I was recently invited to design a lamp for Enlighten! One Night of Light, an artist lamp show benefiting inner-city arts. Each artist’s lamp design will be sold in a limited edition available for one night only. In addition, some artists will also create one original, handmade shade for a lamp that will be featured in a silent auction. A portion of all sales will benefit Inner-City Arts, an organization offering opportunities for at-risk children from Los Angeles schools to build artistic self-expression, enhancing their ability to perform both creatively and academically in challenging environments.
Enlighten! is being curated by Tornado Design and the lamps are being produced by Lamp-In-A-Box. If you cannot attend the show but would like to pre-order a lamp, click here.
My piece, titled “Zane’s Dilemma”, was inspired by the textile arts of William Morris and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.
Enlighten! One Night of Light
Saturday, November 21
5:00–11:00 pm
Helms Bakery Building
8723 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
Tomorrow is the opening of The Autumn Society’s final exhibition for 2009. The show is titled “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead), after the Mexican celebrated holiday, in which families bring offerings (such as food and mementos) to remember and celebrate their loved ones that have passed away. The holiday is celebrated between October 31st through November 2nd.
The show will consist of 40+ pieces of art from the Autumn Society’s finest artists, each interpreting “Dia de los Muertos” in their own unique way. Above is my piece, “Juego Terminado” (aka “Game Over”). The game over screen in video games, signifying the death of your character, is typically a negative thing, but since the holiday is more of a celebratory take on death, I wanted it to have a positive and festive sentiment.
Dia de Los Muertos
Opening reception Friday, October 2 from 6–9pm Proximity Gallery
2434 East Dauphin Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
As some of you know, soon after the 8-Bit Keyboard Cat video that I created with Doctor Octoroc, a very talented cross stitch artist created a pattern of my illustration. I would’ve been extremely flattered except that she was selling the pattern through her website. After some back and forth, she agreed to take it down and was even kind enough to send me the profits. With that behind us, we are actually collaborating on a few things (including a piece for an upcoming book on the nerd craft scene) and will hopefully work out a deal to sell some patterns in the future.
I did want to share a cross stitch of Keyboard Cat that one of her customers completed. This was made by Arielle Brousse, who happens to be a fellow Philadelphian.
Tomorrow night at 6pm is the opening of the Autumn Society’s “8-Bit and Beyond!” show at Brave New Worlds. You can read an interview with myself and two of the other incredibly talented artists here. In addition to the fantastic artwork, Doctor Octoroc will be providing live musical chip tune entertainment, playing music from classic video games, 8-bit covers of 80s television shows (from his upcoming “After These Messages” album), as well as some originals. There will be a “name that tune” contest too, so you just might score a copy of his latest album. Get there early!
My piece is title “Mushroom Recession” and you can read more about it here and here.
If you’d like to purchase a print, click on the add to cart button below.
Mushroom Recession Giclee print on canvas (unstretched) 10″ x 20″ / Edition of 25 / $60.00
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8-Bit and Beyond!
Friday, August 7, 2009
6:00–9:00pm
Brave New Worlds (Old City)
45 N. 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-925-6525
Back in March, I traveled to Berlin for the 3rd Pictoplasma conference, Pictopia and an installation I had at the Neurotitan gallery as part of the conference’s Character Walk. You can read more about the installation here and here. Two of the coolest Berliners I met were Gabriel Shalom and Patrizia Kommerell, whose creative studio KS12 was commissioned to create a short documentary about the conference and everything that went along with it. I was thrilled to be included (2:45) along with some of my favorite artists such as AJ Fosik, Steven Guarnaccia, Charles Glaubitz, and Gastón Caba. The film, “Poems for Pictopia”, ends with a video montage set to a song that Gastón wrote and performed at the end of his presentation. I was just thrilled to be able to relive the whole conference all over again through this video. Great work KS12!
This piece was selected for the upcoming Lincoln 200 festival in Philadelphia (July 2nd–5th), which celebrates the 200th birthday of our 16th president. I will also be one of the five featured artists.
July 4th takes a new twist as Philadelphia celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday at the very spot where America was born. Join in to celebrate America’s 16th president with Lincoln200™: The Bicentennial Festival. The Festival theme, “Lincoln Then and Now,” shines the spotlight on period and contemporary takes on artistic, cultural, and culinary works, innovations in technology, and healthcare, and connects the lasting legacy of Lincoln to today’s world.
After a recent fiasco with someone selling products featuring my Keyboard Cat illustration (they’ve since taken down the products and offered monetary compensation) and numerous requests on my Youtube page for a T-Shirt, I’ve set up a shop at MySoti where you can purchase a shirt of my design.
Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat! is a website that catalogs many of the “Keyboard Cat” videos that can be found on the internet. If you’re unfamiliar, these videos typically follow a ridiculously embarrassing, depressing, or otherwise awkward video with a cat “playing it off” on the piano. I suggest you watch this one first and then check out some of the others on the site. I recently teamed up with chip musician Doctor Octoroc to create an 8-bit version of the popular internet meme. Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas for a future video.
EDIT: The video has since been featured on numerous blogs and podcasts, including G4 TV’s Attack of the Show. Thanks to everyone who made the video so popular!
