Come to my new store and purchase a Giclée reproduction from my work. They are 70 × 50 cm archival prints on Hannemulle 100% rag 305 gram paper. The reproductions are incredible.
Pittsburgh To Lebanon ‘‘Well, I crawled outa’ my momma I was blind as can be I bought my first shotgun At the age of three Fine whiskey and women By the time that I was five Said lord, the way that I am living You know that I'm gonna windup a live ........... Shotgun’’ From ‘‘Locust Abortion Technician’’ by the BHSurfers.
I found this unusual Popeye image at a market in Morocco. I think it's the cover of a ruled notebook for kids, probably from the 60s or 70s. Morocco is full of surprises.
‘‘The Brooklyn Rail’’, if you don’t already know it. It is a free New York based contemporary art and culture publication. I did this video bio for their IG page.
Wally Wood was a prolific comic creator from the 50s. He worked in all kinds of comic genres, produced a ton of comics and illustrations, and was an amazing draftsman.
Who is Dopey?
200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59'', mixed media on Fabriano paper.
Hey Ginger. 200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59”. No one seems to get the joke. Friends had a very trendy cocktail lounge up the street called Ginger, now new owners. Behind the bar was an illustration titled “Hey Ginger,” a gift from when they opened. It was my favorite thing there, aside from the cocktails. When they sold the lounge, they gave me the illustration.
Galería Esther Montoriol. Syd Mostow and Pere Llobera, 2020. We called the show JuJa. It was in the middle of Covid. But people came to the opening, and for some it was the first time they had left their homes in months. Pere and I wanted to show work in the same format 200 x 150 cm paper works based on a similar theme.
“Forest Gnome with Cupid”. The gnome is the blue/fuchsia raster dot figure that's smiling.
These are the most successful of all the gnome paintings I've done. What comprises a landscape painting: a house, a horizon, sky, clouds, and stuff in the foreground like trees or a stream and the subject stuck in the middle. It has a cupid in one hand and a heart in the other.
The fairy on her leg transforms her. Puts a spell on her. Three cupids fly out from her vagina.
‘‘C for Cupid” and “Four for Bunnies”. Installation view atGalería Esther Montoriol.JUJA. Syd Mostow andPere Llobera. 2020. Cupids fly. Bunnies fly. Love is in the air.
Collaborative painting show with Pere Llobera. We decided to work the same format, 2 × 1.5 meter paper works on a similar theme. That was in 2020, at Galería Esther Montoriol in Barcelona.
''Leaders Aren't Made, They’re Created'' Was thinking about the US President, who should never have been elected. The beaver is given special powers—superpowers, by the fairy. Trump is a beaver, a creation. Just a fucking beaver on a tree trunk. That's how I saw the grifter president. 200 × 150 cm, 79’’ x 59”, painted drawing (is that even possible?) on Fabriano paper, 2018.
‘‘4 Happy Bunnies”. The flames coming out of their butts isn't about eating beans. Or farting. They are jetting through the sky. They control cosmic energy. They are really free. Frolicking up and away.
“Love's not Love”. Galería Ester Montoriol, 2020. JUJA. Mickey Mouse. Ooof !! -- what a hackneyed theme. I am sure Mickey doing it with Pluto has crossed a lot of minds. It crossed mine. Love possess. Cupid has stung them both.
Popeye and a Laverda Mirage. If paintings are to be representational, then there are all kinds of structural motifs that have to be there. One being the figure ground relationship. It becomes a formal problem -- these two paintings in a very simple way illustrate two versions of the landscape issue: one has trees and a stream, recognizable motifs and immediately understood. The other a drop shadow on a white ground. The white ground functions as the landscape.
The Laverda Mirage was a 1200cc, 3 cylinder DOHC Italian super bike from the late 70s. When I came to Barcelona, I'd sometimes see them on the street. But I didn't see a lot of them. Mostly people drove scooters: Vespa Primavera 125cc, or small bikes like the Montesa 125cc, Bultaco 125cc, and the unusual Catalan Sanglas 350. All small cylinder bikes, relatively affordable, practical and two-stroke. Smokey blue exhaust and the grindy two-stroke sound. Bikes that were initially designed in the 50s and were even back then retro when retro wasn't cool. It was unusual to see super bikes. They were impractical for getting around the city, and probably the main reason was to drive a 125cc bike you didn't need a motorcycle license. Unlike the effete BMW Boxer which was the common big bike back then, yuck!, the Laverda was an unusual 3 cylinder four stroke overhead cam design and had the tough Italian design look. They sounded amazing and I thought they were beautiful and exotic. Another looker was the Italian Moto Guzzi 500. They were used by the Spanish National Police, which I frequently saw, and they were an even tougher looking biker type bike. And back then, the cops smoked on duty, usually Ducados. It was a whole look. But being 500s, they looked a bit poky, compared to the Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans. That was something. Same design but bigger. It was also quite uncommon to see and it was equally beautiful like the Laverda Mirage, but sounded harder because of the V twin boom bloom design. Motto Guzzi was a bikers' bike. Seeing cops driving them—what could be more Spanish, incongruent and macho than that? Both were cooler than the Ducati's from the 80s which were flat out race bikes, screaming red, raked forward and looked really uncomfortable to ride. The Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans was definitely the most exotic of them all. The Laverda was a bit more elegant. Popeye is driving a Laverda in these paintings.
Motto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans, 1980s
This is the Laverda model that Popeye is riding. What a beauty. Orange was Laverda's distinctive color. Not the obvious Ducati or Ferrari red.
Laverda Mirage 1000 without the faring. It looked a bit like the Honda 750 Super Sport, but way tougher.
A friend’s (Geni F., R.I.P.) daughter has tattooed on the back of her arm “EAT PUSSY, NOT ANIMALS”. I am not sure if she's vegetarian or vegan but she's definitely against eating certain kinds of meats. I think she'd approve of this painting.
“Love's Not Love” at Atelier Cora Egger, June 6, 2019, Barcelona.
The theme of the show deals loosely with the theme of love in some of its aspects: carnal love, lost love, promised love; and the related themes of gender, power, morbidity, sexism, and what is or isn't pornographic. This was the first time I had shown my work in a solo show in a long time. The work was new, and the timing of the show couldn't have been better. Thanks, Cora!
This was one of the first raster gnomes I painted. They are all the same theme and subject. A landscape, central gnome in the foreground. A knife in one hand, a bleeding heart in the other.
I was invited to a small group show at Cora's space a few months earlier and then she offered me the space to do a solo show, documented above. Lots of artists and friends that I hadn't seen for a long time came out to the opening. That felt good.
“Gnome BBQ Dee’’, 200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59'', mixed media on Fabriano paper, 2019. I started to work on large rolls of paper after working on wood. It is painted with a refillable marker and a sprayed line. No brushes. It was really rewarding to get this done. Deer steak. Yum.
“Beavers “R” Cute”. Well, beavers are cute. And they are furry too. What else can I say? Beavers are loveable. They are Canada’s national symbol. It's on the 5 cent Nickle coin. So, being a Canuck…. 200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59’’ painted drawing on Fabriano paper, 2018.
This is the first rastered gnome I did, based on an animated ONCE pixel board ad (ONCE is a Spanish foundation for the blind). The original image was taken from a pixel board animation for Xmas lottery tickets. It was a simple animation of Santa's elves running along. I loved seeing the animation every day in the tunnel leading to the Ferrocarriles (Catalan commuter train).
200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59’’ mixed media on Fabriano paper, 2019.
The simplicity and flatness is intentional. The trees are painted with a dabber and a refillable marker. To be able to draw a painted line is a great feeling. I'll do anything to avoid using a brush.
‘‘Rip it (Out), Baby!’’, 200 × 150cm, 79 × 59’’ painted drawing on Fabriano paper, 2019.
More hearts getting ripped out. I was having a bad day that lasted a few months. So I did all these desperate paintings about heartbreak. There's nothing like pain as inspiration.