Proudly wear Crateart

Evelyn, my wife, is horrible at keeping secrets. Because of this, she never is able to wait to give me a present. I always seem to get my birthday present about a week before my birthday and my Christmas presents…well, I just got my first one yesterday. Personally, I find it cute.

However you feel about early presents, you must agree that Evelyn (as she always does) got me the best present I could have possibly imagined. She got me a custom Crateart iron-on T-Shirt. Wow! Now I know when you see this you will want one too. Think of it, you could get your husband/wife/girlfriend/aunt the best Christmas present ever. Nothing says, “I love you” like an official custom iron-on Crateart T-shirt.

Seriously, the shirt got me thinking. If anyone out there wants one send me an email at info@crateartist.com

Happy Holidays,

Mike (crateartist)

Christmas Art Handling

I always have hated the term art handler. It is a silly title. Art handler. It sounds so funny.

Anyway, as this website deals with the profession of working in galleries as well as creating artwork, I thought I would give a little advice to the art handlers out there. December has been a rough month for work in the gallery profession. I have actually had two other art handler friends of mine call me looking for work. The handlers are starving. What happens is that the major art fairs stop at the end of November. Miami art fairs end, and the big time clients of NYC are all still in Florida avoiding the NY winter. The galleries do their best to put up a low priority show for the Christmas tourists, and then they shut down in the later weeks of December. My prediction is that the gallery world will stay shut down until mid January and then it will pick up again for the pre-spring season. The major pier Armory Show is in February and the gallery scene will be in full swing long before then.

My advice to all you young artists out there working in the field to pay rent: get a part time job starting December First and April First. If I could go back in time to the first of this month I would have done it, but its late now. I will have to brave this unemployment storm till January, but I will not make this mistake come April. I will start looking for a part time job starting in March that will get me through the summer, and next winter I will just have to sell more artwork.

New Work IV

It has been awhile since I have written a new blog about the Crateart. Been a crazy past few weeks. So without any more small talk, let me jump right into the newest developments in the Crateartist Laboratory.

“Noel as the Zeus of Manhattan and the Poseidon of Brooklyn” (first illustration) has been going slowly, as always. I fear that the piece may not be ready for the next photo shoot and website update I want to do in February and that it may have to be held until the next photo shoot. Despite this, I also feel that it cannot be rushed. I really was ambitious to even begin such a huge project as “Noel as Zeus”, but that will not deter me from finishing, it just may be finished behind schedule. However, I am sure that when Noel is finished, it will be the finest, and certainly the grandest, Crateart created. The first Noel is nearly complete, soon the Manhattan landscape will be added in at the bottom and I can begin with the second portrait of Noel on the opposite side. When viewing this picture, please keep in mind that the surface area of this piece is the largest Crayola painting I have ever done. “Noel as Zeus” is Crayola on a piece of crate that measures 8 feet by 2 feet. Highly detailed Crayola painting will cover almost the entire surface, front and back.

As for the drawings that I discussed in my last Crateart blog on the First of this month, I have completed a new one titled “Portrait of Honey Hollock, Queen of the LLB” (second illustration). This newest drawing is on wood panel and is the same size as the others. I still plan on making many more of these drawings.

The next drawing I want to present is “Portrait of Matt Puckett” (third illustration), which is the large drawing I had begun and mentioned on December First’s blog titled “Crateart drawings”. I began this drawing as I have all the others only larger. This piece presented new challenges due to its shift in size. Normally, I keep a lot of control over my work, trying my best not to stray from the original plan, yet with these drawings there is not a normal plan and I allow myself a lot of freedom. So due to the spontaneity of the drawings, I broke out my oil sticks. The statement on http://www.crateartist.com speaks on this a little, but I used to be an oil stick painter a number of years ago. Oil sticks are a large reason I became the Crayolaist I am today, but my vast collection of sticks have been stored long ago and have not been picked up until this piece. So, I am happy with this piece’s progress, and I am thrilled with the fact that these drawings have pushed me back into the realm of paint. “Portrait of Puckett” is still not complete, there are some things I still want to do with it, however it is well ready for viewing. This piece is roughly 36” x 48” and is masking tape, Crayola, oil stick, spray paint, and marker on wallpaper which is mounted on panel.

I also wanted to show everyone the new and complete Play-Doh bicycle for “Portrait of My Big Orange Bicycle as the Embodiment of All Things Nice and Happy” (forth illustration). I spoke about this in an earlier post, and showed a half complete image. Well here it is finished. This new bicycle is beautiful and juicy. It looks even better in person than it does in the picture and still I am not sure which bicycle I would present, the new beauty or the old one I fell in love with. Maybe I’ll just hang them both up.

Now for the big talk. I have, in the last couple of weeks, been working quite a lot on the piece titled “Portrait of Mary Boone as Marilyn Monroe with Oscillating Fan Set to Speed Number Three”. This piece is now nearly done. Just this last Thursday, Jason Szalla and I went to the framer to get his oil painting portraits of the Mary Boone framed so they can be mounted on Crateart. The paintings will be ready in early January, and the Crateart will be waiting for them. This is the first ever Crateart collaboration, and hopefully it will be the first of many, I have enjoyed this project very much. I have displayed two images of this piece in progress, one of the wall where the two framed paintings will be hung, and one of my wife, Evelyn, standing in front of it to give an example of its size. The piece is still missing the two paintings, which are being framed, a plant table (yet to be presented here), and of course the oscillating fan.

The next week is Christmas week, and I doubt any gallery will be bringing on any help. That means lots and lots of studio time. The big project for this week is Fruit Loops, but that is for the next blog.

Crateart Drawings

A few days ago I was with a friend of mine who had suggested to me that I donate a few drawings to the Drawing Center’s “Night of a Thousand Drawings” (http://www.drawingcenter.org). For those who do not know, the “Night of a Thousand Drawings” is an opportunity for young artists to donate work to a non-profit gallery in Soho. The drawings must be on paper and must be under a certain size, but other than that, no drawing is refused. Each drawing is then sold for $35-50, and those drawings not sold are either discarded or returned to the artist. So, my buddy tells me I should donate a few drawings and my response was that I did not have any new drawings. All the drawings I had were pre-Crateart. My friend then asked me what a Crateart drawing would look like.

Later, the next day, I found myself asking the same question. What does Crateart drawing look like? The minimum amount of time I have spent creating anything has been about 100 hours. I set out to work a few drawings just to see. The “Noel as Zeus” piece becomes so tiring after a few hours anyway, and a break to do some fast paced sketches seemed a good idea. It is strange to stop doing drawings and then all of a sudden make them again.

After about ten really horrible drawings I found something that I liked. I made a little drawing of Evelyn, my wife, on wallpaper with Sharpie Marker, Crayola, and 18k gold leafing pen. It was so much fun that when I finished I made another drawing using the same technique. The next day, I made a couple more. Then it seemed that I was doing one every time I would go to my studio.

So now, I have this beautiful set of drawings and I do not want to donate them anymore. Today I began a large scale drawing in the same style. It seems these drawings have really got a hold on me, so expect to see more and more emerge on this blog.

Aside from the drawings, “Noel as Zeus” and “Booner as Mary Monroe” are coming along great. The great Fruit Loop piece is still holding on some important research, but I will be taking care of that tomorrow.

The drawing images are titled with black Sharpie Marker on the lower right: “ Picture of Evie”, “Portrait of Matt the Fog”, Portrait of Adam Brumely”, “Portrait of Imogen Szalla”, “Adam’s First Visit to the Ocean”, and “Lawrence Laser Babes”. The image below that shows the new piece I have started in scale proportion to the rest. I have not decided on a price for any of these drawings, but I imagine they will be for sell for about $50 each after I complete a full set. If anyone would like to reserve one, please send me an email (info@crateartist.com).

I will be gone for the next week. I am going to San Francisco to visit my brother Dustin and his family. Keep on Cratearting.

-M