The Chimera's Nest

This is a found object wall sculpture depicting the fabled chimera's nest. You can see the various object the chimera has found to bring back, making her home. This piece is about past experiences and how the memorabilia of memory creates the reality we live in day to day.

The Artist

Myself as a gargoyle, high atop a building looking down on a city by the river.  My hamsa hand through which the open eye of the universe itself, blooming through the lotus flower, surrounded by wings, acts as a medium in which we can see ourselves. 

Icarus

"One day in the future this object will no longer exist." Artwork I've created for the Five X Seven fundraiser at the Contemporary Austin on April 2, 2014.

Serenading the Bats

I was recently asked to create a piece of artwork for the Austin Symphony BATS, to give as part of an award. It needed to be have music, bats and be more of a mixed media or sculptural piece. I have some photos below of the artwork.

daniel

The painting reflects on the story of Daniel in the Lions Den, while also dealing with the idea of Universal Balance.  In Daniel and the Lions Den, Daniel comes out of the den unharmed. This painting reflects that story with the lion attacking Daniel in the open, and Daniel's acceptance of change and the possibility of not-being. When trying to escape an unwanted changed, and that change is inevitable, there is a moment of submission, of acceptance. The lion leaps on top of the pursued, its claws invading and claiming possession.

This artwork also deals with balance, of yin-yang, male-female, sun-moon, agression-submission, all terms describing fundamentally the same idea. Submission and dominance, night and day, harmony and discord, birth and death, all 2 parts of one idea that can not exist without the other are seen in this painting.  When the opposites of one idea intersects upon itself, it creates change, movement, and the illusion of time. This is the moment of being, into the acceptance of not-being, which results into being once again. This is the nature of movement through what we perceive as space.

In this artwork the lion, an object of beauty, with her mouth creating an entrance to the sky and the unlimited void of death and eternity with the stars shining beyond (this also being the gateway to rebirth), surrounded by universal swirls of hair representing the movement of eternity which we process as time, claims dominance over daniel. This dominace is also suggested of sexuality, the lion's entrance from behind into daniel, the creation of life through the ‪Vesica Piscis‬ eye whose witness to life creates it indirectly. The Vesica Piscis eye directly observes the viewer of the artwork, validating their existence, through the viewers own recognition of it. A beautiful exchange of the viewer who exists with limited awareness; and the eye, which in this painting does exists through symbol but without awareness, even though awareness is cast upon it by the viewer. The entire painting (and some would argue the one who views the artwork) is born outwardly from the eye, creating the exquisite illusion.

The lion's eyes are focused on daniel.  One eye of daniel is closed, moments before realizing the entrance of the claws before closing...it is now focused inward and therefore through the all of the Vesica Picis.  The other eye of daniel still being in its existence gently views the viewer, accepting their witness.  Two eyes on the viewer, two eye gaze within the non-existence of the painting itself.

My legal first name is Daniel, this is a partial self portrait, the catalyst for this painting was my divorce.

Barcelona

I have a print displayed at Bar Zim in Barcelona.  Im very happy my artwork is in Europe, I hope to have a lot more in the near future.  I finally found a photo of the artwork in the bar.



This photo of Zim is courtesy of TripAdvisor

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187497-d2427145-r125955566-Zim-Barcelona_Catalonia.html

I Can't Have Tea Late at Night Because of All the Ayes Ayes

This painting explores the idea of insomnia, and its psychological effects. An interesting side effect of lack of sleep is the distortion, or ripples, in the stream of perceived reality. Deprive yourself of sleep long enough, and the world of dreams begins to seep into our world of being awake. Whether the cause of insomnia is internal or external, a lack of sleep can alter our perception and temporary understanding of time and space, and we can begin to question the certainty of our being and what we traditionally perceive as normal life experience.

The aye-aye is a nocturnal lemur from Madagascar with an unusually long middle finger. Some natives of Madagascar believe that aye-ayes are heralds of evil. The superstition surrounding the aye-aye is that if one should point its narrow middle finger at someone, they are condemned to death. It is also believed that aye-ayes sneak into houses through the thatched roofs and murder the sleeping occupants by using their middle finger to puncture the victim's aorta. Because of this some villagers will kill ayes-ayes on sight and hang up their corpses to ward of evil.

In this artwork the woman sits naked at the dining table, while floating up towards the chandelier on the ceiling as a group of curious aye-ayes ransack the house. The woman has given up, letting go of any semblance of control, accepting everything with an indifferent passivity, creating a symbiotic relationship with the inquisitive lemurs. The aye-ayes in the artwork are a manifestation of insomnia, the furry heralds of the inauspicious, with each passing moment the problem becoming larger, more out of control.

This painting was created in 2010.

The Blind Prophet of New Orleans

The man in this artwork is blind, his sight is not of light waves, but more metaphysical.  He is the landscape of New Orleans, he is the streets, the buildings, the bridges, the trash, the enslaved horses, the ubiquitous street musicians, the bittersweet smell, the ancient cracking sidewalks and musical rot iron. The city speaks through his mouth, but no one listens.

If our lifetime was only one day, could you believe in the existence of the stars and the eternal deep night of the universe, if all you had ever seen up to that point was the blue skies and clouds?  The revolving dance and song of the prophets echo throughout our history, alternating between respect and ridicule, between a belief in that which is only tangible and that which is beyond what our eyes can see.

Most prophets from western religions could be seen in the same light as the homeless man preaching in the street. Moses talking to a burning bush, Abraham about to kill his son because of voices he hears. These are just two examples of many. If these events took place today, on our modern stage, how would the average person look upon these prophets? Imagine a modern day prophet warning the cities inhabitants that there will be a terrible flood in the streets of New Orleans in the near future.  Who of us would take them seriously, would even stop to discuss it with them? How do we draw the line between illusions and fantasy, and our shared collective reality, and is there even a line?

This painting was created in 2009.

Downstairs

http://www.upstairsgalleryla.com/downstairs/crawl_121004.htm

I will be showing in October at the new Downstairs Gallery in Monroe, Louisiana. The exhibition is titled "Outside (r) In" and I will be with 2 other artist; Wendell R Wilson and the resident artist Julie Pearson.

Recent happenings

2 of my paintings will be at the 2012 Toy Joy Art Show. August 9th-September 1st, 2928 Guadalupe Street, Austin, TX (inside Tom's Tabooley).

I was awarded an honorable mention in the Austin Art Board contest. The artwork will be hanging in Bass Concert Hall from August 22-October 8th.

My art "The Judgement of the Owls" is currently hanging in Austin City Hall, I was informed by ABC that their TV show "The Lying Game" will be filming there and my artwork could possibly be in a background scene.

Around 4 of my paintings will also be on display inside Freescale at Texenza Coffee, (but you have to have a security badge to enter).

I am currently working on a new serious of paintings, and after I complete about 10-15 of them I will be looking for exhibitions around Austin.

artweb.net

I have my artwork on artweb.web, a site with lots of art to check out!

Next Generation Project Texas Fellow

I have been selected to be a Next Generation Project Texas Fellow by the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin. I'm looking forward to it!

More information here.

Public FB page

I have a public page for my artwork up now. If you'd like to receive updates from the page you can follow the link below and "like" it.

Link to like

NPR and Austin City Hall

My artwork is featured on NPR. It is an article about Turning Art.

I will be showing with other artists at the 2011 People’s Gallery Exhibition at Austin City Hall. The exhibition runs from February 18, 2011 – January 13, 2012.