mr steve won two awards for his work included in the 50th Annual Greater Michigan Art Exhibition. Creative Excellence Award and Most Innovative Idea. didn't win best hair. It's here until December 23rd  The exhibition was juried by Michelle Grabner, Professor and Chair of Department of Painting and Drawing at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. i spent some of my winnings on a hotel room at "H" and pate. if ever in midland you should stay here.

they hung my work next to some guy named ted ramsey. he's pretty awesome.

sooooo.... this cat strolled in the other day and dropped this on my desk as my assistant and i chatted. he mumbled something and then ambled back into the outside. it appears to be an assemblage of some sort. i do not know where to send his commission check.

as director, i orchestrate and promote the sharing of creative process. however, in mr. steve world, i also wear the hat of critic quite happily, at times even gleefully.  this may result in a loss of popularity but i assure you, i sleep soundly at night. been stewing on this. check it out. no way to spin this, 555. the work was in no danger of imminent destruction and was certainly accessible to the interested (though i think the term "death trap" in freep article is a little harsh.) very plain, very simple: you "harvested" this without artist consent for personal gain. this is about preservation for YOU. please do not ordain yourselves stewards or guardians. it's insulting. any arts related mission you may promote is fraudulent. you're thieves. i might applaud a zealous act of tagging over your ill gotten wall piece. hell, i might even fund it.

mrsteves facebook...

i am currently pondering further proof that detroit may be the worst city of all time:  civic leaders decided to plant evergreen (christmas-esque) trees along the sidewalk on jefferson east of the boulevard. these will grow to encrouch the sidewalk thus "legitimizing" the obsession for local folk to shun society accepted walkways and walk/scoot in the street. they will also provide optimum staging areas for surprise assaults. at least until they are cut down leaving nice stumps. evergreens also have a wonderful knack of "collecting garbage, a tax paid service that  the city itself can't seem to provide adequately.  i bet some of these end up in peoples' homes come the holidays. one step forward, two steps back. believe it.

spring is here. i'm teaching at wayne state but, i may try and fine time to polish up on my dance moves. i don't know freddy, but apparently he's quick.

this week, i got sick. really sick. then my wife got sick. really sicker. not a good week. while down and out, drinking Vernor's which, by the way, is straight up full on medicinal in these parts and if you don't know you better "aks" somebody. anyway, i watched the worst movie ever made, They Live, starring former wrestling curiousity "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. i am not going to describe this film to you. rent it, buy it, steal it and then watch in horror. only good part is the epic fight scene which i have linked you up to here. enjoy. 

i still don't feel well and have IP set up this week which may or may not inspire future blog entries. possibly venom laced. if the thought of this bothers you, please refer to mr. steve profile description.  it may not always be pretty and, it most definitely ain't all good.

guest curator, detroit thinker/maker extrordinaire, ryan standfest just dropped these suckers off. catalogues from the Funny (not funny) exhibition which, was fantastic and set precedent for more outstanding offerings at our gallery in the D. they are available via ryan's site. truly well written and designed, it is an artifact which proudly signals the sort of creative energy we promote and support around here. plus my name's in it. makes a swell gift!

here's some stuff that is currently in the pipeline between my mind and the physical world. it gets from one to the other by taking a magical trip through some sort of printing process. then i can distribute these unsolicited materials ad nauseum. i do this to maintain my presence in the land of editorial illustration.

from time to time, mr. steve shares his favorite sources with his little lambs and today is one of those occasions. if you already know of these, pay 'em forward won'tcha?

gotprint: offers many sizes and several stocks (no chicken) also groovy round corners. the printer of choice for all work•detroit postcards.

VGkids: awesome. ypsilanti based.

MOO: some groovy sizes and packages. i have seen some MOO products floating around GradStudentVille.

MFA mega force john walters has work in work right this very second! john took an incredible amount of care and responsibility in the assembling and presenting of his work. the result is a transformation of space like we haven't seen at work•detroit. wonderful.

the room is painted in a dark value and, curtains cut off light to the space, allowing the pieces to glow in an environment that is uniquely theirs.

as makers, we should be keenly aware of the space in which our work lives. bad or innappropriate space melds with the work, and common ground is rarely the high ground. so....paint a wall. cover a window. hang a curtain.

now....who's going to help mr. steve paint this room back white, hmmmmm?

Maximillan Kolbe and St. Benedict  exhibiting at Idols and Icons @ Madonna University

Snots   exhibiting at Silver Medal Exhibition @ The Scarab Club

lookee here. i don't just lay in bed and think about how to hang (and keep) other people's stuff up in the gallery. i make stuff myself.  lots of it. and i love to see it up on the wall. mr. steve has a big fat ego you see. above are a couple things in exhibits right this very second. saints on bedazzled catholic school desktops and soon to be released Motor City Panhandler AllStar cards. i encourage folks to exhibit and i am throwing a couple links up here so that you all can look into getting on some call lists for places here in the "D". and don't forget ours!

Scarab Club

DAM

Art + food at the DIA on Saturday afternoon combined a tasty, but overpriced turkey tetrazzini and hearty vegetable soup with this groovy stuff.

If you don't know anything about Fluxus, read this blurb provided by the DIA.

The Fluxus movement emerged in New York in the 60's, moving to Europe, and eventually to Japan. The movement encompassed a new aesthetic that had already appeared on three continents. That aesthetic encompasses a reductive gesturality, part Dada, part Bauhaus and part Zen, and presumes that all media and all artistic disciplines are fair game for combination and fusion. Fluxus gained monentum in the 1960's and 1970's. While art historians now call it an art movement, to its founders Fluxus was an attitude. According to a manifesto written in 1963, Fluxus embodies the following actions:

Purge: Flushing away traditional attitudes and ideas about...

i am an illustrator. not a cartoonist. i have an uncle who refers to me as a cartoonist and demands that i create carictures at family reunions. i have convinced him that doonesbury was my idea. my work contains "narrative." family circus does not. family circus has characters that never age. creepy. can you name the children? billy, dolly, jeffy, and pj. anyway...

i illustrated this car, a "hoop-t", which is a visual icon of the urban experience, not limited to detroit. then i submitted it to a cool site/company whose founders live in boulder, colorado. it's called threadless. i met these cats at the College Arts Association Conference in chicago and they told me that they receive 1200 submissions a week. i assume that all of the hip members of the A & D community are way out in front of me on this one but, i thought i'd pimp it anyway. so go there, check it out, and...

yikes. monsters.

what does it take to be a monster? fangs? mulitple eyes and legs? the ability to levitate? one five year old boy says yes.

later this year, work•detroit will host an exhibit exploring this topic. i expect that older creative thinkers will tap into a vault of more advanced attributes that might reflect a monstrous being, such as the ability and desire to use one's standing in the community to cheat people or, perhaps the willingness to utilize deadly methods to emphasize a point, etc.,etc. i look forward. i got a few monsters under my own bed.

in the meantime, check out this really cool site. boo!

hi. i'm busy. really really busy. coordinating MFA exhibit for John Walters at work•detroit, getting ready to be one pair of several hands on deck as we move into IP extravaganza and trying to keep the energy high in the intersections spaces. AND i myself, am also in a period of "making" for several upcoming exhibits as well as plotting work•detroit's summer offerings which, though less formal, are no less engaging.

Watch for call for MONSTERS later this spring. we like to open a show up in the summer to everybody and anybody. kind of a tradition. My five year old has already completed several zombies and spider which when presented in just the right baroque frame will be "awesome." but first, i am looking forward to working with plenty o' awesome work from our A & D  makers. Bring it on. we got plenty of nails.

I had the privilege of attending College Art Association (CAA) conference  in Chicago last weekend. Got to sit on a panel at a table on a platform and talk into a microphone and show images on a big screen. I spoke about A&D Exhibitions particularly those channeled through our Detroit space. Neato. When it comes to our committment to our urban presence and engagement, we are looked to by many as a model "that works."

We set the bar, and we set it high.

Sure, there were many interesting sessions that one could attend ( I was only there for one day ) but, I find that that the most valuable information is often exchanged and shared over the informal breaking of bread. I had the opportunity to talk to several graduating MFA students many of whom were in attendance to either interview, or to seek connections for potential employment down the road. As a rule, the tone was...

The current work • detroit housed show, FUNNY (not funny) contains a  body of illustrative narrative created by some great dark humorists. Many of these artists have achieved, at the least, a very high cult status. You may laugh and, well, that might make you feel bad.

Michigan Public Radio did a great story on the show, check it out.

i live in detroit, well kinda. grosse pointe on the east side. two blocks from the lake.

i don't sail though. i don't care for sailors. as a rule, they're an arrogant lot, born of trust funds and wide wale corduroy pants. in the summer, i myself prefer wife beaters and cold beer in long neck bottles. 

every saturday i teach at College for Creative Studies. it's a 9-4 class with a lunch hour. every saturday i go to the DIA and have a coffee in kresge court. occasionally i have lunch in the michael "one trick pony" grave's designed cafeteria. this  separates me from the apes. 

in case you did not know, there are wonderful treasures here created by folks such as Leger, Klee, Moore, and some cat named Edward West.

oh, and there's a little gallery up the street called  work • detroit. it's yours, come by sometime.

Girl with Plant
Fernand Leger
Oil on...