Australia Part 1

I was asked by Semi-Permanent to come out and give a talk in Melbourne. I'd never been to Australia before, and was super excited. The flight over the Pacific was long, but I read a book (Sidhartha), read a couple magazines, slept, listened to some podcasts, wrote a little and before I knew it I was in OZ. My pal Martin McIntosh picked me up from the airport- very much appreciated after such a long flight!By the way, that Hulk Hogan poster was in an alley, apparently those guys are coming to Oz too!

My room was nice. They put up the speakers at the Urban Hotel in St. Kilda. Good lighting, which I put to good use later when I had some painting to do. The staff was cool. Do you know that people don't tip very often in Australia? When I got room service they would never accept my tips.

This was my view out the window. It was raining when I got there. After that initial rain it was clear until the last day.

The day cleared up, so I went for an afternoon walk after I took a nap. My hotel was right near the beach, but it was cold, very cold! Got some good and warm soup at the end of the St. Kilda pier.

Martin knew of my candy obsession so he got me a gift bag of sweets. Mmmm Pollywaffle's are nice. Looked like a huge turd at first, I hesitantly bit into it and was rewarded with sweet wafflecone and marshmallow heaven.

Australian money is cool too. I commented to someone that it's interesting that all the bills are different sizes, and they asked how blind people in the US can tell if they're getting ripped off. Hmmm, I don't know.

Gemma at Outre Gallery. Martin in the back. I met a lot of nice people in Australia.

Martin took me to a place called Cookie for lunch. Good and spicy! Martin hooked it up!


There is a graffiti alley out there called Hosier Lane. I was supposed to paint something in there but never found the time.

The organizer of Hosier Lane, Andy Mac, has a gallery called Until Never. They had a really cool show of James Callahan's screen prints. I think this was a collab with several artists, one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Really made me wnt to do some prints and explore screenprinting..

This is the hub of Melbourne, Flinders Station. Kinda looks like Lego blocks to me.

Tara McPherson was also there to talk, throwing some gangsta signs with fans.

This was damn good. Chicken wrapped in bacon with a rice globe. Mmmm.


Stay tuned for part two...
Jeff

Grandaddy

One of my favorite bands of all time is (was) Grandaddy. I love this song, and rediscovered this awesome video for it today. I wonder who directed it? Pretty cool concept. Makes me sad...

JANM show- Giant Robot... my painting.

Here's a clip I put together of my painting process. This piece took about a week. I am usually a fast painter but the last couple of years I have slowed down. I haven't been completely planning out my pieces, I prefer to work in a free form style. I usually work from a very, very rough sketch or idea and then dive in and see what happens. Sometimes there is no sketch at all and I just feel my way through the piece.

Much of my time is spent sitting in my pappazan chair looking and deciding what to paint (or paint over) next. It's a very reactive process, and sometimes things go well and other times I've had to start over completely. It's stressful when things aren't happening, but amazingly fun and mind opening when I hit something that feels right...


This piece will be at the Giant Robot JANM show.

Jeff

Two prints- "Nature's Splendor" and "The Three Friends"

Hi friends,
We will be releasing two new giclee prints next Monday (October 26th).

The first is actually a set of three prints- "The Three Friends". They are reproductions of the watercolor pieces I have been having so much fun with. I was going to release one of these and felt they worked very nice as a set. I'm very happy with them, the proofs look like the original watercolors.

The second is "Nature's Splendor" which is a companion piece to a 2009 sold out print, "Nature's Wrath". This print has already been offered to NW buyers in order to give them first dibs on completing the two print set. Owners of the first print have until Monday to make their purchase via email to jeffsoto@earthlink.net, after that we will be selling remaining prints on October 26th. Over half the prints are already paid for, so apologies in advance- there is a slight chance these will not be available.

Further info:

"The Three Friends" giclee set by Jeff Soto
Comes with three individual prints. Edition of 100
Paper size: Each print 10" X 10"
Signed and numbered with signed Certificate of Authenticity.
Ships flat for extra protection.

Available from www.potatostamp.com on Monday, October 26th, 2009 around noon (PST).
$125 + shipping



"Nature's Splendor" giclee on archival paper
Edition of 50
Paper size: 14" X 14" , Image size: 12" x 12"
Signed, numbered and titled with signed Certificate of Authenticity.

Ships rolled up in cardboard tube and inside a triangular cardboard box for extra protection.
This painting was shown at Soto's "Inland Empire" show at Stolenspace Gallery in London, alongside it's companion piece, "Nature's Wrath". This giclee will recreate the piece at it's actual size (12" x 12").

Available from www.potatostamp.com on Monday, October 26th, 2009 around noon (PST).
$125 + shipping


Thanks, please direct any questions to jeffsoto@earthlink.net
Jeff

No Roids!!

Found this on the Artchival message board which I lurk on. Is that Carrotop?? (click on the image to see larger) Random ads are funny. I wonder if the ads are supposed to pertain to Artchival stuff, or generated by pages that I visit? Hope it doesn't have anything to do with my own browsing! Gross either way...

Babytattooville 2009

Had fun but my pictures kinda sucked this year. I'm a mad documenter, always taking photos, my method is quantity over quality. In the end, I hope to get something nice out of the tons of shitty pictures I take. But this time I went more as an observer, a welcomer, and a fan, and didn't feel like sticking the camera in everyone's faces. So I didn't get too many decent shots. Except I think these turned out cool as a set.


That was James Gurney, Audrey Kawasaki, Travis Louie, Buff Monster, KMNDZ, Miss Mindy, Liz McGrath, Greg Simkins, KRK Ryden and Yoskay Yamamoto. Cool lineup, wish I had more time to hang out this time. I was to leave directly after to Melbourne and was juggling family time with Babytattooville and packing, so it was a little crazy.

Didn't get a good shot of: Molly Crabapple, Michael Hussar, Phillip Warner... but you can find them on other sites. Also there was some past artists- Gris Grimley, Brandi Milne, Tara McPherson, Lola, Bob Dobb, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Jeffrey Scott... some others I'm forgetting...

Highlight of the trip for me was a Mission Inn scavenger hunt, I was grouped up with some badasses like Dov Kelemer, Audrey Kawasaki, Buff Monster, and Mystery's former wingman Tan! I think our group had some brains and experience (having frequently stayed here I knew how to get around the Mission Inn quite well). Fun stuff..


Coming soon my trip to Melbourne for Semi-Permanent Conference.... just got back yesterday. Oz is awesome...

Outre Gallery print release and signing

I'll be in Melbourne next week for the Semi-Permanent conference. My first visit to Oz! I will be having a print release/book signing/meet and greet at Outre Gallery in Melbourne, Sunday October 11th at 2pm. Tara McPherson will also be there signing her new book! Come by and say hi!

The new print is "Antarctica". 60x 40cm (~24" x 15") giclee. Please contact Outre Gallery for more info.

Thanks,
Jeff

Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 years at JANM

This show is coming up, gonna be awesome. I'm working on a 12' painting. Some cool things going into this show from a ton of artists. See you in a few weeks...