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VIERNES, EL DIECINUEVE DE NOVIEMBRE, VIENTE-DIEZ
Another exhibition invitation to another group exhibition I'm in, this time in Barcelona, Spain:
CMTV Gallery invites you to the exhibition:AWAY FROM DIOSThe Seven Deadly SinsOpening: 7:30pm, 9th December, 201010th of December 2010 - 29th January 2011The Seven Deadly Sins are a classification of the human vices found in Christianity and Catholicism. As mentioned in the first lessons, they have been part of Western tradition for centuries. Artists have addressed these vices and have made interpretations that serve as a cultural and moral witness to specific eras of our history.CMTV Gallery, with the aim of updating this topic, commissioned eight international artists to create an artwork of predetermined format (90 x 90 cm). based on one of the cardinal sins. The objectives of this exhibition are to reflect on these ever-current vices, while promoting artistic dialogue between continents and countries.Each artist has their own unique style, yet there are common elements running throughout the exhibition including irony, metaphor; the desire for beauty, the combination of religion and popular culture; the influence of surrealism and the return of the human form - aspects that reflect contemporary art practice in this time.List of guest artists: Spain: Gonzalo Rueda (Pride), José Luis Serzo (Greed), Dani Torrent (Gluttony), Rubenimichi (Lust); USA: Tim Hooper (Envy), Bethany Marchman (Sloth); New Zealand/USA: Matthew Couper (Wrath).Sergio Mora (gallery manager) curator of the exhibition. Artist Website links:Matthew Couper www.mattcouper.comTim Hooper www.mrhooperart.comDani Torrent www.danitorrent.carbonmade.comJosé Luis Serzo www.joseluisserzo.comRubenimichi www.rubenimichi.comBethany Marchman www.bethanymarchman.comGonzalo Rueda www.gonzalorueda.comSergio Mora www.sergiomora.comMore information:www.comomevesteveras.com/awayfromdioswww.comomevesteveras.com/galeriacmtvwww.comomevesteveras.com/blogTel: + 34 93 319 0819Sant Pere Mes Alt 3608003 BarcelonaEspaña
JUEVES, EL DIECIOCHO DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
An invitation to a group exhibition I'm part of at Mahara Gallery, Waikanae, Wellington, New Zealand. I'm not exactly sure which work of mine is in the exhibition, but I'll update you as soon as I hear.
LUNES, EL QUINCE DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZToday, my painting 'Half and Half' (which is on display at present at the New Dowse, New Zealand, as part of the 2010 Wallace Art Awards) is featured in John Seed's Huffington Post Blog, 'Five Paintings, Five Palettes: F. Scott Hess, Peter Zokosky, Sarah McKenzie, Nathan Oliveira, Matt Couper'. The main idea of the blog is to compare and contrast artist's palettes. So far, mine is the skankiest, with paper plates sitting on the ground with a mess of brushes.
DOMINGO, EL CARTORCE DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
A fantastic '84 J-M Basquait acrylic and silkscreen painting titled 'Logo' up for sale in the latest Sotheby's Contemporary Art auction in Paris. If you've got a spare 800,000 EURO lying around, better check if your mum can pick up the hammer-down commission if you win the bid.
MIERCOLES, EL CIEZ DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
It feels very satisfactory to squeeze out a tube of paint and have your brush stand up in it. A photo taken in preparation for priming the 3 new canvases (see previous posts)
MARTES, EL NUEVE DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZHave been distracted - starting some new large pantings, which are taking up all my time, hence the gap in blogging. Here's a pic of my studio from Sunday. I've finished a new version of 'Half and Half' from earlier this year. It's slightly different and was definitely as fun to paint as the previous one. This one is called 'Syncretism Of The Halves'.I'm intending on making a triptych painting out of the three new primed canvases hanging on the wall.
SABATO, EL SEIS DE NOVIEMBRE, VIENTE-DIEZ
Last night was First Friday, had a great time and saw some great work, including Todd Mitchell's molotov cocktail with 'urban renewal' written on the label. Both Jo and I had work in the Dia De Los Muertos exhibition at Blackbird Studios on Commerce St. 
VIERNES, EL CINCO DE NOVIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
A new ex-voto about the recent mid-term elections here in the States.
JUEVES, EL CUATRO DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Friday night is Ben Pearce's exhibition opening at PAULNACHE in Gisborne. Here's what the email says:
'Pearce explores the personality of memory. Acknowledging its amazing range and various abilities, Pearce’s art explores memory and reconciles it with a recent and common ‘ancestor’ to us all: childhood. He strives to make visible the quirks and tragedies of our mind’s recording machinations, to materialize the emotional states that can cripple our bodies and which often distort the way we record time and memory. The nature of this internal landscape is of interest to Pearce; his sculptures may exist within his internal world but they also seek to co-exist as time-travellers in our own.
Within Pearce’s work, internal spaces are visited sculpturally. Here memory is visualized, scrutinized and retold. Spirits and stories of past lives or of family history are bought forth from the dark inner recesses they once occupied to our current time and place. Several recent works, The Red Trike and Deadline have explored the metamorphic phenomenon as a metaphor for the shape shifting self that occupies the mind.
Pearce creates sanctuaries in which memories can shelter from harm, loss and anonymity. Adapted, weathered and polished, these places seem more like manifestations of emotion rather than representations of the actual objects themselves. Dislocated, they allude to both survival and demise, creation and destruction. It is these notions of creation and destruction that interest Pearce sculpturally and this is reflected in the way he re-constructs his works after inflicting wilful damage upon them. He longs to bring sculpture closer to the practice of drawing; immediate, expressive and correctable. The idea in his work is that of dualism between the functions of mind and body. He feels that the body can retain the overflow of memory, storing unprocessed emotions in various areas, relieving the mind to gather its more receptive stimuli.
Replacing organs such as ears and a brain with a plethora of rocks suggests these may have been magically turned to stone by a spell or curse or, alternatively, that they could be suggestive of a particular state of mind. In the work Cavern No.1 (2009), a corridor-like portal emerges from (or retracts into) the corner of a room engulfing the messy and recently vacated space within its walls; at once seemingly inviting, it is also oddly aggressive. Where rocks feature in Curse (2009) and Cavern No.1, they are stacked precariously as if a totem for worship or occupation, an occupation where they can only be tenant to themselves and their consciousness.
Pearce’s works seem scarred or defunct of use, purpose and sometimes beauty, existing in an undefined space that is both grotesque and eloquent. Pearce’s works are nearly always parasitical in some way, inasmuch as they are forms which deem it necessary to clasp on to found objects: from trikes or chairs to re-made everyday objects and sometimes even the spaces they find themselves resting in, anything, it seems, is fair game.
Born in 1982, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Pearce completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2003, majoring in sculpture at Wanganui Quay School of Fine Arts.Exhibiting regularly in New Zealand, Pearce has work held in the public collection of the Sargeant Gallery, Wanganui and in private collections throughout New Zealand, England and the USA. Pearce’s work is also held in the James Wallace art collection after becoming a finalist in the Wallace award in 2008, and in the 2009 awards Pearce's work Cavern No.1 won people's choice. Pearce has also recently been included in Warwick Brown's new book ‘Seen this Century’, which features 100 artists, and his work 'Great Grandfather Clock' (which will feature as part of his November exhibition) won him the 2009 Waikato youth award.'
(Words and images courtesy of the artist)
MIERCOLES, EL TRES DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZIn keeping with the Guston theme, I also bought these two (out of a series of three) catalogues of Guston's lithographs, produced my Gemini GEL based in Los Angeles. When opening the first catalogue, this note (on the right) fell out. A touching tribute to Guston just after his death on July the 7th, 1980.
The catalogues are ex libris, originally from the Philadelphia Museum of Art library, a museum we hope to visit in the not too distant future.
MARTES, EL DOS DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I recently purchased a second-hand copy of the new Philip Guston 'Roma' catalogue, that's been produced for the current touring exhibition in Rome and Washington DC. It is another stunning Hatje Cantz publication, again, hardback and a little bit bigger than 8" x 10" (following their Guston Works on Paper catalogue from 2007).
I was pleasantly surprised to find, when opening the book, that it was signed by the editor, Peter Benson Miller.
I have yet to delve into the essays, but have read the poetic diary entries of the Guston's trip to Rome by Musa Guston, which are stunning, all the small details that triggered off memories of our Rome trips.
I can't wait to see the show in DC in Feb.
LUNES, EL UNO DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZI was saddened to hear that Phill England passed away on Saturday. Phill was the amazing director and cameraman of The Gravy (amongst other things) and we met when he was filming the Whanganui episode of the series. I painted this ex-voto for the episode, for Ross Liew to fill in, which features Phill holding an excessively large camera with added ephemera attached it it.RIP Phill.
EL CRUZ DE LA DIA, DOMINGO, EL TRIENTE Y UNO DE OCTUBRE, VIENTE-DIEZToday we visited the huge Swap Meet in North Las Vegas. We'd been there in 2004 and 2008, so this was our first visit back there since moving. I picked up a lovely, almost complete crucifix with wooden inlay. It's had a new halo and skull and bones added.
SABATO, EL TRIENTE DE OCUTBRE, VEINTE-DIEZI posted the image on the left a while back, here on this blog. The image on the right, a reverse-glass painting, is from our collection. I did a copy of this work, in the same technique, for an exhibition at the gallery I exhibit at in Wellington, 2009. I don't think many people looked at it, understood the complexity of the technique, nor the symbolism of the imagery. I've been collecting examples of this particular Momento Mori image since 2006. They're easy to find in reproduction, but hard to find originals. Both works below are dated mid 18th century. The title of the etching on the left is translated as 'An Aspect Of The Story Of The Legend'. The text under the skull is more direct, stating 'The Wages Of Sin Is Death'. I've decided to exhibit the reverse-glass painted work with my work, Reloj de Recesion at Blackbird Studios in Las Vegas for their Dia De Los Muertos exhibition opening on the 4th, as I want to show my influences, not pass off the work I do as 'original', which is such a silly Modernist notion anyway. The devotional work I do always has to have a source to be able to pinpoint the dedication. Good artists and good work just doesn't fall out of the sky. Everything has a lineage.
I also want to write more about the reverse-glass painting technique as it's such an interesting process, mostly of the mind because everything in the process of painting is reversed, which really reinforces Leonardo Da Vinci's statement on how painting is an activity of the mind. I think it would also be good to discuss in regards to New Zealand painting, as an artist who borrows this technique, recently won the Wallace Art Award.
VIERNES, EL VEINTINUEVE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Today is Nevada Day, so everyone here is on holiday. Quite a nice feeling.
Last night Jo and I got a sneak preview of 'The Radiant Child', at Centerpiece Gallery. It's a new documentary on Jean-Michel Basquiat that is to be released in cinemas soon. It's an interesting documentary in that it has interviews with him, candid as they're taken by close friends of his, while he escaped to LA later in his short career. It's some what eulogized though, only touching briefly on his drug habit and his secondary-market presence. I think what found most interesting was that I thought about the movie in regards to "Manuel Ocampo: God Is My Co-Pilot", a similar kind of documentry, with a lot of the same players: Aninna Nosei, Fred Hoffman et al. and how Basquait, despite his plight, has become a template for 'minority' artists who can be bartered and manipulated for their ethnicity rather than their work.
Here's my drawing of J-M Basquiat as part of the the '27 Club':
JUEVES, EL VIENTIOCHO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
The ex-voto below, dated Nov 1st - 2nd, 2010, was painted for Dia De Los Muertos and will be exhibited at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, from the 29 Oct - 2 Nov, 2010.
Please click on the image to enlarge it.
This ex-voto is number 201 in the series of ex-votos started in Whanganui, New Zealand, 2006.
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTISIETE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZAnother invitation to an exhibition, this time it's Sanjay Theodore in Wellington. The exhibition is titled 'M-13, an installation'. I'm not sure if the title is also a play on the film ratings system or not (Sanjay's a big B-grade movie buff), but here's the write-up about the exhibition:
"Like the group of stars in the milky way, from which the exhibition derives its title, the paintings, photographs and objects in the this show, M-13, are installed to be seen and experienced as a cluster – with the whole something more than the individual components. Within a framework Dadasim, the early 20th century art movement which challenged the conventions of what art could be and do, Theodore brings together disparate elements, from east and western traditions, to create an environment which draws attention to the rituals of looking both in the gallery and out.
Sanjay Theodore was born in India and came to New Zealand as a child. He studied art at Canterbury University, the West Texas State University and the New York Studio School. In the mid 1990s, before leaving New Zealand for almost a decade, he was included in several significant public gallery group exhibitions. Theodore is now based in Christchurch and exhibiting in New Zealand and the United Kingdom."
His exhibition opens at Bartley+Co Art, Wellington, on the 2nd of November
.
MARTES, EL VEINTISEIS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Here's an invitation I received via email. It's for a 2-person exhibition, ceramics by Mark Rayner and paintings by Anthony Behrens. Mark co-runs Rayner Bros Gallery in Whanganui, NZ and I believe he's putting images of this work up on the Rayner Bros website as Thermostat Gallery doesn't have an active website.
LUNES, EL VEINTICINCO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
If you have a spare two million, a good art purchase would be this large Philip Guston painting that has recently come up in the Sothebys Contemporary Art Auction.
DOMINGO, EL VEINTICUATRO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Kid Meets Cougar's Courtney Carroll vs. TVNZ 3's news presenter, Carolyn Robinson
SABATO, EL VEINTITRES DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZYesterday, JK and I went on a big evening outing, The Erotic Heritage Museum had free entry from 5-7pm, so we checked out that (the photo below is of the Larry Flint section, including his purple velvet wheelchair). After that, we headed to the Barrack Museum at UNLV for two art openings; one on local comic artists and a group exhibition of past and present students. We then met up with M & T at Jimmy Smalls at the Hard Rock Hotel and then onto see Interpol at the Joint. The gig was excellent, especially after not really enjoying Interpol in Wellington. Paul Banks, the lead singer was quite chatty and was very good about the persons running onto the stage and hugging him. It seemed the security were more keen on kicking out smokers at the gig. The band played for over an hour and then did a 3 song encore, finishing with Obstacle 1, probably my favourite song. 
VIERNES, EL VEINTIDOS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I'm heading to Interpol tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. I saw them first in Wellington in 2005 (I think). Here's a link to the new Charlie White video for 'Lights'
JUEVES, EL VEINTIUNO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Exhibition invitation to Blackbird Studios Day of the Dead art exhibition in Las Vegas, NV, USA.
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTE DE OCTUBRE, VIENTE-DIEZ
Just got this in the mail, an Invitation to the opening of the 2010 Wallace Art Awards at The New Dowse in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. My painting, Half and Half is in the exhibition. I w0n't be there (obviously) but my agent Mark Hutchins of Mark Hutchins Gallery, Wellington will be heading out to the opening.
DOMINGO, EL DIECISIETE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
We headed out to the Arts Factory last night to catch some of the performances that's part of the 'Off The Strip' exhibition, there was a lot of stuff on, including the weekly painters on the patio, combined (perhaps dangerously) with a beer-tasting festival and free concert, including Kid Meets Cougar's last gig for a few months. Was really impressed with musicianship and multi-tasking. Probably the best use of visuals I've seen a band use ever.
Then to the Huntridge for beers and chats...
Sorry no pics (I need to get a phone with a camera) so here's a picture of a dog having a champagne breakfast.
SABATO, EL DIECISEIS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
working.
VIERNES, EL QUINCE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
There's a heck of a busy weekend ahead here in Las Vegas. A couple of exhibition openings tonight, Hitchcock's Psycho is playing at the Arts Factory, then there's the "Off The Strip" art exhibition weekend and happenings at CAC (got an email from an online friend from LA saying that his friend from New York is exhibiting) and all around Fremont Street and the downtown area. Diane Bush's Smear and Loathing Campaign looks interesting- Images of senators and political figures will be attacked with bleach, can't wait to get photos!
JUEVES, EL CATORCE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Here's a detail of a new painting, a mound of human flesh, still in progress. The painting will probably be called 'La Colera de la Persona Zurda' or 'The Wrath of the Left-handed' and borrows from Bosch's Seven Deadly Sins, a table top painting in the Prado, Spain.I'll post the painting in it's entirety once it's complete.
MIERCOLES, EL TRECE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Not much has been happening of late, just in the studio working away.
SABATO, EL NUEVE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZYesterday afternoon, we met up with the crew and went to the Renaissance Fair at Sunset Park, just South East of the airport. The fair goes for 3 days and has stalls, fair rides and lots of 'medieval' eats. Here's me with turkey leg. Two of those and your blood turns to gravy.
VIERNES, EL OCHO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I've been thinking about this whole 'left-handed' thing that I've been blessed/cursed with. Of course one of the most important texts on the subject, is in storage in New Zealand, so I'll have to make do with the internet, but will have to cross-reference everything as the internet is notorious for factual error, well, not the internet, but the people able to upload to it.
I've decided to start curating an exhibition about the subject. A mix of extant works I know of and works I'd like to commission by artists who I think will tackle the subject interestingly.
When it comes to being left-handed, I usually think of the negative things that annoy me, such as smudging ink while writing, sports equipment and, as you can see in the last post, guitars.
I'm painting a larger painting at the moment based on the theme of 'wrath of the left-hander'
(below) an ex-voto celebrating Left-Handed day in 2007. 
JUEVES, EL SIETE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZSpeaking of left-handed retardedness, my new guitar arrived yesterday - a cheap Silvertone that I picked up for a very cheap price. I found a 40 watt Fender amp at a thrift store a couple of weeks back so it made sense to buy a guitar for it. I like the guitar, it's got the faintest twist in the neck, but the intonation is good and the tuners are solid, the humbucker pickups are grunty, especially through the amp, so it'll do me fine for noodling around. In the picture on the right, you can see a couple of retablos with left hands in them. It's a theme I've been looking at for a while now. I'll elaborate on that a bit later on. (photos by JK Russ)
MIERCOLES, EL SEIS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
A photo by Jo, looking through my studio window a couple of weeks ago. The wall behind is now full of half-completed retablos. Danger, Left-hander operating stick with hairs attached.
MARTES, EL CINCO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I received the image below from Stephen via Facebook, who had visited the Wallace Art Awards in the new location at the old Pah homestead in Auckland. He had this to say about the placement: Matt, I found the hanging of this exhibition very odd. In your work, for example, your signature was at my eye-line. I'm 6 feet tall. Go figure.
LUNES
EL CUATRO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZJuan Muniz painting in reverse-glass technique on Gina Quaranto's office window at Blackbird Studios.
(photo: JK Russ)
DOMINGO, EL TRES DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Here's two artist's work I'm interested in here in Las Vegas. Enrique Nevarez (left, who also runs La Gloria Clothing label) and Tod Mitchell. Nevarez uses screen-printing and stencil techniques to render assassination victims with their killers emblazened on a standard underneath the portraits. I met Tod at a screening of Car Wash a couple of Friday's ago. The work behind him is from when he was younger and had a Pettibon feel to it, except it elaborates on his personal experiences. Tod's obsessed with Surrealism, so we get on well! 
SABATO, EL DOS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Last night was the Zombie Apocalypse / First Friday exhibition openings in Downtown Las Vegas. We started of at Blackbird Studios where Jo and I both had work in the exhibition then we walked around all the other exhibitions at the Arts Factory and on Casino Center. First Friday is getting so big now that it's near impossible to see everyone and every show in the night.
(all photos by JK Russ)
JUEVES, EL TRIENTE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZBelow is an image that was remembered in the comments section referring to the recent painting, 'The Good Son' (yesterday's post). I painted this painting in 1997/8 while at art school. I was interested in the personification of objects, which was of interest in art, both in NZ (with Peter Robinson and Tony de Lautour) and internationally. I had forgotten about this work until yesterday. It's amazing how things hang around in the back of your mind and then present themselves years later. Thanks David!
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTINUEVE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
The Good Son
2010
oil on metal
200mm x 270mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
MARTES, EL VEINTIOCHO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
The Nexus Era
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
LUNES, EL VEINTISIETE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
Renewed Commonsense
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
DOMINGO, EL VEINTISEIS DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
Neo Self-Portrait
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
SABATO, EL VEINTICINCO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
Planchette Snake
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
(a planchette is a small wooden board, usually heart-shaped with a hole in it, that you use in conjunction with an ouija board during seances)
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
VIERNES, EL VEINTICUATRO DE SEPTIEMBRE. VEINTE-DIEZ
Last week it was La Dolce Vita, this week it's Carwash. Brilliant!
(photos by JK Russ)
JUEVES, EL VEINTITRES DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZTook a day off yesterday to explore the local surrounding areas of where we live, especially Lake Mead Blvd, Tenaya, Buffalo and Smoke Ranch. It was good to have a bit of head-clearing time, as I've been 'angsted' up about my painting - that I don't feel like I'm getting enough work done. I looked at the architecture (all new) and all the junk caught in the rock gardens lining the streets. I picked up items such as a small green foam frog and some playing cards, got home and painted an ex-voto of them. This is the first ex-voto I've painted in months, so it's a good feeling that this could lead to more.
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTIDOS DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZYesterday, JK and I went into to drop off our works at Blackbird Studios for the Zombie exhibition opening on First Friday. Gina invited us to do some impromptu art, so JK painted a frame and I painted a toilet saint on an old 100-year-old manuscript.
While in the art mood, we also made our way down to UNLV to the Donna Beam Gallery to check out Able-Bodied - work from LA Louver Gallery at Venice Beach, CA. The show had some good painting in it, although it seemed to be using old buzz-words from the late 80's /early 90's such as multicultural artistic exploration and the like. Maybe multiculturalism has cycled back around into fashion again. Time for another Helter Skelter?Gajin Fujita - The Saints.
