art basel: take two

i'm back from my second annual trip to art basel: miami beach! this year was as good and wild and light on sleep as last year. i had the honor of painting a wall in the kohn compound alongside street art and graffiti giants who have been painting longer than i've been alive, and i'm coming back with renewed passion and drive to make more and bigger and better work before i go back for art basel 2012.

special thanks to court mccracken and miranda maynard, my two tough laybirds, for all their help. and thanks to josh kohn for putting together a great group and for being the best host and facilitator imaginable.

a couple pictures from 217 NW 24th street:

glamour shot by estria:

and a video from art primo (watch for 1:43):

vines mural

mural finished in my apartment. at home now in memphis, cataloging the nineteen million things i'm thankful for!

from my sketchbook

a few drawings from a much larger stash:

mural video

i've secured a wall to paint this year for art basel: miami beach, and i'm in the process now of working up sketches--new shapes, more organic lines. trying to rise to the challenge of designing something that looks natural in a hard-lined, concrete and metal space. here's a little video i shot of a practice wall i'm working on in my apartment:

miscellaneous

i'm posting this video that richard green shot for "around carolina" because there is some great footage of the rites mural. but maybe watch it with the sound off because i don't say anything very interesting or profound.

also, here is a great article on suzy philips, the force behind the gypsy queen cuisine food truck that i painted in asheville this summer. keep fighting the good fight, suzy.

in st. louis news, i'm leading an art class tomorrow at the contemporary and our guest artist is jonathan bogarin, who made a movie called invisible murals. i haven't gotten a chance to see the whole film, but i love this clip:

Invisible Murals Movie from Invisible Murals on Vimeo.

Noël Skrzypczak

work i wish i could see in person by australian artist noël skrzypczak:

Tom Fruin

Tom Fruin's latest installation in Copenhagen, "Kolonihavehus":

LAAFF poster

i did this illustration for the 10th anniversary commemorative posters of the lexington avenue arts and fun festival, my favorite festival in asheville: september 3-4, held downtown.

saint louis

states i have been to/through in the past month:
north carolina, south carolina, tennessee, virginia, west virginia, maryland, delaware, pennsylvania, new jersey, new york, new hampshire, connecticut, and maine.

garth, corinne, me, and adam on vinalhaven, maine

the summer has been full of new places, good food, great people, and big changes. after being out of town more days than i've been home for the past two months, i have decided that it's time to uproot a little. so at the end of this month, i am relocating to saint louis.

!!!

more to come soon....

shirin neshat

iranian-born artist/videographer shirin neshat:

charleston

just got back from charleston where i went to paint a mural with the chART outdoor initative and gallery: AMAZING. with projects like this so much depends on the chemistry of the people involved, and the group of artists and organizers in charleston is so full of heart and soul (and southern hospitality at its finest) that it was definitely one of my favorite painting experiences. thanks so much to geoff and noel richardson at lava salon, my old friend ishmael, mollie howey, haley hobeika, patch whisky, ben sellers, sarah stewart, john pundt, anson cyr, and everyone else who made this project possible/awesome. check out the walls on alycia alley (just off savannah highway in west ashley) if you are around charleston.

also, mr. patch whisky is having a show at push in asheville that opens july 15, so go on and see him.

and finally, here's a video of geoff talking about the initative and also of me wiping paint off the wall then licking my finger.

vee speers

australian-born photographer (now living/working in paris) vee speers' collection, "birthday party":

this last one especially, a masterpiece.

art nurture asheville

june special: $20 off tuition for our "creative nurture" class if you refer a friend. class starts june 28th and is limited to 15, so hurry! www.artnurtureasheville.com

june studio stroll

photos from studio stroll in the river arts district this past weekend:

(all photos by chris yavelow.)

charles simic

"Clouds Gathering"

It seemed the kind of life we wanted.

Wild strawberries and cream in the morning.

Sunlight in every room.

The two of us walking by the sea naked.

Some evening, however, we found ourselves

Unsure of what comes next.

Like tragic actors in a theater on fire,

With birds circling over our heads,

The dark pines strangely still,

Each rock we stepped on bloodied by the sunset.

We were back on our terrace sipping wine.

Why always this hint of an unhappy ending?

Clouds of almost human appearance

Gathering on the horizon, but the rest lovely

With the air so mild and the sea untroubled.

The night suddenly upon us, a starless night.

You lighting a candle, carrying it naked

Into our bedroom and blowing it out quickly.

The dark pines and grasses strangely still.

Art Nurture Asheville and more

among other exciting projects, i have just launched a workshop series with my friend court mccracken under the name art nurture asheville. we will be teaching classes out of her studio in the river arts district's newly renovated hatchery building, and we will also be having some special events there: movie screenings, art lectures, happy hours. but we will be starting with two summer workshops: "creative nurture," a ten-week class (meets tuesdays) that will explore different creative practices and exercises to get your wheels turning. we will do some drawing, some writing, some more hands-on techniques, but our goal is to give you a good arsenal to draw from if you struggle with getting started, generating ideas, or maintaining momentum in your creative life.

the other workshop we'll be offering is a weekend-long exploration of the arts in asheville (called, as you would expect, "asheville art exploration.") we will visit some of the more innovative galleries downtown on friday for exhibit openings, and we have teamed up with the lazoom bus tours to offer access into a dozen artist studios on saturday morning. for the rest of the day we will have mini-workshops with artists in the river arts district where subjects will range from light sculptures to mural painting to toy-camera methods. on sunday, we will have a picnic at lake eden, the former grounds of the famous black mountain college, and talk about the history of the school, its key players, and the effects it has had on art in asheville and around the world.

for more info and to sign up for classes, visit our website: www.artnurtureasheville.com.

i'm putting the finishing touches on the gypsy queen cuisine lebanese food truck this week, pictures to come soon. and next week i leave to paint a wall in charleston as part of the chART outdoor intitative. painting + block party!

small drawings

new drawings from the past week:

RITES: a public performance

the performance finally happened on saturday--perfect weather, big crowd, friends and family and lots of color. here are the cream-of-the-crop photos from the event, shot by my friend colby rabon:

michael libramento, the composer

my friend steve spurgeon, who built the panels for the project + my dad, herschel

all in all, amazing.