resplendent chaos

Sketch of Lindsay Lohan, Milkaholic

When I heard the Lindsay Lohan "Milkaholic" lawsuit, I grabbed the old sketchbook immediately and scrawled this out late at night.  It's the original sketch used for the post over on Gallery of the Absurd. Medium: Graphite on paper.

Merry Holiday!

I would like to wish you a very joyful and peaceful holiday season and a VERY happy and healthy 2010. I'd also like to extend my appreciation to those who read my blog. Your encouragement, wit and inspiration has been the best gift I've had all throughout the year - thank you!

Yep, I've been making weird holiday cards all day...

How Much is the Passed Out Stripper in the Window?

Window Display No. 1: Location: Shoe Fetish Store, Sutter Street, San Francisco. A lucite-heeled stripper wearing silver lame was in process of drunkenly decorating her dalmation just moments before passing out and slumping onto the fireplace mantel on Christmas morn. The impact of the fall caused ornaments to scatter all over the floor. 

 

Window Display No. 2: Location: Pawn Shop and Wig Store in seedy area of Market Street, San Francisco. A rapidly spinning disco ball and flashing strobe lights danced hypnotically across heavy silver chain jewelry, cheap knock-off watches, and screaming mannequin heads adorned with various shoddy wigs. While taking the photo, a man ran out from behind the counter and screamed "You want picture? Then give me 10 dollars!" After a moment or two, his face melted into a smile and he said he was just kidding.

Window Display No. 3 and 4: Location: Expensive Fine Jewelry Store, San Francisco. Pricey baubles are hidden amongst intricate art studio tableaux populated by artistic female marionettes posed in front of their paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. All photos snagged with iPhone camera.

The Shoplifting Boston Terrier of Nob Hill

As I waited in the cashier line, a stout black and white creature carrying a sizable "Tillamook Country Smoker" pepperoni stick in his mouth had the nerve to cut in front of me.  He stood for a while waiting to pay, but the lady in front was taking forEVER, so the creature wandered out onto the sidewalk and trotted away with his stolen booty. True story.

Mainstream Media Wants To Ensure That You're Frightened Out Of Your Wits

Walking past the TV the other night, I saw three grim-faced gargoyle puppets doing their best to instill paralyzing fear into an already edgy television audience. An orange-hued and stiffened Larry King led a discussion with squish-mouthed Barney Frank about the bleak future of the United States and whether or not we should just give up on our crumbling economy.

Adding more dramatic flair to the Theater of Morose, the perpetually sullen-faced Ben Stein was paraded out to deliver his typical hopeless and dreary monotone commentary.  I know CNN had intended this broadcast to deliver fear and anxiety in the form of "news", but I saw it as a circus act and found it absurdly funny.

I took a pic of the TV screen in hopes that you might find it humorous as well.

As Deepak Chopra says, "Fear deprives people of choice. Fear shrinks the world into isolated, defensive enclaves. Fear spirals out of control. Fear makes everyday life seem clouded over with danger. Many people are approaching the economy that way and not enough leaders are warning them that it's the worst possible reaction. Being happy in a recession means resisting fear and the lure of consumption."  Also, laughing at the mainstream media hype seems to help too.  Medium: ink and graphite in moleskine, digital color.

Client Case Study: PF Flyers National Ad Campaign

A few years ago I participated in a group art show called "Heaven and Hell" (curated by Kipling West). I made two Mexican folk art-inspired retablos - one for a Devil, the other for an Angel.  Cobbling together pieces of wood, fimo clay, feathers, and acrylic paint, I had loads of fun in the process due to the entire bottle of chardonnay I guzzled while dancing around my studio.  Above is my Hell Retablo sitting next to my humiliated dog, below the Heaven Retablo sitting next to my humiliated dog.

A few days after the show opened, I received a call from PF Plyer's ad agency.  Their reps had been at the show, saw my retablos and wanted to hire me to make one as part of a national print ad campaign for the Sandlot Edition of their action shoes.  They said they liked my work because it was "spooky and candy-like" (!!!!!)  and wanted me to create something similar.  I got to work immediately creating wildly spooky and candy-like sample sketches, excited that finally, a client was letting me go nuts in my own style without providing much art direction.

The exuberance was quickly squelched after showing my sketches. "No, we need you to pretend you're a Mexican folk artist who doesn't know how to draw," they told me. "You need to really simplify and go more rustic."  Eager to please them, I enthusiastically went back to the drawing board and pretended I didn't know how to draw.  The revised sketches pleased them, but they said I needed to go even further in making it look "rustic".  Grumbling the whole time I put the thing together, I couldn't understand why they hired me when they could have hired an actual Mexican folk artist.  When it was all finished, my grumbling disappeared when I received a payment that made all that frustration worth it.  Ah, clients. 

Mondo Bizarro Vintage Girlie Horror Sci-Fi Trashy Magazines

If you collect (I do) or just enjoy looking at goofy vintage trash mags from the 60's, then you'll enjoy perusing Bad Mags. During the 60's, underground publishers cranked out a variety of weird, sleazy and sensational magazines in a variety of bizarre subject matter. Bad Mags is a unique and informative online guide to a hugely popular, now neglected, aspect of US literary history. There's some light nudity and exploitive subject matter, so use discretion when viewing the site at work.

The Most Disgusting/Hilarious Ad Campaign Ever

A few years ago, an advertising campaign for Immodium AD (anti-diarrhea medication) ran television and print ads featuring a dorky guy in a hot tub sandwiched between two buxom party girls. The headline asked "Where will you be when your diarrhea comes back?" After witnessing such a thing, I ran to grab my sketchbook and quickly recorded the image seared into my brain. The commercial didn't show little air bubbles popping up as I dramatize in my sketch, but I thought the message would have been more effective if they had pushed the envelope just a tad more. Medium: ink in sketchbook, digital color.