Well its been a couple of months since my last post.
I’ve moved back to Kentucky since then, haven’t really
made a space to work in – so art has come to an almost
stand still. I haven’t been able to work on paintings, but
I have taken advantage of my sketchbooks.
Here you go.
I’ve been twiddling with guitar since i was about 14. I taught myself basic stuff, and learned a bit from tabs. I never really got serious about learning or even took lessons – it was always just a hobby/therapeutic thing for me to do… just twiddle away for a bit, not really caring to write anything down or try to remember what i played. But for some reason, I decided I really wanted to learn about this thing, the guitar. I started writing some songs last year, I started remembering what I had played and tried to “work on it”, but for some reason my acoustic wasn’t doing it for me. I went around looking for electric guitars – craigslist, mom and pop music shops, even the dreaded guitar center… nothing – either it was a busted piece of wood wrapped in strings (which I could afford), or it was some shimmering golden axe, carved from the femur of Thor himself (even if i sold all my paintings for ridiculous prices – never could i afford one of these). I was really getting into it – I was learning about the different woods, different finishes, different brands, different setups (physical and electronic)… and then i realized with all of this knowledge – why don’t I just make a guitar, i’ve got a great woodshop at my job – why the not try?
Well that was in February… or around then – and this is what came of that.
The guitar isn’t complete just yet. I’ve only put it together, and strung it up so that I can check the string action and make sure I know how to assemble everything. I still need to put on a few layers of sealant and protective finish and I also need to do the electronics. As you can see if you click on the image to the right, there is a bit of inlay – I was able to do that with the laser printer at my job. We etched out the shape of the falcon – and then cut the exact shape out of a piece of thin pine – I then shoved those into the freshly cut cavity with some glue and some clamps and blam – I had made a beautiful guitar body.
The body is made out of plywood – one layer of 3/4, one layer of 3/16 luan, and one more layer of 3/4 pine plywood – the neck is made by the company warmoth, its maple with Brazilian rosewood – the pickup is a seymour duncan APH-1 (or something like that) – most of the hardware is gotoh, I know its cheap, but hey, atleast i’ve got an electric guitar now – and the strings are DR.
I really do love this guitar – and not just because… I made it. But, because of the materials its made out of – good ole plywood (a working man’s wood), maple (a wood that makes pancakes awesome), wood glue (’nuff said). I’m interested to hear what the tone is like – I’m curious what the “working man’s” tone is – what is the tone of the cheap and sincere – what is the tone of the middle and lower classes? We’ll see and hear, eh?
I update this post once I’ve completed the guitar – I’ll even try to record some music so you can hear this sweet axe.
oh yeah – i forgot. there is something special on the back. the electronics cover is made of black plexiglas, and it has bubinga inlay of the falcon.
The Show will be happening on Saturday, February 16th.
We will open the front door at 6 pm and will be partying well on into what will mostly likely become a dark and blurry night.
The artists that will be showing are:
Nathalie Wilson – Food/Design/Packaging
Cory Cone – Paint = Possibility
Ramsey Beyers – Illustrious Fantastic
Daniel Shea – Pomography SlomoSocioPhotags
Adam Schechter – Paint/Drawing/Sculpture Classics
Adam Golfer – ShoMoBroPhoto
Collin Hatton – Catton Hollin Cuts and Heaps Paint
Erica Madden – ‘Till Death Do Us Photart
Hermione Williams – Romantic Symantic
Benjamin Walton – Web/Text/Design THRASH
Jessica Pegorsch – Painting/Drawing
Giuliana Pinto – Painting/Drawing/MIXED M – Everything/Anything w/Wolves
and Chris Owen (I couldn’t help it) – Paint on the Brain, Paper w/ an Ink Stain
Other artists that haven’t confirmed are:
TJ – PhotoPharmucopia
Joe Leavenworth – Photography of Still Lives
Hopefully they’ll all make it here.
There will also be live music, and so far we have two performances:
Colin Campbell + Friend – Classical and NewNeoNeonClassical Cello + Viola
Los Carlos – Experiments in Ambiance and Weirdness
The show is open to the public – its for the public.
There will be food provided – I don’t know how much though? But I do know there will be meat-eating, vegetarian, and vegan options.
Also there will be some drinks to be drank – once again, they will be in limited quantities, and only available to those who are of age. (sorry, but the police will be joining us at some point in the evening). But BYOB is cool, and there is no corkage fee.
To find out the address of the party, please call me.
Alright – so heres the ticket.
Sometime after February 1, there will be a showing of my friends and my works. It will happen at my house, in the evening, probably on a weekend. I officially invite the entire world to come over and look at this. I don’t know who will curate the show, maybe all of us, maybe my neighbor… who knows. But so far I’ve gotten word back from Ramsey B., Giuli P., Cory C., Nat W.(soon to be C no?), Ben W., and Adam S. – I’ve got to invite a few more friends as well. The plan is the fill my house from ceiling to floor with all my friends and my stuff. I’m also trying to get some live music to occur on the same evening as the artness, with that I’ve got Collin Campbell on cello (i think hes down with classical stuff and maybe some experimental).
As for a conceptual connection, or some kind of linking theme or motif”’ – “Friends” + “Work” + “Home” – I want to explore each of my friends’ personal relationship to making art in their life, making their life out of art. I want the show also to have some sort of communal feeling – we’re all friends, we’ve known each other for quite a while, we all went to school together and lived in baltimore together – so maybe the art on the wall (in its confused and chaotic hanging state) won’t have any kind of labels or signs – that way people will have to communicate with each other and the artists if they’re curious about something, and that way their minds can be left to wonder with only themselves and the wonderful art work that’ll be up. But really I think the show will be less conceptual – and more about the building of an artistic community, creative relationships, human connection.
Friends + Art + Music + Food = 
(notice the priorities there, thats why i’m skinny.)
As I get this thing together and more concrete, I will post dates and times, artists, maybe some art samples? food menu? music line up?
Tha Best,
Chris
Here we have a few random pieces I’ve done in the past couple-a-years. They may be from school, they may be commissions, they might even be things I did on my own.
sculptures, paints, found stuff, lost stuff.
Here are a few images of the projects that I created while I was in Aix-en-Provence, France for a semester abroad. All of the pieces were displayed in a darkened room, and you were given a small multiple-LED flashlight so that you may light each piece in which ever way you saw fit. Most of the pieces were built to interact with the light in some way, others were just regular drawings.
I don’t really enjoy explaining what each project is about. I feel that the viewer’s growth is diminished by trying to “find” the artist’s meaning instead of the viewer’s own personal relationship to the art work at hand. Here is an example of the Artist’s Statement that I showed at the opening of the show. Don’t get me wrong though – I do want you to communicate with me on what you think, on what I think – because that kind of comparison can be beneficial as well.
^ Human vertebrae, placed on hand-made shelves
La Rue c’est Le Stylo (The Road is the Pen) View 1
La Rue c’est Le Stylo (The Road is the Pen) View 2
La Rue c’est Le Stylo (The Road is the Pen) Final View
^ Walking around the city of Aix-en-Provence, France with canvases attached to my feet. Displayed with photographs of the journey.
^Walked through the city, stopping every ten minutes to do a rubbing of what was under my feet (of course I didn’t stop if I was in the middle of the road)
^Drawings made with mechanical pencil lead either glued to paper or placed in tiny holes in the wall
^A Project done with my girlfriend, Giuliana Pinto. We communicated with each other via email. She sent me the original dimensions and directions on how to do what she did to the painting. I followed the directions as best as I could, and then I added my own layer to the painting. I emailed her directions for my layer. We continued this for the entire semester in France. (She was in Baltimore, MD at the Time.)
^These pieces were made with strips of paper (1cm in width) that were placed in slits cut into the wall with an exacto knife. This gave an effect similar to venetian blinds. The strips cast shadows and allowed light through, in turn objects, shapes, forms, and words could be created.
