Adam Brandejs - Genpets

Adam Brandejs is a 24 year old sculptor/programmer with a BFA from Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto, Canada. Adam has brought a possible dark future for humans to us now utilizing his art and technical skills. A future where the world is so desensitized about bio-engineering that people will go to store to pick living bio-engineered dolls from the shelves. He creates realistic illusion complete with a web site that had me wondering "is this for real."
According to Adam's website all work on the Genpets was done from scratch and by hand. He also says that he is not against bio-engineering he is just hesitant towards where and how and by whom the technology will be used. He hopes his art will sum that up.

BLOG EXPLOSION Contest!

Blog Explosion has been good to me. So I have decided to give back. 100 point blog expolsion contest and it is simple. All you need to is find the following information on my site. The first to do so and comment it on this message wins the 100 points. Good Luck

If you do not know what blog explosion is check the link in the top right column you will not regret it.

1. The name of my only color art piece
2. The name of the software I use for my Manga Art.
3. Who is the artist living amongst us?
4. The name of the person called the human camera

Bonus question for additional 20 points
What is the name of the actor shown in my Jail City blog?

Jail City

I saw a trailer to a new independent movie coming out Jail City. It looks like it is going to be awsome. I normally can not stand low budget independent movies because the acting is usally scary but this looks differnt. The acting looks great the camera work looks solid. Check out the trailer and let me know what you think.

Sad Day Indeed - Coppertone Artist Dies

I am orginally from Florida and one of the images that have forever tied to memories of Florida was the Copertone Girl. There was even a animated billboard of the poor girl exposing her buns. The art was created by a very talented artist Joyce Ballantyne Brand. She passed away today at age 88.

Check out this interview with her and the girl that posed for the picture.

Tablet/LCD Monitor

If everybody out there was wondering what they could get me for being such a incredible blogger, here it is Cintiq 21UX tablet.

This is one of those what took so long moments. This idea allows you interact with your favorite drawing software such as Photoshop in a natural way. It combined two tablet pc and LCD monitor into a seamless interface. As I bounced looking into this I found a few reviews that says the cusor tracking is delayed. However, when you see video below you can see that once you get used to it the tool can be quite useful.

Summary of reviews:
Pros: Excellent combination of essential technology into one concise package.
Cons: Monitor display and cursor tracking detract from experience. Monitor display and cursor tracking detract from experience.

WOW!

The Droste effect

The "Droste effect" got its name from the Dutch Droste company's cocoa packaging. There is a nurse on the package holding a plate. On the plate there is exact same package causing a forever repeating image. (def. loop: see loop.)

A group of Mathematicians at the University of Leiden believe they have solved the puzzle of the Print Gallery by the famous artist M.C Esher. Even explaining the strange blank spot in the middle of the picture. They are able to show how this was all done to give the Droste effect. The web page has some incredible animations showing the effect in the picture.

To experience the dorset effect click here.

Anthony Wakaba Mutheki - "Africa's Van Gogh"

It used to be that you had to die a poor and relatively unknown artist before your art would be noticed. As attractive as this business plan sounds, Anthony Wakaba Mutheki has decided to do it differnt and it does not involve death.

He used to sell his works for as little as a $1 apiece. Mutheki, a Kenyan-born artist, has become one of Africa's hottest young talents. His work has increased from $1.00 to as high as $12,000. And collectors are starting to line up. (All without ebay!)

"You can see the hallmarks of a great artist in his work," said South African art critic Alex Sudheim. "It's like Van Gogh -- Van Gogh didn't go to art school, he just had this powerful urge to create through painting and that is what Anthony does, he just does it his own way."

He developed his skill on the streets not in some art academy. After spending five years on the streets or sleeping in a shelter in South Afarica he was discovered by a gallery owner. The gallery owner was taken back by his originality and this incredible story started.

"There is a very strong energy in his pieces," said Craig Mark, who spotted Mutheki eight years ago. "His work is totally unique and the fact that he's not trained allows him to do what he wants. If he wants to stick a piece of fabric onto a canvas then paint over it then he will."

You have to check this out.

New Feature

I added categories section on the right column.

Home is what you are reading now. This will include all the latest news etc.
Gallery will contain all of my drawings
Announcements - This is open to all members. If you have something you would like to announce (Gallery opening etc.)just email me (lizardsomething@yahoo.com) and I will add it to the Announcement section.

Manga Art - You can do it

Fellow artist have you ever wanted to get into Magna art but did not know where to start. Recently, I have been exploring into the world of magna (the picture on this article is not mine it is from here) . I found some incredible internet tutorials by Julie Dillon, Patrick Shettlesworth and Atley also cover the basics. I also started playing with the software e frontier Manga Studio Debut 3.0 windows (or MAC). The software allows you to create your own high quality manga and comic art. Here is flash example of the software. If you have $43.99 to drop it worth it for the beginner to the pro. If $43.99 is to much and you are looking for something more free. You can always try GIMP. It does not have any of the Magna specific features but it still will be useful for the lower budget artists out there.

Banned art exhibit now moving to college campus

The exhibit opened Wednesday at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial. Brooklyn College uses the space as a gallery. Some of the works in the exhibit were sexual in nature depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box.

The exhibit has been closed by NYC park officals and is now moving to the campus.

One of the artist, Marni Kotak, said she and several others were "adamantly opposed" to moving the show to the campus and did not plan to cooperate with the transfer.

"The point of having the show at this space was that there really wasn't the right kind of space on campus to do this," Kotak said.

The students held a rally with about 50 people in front of the memorial Saturday.

I wonder if they would display the statute of David?
Comments Welcome

Get your art organized

One of my art troubles is organizing all my photos and art. I need a solution that will keep track of all my photos that I collect for drawing reference and all my scanned drawings. I also need a solution to be able to touch up scanned images to fix all the damage the scan did. I also would like the solution to be tied directly into my blog and let me upload my art right from the software.

Google apparently did it again. I downloaded the free utility Picasa and have been thrilled with it. Scanned images are automatically categorized and easily retrieved. The "feeling lucky" button corrects the scan damage almost 100% of the time. Oh yeah, it is even tied directly to "Hello" image hosting. This allows me to quickly share my images and post it directly to the blog. Setup between Hello and Picasa was tricky at first but once it was done it worked perfectly.

Oh yeah did I metion the cost is right FREE! There a ton more features that I do not use like creating CDs and slideshows.

I added a link to the top right of my blog to download and check out this powerful FREE tool. Just click "Get Photo Software from GOOGLE.

Are there any other products people would like to recommend?

Picasso’s Mistress with a cat earns 95 Million

Going once, Going Twice, Sold to the russian man in the back for 95 Million dollars . . . (that was reinactment reality may of different)

On May 3, 2006 Southerbys was surprised when they auctioned one of Picasso’s portraits of his mistress, "Dora Maar au Chat" ("Dora Maar with Cat") for US$95,216,000

Sorthby officals were shocked expecting to capture $40,000,000. The room was electrified as the bid climbed and climbed . The winner was a russian man that wishes not to be identified. His paddle No. 1340.

Picasso and Maar meet in January 1936. Picasso was attraacted by her beauty and her fluent spanish. The relationship lasted nearly nine years. He painted the picture in 1941.

The only other art sold for a higher price was another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la pipe," ("Boy With a Pipe"-The Young Apprentice), which sold at Sotheby’s for more than $104 million in May 2004.

Stephen Wiltshire - "Human Camera"

You better smile if you around Stephen Wiltshire. He has a unique ability to recall images of what he has seen in great detail. Some of called him the "Human Camera". (Saves on film)

At age of three he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language and he lived in his own world. After going to a special needs school, Queensmill School in London. It was notice his skill of drawing and it became apparent that he communicated with drawing.

In the film "Beautiful Minds: A Voyage into the Brain", Wiltshire buckles into a helicopter and travels over Rome (video). His incredible mind captures what he sees. He returns back and begins to draw a panoramic view of what he saw. The drawings are not exact copies. Like any good artist he adds his own style and it is impressive. When you look at the pictures on his site you can clearly see that he is an artist with a incredible memory and eye for detail.

Comments always welcome!

Ever changing canvas of Daniel Rozin

Daniel Rozin is an interactive artist. What is an interactive artist? Well a interactive artist creates art the has the ability to change and respond to your presence. Sometimes even making you part of the piece. All computers used to create the pieces are carefully hidden giving you the how did he do that feel.

His web site as some incredible movies that show off this unique art form. Do not miss his trash mirror!

Enjoy a trip with Alex Grey and TOOL

The new album, 10,000 days, from the band Tool came out yesterday. The art of Alex Grey featured in the new album with one catch, 3d BABY! That's right you open the album up and a pair of stereoscopic eye pieces flip out. With a little adjustments you are thrown into the 3d art of Alex Grey. The effects are solid!

Colors are crisp and you find yourself searching the 3d images for every little detail. One piece has a incredible Dorset effect that with the 3d eyes pieces puts you on a jounery into infinity with Alex Grey.

If you do not like Tool you need to find somebody that does and peer into the 3d goodness of Alex Grey. SWEET!

Alex Grey is also selling signed albums on his site or get a Unsigned Album



PUZZLING?
In addition to the art there excellent 3d photos captured by Travis Shinn. Apparently, the photos are pieces of a puzzle. The mystrey of the 10,000 days puzzle has not been solved. Comment if you have ideas on the puzzle

*** One Funny Addition Special for tool fans ***

Please add your comments!

Comics are not just for Sundays

In two related articles (Article 1, article 2) sent to me it appears that comics are about to hit the main stream. In a 1990 exhibition comics were shown next to the art of Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp. The exhibition was called High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture clearly showing comics as the low.

It appears now things have changed. An exhibition titled Masters of American Comics opened simultaneously late last year at two major Los Angeles museums, the Hammer and the Museum of Contemporary Art and is scheduled to travel across the country. It features 15 artists with over 900 objects to view.

In addition the creator of Beetle Bailey, Mort Walker, is planning to open a cartoon museum. He already has collect 3 million dollars to open this new museum in the empire state building but needs 8 million. He says that is so confident that he has mortgaged his home to pay for all expenses to date. The museum is scheduled to open next year in the Empire State Building.

The hope is that comic will be seen as a major art form that in addition of being pleasing to the eye also documents history and maybe an added result will be Charles Schultz will be studied in the 100s of years to come as the Master Artist of our time.

I welcome comments.

Art Trouble News Weekly Wrap Up

What is the cost of a gift?
Imagine if you were a well know artist and you tried to give an art piece to some one as a gift and they said thank you very much but handed you a bill for receiving that gift. According to a associated press article that is what happened to the artist Wyland.

Wyland has painted over 93 marine themed murals in public areas to raise awareness of environmental issues. When one of his walls was being torn down he offered to paint another piece for FREE on a wall of the Milwaukee Public Museum! This is when he was told that the county was going to charge him for painting a free mural because he makes money off t-shirts and other items. "That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Wyland told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by phone from Florida. "They want to charge me to come there and give a free mural to the county? This guy's really out of touch. This is a first."


Artists Nail Bomb Art
This is one way to get your art noticed. A 36 year old artist decided to leave five boxes with nails sticking out around London as a work of her art. Police, bomb experts and helicopters where called in. Parts of the city where closed and evacuated. It was estimated to of cost police £100,000 and delayed up to 100,000 commuters. The artist later turned herself in. An anti-terrorist source said: "This prank spread fear and anxiety among thousands. To do such a thing after last July's outrages defies belief." The woman was charged with causing a public nuisance and released on bail.

Master Artist Living Amongst Us?

I belong to incredible art community ArtAnonymous. The community is 800+ strong of some really interesting and incredible people.

I recently asked the question if there was a Master artist living amongst us that would be studied for years after they were long gone. I expected to hears names of artist that are so untouchable the only way you could ever talk to them is if you had wine and cheese in your hand and were handing over thousands of dollars. I was pleasantly surprised when the answer came back Cyn and I was even more surprised when this now labeled master artist responded shyly back to the group.

If you do not know who Cyn McCurry is then you are missing out. So much emotion is displayed in her art. You feel drawn into a story line that you want to care about. I have two personal favorites "Self Portrait with Egg" and "Love/Fear" but they are all incredible and should not be missed.

I welcome comments and other suggestions for master artist amongst us.

Google in Art Trouble

It was the artists Joan Miro birthday and Google changed its logo as to spell out the word "Google" in the "style" of Miro. Google has changed its logo in the past for other artists and events.

You would think that the artists family would be thrilled that one of the largest search engine decided to show off his art and did I mention if you clicked on the logo it automatically redirected to a Miro search on google. How much would you pay to have that publicity?

The Miro family and/or the Artists Rights Society which represents them had this to say: Theodore Feder, president of the ARS, "There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights" and asked google to remove the logo. Google removed the logo and said they did not believe the where in violation.

So here is question. Did Google violate any copyrights?

The Boy  

Picture drawn for my Niece. 

The Mold
A vision of the first days as the earth was being created

Two Face

A vision of how some people choose to live their life.

Soul Scream

Not my poudest moment. My world was crashing in. I felt that fibers of my body where screaming. This was drawn just after he passed away. 7 months after he was diagnosed.


Soul Scream 1

Bad Choices
This was also drawn as I found out that hope was false. The cancer had him and nothing we did was going to change this.

The chemo left a shell of man and prevented him from eating. This was the turn towards the end.

If anybody is every facing this horrible descission. Not fighting is sometimes choosing life.

New Day
This was drawn on a plane to see my father. I discovered that he found a hostipal that was willing to try to treat him for his cancer. I remember feeling so confused between helpless and hope. I did plan this drawing but I feel it captures the emotions I was dealing with on this flight. This began a jounery of driving hours every so many days to receive chemo, radiation, and BRAIN SURGERY!

The Stretch

Created 2005

This was drawn also during the period of time of watching my father fade away. I remember feeling so hopless at this point. We found out the day after christmas. Doctors said he had months left. He show no symptoms. He went to doctor not for cancer because he had slight chest discomfort. Cancer was found all over his body including the brain.

Lady Fixing Hair

Created 2005

This series of drawings were created during some of hardest parts of my life. My father was slowly being ripped from me by cancer. I started drawing again to deal with the hopelessness of the situation.