Bad Mama Jama

Brand spanking new: I recently revamped an older piece, pictured below, right.  

  The original piece was made for an end-of-the year graduation book, the idea was to create a picture that showed teetering on a dangerous precipice.  

Sharks!

Now I likes me some camp, so the farther I could push over the top the better.  I was looking at a lot of old comics, Pulp Art, and crime magazines trying to delve deep enough into the subject matter.

The whole kinky undertone of mainstream comics is fascinating to me, and that was an important factor here.  I wanted to play with the double-edged sword of the exploitation genres. 

Voyeurism, sex and sadism: Superhero stock and trade.

The key to this piece came in the form of 70s Blaxploitation culture: once I started taking cues from comics and movies from that period, I knew what I wanted this piece to look like.  

Friday Foster was the first syndicated comic strip starring a Black woman- the series was made into a movie starring Pam Grier, the Queen Mother of ass-kicking ladies.  The comic has some really lovely art, the loose brushwork reminds me of Barbarella or Love and Rockets.

 And if you dig cheesy, over-the top comics, "Luke Cage, Power Man" is amazing. With dialogue like "Sweet Sister! This Dude is for real!"how could it go awry?

Revamped Adventures

And Voila!  This is the finished piece as a silkscreen print.  I'm excited with the result of my foray into vintage Pulp Comics and even thinking of expanding this project somehow; maybe doing a series of "covers," or even doing a comic based on this character, who knows?  Something to ponder anyway.

  

Orbiting the rings of Saturn

      Yesterday me and the roommate went on a magical stroll through the Open Studio Tours in Jersey City.  At a dilapidated art store we were advised to go see Robert Piersanti's studio, and the two of us being directionally challenged, most of the day was spent trying fruitlessly to locate it while wandering in and out of other studios.

Robert Piersanti

     Jersey was definitely a different vibe from the open studios I've been to in NYC.  A lot of the work was located in mystery locations like basements and garages, even living rooms.       Owing to Jannika's genius and with no help from me, we finally tumbled into Robert Piersanti's studio, a really cool loft filled with his campy-fun sci-fi/pop painting.

Don't you love a day that ends up in surprise burlesque?  The fab Miss Saturn did three short performances rockin' hula hoops and takin names.

Miss Saturn

    

Chopsticks NY: An Exhibition of the Finalists

Posing with my art

The reception at NYCoo Gallery last night was amazing!  Everyone who came out is my hero, and was so happy to meet the other finalists, all awesome arteeests.   Congrats to Cryssy, the new Chopsticks Cover Artist, Audrey, People's Choice winner, and Shawn, fellow runner-up.
  Yoswadi, I meant it when I said I would have voted for your entry if I wasn't furiously voting for my own(haha) you're that great.

Cryssy Cheung, winner of the Cover Artist Contest

Yoswadi Krutklom, her work is definitely worth a peek

The show is up until October 4th, so there's still time to check it out.  Go to NYCoo.com for info.  It's a great gallery, they're hosting some kind of open art contest as we speak.  Everyone was really sweet, and sake in plastic cups/eel on paper plates can't be beat.

The finalists squat for a group photo op

More pics later- I still have to update my website with the two new prints I did specifically for this show: I think I'm starting to get into the groove of this printmaking thing finally.