Posterized

space
Hey Blog. This is the poster to promote WBGO's Champions of Jazz Benefit Concert on November 3rd. Its going on display at the Lincoln Center and I'm looking forward to seeing it in the display boxes. The dimensions are 36" x 54".

Also, if you're in the tri-state area on September 29th, come to the opening reception of The Book Show featuring work from the SVA MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Program. Wine and cheese abound.

Some Pictures of Somethings

Hi Blog, quick entry today. I am notorious for not being a "photo guy" in that I rarely ever use my digital camera. Only recently have I started using it for things, like my roadtrip (photo albums available Here and Here). Anyway, here's a small number of pics from the gallery where "Let There Be Stuff" is hanging as well as the SVA portraits.





I know, I'm terrible. Anyway, that's it. I finished a piece for Business Week recently and I'll be posting that soon. Also, the Altpick Decks are here! So as Jack Donoghy would say, get yours.

An M.F'n.A. Preview

Sup Blog, its going to be a harrowing next few days. What with getting ready for the SVA MFA Illustration Thesis Show and everything. I've seen the test prints from Duggal and they look pretty great. These are the biggest I've ever worked, with a couple of the pieces being around 20x36in. I'm going to attempt a sixth piece, and hopefully I can get it printed in time before the gallery doors open on May 1st. My series is called "Let There Be Stuff", and its about a lazy deity. I don't want to say more because I want people to pull out from it whatever they want. Many thanks to Mario Hugo for his incredibly discerning eye. He was a great resource during this entire process.


Also, there's another preview up on my Altpick page (cross promotion is a good thing). Speaking of Altpick, the decks are on their way and they should be in the states by next week.

And I know that I haven't updated my main website in a while, but when the insanity of graduation recedes I'm going to do a big update. So look forward to that.


That's it for now blog, see you at the show!

The M-F'n-A Poster

Hello Blog, I hope all is well. This week I finally picked up SVA's unofficial 2009 MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Poster. Its a limited edition print of 100 done in offset press. Its 19x27 and looks AMAZING in person. I love the illustrations featured and can't believe how privileged I was to work on it. Anyway, here it is:


The final was printed on an off white (slightly cream) paper. Somehow it feels like new ink on a old poster, if that makes any sense. Its different from the MFA Postcard in that it features work by Marshall Arisman, David Sandlin, and Nathan Fox, as well an extra piece by my friend Matt Cavanaugh. Of course, the following images are copyrighted to their respective artists.

First off is Nathan Fox by Matt Cavanaugth (Matt also did Edwin's portrait). I asked him to do one of Nathan and he knocked it out of the park. This version has the unadjusted color.

David Sandlin by Marshall Arisman. I'll say something after the next image.

Marshall Arisman by David Sandlin. I was most excited about this pairing, and they totally delivered. To their credit, they're always down for a fresh idea, and it couldn't have gone any better.

Kim Ablondi by Nathan Fox. Nathan graduated from our program in 2002 and was visiting NYC for ComicCon not too long ago. I asked him to do a portrait of Kim Ablondi, who is in charge of our program, and he was so down (who doesn't love Kim?!?). Awesome, awesome stuff.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Many more things to come!

See ya later Blog.

Not Half Bad

Hey Blog. Life is good, as the recent Mos Def single would have us believe. Here is a preview of the MFA Thesis Show postcard that was surprisingly painless to organize. Many of the images are cropped due to the limited size, but that won't be the case for the eventual poster. Asking everyone to submit work in layers was extremely effective, and gave me a lot of choices in terms of layout. If this card is any indication, I feel the thesis show is going to be one of the strongest ever.

For those who don't know, the concept of the postcard and poster is a 'yearbook page', and everyone involved was asked to randomly pick a classmate's name and create a portrait of him/her. Starting from the top left, the roster is:

FIRST ROW
Lisel Ashlock - drawn by Rich Tu (me)
Russ Spitkovsky - drawn by Lisel Ashlock
Y.J. Lee - drawn by Andre Da Loba
Anna Raff - drawn by Joanna Neborsky
Heejin Roh - drawn by Maria Berrio
Sybille Schenker - drawn by Russ Spitkovsky
Youngsun Liu - drawn by Rachel Allison

SECOND ROW
You Byun - drawn by Ray Jones
Joanna Neborsky - drawn by Anna Raff
Edowyn Vazquez - drawn by Matt Cavanaugh
John MacConnell - drawn by Josh Bayer
Nu Ryu - drawn by Sybille Schenker
Matt Cavanaugh - drawn by Heejin Roh
Maria Berrio - drawn by Yuriko Katori

THIRD ROW
Rich Tu - drawn by Youngsun Liu
Josh Bayer - drawn by Edowyn Vazquez
Yuriko Katori - drawn by You Byun
Ray Jones - drawn by John MacConnell
Rachel Allison - drawn by Nu Ryu
Andre da Loba - drawn by Y.J. Lee

So that's it for now Blog. More Soon!

Lisel Ashlock Ish My Clashmate

Hey Blog. No long story tonight, I'm coming off of a cold and still feel slightly terrible. I just wrapped up a couple of jobs and will be putting those up once they get printed, but in the meantime here's my contribution to MFA Thesis Show poster that I'm organizing.


*Update* I changed the image slightly and gave Lisel black hair. I wanted more volume at the top after spending more time with it. Art is never done!

That's the freakishly talented Lisel Ashlock. I wanted her peeking out from behind an animal mask, because her work has a mystical quality that makes it feel appropriate. Her hair's a little longer now, but I gave her a shorter bob haircut because that's what she wore when I first met her and that's how I picture her in my head.

Anyway, the portraits are looking amazing so far, and once its laid out I'll post that too. We're thinking about either silkscreen or offset press. Hopefully we can do offset and send it out, if anything to save ourselves the trouble of spending sleepless nights in the silkscreen lab (not to insult you silkscreen nerds).

So that's it, goodnight Blog. And feel better Me.

No-Shows and Do-Shows

Sup Blog, loooong time no see. That title doesn't rhyme, but it looks like it should doesn't it? Anyway, this semester was pretty insane, as evidenced by my apparent inability to take out 5 minutes to fill up empty cyperspace on the World Wide Net.

For those of you interested about my life, the semester is fully wrapped up and my thesis is very much underway (I have updated my site with some pieces). ALSO, 2009's rendition of the Alternative Pick Double Deck is done and off to the printers! It was a grueling, yet absolutely rewarding process that sufficiently kicked my ass in an awesome way. I would show some pics, but it won't be released until probably February '09 so it'll have to wait.

AND I re-teamed with my sometime collaborator the OMBE Shop for a special project concerning HIV/AIDS awareness. We digitally printed 4 designs onto different types of female panties (are there any other kind?), which were then initially sold at an HIV/AIDS awareness conference. We're exploring other avenues for them, so look out. I'll have pics of those soon too.

For the final "AND", last month our Masters program over at the venerable School of Visual Arts had the annual Book Show, along with a, accompanying show for our Call of Chthulhu pieces. It was a great turnout, and many thanks to everyone that showed up to support.


This is my display for Crispy Kid. Five small framed pieces and one large free hanging piece.


Here are two attractive strangers looking at my Cthulhu display. I didn't take this picture, Y.J. Lee did... so there.

Well, that's the big update. Be back soon Blog. Bettie Page forever!