Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa
Oil on Panel 14 x 18

SOLD

the joker

The Joker

Oil on Panel 14 x 18

SOLD

Friday, February 15, 2008

Make Art



This drawing was made as a response video on YouTube
I had been wondering for a while why YouTube had no "Art" category on their site
there's a category for Pets, Cars, Animation, Film, How-to, Etc.
but no art, why not!

A user by the name of "cheeckychen" had been bothered by it as well, as many users probably were too, and did something about it, he made a video asking for all the artists on YouTube to join in a collaboration to make videos displaying artwork with the words "Make Art" incorporated in it, he's probably planning on putting all these videos together in a massive video and show it to YouTube.

At the moment there is still no "Art" category on the site, but hopefully this collaboration will change their mind

is it wrong for us to ask for an art section?
it would make it much easier for people to find art and artists on YouTube
we shall see

oscar goes outside - the hive gallery



I visit The Hive Gallery in Los Angeles

At the request of a friend, who suggested i get my lazy butt out of the house and to a gallery, i decided to go to the one gallery i was dying to go to, The Hive Gallery!

I was not disappointed
all of the artwork was amazing!
the poeple there were super nice and friendly!
there was parking conviniently across the street from the place!
And, they were filming a scene for the new Knightrider TV show, and i got to see the new car they're using...i should go out more often!

thank you Amanda!

music by:
Craig Ventresco & David Boeddinghaus - Won't You Fondle Me Medley, from Crumb (Original Soundtrack)

Pancho Villa



Doroteo Arango Arámbula better known as Francisco or "Pancho" Villa, was a Mexican Revolutionary general.
His charisma and effectiveness gave him great popularity, he was provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914.
Villa and his supporters, known as Villistas, employed tactics such as propaganda and firing squads against his enemies, and expropriated hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains, and, like the other Revolutionary generals, printed fiat money to pay for his cause.
While his violence and ambition prevented him from being accepted into the "pantheon" of national heroes until some twenty years after his death, today his memory is honored by many Mexicans.

This painting is for my brother, he loves Pancho Villa, he collects old photographs and memorabilia of his favorite historical figure. So even though it's not authentic memorabilia, i hope he enjoys it...he better!!!

I really love this piece, it was my third attempt at Pancho Villa, i just wasn't getting his likeness right at all, it was bothering me so much, i did sketch after sketch, and those cam out great, but when i put brush to canvas, it got lost, i would go on painting, and get to a certain point, hate it, and get some turpentine and completely erase it!
Finally i figured the third time's a charm, i did a light form and shape sketch, nothing detailed, and began sketching it with my brush instead, the result was this beautiful piece that has become one of my most favorite pieces, i did it n 2 days (work got in the way)

I did use a refernce picture, and i wanted to give it an old fashioned, antique look, it came out great!

the joker



I started this painting at the very end of last year, and finished it within the first week, it took me a while to finish mainly due to my lazyness, i still can't et over being lazy, it's so much easier to just not do anyhting!
I chose the Joker as a subject for two reasons
1. It's a gift for a friend, i was thinkng what i could do for them, i didn't get them a gift for christmas, and wanted to do something, before that i had been strugling a bit to figure out what i could do, and thinking of what the person would like, i remembered the Joker was one of their favorite characters, so i decided to go with it

reason 2. The Joker to me, represents the ultimate drive of human achieveness and awakeness (as i like to call it) Here is someone who is no longer connected to the great hive mentality, they figured it out, sure the Joker is a fictional character, but what it implies is brilliant! He sees that he could truly be whatever he wants to be, it manifests itself in the form of a criminally insane person, who knows that life is nothing but a joke, and a game, not to be taken so seriously, and that in order to be what you want to be in life, you must become it, otherwise it will not be..does that make sense, it does to me...moving on

When i started painting this i began shooting timelapse footage of it through my computer, after a while of painting, it was probably like 45 minutes, i checked to see how the timelapse was going, and it haad stopped on it's own due to lack of space on my computer, it took up so much space!! and i had a bunch of movies taking up hard drive time as well, so instead of going through all the movies and deleteing them and then getting back to the painting, i did nothing for a few days, then began painting but took pictures instead until i finished

Overall, i like this piece, it's my first piece where i didn't use any reference, it came completely from my imagination, and i love it!