"Edge of Night" show

I'm heading up on Sunday to pick up my work from Artswest in Seattle. They were kind enough to email me these pictures from the show. I think it looked pretty good.

Laurie Anderson Interview

For my other blog I recently interviewed Laurie Anderson. My first interview with anyone ever. It was a very short interview by phone prompted by her agent looking for free blogospheriness (to coin a word that will no doubt immediately take off) for Ms. Anderson's art show in Philadelphia.
Anyway you can see the whole thing here: http://artoutthere.blogspot.com/2011/11/laurie-anderson.html
I didn't exactly plumb the depths of Ms. Anderson's soul. My career as a pro interviewer is still a ways off. But it was interesting and turned out OK I think.
Here's a nice pic of her with long time partner and hubby since 2008, Lou Reed. Despite my wife's urging I did NOT ask her about THAT.

Art in Embassies - Nigeria

I sent 3 paintings off a while ago to be displayed at the US Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. Apparently the ambassador is from Oregon and they to display some Oregon Art. I just found that the work is now up on this website, which is cool. But the funny part is I have absolutely no idea who the guy in the headshot is. The ambassodor? One of the other artists? Or did some body photoshop my beard off and add a dash of wholesome and a dollop more nerdiness?
http://art.state.gov/artistdetail.aspx?id=152208

A residency this winter!

I've been accepted to a residency program at Playa (www.playasummerlake.org) in southern Oregon.
Four weeks from mid February to Early March. My own living space. My own studio. Free meals, lots of snow and stars and most important of all...time. I would never have even considered applying if KJ hadn't encouraged me to do so. Now I've got to start thinking about what I want to get done.

Check out pictures of the cabins and studios here.

Last of the new work

Here's the last piece called "If a Tree Falls".
It is based loosely on a promotional still for the documentary film of the same name (see below - frankly I think the original photo is way cooler, but whatever)

48" x 36"  oil on canvas  2011

from the documentary film "If a Tree Falls"

2 of the new pieces

Here are 2 of the new paintings that will be in the aforementioned Seattle Show.

"Coda"  40" x 50"  oil on canvas  2011

"Into the woods"  36" x 48"  oil on canvas  2011

The Edge of Night

That's the title of a show at ArtsWest in Seattle that opens next Tuesday, October 11.
I'll have 7 pieces hanging along with three other artists
The opening reception will be on Thursday, October 13 from 6 to 7:30pm
(although I don't know at this point if I'll be able to make it).

Here's what the kind Gallery Director (Mark Daughhetee) wrote in the press release:
"Portland artist DAVID CARMACK LEWIS’s oil paintings on canvas interpret the limited spectrums of nighttime light sources, both natural and manmade, and are often populated by what is not there: an empty chair near a small fire, an elegantly lit theatre without an audience. His theatre paintings suggest the striking black and white photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto of empty movie theaters, but with the subtle hues of night. Lewis has participated in juried shows throughout the region, as well as in New Mexico, Arizona and South Africa."
(I'd not heard of Hiroshi Sugimoto before - here's a sample - very cool)

An honorable mention

So there's this website called MyArtContest.com. Believe it or not they sponsor art contests. Fancy that. There's different categories. Landscape, figures, fantasy, etc. So I had apparently entered my Fox painting in the landscape category and then forgot about it. I received a pleasant email last week saying I was one of 20 honorable mentions. The piece is not on the website but you can see my name in tiny print (they left out the carmack which I'm a little annoyed by). I believe the piece will be included in a print magazine later. Which is always nice.

 "The Fox"

Blue Canvas event

I've got to say that the Blue Canvas event down in LA was pretty crazy. It was quite a crowd. I guess I'll never know how many bigshots scanned my work oh so briefly with their critical eye before moving imperiously on to other things. The whole thing was downtown for the Thursday artwalk. There was a gallery with some really amazing work on the first floor, plus DJs and art cars in the hallway. Then upstairs some live painting under spotlights and bars waiting for the after hours party which apparently went until the wee hours of the morning. I lasted about one hour. But still. Quite the event. And I must say the magazine really looks great and features some very fine work. I'm not sure what I expected exactly but it really is an impressive publication.
You can check it out here: http://www.bluecanvas.com/magazine/current-issue
The blue canvas website will probably be posting some photos and/or video of the event. I'll link to those when they do.

New painting and a trip to LA

"Backhoe" or possibly "A Bear and a Backhoe"
oil on canvas  36"h x 48"w

So I'm heading out tomorrow a.m. to Los Angeles where this and another painting will accompany me while I proceed to hawk my wares to galleries. Always a good time, that.

They will also hang at a one time launch event for issue 9 of Blue Canvas magazine which also runs an artists networking site. The event is from 7pm to 1am. I wonder if I'll last that long. 

Arts West

I was informed that I'll be participating in a show at Arts West, a theater and gallery up in Seattle, this fall. It'll be a group show with about 5 pieces, maybe. They plan the art shows by choosing artists whose visual work somehow or another relates to, or has something in common with, the plays that will be running concurrently. I like that idea, but I'm especially pleased with the plays that will be running while my work is there. One is a play about marital revenge in which the wife ties up her cheating husband in the woods and covers him with honey to await the bears. The second is "Evil Dead The Musical". My favorite press quote about my work came from the Portland Mercury and described it as somewhere between Vincent Van Gogh and a horror movie backdrop. So something consistent must be going on here.

Note: This is not the actual ad currently being used for the musical, but I rather liked it.

Press!

I've never been much good at drumming up press. But here's a link to a nice little article on my painting that won first place last month in a show at the Coos Art Museum.
(see my earlier post here.)

Linden Tree

5 new paintings

The show at Attic Gallery is already up and the reception went well I suppose. With a little help from John Power.
Anyway I finally got the last 5 slides of the newest paintings scanned so here they are:
Click on the images to view them larger!

"Three Acts" 36" x 52"  2011

"City Map"  41" x 49"  2011

This one I'm not so sure about the title. If something better occurs to me I'll change it. For some odd reason the piece makes me think about Thomas Kinkade ("painter of light").

"Focal point"  50" x 33"  2011

"Sister"  50" x 32"  2011

"Transect"  50" x 33"  2011

A Winner!

I had a painting in a show called "Expressions West" down at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon. Yes, there's an art museum in Coos Bay. It's actually pretty nice. Anyway I just found out last night that I won first place. And that comes with a check. Sweeeet.
You can see the winners here.

"Linden Tree"  oil on canvas  34" x 52"

Finishing up "3 acts"

I don't know that it's 100% percent finished but it's close enough. Once it's stretched I'll get it and several other pieces properly photographed, without all this damned glare.
(the problem with documenting a work in progress is you have no idea ahead of time how well it;s going to turn out. I feel like I something got lost somewhere with this one. But there's still time to make some small changes and often that's all it takes.)

This image shows approximately the final cropping after stretching.

3 acts - Blocking it in

So here's a glimpse of what I did last night.  This is the easy part (or the cartoonified underpainting part if you prefer). Now I can either make it a really nice painting or ruin it. If you don't see any more about this one then I guess you'll know what happened.
(it takes a while to get the actual painting going, and I'm not sure how much time I'll have over the next few days, so don't hold your breath)

3 Acts

With only a month before my big show in April I'm starting a new painting. I had done 2 theater pieces earlier (see below) that I was quite happy with but I really felt the need for one more. Here's the initial sketch roughed out on the canvas last night. I'm tentatively calling it "3 acts". It may be hard to see but there will be three small chairs on the stage (click on the image to view it larger). Of course everything could change. I just hope I can get it, and the 3 or 4 other paintings I have in progress, done in time. There's nothing like deadlines.

"Performance"  oil on canvas  43"w x 33"h

"Rehearsal"  oil on canvas  36"w x 45"h

40 Works

I'll have 4 pieces in a show in Eugene OR, at Lane Community College called "40 works"
The exhibition runs from February 22nd to March 10th. 
And check out the fine print! No charge for admission!

Here's the deets from the press release:

40 WORKS, REGIONAL JURIED ART EXHIBITION OPENS FEBRUARY 22nd

EUGENE, OR - The Lane Community College Art Gallery is proud to present 40 Works. This exhibition consists of artists from Oregon and the greater Pacific Northwest. This exhibition is a collection of work from 10 artists. Each artist is being featured with a small series of 4 works. The works in this exhibition will contain a wide variety of mediums, including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and mixed media.

This exhibition will include works by the following artists: Rob Morrison, Jan Madill, David Carmack Lewis, Danuta Muszynska, Anne Godfrey, Nathan Lucas, Katy Keuter, Dorene Steggell, KC Hancock, and Kevin Farrell.

The gallery is located in building 11 on main campus, 4000 E. 30th Avenue. There is no charge for admission. The Art and Applied Design Department phone number is 463-5409.

New Blurb

“I paint at night. It’s often the only time I can. I paint alone. I would hardly know how to do otherwise. These two elements then, not only pervade my work, they are my work. They are the things I paint. My paintings are rarely premeditated. I approach every blank canvas with a kind of depressing horror at my inadequacies as an artist. The only way around this is to simply start. I draw a tree, a house, a line that may or not be a horizon. Unformed ideas develop directly on the canvas, the concept sometimes evolving throughout the painting process. With short breaks to clear my mind I peer out of the studio door. The night is there, dim lights of the neighborhood prying open pieces of the darkness. I’m alone. I listen to music. I listen to lectures. My thoughts stray. This is how I work. This work is my mind when it is left alone to wander. In the dark, of course. This is what I find there.”

A New blurb to use in the promotional material for my upcoming solo show in April.  I think.

Hazel

I haven't posted much lately, due in part to the recent birth of my second daughter who turns two weeks old today. Here's a very quick doodle of her.

I'll have another show announcement soon and new paintings to post one of these days. I swear.

"Fresh Air" show in Boise

My Painting Crescendo was selected to be included in a show called "Fresh Air" at the Visual Arts Center in Boise, Idaho. The curator was Courtney Gilbert, curator of visual arts at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, so thank you Courtney!

I've shipped it off and hope it's a great show... But since girl number 2 (we're down to 2 possible names) will be either imminent or newly arrived, travelling is pretty much out the window.

Of course, if anyone else happens to be in the area it might be worth checking out.
The opening reception is January 28th (6-8pm) and the show runs through February 25th.

"Crescendo"  oil on canvas  45" x 43"  2009