut itself,
after printing and cleaning,
is much softer.

I did a previous post about the image.
Martin Schongauer 1440-1491 A Foolish Virgin c. 1480-90

These Brittle Bones

These are photos of my old band La Gritona taken by Ryan Murphy at a club called Jacques in Boston in 1995, at the first Drags, Dicks & Dykes benefit.
A Los Angeles label, Tortuga, is releasing a 2 disc La Gritona retrospective? Discography? (it's everything we recorded) later this Summer.
We've been tweaking the booklet the past few weeks, and this series were in the last batch of photos Thos sent earlier this week from Boston. The horizontal shot was the last missing piece in the booklet.
I don't think I'd ever seen these shots.
Pretty bad ass.
The anger!
The red shorts!
I'm so old fashioned, I can hardly wait to be holding the package in my hands.
I'll do another post when it's release is imminent.

In the meantime, here is a video Ryan Murphy shot of the song +2 Charisma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfwqbs1diDo

La Gritona was: Thos Niles, Dana Embrose, Andrew Donheiser and me. In the red shorts.

Wee Break For Carny Hands

I'm trying to figure out different options for printing the big lino.
I'm planning on rice paper.
But I wanted to try printing on other materials.
Starting with this linen.

The engraving, A Foolish Virgin, is by Martin Schongauer (c. 1440-1491). He was an influence on Albrecht Durer. With umlauts.
I came across it in a book called Great Prints & Printmakers-Herman J. Wechsler.
It struck me.
I did this lino last year.
I was working on a couple of additional layers that I stopped working on.
Sidetracked by the Big Lino.
The layers may or may not reoccur...depends, really...
What I like.
I'll do some of these on rice paper as well.

Manson Bus

This is one of my favorite LA omens.

I've been admiring this vehicle since we moved to this side of town.

Trying to remember locales where it was parked
helped me discover various scenic routes through the neighborhood,
and how mine and other neighborhoods connected.

I hadn't seen it for a while.
But spotted in 3 times in 3 different locations in the past couple weeks.

The last time, when this picture was taken,
I was picking my son up from school.

It wasn't there when I parked.
It was there when we returned minutes later.




And,
working on that big lino.

Back To The Big Lino

Otto Mueller

James Ellroy

Andrew Wyeth

Anselm Kiefer

Ed Sanders

Sonic Youth Flower EP

Savage Pencil

Anselm Kiefer

Last Fall I started this project. As I got the big lino prepared for cutting, it was getting a bit colder.
I knew that I would be in the studio late at night mostly, and that it would be cold in the studio.
Linoleum gets hard brittle and unforgiving in the cold.
So I screen printed over the winter.
Kept warm.
And now that Spring is here? Coming?
I'm back to cutting.

The lino is about 5 feet by 7 feet.
It's pretty slow going.
Gives me time to figure out the rest of the piece.

This is going to be printed on rice paper. Giant rice paper. Which I have to get made.
Big, delicate rice paper.
The first time Eduardo and I printed the flowers on rice paper, it was the windiest day for months. And Hochbaum had just showed up that afternoon.
It was a difficult job keeping rice paper soaked through with oil ink from blowing on everything and itself. and then trying to peel it apart without tearing them.

There is going to be light and sound as well.
I have some help.
But it's not quite there yet.
It's solving that mystery which propels me to cut this damn lino.

I haven't worked on something this large in a while. Something that is going to take a long time. And has already taken up a lot of mental space.
And work.
So the ideas and reasons for doing it are shifting.
I had originally wanted to record myself reading The Family by Ed Sanders.
The entire book.
And play that along with other sounds and video projections, using the rice paper print as the screen.
I want the projections.
And sounds. And possibly music. But I don't know what narration(s) if any will remain.
From multiple sources.
Right now I'm thinking about a collage.
But that could change.

I'm including pictures of some of the initial inspirations for this piece.
There will be quite a few more by the time it is finished.
And along the way.




And.
It's about California.
It's about Los Angeles.

The Park

Goldmine Shithouse



Goldmine Shithouse



I've got my work on display at The Park Restaurant in Echo Park right now.
It's up for a while.
There are 17 pieces up, including 2 Goldmine Shithouse pieces. One from the very first Shithouse gallery show in New York City 2004 and one from San Francisco 2008.
My work on display is from pretty much that same time span.
Check it out.
Have a meal.
I'm going to do a closing thing there at an as yet undisclosed date.
The Park is closed Mondays. Open for lunch and dinner. And brunch.
Check website for hours:

The Park
1400 Sunset Blvd
LA CA 90026
213 482 9209
http://www.thepark1400sunset.com/

Goldmine Shithouse:
goldmineshithouse.com