Jesse Draxler

Draxler, J. Burnt Hair.

Draxler, J. Methadont.

I'm so fucking into this.
Also I swear a lot when I'm enthusiastic.

http://www.jessedraxler.com/

Stuff I've been up to lately

My work space at college. I <3 my corner, but I've recently migrated to the corridor/graphics room for more space.

Experimental silhouettes.

Atomic shadow 1 so far.

Atomic shadow 2 so far (detail).

3 - started this one today, just improvising. Not sure it'll survive, definitely needs more work.

Atomic shadow 3 (detail).

 These all need a fair bit more work, but I'm feeling pretty good about how it's going so far.

I've suddenly realised...

...that I love watercolours. I've never been able to get my head around acrylics or oils so I hardly ever paint, but damn, I love how watercolours look.

These are my eyes, by the way. It's an experiment as part of a project, I'm not just really vain.

And then I was reminded how much I also love Marlene Dumas. Her work is so ghostly and simple.

Dumas, M. Barbie (with a pearl necklace) 1995. Watercolour on paper. <http://asheard.com/?p=978#more-978>

Wilderness

"The wilderness is not a landscape you visit, it is all around you, wherever you are. We persuade ourselves that our taming of the world is profound, we lay water mains and sewers and read thousand year old books, we drive our autobahns through solid rock, we huddle together in caves lit by the incandescence of television screens. We do everything we can to be safe, and still the planet spins, the winds roar, the great ice caps creak and heave, the continental plates shudder and bring cities crashing to the ground, the viruses infect us and the oceans toy with us, lapping against the edges of our precarious land. We are in the midst of the wilderness, even curled up with our lovers in bed." - Paul Shepheard, The Cultural Wilderness, or What is Landscape? from The Drawing Book by Kovats, T. Black Dog Publishing Limited 2007.

I came across this quote while half-heartedly flipping through a book at college during a creative lull. It's really stuck with me, this idea of the 'wilderness'. We think we've got the planet under control, we think we're civilised and rational. None of these things are true. We're completely at the mercy of nature and we're also part of nature. We're animals - why do people always forget that? These wars and attacks over religion, over nationalism, over football teams, for fuck's sake, it's all tribal. It's all primitive. We're animals, despite our three-piece suits, our languages, our cups of coffee and our empires. And the high-rise blocks and motorways and computers are only temporary shelter in the chaotic and unpredictable wilderness we live in. If we forget that, we'll be completely unprepared when the inevitable day comes where we can no longer rely on electricity and ready meals. In fact even with all possible preparations made, we're part of an ecosystem supported entirely by our environment. If the environment stops supporting us, there's nothing we can do.

Raphaelson, P. Skyline Storm any time between 1995-2001, #16 of Wilderness series, photograph, available: http://www.paulraphaelson.com/portfolios/wilderness/

I get so bored

of seeing penises in art.

christopher sharp artwork: Project: Exeter, UK

christopher sharp artwork: Project: Exeter, UK: "2011, fly-posters of paintings 'Novus Ordo Seclorum', 'A Painting is a City' and 'La Société du Spectacle' around the city of Exeter...."

I found this while walking around town at lunch the other day. It struck me because I'm currently working on a project around the theme of the culture of apathy that exists and is encouraged in society today. I'll write more at length about this soon, but for now, look at this guy's work because it seems to get across a lot of my thoughts and feelings at the moment.

#SINGItForJapan

SINGItForJapan contribution (2011). Fineliner pen drawing, digitally coloured on Photoshop.

The observant among you might have realised that I'm a big fan of My Chemical Romance. Well they're currently putting together a project to raise money for Red Cross Japan in the wake of the recent earthquake, tsunamis and nuclear disasters over there. They'll be releasing a special version of their song, SING, along with a video to which fans are contributing footage, photographs and artwork as we speak. Obviously not everything will make it in there, but this is my effort and I had a lot of fun doing it today. I've never coloured/shaded something digitally before, so I'm quite pleased with how it came out!

Anyway, this is a really good cause, so if you like this band or know someone who does, get involved! And if you don't like this band, donate some money anyway 'cause it's a nice thing to do for some people who are having a really shitty time at the moment.

I still don't really get how Twitter works, so do whatever it is you're meant to do with this hash tag: #SINGItForJapan.

Also see the blog on MCR's website: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/news