Negotiating receding versus staying engaged.

A summer of signs signals no scarcity, but a strong desire to rebel.

I haven’t posted for so long on substack that I got logged out, and wasn’t sure if I would need to abandon this experiment. Alas, I was granted access. And realized I haven’t written a news letter in three months. It’s hard to keep some commitments. Writing the newsletter was more of a personal challenge, than a commitment, but it has been a useful way to explore my process, and how I process those experiences that collectively I consider both creative and instructive. I guess I’m saying I miss writing. Okay, so let’s see what happens here.

Since my return from Europe, and that adventure, I have been re-engaged in painting signs pretty regularly, and thank goodness, because painting signs is how I actually pay my rent. This year I’ve tried to make a greater commitment to take more on with each project, without compromising my worth, and really trying to put in the extra effort to execute the signs with more grace and style. My efforts have been aided in that some designs were by my hand and others have been interesting.

Custom hand painted sign on exterior wall, my design, for Bernal Cutlery.

Two new signs, not my designs for a buddy’s new record store, Discodelic, which opened up in the mission last month.

Another fun project I’ve been involved with for the past three months is a loose commitment to plein air painting with some buddies every Saturday. We haven’t gone every Saturday, but pretty consistently, and that’s been fun to share with other like-minded artists. My hope is this group will gather real steam, and we can amass a large body of work that we could maybe show together one day.

Alexander Rhorig, and Oliver Holden Hawk shown here while painting at McClaren park overlooking candlestick point.

my effort from the day mentioned above.

Lastly, and maybe most notably, one of the experiences I had last year in the studio I maintained in the Dogpatch was an unexpected foray into the world of 3D… Sculpture! Who woulda thunk it? I mean, I pretty much have always exclusively considered myself a painter, so this came as quite a surprise to me. And, made me both hugely insecure and excited at the same time. Mostly, it was just really playful, and that was a clue, of something that had been missing from my creative practice. I was even able to place most of the work before I left that studio, which makes me pretty happy. Glad the up-cycle I engaged in didn’t just end up at the dump. Here’s one of those.

Object. Private collection.

The really fun part about this experiment for me is that I also have recently - in July -taken up temporary residence in a space at Hunt projects with my good friend Joel Cammarata, and there I’m continuing this exploration in sculpture but collaboratively with Rico Duenes, who makes awesome lamps. Here’s a few of those that are in situ, and unfinished.

Showing some of these things now, really just to get a sense of what people think about them, and if there’s any interest in possessing them. They will be functional lamps, however may look very different once I get my hands back on them, ha! Essentially they are unfinished, but will function, and Rico and I are exploring avenues of presentation and exposure. I like them, and historically I don’t collaborate well, which means maybe I’m growing up a bit.

And, just like that summer is almost over. So it’s been a pretty full first half of the year. Here’s to the fall! Continued collaboration, some landscape commissions, and a show planned for November at Adobe with two of my favorite artists, Caitlyn Galloway, and Cliff Hengst.. more to come, hopefully, will more regularity.