plant cells

i'm working on drawing up some tattoo designs for a good friend of mine. he wanted something like a plant cell so i drew these based on microscopic cross sections of the honeysuckle plant. i think these versions are too detailed for a tattoo but they gave me a good idea of the structure:

alberto seveso

underwater photographs by italian artist/designer albert seveso:

triangles

in today's installment of "things made of triangles":

from my sketchbook

on scratchboard

camstl workshops

i just got home from my second trip to teach a workshop at the contempory art museum st. louis, where i worked in the education department this fall. i love the museum staff and the programs they foster, usually free to the community. here's an aerial shot of yesterday's totem-making session:

here are some shots of from february's family day program. i lead a workshop making paper heart mobiles:

antonin artaud

i first read antonin artaud's "the theater and its double" when i was taking an art history course on black mountain college, and i started to re-read it tonight. even though he focuses primarily on the theater, many of his writings apply more broadly to ideas of expression in the current state of the world. some illuminating passages:

"If our life lacks brimstone, i.e., a constant magic, it is because we choose to observe our acts and lose ourselves in considerations of their imagined form instead of being impelled by their force.

And this faculty is an exclusively human one. i would even say that it is this infection of the human which contaminates ideas that should have remained divine; far from believing that man invented the supernatural and the divine, I think it's man's age-old intervention which has ultimately corrupted the divine within him."

"Admittedly or not, conscious or unconscious, the poetic state, a transcendent experience of life, is what the public is fundamentally seeking through love, crime, drugs, war, or insurrection."

masking

photos from "tangible spirit," a story featured in the april issue of national geographic about the culture and politics of masking in africa and its diaspora:

just wrapped up the wilson alley mural in asheville, made possible by castell photography and john cram. good to be back in NC, had some old fashioned hillbilly fun, saw old friends, made new friends, and managed to crank this piece out before the snow hit. thanks to everyone who dropped by the alley and/or came to the opening last night!

stop by if you're in asheville, either while i'm painting during the next week, or on march 2nd for the opening. i have to say back alley parties are the best parties. (and thank you, heidi gruner, for designing these beautiful invitations!)

self portrait

etsy and new drawings

my etsy shop is up and running! you can visit it here or go to the "shop" tab at the top of this page.

here are two more drawings from this week: