Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

Hello. Ah, I see you've found your way on to my old blog. Things are a bit sparse round here as I've been moving everything over to my new site. Here's where the Stanley Kubrick's Boxes post lives now.

Recoat Bonus Aisle

Wait, what? It's that time of year again? Get outta here! Damn. Once again, as Christmas approaches, it's time for Recoat in Glasgow to launch its brilliant little discount art show. Bonus Aisle is your chance to get hold of some work on the cheap and it opens this week.

I'm really happy to have been asked again to submit work. I've got about 6 drawings in the show, all at a wildly reduced price. The way Recoat work their Christmas shows is by assigning each wall (there are 4) a price (there are 4) and everything on said walls goes for said price. This means for either £25, £50, £75 or £100, you're gonna get something good. I've tried to keep my prices way down so if you're interested in owning something, I've two drawings going for £25, two for £50 and two for £75. Visit the gallery or their online shop once the show opens to get your mitts on them.

Not keen on my work? I don't blame you. Have no fear, there will be original work, prints and other goodies from the names on the flyer (and more). Amy and Ali at Recoat always completely PACK the walls with stuff so you're sure to find something good. It does sell fast though, so don't hesitate or you might miss out on a real bargain.

Bonus Aisle
Recoat's end-of-year special
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Show runs: November 13th - December 22nd, 2010
Opening party: Friday, 12th November, 7-10pm all welcome
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Recoat
323 North Woodside Road,
Glasgow
G20 6RY

So aye, come along to the opening party this Friday from 7pm. Say hello, drink some free drink and have a look at some work by artists local and not-so-local. I'll be there for a bit and then I'll go to my bed. Please tweet / blog about this if you can, thanks. See you later.

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Village of the Damned Festival

I really should have posted about this earlier but time escaped me a little. There's a brilliant little short horror film festival going on right now in Auchmithie, near Arbroath, Scotland. The Village of the Damned is being put on by Helen Macdonald (of Jolly Good) and Ross Bull (of Agitator) over the Hallowe'en weekend. If by any chance you're near enough to get to it, go, go go. You can find all the information you need on their blog.

As well as the films, a small group of artists (including myself) will be selling work during the festival. I unfortunately can't make it up there in person but if you come across a print or something then it might be mine. For more information about the artists, go here.

Have a good Hallowe'en folks. Don't dress sexy, don't dress wacky, don't be a celebrity or a superhero. BE SCARY! and if you can't be scary, be wonderful.

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Gulf Fundraiser

A few days back I mentioned a huge art sale at the awesome My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses. Well, the online shop is live now and all sorts of drawings, paintings, prints, jewellery, sculpture and more is up for grabs.

Some important facts:

1. All proceeds are going to the Gulf Restoration Network. Artists have put their work on sale as a donation to help out. Many items are free shipping too.

2. The shop is only open for a limited time. If you want to grab a bargain (and do a good deed) you have until the 5th of July.

3. Everything seems to be selling out fast, so don't hang about. Tweet / email / blog etc. to spread the word. Get everything bought.

4. You can go directly to the shop by clicking here.

Please have a look, you might find something you like. I'm happy to say that my drawing sold on the first day! Big love to Meighan for organising everything and to all the artists who contributed. Make sure you subscribe to My Love For You... because it's a great place to discover all sorts of brilliant art, design and general cool stuff.

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Souther Salazar

A few years ago I read a comic by Souther Salazar called Fervler 'n' Razzle in the anthology Kramers Ergot 5. It was a beautifully weird collage of cut paper, drawings and text that told a tale (or two) about an 'ancient giant bird' called Fervler and 'either a squirrel or a mouse or a cat' called Razzle. I really loved it and have tried to keep up with Salazar's work ever since.

Comics are just the start, this dude is a damn fine maker-of-things. Paintings, sculpture, collage, installations all jumble together in colourful little worlds full of weird monsters and landscapes. I remember being so charmed by his work that I tried to emulate his style a little in a few drawings - it didn't work (it never does), I guess that's a compliment of sorts. Man, his art looks fun to make.


Yesterday my copy of Salazar's new zine, The Day We Learned To Fly arrived. I've made a little flick-through video to let people see it. My intention is to show off the really neat layout with it's different colours and fold-out parts rather than to 'spoil' the artwork by revealing everything. Hopefully I flip through it quickly enough leave you wanting a closer look. By the sound of things, The Day We Learned... has sold out anyway, but I'll not go crazy with scans or anything incase another batch appears for sale. Watch in HD for goodness.
For more Souther Salazar things, you can visit his website, add him on Facebook or follow the blog he co-writes with Monica Choy. His etsy shop has some really nice prints and you can read a great making-of post about the zine here.

The music in my clip is once again from John's ABC by Fence. This track 'J' (they're all lettered) just so happened to be exactly the right length. Not much more thought went into the decision than that.

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Dr Syntax versus the Paperweights

A quick note to let you know that the new show at the Changing Room in Stirling opens tonight. Dr. Syntax versus The Paperweights by Mick Peter.

I had a little hand in the install for this one, managing to navigate some really unusual sculptures up a gnarly old staircase without mishap. Mick (who I seemed to think was called Joe - weird) was putting the finishing touches on some work the other day and caused some debate about blu-tack once he'd left. You'll need to catch the show to understand what I'm blathering about. Just ask yourself, what is the trombone* made out of?

Anyway, I might not make it along tonight (Friday 4th June) for the opening, which I feel really bad about, but if you're available, go, go go. Even if you've never been to an art opening before. They're not scary and see that big table with all the beer & wine? Yeah, that's free. The amount of people you can get through a door with that little bit of information is ridiculous.

The show will run through June and July so there's no excuse not to catch it, especially all Stirling residents. Support your only contemporary art gallery please. Here are the full details:

Dr Syntax versus the Paperweights
Mick Peter
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Show runs: 5th June - 31st July
Private view: Friday 4th June, 7-9pm. All welcome
-
The Changing Room
Tolbooth
Stirling
FK8 1DE
01786 274005

That's that. Have a look at Mick Peter's website for loads of info about his work and examples of his work. I'm away to catch some sunshine for a bit.

EDIT: it's not a trombone, it's a tuba. Thanks Jules.

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My Friend Steve

For the past few months, my friend Steven McEwan has taken to drawing. A lot. I've known him for years and, yeah, he'd doodle some funny stuff from time to time, but not like this. He's recently been taken over by this compulsive urge to make pictures. Sometimes he says he's been up half the night just drawing weird stuff.

I was motivated to make this post because of the above poster he made for Daniel's 21st birthday. It's so goddamn cool and weird and brilliant. Isn't that exactly how a poster for a friend's party should look? Fun as hell. You just know you're in for a good time. I've changed the phone number / email and removed the date on that image for privacy sake.

The bulk of Steve's obsessive output has been dedicated to drawing people on Facebook. He must be close to posting 100 different friends (or even people he doesn't know), just for the sake of it. I've been trying to convince him to start a blog so people can browse through his work but he's not got round to it yet.

Alongside the big, bold colour pictures, every so often a little line-art compilation goes up. This is normally a retrospective list of everyone he's drawn recently. Facebook being Facebook, everyone kinda half-knows everyone else and it's really fun to sit and look over who Steve has been compelled to portray.

Last month he also went through a celebrity phase. So, as well as the Chuckle Brothers, we've had David Cameron, Ironside, Ironman, that horrible Fritzl guy, Rab C Nesbitt, Fall frontman - Mark E Smith and John Locke from Lost.

Steve has been asking me all sorts of questions about different kinds of paint, where to get prints made, framing etc. We've also been talking about going to life-drawing classes (something I've been meaning to get back into for years now). He's taking it pretty seriously, which is fantastic.



I understand this might be a bit in-jokey, like it might not be as amazing if you don't know Steve or any of the folk in his work. It's crazy if you do though. Imagine if one of your friends, just someone you go to the cinema with or skateboard with or something, started drawing hundreds of pictures, just because they felt like it. It's a strange thing.

If Steve gets round to collecting everything together online, I'll post a link up here for sure. The best thing is, he's progressing really fast. His drawings are getting better, his subjects broader, his colours bolder. I'm totally hyped to see where he goes next.

EDIT: well whaddaya know? He's went and started a blog since I wrote this. Check it out here.

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A Narrative of Montage

This is a little late notice but it's worth a mention anyway. Over the past couple of days, I've been helping out at the Changing Room preparing the new exhibition A Narrative of Montage by The Fruitbasket Collective and Mike Chavez-Dawson.

The gallery is looking really good. It's a bit of a departure for the Changing Room, much more crazy and colourful than some previous shows. I knew very little about The Fruitbasket Collective before helping out, they've got a pretty neat surrealist / outsider art thing going on. I managed to find a snap of one of the pieces from A Narritive of Montage, check it:
That's a massive oil painting by Fruitbasket's main man, Jean-Pierre Lapeyre, titled Self Portrait as the Imprisioned. He's got a bunch of similar stuff alongside comics, sculptures and prints. His wife, Caroline Mackenzie Lapeyre exhibits some beautiful drawings and Mike Chavez-Dawson has some really cool laser-etched pieces.

The best thing is, Lapeyre also has a whole performance-art thing going on as his alter ego 'Jack The Hard Worker'. You can't beat a guy who'll paint himself blue and do some ironing in front of a crowd:
I'm reliably informed that he's gonna be psyching himself up for an appearance as 'Jack' tonight at the opening. Man, that's what you want from an art show - a dude jumping about in facepaint with a jumper on! I can't wait.

If you can make it to Stirling tonight, drop by, have a little drink and check out the show. Say hello. If not, it'll be up over the next month or so. As far as I know, JP plans to perform nearer the start of the night than the end, so move your bum. Here are the full details:

A Narrative of Montage
The Fruitbasket Collective and Mike Chavez-Dawson
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Show runs: 10th April - 22nd May
Private view: Friday 9th April, 7-9pm. All welcome
-
The Changing Room
Tolbooth
Stirling
FK8 1DE
01786 274005

ps. if any of that sounded a bit sarcastic, I don't mean to be. I'm all for people going full-on. The wildest I get is perhaps doing a drawing with a little hat on.

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3 blogs worth checking out

Oh So Beautiful Paper
With the wedding wheels beginning to turn, Oh So Beautiful Paper has been on the reading list for a little while now. Nole Garey's blog is an (appropriately) beautiful archive of invitations, cards, stationary and printwork. The above image of skeleton-key seat-finders is credited to The Haystack Needle. The one drawback to seeing so much elegant, delicate stuff is that it makes me feel super-clumsy and all-thumbs. Where are the crumbs and fingerprints?

Curious Pages
A recent discovery for me, Curious Pages hunts out weird and wonderful children's books form days gone by. There is TONS of cool stuff here and anyone with any interest in illustration should have a blast trawling through the archive. Any site with the tagline 'recommended inappropriate books for kids' is all good in my book. A really good resource for inspiration.

You Will Soon
This is actually my favourite blog at the moment but, with it being a skateboarding thing, I understand that it's got a bit of a niche audience. If that's your bag, however, You Will Soon is worth a read. It's a really nerdy, bitchy and funny little site, full of rumours, reviews and name calling. It's main author, Dan Watson, has an eye for detail and a bit of a poisonous pen. Luckily he's also got pretty good taste and a clear love of skateboarding so all the hate is kept humorous and aimed in the right direction.

Jeff Kilpatrick - Sketches of Fishtown

I met Jeff Kilpatrick through my friend Concetta on our first trip to Philadelphia and we always hang out whenever we visit. Jeff is the kinda person you want to know when you're visiting a big city - a through-and-through local who always has a million stories to tell. He's also one of the nicest dudes you could ever meet and man, he cooks one hell of a meal.

Jeff is a working cartoonist, teacher and founder of the Philly Cartoonist Society. His artwork is awesome. He's got that real-deal, old-school thing going on. A real drawer. For the past couple of years he's been working on a series of drawings inspired by his neighbourhood called Sketches of Fishtown:
Apart from being fantastically touching little tributes to Fishtown in their own right, what really blows my mind is that Jeff has 95 of these under his belt. 95! The whole project is a funny, poignant and heartfelt document of a fascinating corner of the city. The first 50 or so are available in a book, click here for a little info from Jeff about picking up a copy or two. A second volume is in the works.

Survival in the City

This blog post has moved to my new website. You can view it here: Survival In The City. Sorry for the inconvenience. It's a slow process moving 400-odd posts somewhere else. I imagine I'll mess up a wee bit along the way. Cheers.

My top 5 things to listen to in 2009

I’ve been listening to more and more spoken-word things. Here are my favourite non-musical noises from 2009:

1. Adam & Joe
Taken from their 6Music radio show, the Adam & Joe Podcast has been the most consistently hilarious, brilliant, and charming treat for your ears over the past few years. Considering it’s not even their proper job, the effort Buxton and Cornish put into their show, from re-editing film dialogue to writing their own jingles, should make other ‘humorous’ presenters hang their heads in shame.

Adam and Joe make me happy. When I was at school, I can remember taping every single episode of their Channel 4 programme religiously. They walk that smart/stupid, rubbish/brilliant divide better than almost anyone and should be up alongside Vic Reeves in some weird chapter in the history book of British comedy. If you don’t like them, there’s a good chance you’re an arsehole. Sorry.

The one bummer is that their show has just gone off-air. I suspect it’s because of Joe’s increasingly amazing Hollywood career (he’s co-wrote Speilberg’s new CG spectacular, Tintin for God’s sake). They have promised to return later in the year though, so keep your eyes out for that.


2. Jon Ronson On...
A while back, journalist, author, broadcaster and conspiracy theory debunker, Jon Ronson made 4 series’ worth of weird and wonderful radio programmes for the BBC. At the end of last year I stumbled on an online archive someone had put together of said material, plus a few extras. I quickly bundled it all onto my iPod and worked my way through it.

What a find! Fascinating, strange and funny little shows about the peculiar ways the human mind goes haywire. If you decide to give these a listen; take your time! You’ll work your way through the lot quicker than you’d like.


3. Mark Kermode’s Film Reviews
Kermode and his co-host, Simon Mayo, are in a particularly weird category of people who I don’t like much on the telly, but really like on the radio. This extract from Mayo’s BBC Radio 5 Live show is a weekly round up of new cinema releases, both multiplex blockbuster and arthouse chinscratcher.

It’s become a bit of running joke that I can’t have an opinion on a film until I’ve heard what 'my friend' Mark Kermode thinks about it. While that’s not entirely true, I do really trust his judgment and, more importantly, think he’s the most honest critic out there. Dr K will frequently go against his curmudgeonly reputation and admit happily weeping his way through High School Musical 3 or yawning his way through Burn After Reading, and I believe him.

It’s worth a listen for anyone with even a passing interest in cinema, whether you agree with Kermode’s opinions or not. He’s a big horror nerd too, which is always a winner in my book.


4. SModcast
This one divides people, but I’ll admit I’m a fan. Presented by director Kevin Smith and his friend, the producer Scott Mosier, this is a sweary, dirty and silly podcast about nothing in particular.

Kevin Smith’s films I can take or leave, but man, I’ll listen to him spout drivel for hours. SModcast sounds like 2 grown friends meeting up and talking like they’re 16 again, all fart jokes and touching boobs. I can get behind that. For me, Mosier is the real star; a quiet, likeable dude who’ll occasionally send Smith into crying fits with a deadpan comment. Hunt out the Harry Potter one (episode 29) for some good giggling.


5. BBC Radio 4
Considering 3 of the previous 4 entries on my list have been from the BBC, it’s only right I include the big daddy on the list. Radio 4 has more engaging content in a single day than most other stations can muster up in a month. It’s the best.

Personal favourites are: Thinking Allowed (debate and discussion), Digital Planet (technology news), Desert Island Discs ( interviews), More or Less (a show about numbers!) and Medical Matters (medical/healthcare discussion).

Running from Camera

Don't be blue! Here's a thing I like, perhaps you will like it too. There was a Top 100 Blogs article in the newspaper over the weekend, mainly news, politics, media and such. In amongst the novelty categories however, a site called Running from Camera caught my attention. It's a little photo blog by a man from Holland. What he says is this:

The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.

Good eh? Go and have a look: runningfromcamera.blogspot.com

Illustration Friday: Pretend

I've made a decision to start using Illustration Friday again. For those that don't know, every week a new word is posted on IF with the intention of inspiring people to submit work on the topic. It's a really good wee thing that I'd recommend anyone to have a go at.

As time is tight, and I've a deadline this afternoon, I'm using an older image for my entry. I think it fits the topic Pretend pretty well though.

Nigel Peake: Maps

Last night I stopped by Analogue for the launch party of Nigel Peake's Maps book. Nigel has put together a great wee show to accompany the launch, which should be seen by everyone who can make it. Unfortunately the books are delayed ever so slightly, but will be available soon. The versions on show looked brilliant. You can pre-order a copy or two through Analogue, and there are also some really nice Tiny Showcase prints and other Peakey goodies available.

It was a good night. Russell & Julie are as nice as ever and it's always good to catch up with Nigel (despite our matching-shirt drama). I always find Analogue shows are great for saying hello to folk I've not seen in a while. I recommend you have a look at what Ruefive, Matt and Elph are up to.

SOTW2: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

For the past couple of weeks, Stop Making Sense has been my go-to DVD for when I'm sitting around doing nothing in particular. When I was wee, I'd always read about how great it was but I didn't get around to watching it until I was studying. Now that I own it, every so often I'll take the notion to stick it on and that'll be me off on a Talking Heads trip for a few weeks.

Picking a song of the week from the film is pretty tricky, since they're all fantastic. I've picked This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), firstly because it's amazing and I really like to play it at the start of a Sunday night in Nicky Tams, but also because the performance from the film is lovely. If you've never seen it, you're in for a treat. David Byrne dancing with the lamp is a bit of magic.

I couldn't really leave it at that, so as a bonus Stop Making Sense slice, here's Life During Wartime too. In the film, this is the first taste of Byrne's amazing dancing, and where the gears start shifting towards running-on-the-spot, sweaty, big-suit madness:


I guess what I'm saying is that you should go get hold of Stop Making Sense if you haven't seen it, and go watch it again if you have. My other top tips for those who don't know it are Psycho Killer, Slippery People and Burning Down The House. As good YouTube is, you really do lose the cumulative power of seeing the whole concert.

Amble Gallery & Books Closing

A little bit of sad news for you today. Amble Gallery & Books in Philadelphia is closing it's doors later on this month. I know the place, it's captain (haha) and it's friends very well. It's a real shame to see it go. Amble put on some really amazing stuff in it's time. I was lucky enough to exhibit there myself with my Jaggy Nettles show earlier this year.

I travelled over with my friend Fergi (seen cleaning my work in the photo there) and had a complete blast running around Philly for a few weeks. We saw a lots of sights, met a lot of people, ate a lot of food and drank a lot of drink. I started itching to go back as soon as I got home. Cheers again to Concetta for all she did and to Fergi for doing most of the hard work hanging the show. Hello to all our friends over there too, hope you're well.

So, if you're in Philadelphia you'd better head over quick and have a look while you can. There's a big sale on too, so you might just come away with a bargain. If you can't make it, keep your eye on what Concetta does next because I've no doubt it will be totally rockin'.

> PHOTO CREDIT: Fergi at Amble by Concetta Barbera

BAF Single Released

The Be A Familiar double A side, "Pain In The Heart / Tiptoe" is out today. I designed the cover a while back and I'm mentioning it again because of the release. I got to see a copy for the first time at the launch party in Glasgow on Saturday night, which was a lot of fun. The band put on a great show. You can see the full artwork here.

For more info about Be A Familiar, visit their MySpace. They are very good and they are lovely people. The single is available on vinyl in certain places and through Broken Friend Records. The songs can also be downloaded through iTunes. Fingers crossed I'll be doing more stuff with them in the future.

Wild Beasts

Here's another 'Music Monday' feature. This time it's on a Sunday.

The best part of a year ago, my friend Beth introduced me to a band named Wild Beasts. She was mainly getting me to look at the above video for their song 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants', as it had been directed by her friend. It's a great video, but I really liked the song too, so I hunted it out. They've got an ace weird 'n' spooky thing going on, especially the singer. He sounds like a ghost has joined a band. They've also got a touch of Adam & Joe's 'Jazz Queens' to them.

The main reason for writing this now is that I hear that they've got an album out tomorrow (Monday 16th June). I guess I'm being slightly music-snobby in an 'I knew about them ages ago' kinda way by mentioning this now, incase they get all famous. That'd be a good thing though, because they're a good band. I've been playing that tune when I 'dj' at Nicky-Tams in Stirling for the past forever. Buy the album!

Tiny Showcase Print.

I'm happy to announce that a print of mine will be available from Tiny Showcase on Tuesday 17th June (next Tuesday). Tiny Showcase rocks. I hung out a little with Shea'la Finch, one of the site's co-founders, when she used to live in Edinburgh and we've finally got round to getting something out there. Have a look if you've not been there before. The news feed is a good one to subscribe too because Shea'la finds all sorts of cool stuff and she writes all funny.

My print will be a rejigging of the "Houses Should Have Long Legs" image above (they'll be printed in a row). It'll be a crazy high-quality letterpress print on some nice brown paper. Some of the proceeds will be going to Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland too. Cheers.