End of September Update

I recently mailed these boxes off to various places for exhibitions. It was quite a time packaging up everything. I bought plexi glass and cut it to replace the glass in these frames. At this point, after experiencing numerous disasters with shipping glass, I don't want the stress of worrying about shattered glass and damaged artwork. If I do ship something with glass, it either has to be really small with LOTS of packing, or I just let UPS package it and bear the pricey cost.

The two big boxes are off to Flatcolor Gallery in Seattle (6 pieces), the smaller one contains one piece for a group show at Launch Pad Gallery in Portland, and the flat package is an unframed drawing going to Barcelona (I HOPE!). This piece is the replacement artwork for the "Wallpaper" show in Barcelona that I previously sent work to (but got lost). I sent this express mail, which was pricey but the only real option to have tracking and insurance and all that. And believe me, I will be tracking this to make sure it gets there this time.

Upcoming NYC show

I am in a show opening very soon in Soho at Sacred gallery. The show is called "Blood, Sweat and Fears." Artists were asked to do a piece based on fears and anxieties they have. Pretty open and interesting theme. There's quite a few artists I am excited to be showing with for this exhibition. Can't wait to see what everyone did! If you live in NY, you might want to come to the opening. See info below:

http://www.sacredgallerynyc.com/blood-sweat-and-fears-group-show

Proxart Issue 3

I'm very excited to be part of Proxart Issue 3. Proxart is an art magazine that aims to expose suburbia to the innovative work of artists. It exists in PDF and print form. Many thanks to the great people at Proxart for including me!

You can check it out here!

http://proxart.wordpress.com/

Even My Mum Can Make A Book

These are some pictures of the hanging and opening of "Even My Mum Can Make a Book", a zine exhibition in Istanbul that I participated in. Obviously, I was not able to be there for the opening, but I found these photos on facebook (courtesy of Gamze Ozer and Timothee Huguet). Looks like a great turnout!

Wow! Look at all these zines! Wish I could flip through each one...

The names of the participants are written on the window.

Look closely at the above photo, and you can see most of my name at the very top right (next to Luke Ramsey - honored to be placed next to Luke!).

Can you spot my zine in the above photo? It's the yellow one right above the green one.

About the show: Initiated by Gamze Özer and Timothee Huguet this project shows alternative publishings like zines, fanzines, artist books and selfmade editions. Following an open call participants from all around the world submitted their works. The presentation at Manzara Perspectives is the first in a series as the project has the aim to create an archive that will be expanding and travelling through different venues.

Here is a video of the event:

"even my mom can make a book" from futuristicdistortion on Vimeo.

One redeeming thing about today....

I am currently experiencing postal service hell (or limbo, however you want to look at it it). I sent a piece of art to Barcelona approximately 7 weeks ago, and there is no word of it arriving at the gallery. I am angry at USPS, customs and mostly angry at myself for being so completely naive in thinking that it would actually get to the intended destination via USPS. At this point, I can make a new piece for the show, or do nothing and just hope it turns up. Either way I am angry.

Stuff like this is enough to make me just say I will not participate in any shows overseas. Things get too complicated a lot of the time.

Anyway, the one redeeming thing about today is that I got my beautiful copy of SLICE magazine in the mail today. I have an illustration in this issue (the Villains issue). It's my piece "Under Skin" which I am sure everyone is tired of seeing by now, as it has already been published in a few other publications and posted on various blogs. People seem to like this image (particularly editorial publications). I wonder why. Perhaps it's mysterious enough to lend itself to many different things. Anyway, the printing of the magazine is really wonderful. There's an interview with Alan Moore (of 'Watchmen'), an interview with Jonathan Safran Foer (author of 'Eating Animals'), an illustration by Sarah McNeil, and great cover art by Caitlin Hackett.

http://www.slicemagazine.org/

Friday update

Got a good amount of drawing done today. Hopefully I can finish penciling in everything on this drawing tomorrow and maybe start inking.

I feel like my brain has been a bit overwhelmed lately, and it's been hindering my creativity. Oh well, gotta press on.

Painting frames

I've been having some "artist's block" this week, so I decided to take a tiny break from drawing and paint these frames that I sanded recently. Still need to make a trip to Home Depot sometime and pick up some plexi-glass.

Elemental Swatch Book

I received this in the mail today! It's a project I participated in initiated by the Honeycomb Art Collective I am part of. Select members were asked to create a piece of art for one of the four elements (fire, earth, wind, water). It's a very slick little booklet and well printed. Here are some pictures I took of the final product.

The artists involved are: Memolio, Wild Again, Alice Mizrachi, Jon MacNair, Matt Cipov, Fionn McCabe, Base-V, TWOONE, Gualicho, Trystan Bates, David Shillinglaw, Adria Fruitos, JAZ, Matias Vigliano, Jesse Balmer, Irena Zablotska, TOOCO, Fernando Chamarelli.

Here is a better picture of my contribution.