RETURN TO WASTELAND

So about a year ago a friend of mine said he was buying a house and asked if i wanted to do an art show there.

 "where is it?" i asked.

"Pasadena" he said.

"OK" said i.

Well he didnt end up with that house but he did get one eventually.

This was going to be so cool because i had'nt had a solo show in over a year but i've been doing group shows and building up a body of new work and welcomed an opportunity to show it as part of my entire collection. Since my bio says i come from the chemical wasteland of pasadena, i named my show "return to wasteland'.

The day before the show i made this sign for the place so people could see it from the street. I hope it comes in handy again mr tapia. 

Of course the first people to show up were my family. this was my nephews first art show. he's cute as fuck! anyway i was pretty nervous at this point because a lot of work and money had been put into the show and i had no idea if people were going to show up. now that i'm thinking about it, this is the first show that i was responsible for! i promoted it, and set it up, and took the financial risk! of course i had help, but it was my failure to make. 

 No failure happened. AT ALL. lots of people showed up, bought work, had laughs, got drunk, and didnt break anything or burn the house down. Success!

Minus the two people holding solo cups, everybody in this pic bought at least one piece of art! craziness!#humblebrag

This is the cake my badass girlfriend had made for the show. its tres leches from el bolio. the black ink stained everybodys fingers and mouths but it tasted yum-my!

This little kid named Gordo ate the biggest piece of cake i'd ever seen. i told his mom he was going to shit the bed if he didnt sleep in the bath tub. who knows what happened. 

This is Natalie Irish talking to Jose Tapia. she's going to be on conan soon. best o luck kid! 

quick! look elsewhere! 

i wish i had taken pics of the backyard where people were mingling around the keg. lots of laughs were being had. oh well, i had a good time. i raffled off a little box of merch in between beers. among other things was a paddleball i am now officially sold out of...finally.

 It was all just so exciting!

Pasadena has a lot to offer in the way of art appreciation after all! i had such a good night! thanks to all who helped me put it together. i realy appretiate your support. also thanks to all the people who bought my work. without you guys and gals i wouldnt be able to do half the shit that i do! EXCELSIOR!

PS, if you would like to talk to mr tapia about hosting a show, let me know.

WOOT!

"I was looking at your blog this morning and i saw that picture with everyone in the living room and it hit me that there was a picture of my house on the internet having an art show and how bad ass Saturday really was. I guess seeing all the behind the scenes stuff and even when everything was going on I'm walking around checking on stuff it never really sank in how great everything turned out and how successful your show really was."

-Jose Tapia

EXCELSIOR! EXCELSIOR!

 

Summer Street Art Market

I took part in a huge art show Saturday the 14th. There were lots of great art...vendors? There was a fashion show and open studios upstairs, live bands and DJs complete with dubstep, free booze, and lots and lots of people.

Here are a few views from my table. i am slowly growing my setup to show more of my art. I bought a second table and it really helps a lot to have the extra space. Its cool that i can show up somewhere in my two-door coupe and have an art booth set up in about 10-15 minutes!

This was a fun gig. There was a $10 cover to get in so there were some avid art fans coming in to check things out. Almost everybody was excited to be there and very friendly. I like meeting new people doing these things. I cant say that enough.

I want to do this more. My calendar is free starting in August so if anybody out there knows of something going on let me know!

I been busy...

I've been doing a lot of little cons and fests and taculars lately. So much so that my drawing output has slowed way down. But thats about to change as i have a couple weeks between shows. My next gig is April 14 at Summer Street Studios. Should be fun!

I put these together especially for my table gigs. They wont be on my bigcartel since i only made five of them and havent found a source to buy more lamps from.

Craftacular at Hello Lucky on Studemont. I got a nice mild sunburn.

Minicon!

Looked like it was going to be a sketchy show at first so here i am uptight and set up in front of an old matress.. It was so dark and humid in this place and in the hood too. But the people there were super nice and i sold more art there than anywhere else! Dont judge a book by its muthufuckin cover yo!

Wholefoods Day1

Man! I sold a painting before this thing even started! This was such a nice show, with the perfect weather and the art fans milling about. There was plenty of traffic all day long and i got to meet some cool artists.

Wholefoods Day 2

Since there were fewer artists set up, they moved us to the front of the entrance. Pretty much anybody that went in to shop got to see my stuff. There were a bunch of laughs had this day. It seems like older people are really tickled by my sense of humor. One guy stood in front of me and freaked over one piece. He had been to prison at one point in his life and i guess i touched something in his brain. I'm meeting people from all walks of life at these things and its just amazing to get the chance to do it.