work in progress: next installation

a new, old painting

in the midst of working on the robot mural i've been working on a new installation that opens in a couple of weeks.  i am, more or less, building a 3D landscape mural that comes off the wall and into the space.  when it is installed it will be a comprehensive vision of the midwest.  i'm using every bit of different things i can come up with.  i have clay houses and buildings intermingled with found object and paper sculpture.  and that's really only a vague landscape of what this piece will eventually become.  i'm repurposing several random pieces that i have left over from previous installations and making a bunch of new work to go along with it.  so, for this portion i've made several found object buildings.  working in the same way i do when i create an assemblage painting.  some stand on pedestals.  others hang on the wall.  they are made of different parts and pieces that i have in boxes in the studio.  then i'm using block prints and stencils to create the imagery on the surfaces.  some of it is old collected 'antiquey' crap.  some of it is random panels that i've used for other things.  some of it is paintings i'm painting over again (and by again i mean for probably the 3rd, 4th or 5th time).  

a new stencil and a new piece.  the surface is a thick cotton placemat.

soon to be a grocery w/ cans and such on the shelves.

when everything is complete, this piece will be an interactive miniature world, built out of all kinds of stuff.  it should have a very pack-rat look to it, built from multiple collected things and i hope it has the cohesion i imagine it will have.  i'm doing everything i was told not to do in graduate school.  i'm not picking one thing and sticking with it.  i'm working with whatever i can use to tell the story in the aesthetic i think it deserves.  this show will be installed first at Bear's Mill in Greenville, OH and open on November 30th.

i dedicated this week to working with the assemblage buildings but i ended up doing a few more paintings too.  these are all just some bad i-phone pictures (because i've stuck by my 3GS and its terrible camera), but these are a few of the pieces i've made this week.

this was the ugliest kitchy shelf from goodwill

one of my favorite pieces.  this church is built from a cookie tin some random piece of wood i had in the studio, a crucifix and a st. francis figurine that i've had for at least 8 years.

the brick surface is plex, so you can see into it.

this is a pile of several pieces.  the cities in the distance will be created out of tea tins and different boxes and things.  the superhero is on the wall of my studio, but i imagine he will be making an appearance in the installation as well.