Author: dmckee

Pop surrealist, graffiti, tattoo, lowbrow, comic and underground artists Shag, Paul Frank, Tim Biskup, Frank Kozik, Marc Ecko, Amanda Visell, Tim Biskup, J. Otto Seibold, Gary Baseman, Joe Ledbetter, Urban Medium and Jeff Soto, among others, show their allegiance to the dark side by customizing Darth Vader helmets in landmark gallery exhibition called The Vader Project, to debut at Star Wars Celebration IV on May 24 to 28 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The Vader Project is presented by Master Replicas, and curated by Dov Kelemer of DKE Toys, one of the largest designer vinyl and art-toy distributors in the world, exclusively representing over 50 companies, artists, and designers. Kelemer gathered the hottest underground and pop surrealist painters, artists and designers and gave each artist a Master Replicas 1:1 scale prop replica of the Darth Vader helmet used in the Star Wars films. Each helmet served as a blank canvas for each artist to paint, design, mash up and customize in their own unique style.

Star Wars: Community | Underground Artists Take on the Sith in The Vader Project

CARFAC has won such battles as the right to exhibition fees from public art galleries, the recognition of artists as the primary producers of culture and the institutionalization of “moral rights” to protect artists from exploitation. With independent regional affiliates in several provinces and territories, they have spent decades working to organize, and bargain on behalf of, the country’s professional visual and media artists–including those artists which the CARFAC petition represents.
CARFAC’s response, entitled “Copyright Law and the Visual Artist,” starts by asking, “What do artists want from copyright reform?” They assert that current Canadian law does not protect “appropriation without permission” under any circumstances, and that this is in artists’ best interests. They continue to encourage new restrictions on use, including paying artists for resale of their work and bringing Canada “in line with the World Intellectual Property Organization agreements.” In response to collage artists’ concerns about legal reforms eradicating their practice, they advise artists “to seek permissions, to pay the contributors and to credit them.”
Jonathan Culp: Cutting Out Collage

I’ve recently been looking into some software that will allow me to keep a database of my art — to allow me to track the works while they’re out on exhibition, on loan, or after I sell them. Once you actually start looking, you can find a few good candidates, some of which even have point-of-sale features. One of the apps I’m looking at is called “Art Affair”. Despite the unfortunate name, unfortunate splash screen, and unfortunate colour scheme, it’s a very handy database, and allows you to list your art, complete with images, and cost/resource tracking for each work. It also allows you to keep a contact database, and you can print up invoices for sales to individuals in said contact database. The interface is a little dated, and the underlying database structure is flat text files, but it does have some good robustness, and it backs up your data every session. It also allows you to export your data, should you decide to go with some more enterprise-level stuff.

I realize I could simply write my own database software, or somehow adapt Movable Type into an art database, but for $139 US, it’s a pretty good deal.
You can find more about these guys at http://www.artaffairsoftware.com

To keep the site from getting boring, I’ve added a CSS Templates section, with some thumbnails of different stylesheets that work with this site. Some, like the “sideways” theme are crazy and experimental — I’ll be tweaking these as we go. Others, like the “travel” theme are silly and whimsical. Go with what you’re comfortable with. It will store a cookie on your machine and subsequent visits will load the last style you chose. Have fun with it.

Available Space Art Project is currently inviting regional artists to submit two-dimensional works in any media for ASAP’s Spring Art Exhibition during City of Kitchener’s Earth Week events. The exhibition is held at 156 King St. in downtown Kitchener Saturday April 21st in conjunction with an alternative fashion show and clothing swap and Sunday April 22nd with a closing reception for the artists and the community.  
When: ASAP Art Exhibition, Alternative fashion show & clothing swap:
Saturday, April 21, 2007
ASAP Art Exhibition’s Closing Reception:
Sunday April 22, 2007, 2:00-4:00 pm
 
Location: 156 King St., Kitchener, ON
 
There is no size limit for the artworks. ASAP can exhibit large size 2 dimensional works. All artworks should be ready to hang. ASAP takes 20% commission on all sales to cover its expenses. We have an insurance waiver for artists to sign. Please drop off your work at the exhibition location 156 King St. (in downtown Kitchener) at one of the following times:
 
Wed. April 18th – 12:30 – 2:30 pm
Contact Available Space Art Project (availablespaceartproject@yahoo.ca) to participate.

Some really interesting sculptures taken by tourists. Really fantastic.

Strange statues around the world | haha.nu – a lifestyle blogzine

The median income of arts workers in Ontario is $10,000 a year. So what? Artists volunteer for their edgy lives; no one forces them to paint or dance. Still, several other provinces spend more on protecting and encouraging artists than does the self-appointed centre of the Canadian cultural universe, Ontario. Quebec’s arts workers, for example, are covered by a regime of mandatory collective bargaining.
globeandmail.com

In an industry first, Fox commissioned a series of original art as a celebration of the passion of Family Guy fans and the creative spirit embodied in the show. Twenty-one artists of the Lowbrow Pop Movement were challenged to take the show’s characters, design, and sensibility as a starting point and literally let their imaginations run wild. The result is a wholly original and eclectic series of images in a variety of media that bear the unmistakable Family Guy imprint through the prism of each artist’s entirely unique style and perspective.
Curated by Fox L&M Creative Manager Wendell Riggins, the exhibit features new works by Lowbrow Pop artists from across the country, who, in various media including oil, acrylics, and collage riff on Family Guy characters in much the same way as the animated series itself takes on pop culture icons every week. Combining elements from various subcultural influences, the Lowbrow Pop or Pop Surrealist movement dates back to the 1970s and has its roots in underground comics and the alternative gallery scene of Southern California.

MTR | What the Deuce Are You Staring At!?!

Landscape artist E.J. Hughes, best known for capturing British Columbia’s coast on canvas, has died at the age of 93.
Hughes died of cardiac arrest on Friday after being rushed to a Duncan, B.C., hospital.
Often hailed as the successor to Emily Carr, Hughes received the Emily Carr Scholarship in 1947 after being nominated by Lawren Harris.
Born in North Vancouver in 1913 and partly raised in Nanaimo, Hughes studied at the Vancouver School of Applied Art and Design under such teachers as Jock Macdonald and Group of Seven member Frederick Varley.
B.C. painter E.J. Hughes dies

To hear the students tell it, Stephen Murmer is a fun, popular art teacher who is always quick to crack a joke.
But there is another side to Murmer. A side that has agitated school officials and resulted in his suspension. A side that focuses, almost entirely, on his backside.
Outside of class and under an alter ego, the self-proclaimed “butt-printing artist” creates floral and abstract art by plastering his posterior and genitals with paint and pressing them against canvas. His cheeky creations sell for hundreds of dollars.
Teacher suspended over his posterior art – Peculiar Postings – MSNBC.com