“Prado” print release

“Prado”

30 x 40cm (12 x 15.5 inches)

Archival pigment print on 300 gr Moab Entrada Rag Matte Fine Art Paper

edition size 50
Signed and numbered

“Prado” Hand Painted

30 x 40cm (12 x 15.5 inches)

Archival pigment print on 300 gr Moab Entrada Rag Matte Fine Art Paper

edition size 10
Signed and numbered

On a fluke I ended up in the south of France in 2005. One impression that has stuck with me all these years is these old hand-painted advertisements on the sides of building from generations ago.In Places like Béziers, Sete, Agde and Bédarieux  there were these  artifacts. Remnants of the past that have outlived their intended purpose. Signs from an era long gone, viewed as so insignificant that they weren’t even worth erasing. So they remained. There seems to be some parable there. “the star that shines twice as bright shines half as long…”

   I’ve always been fascinated with decay. These things, in our environment, that seemingly limp along unaffected by the passage of time. Obstinate in their refusal to simply go away. Immune to their fading glory, they lack self doubt. They simply remain, it’s a strength that’s both surprising and inspiring. I wondered  how long they would last? Would we be limping along as a species across the background of Liqueurs and coffee brands? Would these painted walls, after all is said and done, outlast us? I made the first of these for an exhibit at GCA gallery in 2017. This one I made in 2022  during the pandemic, when our future seemed less than certain. It hasn’t been the source of an entire body of work, it’s simply one of those ideas I can’t shake. What does it mean to endure? What is it’s value? At what point does the once discarded, rise and become priceless as an archeological treasure? Something common that transcends history, simply by lasting.

Cutting for Sign Podcast

While I was in Bangkok, through the miracle of modern telecommunications I had the pleasure of chatting with Ron Cecil and Daniel Penner Cline for the Cutting For Sign podcast. You can hear the episode HERE or wherever you listen to podcasts. We had a lovely chat about art, writing and my uncanny resemblance to Iron Man. I really enjoyed chopping it up with these 2 guys and I hope you enjoy the episode.

Ambition Metallic Silver Edition Release

These will go on sale Tuesday August 30th at 9am PST and 18h CEST HERE

Ambition Silver 18×24 inches (46x61cm)

2 color Serigraph on 100lb (270gsm) Cover stock

edition of 100 signed and numbered with certificate of authentication

These were printed with a metallic silver ink, because of it’s reflective nature the text changes depending on the angle of light and your position to the print. The paper used is 100% post consumer recycled and certified forest friendly from The French Paper Company in Michigan. The facility is run by its own in-house Hydro-electric power. This renewable power has avoided 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Surplus power is supplied to the local community. The inks used are water based solvent free acrylic.

We all need to start making better informed decisions about what we consume and it’s impact, even artists. Recently I have begun thinking more and more about the materials I use and finding some really good solutions and alternatives. I’m happy to be discovering better ways to print and better materials to reduce waste and pollution. I know this is a small step but a worthy step. As the consequences of climate change continue to have catastrophic results I will do my part to try to continue to find better solutions in my art process and give collectors something they can feel better about owning as well.

Ambition – Spilt Milk Edition

I had a good time making these hand embellished Ambition prints. There are only a dozen of them and each one has a unique background. These will go on sale May 20th at 9am PST HERE

Ambition – Spilt Milk Edition

18×24 hand embellished multiple 1 color hand pulled serigraph

Edition of 12 – each piece is unique

Signed and numbered with certificate of authenticity

Printed of French Paper, Kraft tone 100lb cover stock

This paper is 100% Post consumer recycled and FSC certified.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), is a non-profit organization that sets certain high standards to make sure that forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible and socially beneficial manner.

Street Art City – Lurcy-Lévis, France

In July, I traveled from Paris, with Nite Owl, to Lurcy-Lévis in the center of France to participate in Street Art City. Street Art City is a complex of buildings that were once some kind of training facility for the phone company (or something like that), and has long since been abandoned. About 3 years ago the new owners started inviting urban artists to come to the complex and make murals, do installations and create a room at hotel 128. Hotel 128 is an old dormitory type building containing 128 small individual rooms on 4 floors. Every room has been taken over by an artist. Below is mine.

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I worked, as much as possible, with existing materials from the room. Shower doors, broken sinks, clusters of light bulbs. An important aspect for me was to reapply sections of the removed wallpaper over areas of the portraits. I didn’t want these to feel as though they had been installed, but rather that these images were always there, under that veneer of wallpaper. I wanted the images to feel as if they perhaps predated the buildings utilitarian phase and were now, after all these years, uncovered. That idea runs parallel to the idea of the salvage portraits. Presenting not an evolutionary change, but a regression. Presenting atavisms. Traits in people that had long been dormant, strands of DNA that still exist is us, but have become obsolete in a post modern civilization. Traits that still exist under the facade of civilized society, which can be reawakened, given an extreme environmental change.

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On the radiator in the room I wrote “Entering a period of consequences” as a sort of warning about the fragility of all these structures we have grown dependent on.

It was an interesting week, surrounded by these images in this tiny room, in an abandoned building miles from anything.

Lurcy-Lévis is centered in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Getting cigarettes was a 90 minute walk round trip. Surrounded by Corn and Cows, an ironic place to showcase urban art. It offers many artists a place to work free from the distractions of ordinary life, urban life; it’s peaceful. That said, places like this scare me, rural places. I am not a country person. It’s too quiet, it gets too dark at night- it’s too summer-camp slasher movie for me. It took some acclamation on my part. But being outside of your comfort zone is always a good thing.

I got to spend some unrushed time with the homies Nite Owl and Rachel Riot. Also got to know a few solid guys from Barcelona Sebastien Waknine, Simón Vázquez and Zeso. Making art is obviously the reason I travel as much as I do. The thing I value the most about that travel is the people I meet, the stories they tell and these unlikely little places like Lurcy-Lévis that I would have never seen if I wasn’t making art

Ambition – Etched Metal Plate Release

As a Pow Wow Hawaii Alumni I was asked to be  part of  1xrun’s Pow Wow Hawaii Print Series this year. I decided to do an edition of the piece I did at Pow Wow 2012.

I produced 2 versions of the “Ambition” image as chemical etched metal plates. Each plate is .030″ and 16×20 inches They are available in stainless steel, edition of 100 and Brass edition of 15. Each edition is signed and numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity from myself and 1xrun. These drop Monday, February 22nd at 12noon PST. The brass edition is available HERE and the stainless steel edition is  HERE

The etching process gives the surface an engraved or intaglio of the image which is then filled with paint. I choose this process to give the pieces some weight and dimensionality and create an object more than a print.

 

Paris

There is very little to be said about Paris that has not been said before. It is a city of stunning beauty created out of endless care and pride. Rather than attempt to describe it adequately I’ll sum it up in one story.

At the recommendation of my friend Steven Ballinger I had lunch at Musee Jaquemart-Andre. It’s a beautiful place to have lunch. However, at the end of the meal I ordered desert. It was some kind of rose flavored meringue thing. Actually I’m not sure what the fuck it was, the menu was in french and I don’t speak french. What arrived appeared to be more ornamental than edible. It was this beautiful pink and gold sculpture, so beautiful that it seemed wrong to plunge a fork into it and destroy it. I do though, derive some pleasure from doing things that seem wrong. Keep in mind, I am not a foodie in any way. I consider 7-11 a restaurant.  With the first bite still in my mouth everything became clear. I thought “holy shit, if I could bake something like this, I too, would look down at America”. It was that good. It was a fucking pastry that negated 200 years of American exceptionalism. Paris gets things right. Period end of story.

 

Thailand with D Young V and Eddie Colla

Last December D Young V and I decided we would go to Thailand. There wasn’t any real reason for this, but there wasn’t any real reason not to. Bangkok is hot. It’s hot in December, it’s hot at 3am. Bangkok also never stops. It’s busy at noon and it’s busy at 3am. It’s one of those cities that doesn’t require you to have any energy, it has it’s own current. All you have to do is step into it and you’ll get carried along. To that extent the trip seemed less like 16 days and more like one really long day punctuated by intermittent naps. That was 4 months ago. I would describe all the things I did and saw, but it’s a dense kind of  experience and honestly, I don’t remember a lot of it. There is this sort of high humidity fog over that part of my memory and I do remember some things that may not have actually happened. We’re very isolated in the U.S., something I never really cared for. For a few weeks while Dave and I were in Thailand the world was big again. Really big and really strange.

Eddie Colla x D Young V – 69 El Camino

David Young  and I painted this 69 El Camino last january, we finally had a chance  to get some footage together of this beast in action. A little inspirational driving Video…..

Eddie Colla X Sierra Magazine

Last month I did the artwork for the cover of this Month’s Sierra Magazine. This was really an ideal situation. It’s a rare opportunity to get to work with a group as important as the Sierra Club. I also had the freedom to simply take this project and do what I do. Really, it was an ideal working environment. It’s always satisfying to be able to do your art while contributing to something you truly support. Some of you from San Francisco’s art community may recognize the model I used for the cover.

Here are the links to Sierra
About the Cover
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