Let the Sunshine In

Dawning. 24”x18”. Performative print (Hand-pulled screen print on construction paper). 2015. Edition of 500.

Folsom Lake, CA, 2011 (left), 2014 (right)

 

California's drought has me worried. If you've seen the pictures, you know. It's scary. I thought about what I could do to help with the situation. I took shorter showers. I flushed less. I saved my sink water for feeding plants.

I’ve been exploring the idea that commerce and consumption would be the driving force behind nature’s destruction. But the more I thought of it, the more I began to realize that we were only destroying ourselves. And ultimately, nature would just come back once we were long gone. And this is the inspiration for Dawning.

Drawing inspiration from Tibetan mandalas, Dawning is a screenprint on construction paper that meditates on the intersection of contemporary life and nature. The central design focuses on our preoccupations with wealth, war, technology, and consumption.

Dawning; detail image

Camouflaged behind it in green ink is Nature. With exposure to light, areas of the green construction paper begin to fade, and Nature emerges from the edges. Dawning isn't just an image. It's an experience and it reveals itself to you as you shed light on it.

Dawning; detail image; before sunlight exposure (left), after one week in direct sunlight (right)

While every little bit helps, I realize that my own personal conservation attempts are not enough. Real environmental conservation needs to come through policy changes. So I'm also donating a portion of each sale to the Sierra Club, an environmental lobbying organization.

The first 200 in the edition are $150. The next 200 are $200, and the last 100 are $250.

Soooooo... Buy some art, help save the world?

 

EXHIBITION CALENDAR Eloquent Indicators. 40"x32". Pigmented ink and packaging tape on newspaper, mounted on Dibond. 2015.

May 1-3 stARTup Fair (with A Simple Collective) Hotel Del Sol, room 302 3100 Webster Street San Francisco, CA May 16-June 14 Gross Domestic Product E-Moderne Gallerie (solo exhibition) 116 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA May 21-June 7 Bearing Witness in the Drone Age San Francisco International Arts Festival Fort Mason San Francisco, CA   May 22-24 Affordable Art Fair (with Artered Gallery) Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai Hong Kong June 11-14 Affordable Art Fair (with Cynthia Corbett Gallery) Lower Fairground Site East Heath Road Hampstead, London August 6-August 31 Salon 8 The Cat Street Gallery 222 Hollywood Road Sheung Wan Hong Kong

The Calligrapher (Carried Across)

Check out the site for a new collaborative piece I did with Taras Mashtalir.

The Calligrapher (Carried Across)

Living With Endangered Languages in the Information Age

Recent shows

Young Masters Art Prize 2014

If It Happened Before, It Will Happen Again. Phillip Hua. 32"x56", 2014, pigmented ink and packaging tape on The Wall Street Journal newspaper, mounted on dibond.

Shortlist announced for the Young Masters Art Prize 2014 and inaugural Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize

16 September – 5 December 2014 at Lloyds Club, London and 

14 – 31 October 2014 at Sphinx Fine Art, London

Today, the Young Masters Art Prize announces the shortlisted artists for the third edition of the award.  The Prize celebrates contemporary artists from all over the globe who pay homage to the skill and traditions of the past. For the first time these artists will be joined by an additional 15 ceramicists, shortlisted for the inaugural Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize.

Amongst the shortlist is commercial photographer for Rolling Stone and GQ , Red Saunders, who has produced photographs inspired by the paintings of Rembrandt, Velazquez and Caravaggio; textile designer Alice Palmer who uses industrial machines to create knitted artworks in a tapestry style; and painter Phillip Hua whose depictions of nature on financial stock pages take influence from the style of Chinese brush painters Qi Baishi and Chao Shao An.

The Young Masters Art Prize was established by gallerist Cynthia Corbett in 2009. This year the shortlist has been selected from over 300 applications and the winner will be selected by a panel of judges comprising art historian and journalist, Godfrey Barker (Head Judge); Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, Charles Saumarez Smith; Founder of Sphinx Fine Art, Roy Bolton; international collector, Werner Grub; Founder and Director of Fluff PR, Ben Austin; and Associate Director of the Young Masters Art Prize, Daisy McMullan. 

The artists will participate in two exhibitions at Sphinx Fine Art and Lloyds Club, London between September and December 2014, curated by young collaborative duo R/E Collective and featuring previous winner Lottie Davies as a guest artist. On Wednesday 29 October, at a VIP event sponsored by Baydonhill, the judging panel will award three prizes: an overall prize of £1,500, and two highly commended prizes of £500 each, kindly donated by the Artists’ Collecting Society.  The winning artists will also be invited to exhibit in a showcase of their work abroad, as part of the 2015 Young Masters International Tour.

Thanks to the generosity of James and Maylis Grand, 2014 also sees the launch of the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize.  The Prize will award £1,500 to an artist who shows exceptional command of ceramics, alongside an awareness of the heritage of ceramic craft. The Prize will be awarded by an expert panel of judges comprising Show Director of COLLECT, Daniella Wells; curator and collector, Preston Fitzgerald; and collector Maylis Grand.
American artist Chris Antemann, known for her contemporary parodies of 18th century porcelain figurines, will be exhibiting as a guest artist, courtesy of MEISSEN COUTURE® - Europe’s most tradition-rich house of fine art and hand-crafted luxury.

The 30 artists shortlisted for the Young Masters Art Prize 2014 are:

Alice Palmer

Ana Teles

Anum Jamal

Bex Massey

Caterina Voltolini

Chantal Powell

Charlotta Janssen

Christopher Stacey

Dene Leigh

Eleanor Watson

Elisabeth Caren

Elise Ansel

EVEWRIGHT

 Fabiano Parisi

Gillian Hyland

Hannah Williamson

Johann Ryno de Wet

Jonathan Paul Davies

Julie Roch-Cuerrier

Juergen Wolf

Marwane Pallas

Michal Cole

Nick Cuthell

Nick Simpson

Oliver Jones

Phillip Hua

Red Saunders

Robert Hodge

Saskia Boelsums

Sophie Harris-Taylor

The 15 artists shortlisted for the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize 2014 are:

Andrew Deem

Amy Hughes

Angela Speight

Christabel Birbeck

Claire Partington

Dana Lazarus-Cass

Jane KingJo Taylor

Jong Jin Park

Kevin Callaghan

Matt Smith

Penny Byrne

Sun Ae Kim

Tamsin van Essen

Zemer Peled

The Young Masters Art Prize 2014 and the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize 2014 will be at Lloyds Club, London from 16 September to 5 December 2014, and at Sphinx Fine Art from 14 to 31 October 2014.  Further information is available at www.young-masters.co.uk 

Installing at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art

New Year, New Shows

ten! Affordable Art Fair, Brussels My work will be with Artered Gallery at the Affordable Art Fair in Brussels from February 7-10, after a successful showing at AAF Singapore. If you or anyone you know will happen to be in Belgium at the time, stop by and check it out! Picking Winners, 32"x40", Pigmented Ink and Packaging Tape on The Wall Street Journal, mounted on Dibond (2013) "Emerging Artists of the Bay Area" at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Curated by Kenneth Baker, art critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. I was one of five artists selected by Kenneth Baker, art critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, to be recognized as an emerging artist of the Bay Area.  I'm not only honored, but thrilled to begin the process of creating a 5'x20' piece for the space.  I hope you can come to the see the show. March 8 - April 13 Opening Reception March 8, 5-7 p.m. Panel Discussion with Juror Kenneth Baker and the Artists March 29, 2-3 p.m. Marin Museum of Contemporary Art  500 Palm Drive, Novato, Ca 94949 "Flora and Form" Group Exhibition at the Gray Loft Gallery in Oakland March 29 – May 17, 2014 Artists’ opening reception: 2nd Friday, April 11, 6 – 9 pm Gray Loft Gallery 2889 Ford Street, 3rd Floor, Oakland, CA 94601 510.499.3445