Being an Artist is Easy

These posters from 1995. They went onto the streets of Barcelona back then. And now they are going to be put back up on the streets of Barcelona again after 30 years.  They are totally out of context, which makes them peculiar. It makes sense, and then it kind of doesn't. The address on the poster is for a building where I had my studio in the 90’s, but it was later torn down during the first property speculation bubble that burst in 2006. All the artists were thrown out, and the plan was to build a new apartment building, which never got built. It's now a community garden. If they had just left the building as it was, there’d one more place for artists to have studios. 

Anyway, I thought it would be funny to reintroduce them out of context. They maybe totally irrelevant. We’ll see.
 

Pere and Me

 

Giclée Prints

70 x 50 cm Giclée prints are available of my paintings. If interested, leave a comment with your email, and I’ll get back to you.

 

Some of My Favorite Painters

So, these are some of my favorite artists. They're all really well known and there aren't any big secrets here. Christopher Wool. Lives In New York, just pushing it to the limit -- abstract paintings and I love his silk screening techniques and the way that looks. There's Charlene Von Heyl. German artists also in New York and they're married. Also pushing it. I love the playfulness and vocabulary. There's Arshile Gorky. Who committed suicide after he discovered his wife was having an affair with Mata, his hero. Really tragic. Hung himself. There's Sigmar Polk. Huge influence on everybody and me included. Took a ton of acid and lived in communes when he was younger. Acerbic humor in his paintings. It is just the max. There's Albert Oehlin which you could probably say is Polke's protege. Also a tremendous sense of humor in his work and very, very creative. There's Joanne Greenbaum, an abstract painter in New York. I don't know a lot about her but I just love her work. It's so simple. And Very, very direct… playful vocabulary and bright primary colors. Laura Owens, California artist. Also deconstructing abstraction.Chris Martin. A Williamsburg painter and love the simplicity of his work, and the playfulness there. So that's about it, really…. Oh, and I forgot Michael Majorus. A bit of a tragedy there. Died in a plane crash really young. I don't even think he was 35. A figure from the 90s taking a very popular kind of commercial imagery and using that as vocabulary in his work, really interesting painter.

Popeye Isn't Jonny Quest

Popeye Is Jonny Quest

210 × 180 cm, mixed media on linen. Metallic silver ground. 

5 Happy Bunnies

5 Bunnies, 2023.

235 × 170cm, mixed media on linen. Metallic silver ground

Studio View

The Five Noble Truths, 235 × 180 cm, mixed media on linen metallic silver ground

Popeye being Johnny Quest, 210 × 170 cm, 78 × 67", mixed media on linen metallic silver ground

I Forgot To Tell You Something, Abner

Daisy Mae and Li’l Abner

From Wally Wood's Li’l Abner 

200 × 170 cm, 78 × 67’’, mixed media on linen. Metallic silver ground

"¡La Quiero!"

¡La Quiero! 

200×150 cm, 78×59'' on Fabriano paper.

Wally Wood’s Lil Abner. Shotgun wedding. 

Pittsburgh To Lebanon

Oooops..... I forgot to tell him that I’m a real k*@t

“Archie, Betty, and Cupid”

Poor Archie. He’s confused. But he’ll figure it out -- eventually. 

Love is love isn’t love. Well, whatever it is, they at least got laid. Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Tell that to Archie. 

220 × 180 cm mixed media on linen. Metallic silver ground.

R.E.M.: ''The One I love''. The only good song they've ever done.  And this version.

Her

Her

200 × 150 cm mixed media on paper.

Studio View

Two x 200 x 150 cm mixed media on Fabriano paper.
 

Dopey, L’il Abner and Daisy Mae

Wally Wood. Comic creator from the 50s. 

200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59'', mixed media on Fabriano paper.  

Popeye Flies

200 × 150 cm on Fabriano paper. Popeye Flying 

Popeye Laverda Mirage 1200 Super Bike

Popeye Laverda Mirage

200 x 150 cm mixed media on Fabriano paper.

Popeye Laverda Mirage x 2, studio. 2023
 

Hey Ginger

Hey Ginger. 200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59”. No one seems to get the joke. 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, and people came to the opening. 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. 

Looking Awry

2022

Studio Brooklyn Rail IG

‘‘The Brooklyn Rail’’, if you don’t already know the publication. It is a free New York based contemporary art and culture publication. Monthly.

Forest Gnome and Cupid

“Forest Gnome with Cupid”. The gnome is the blue/fuchsia raster dot figure that's smiling. 

Love's Not Love

‘‘Love's not Love’’ and ‘‘Love's Love”.

From Wally Wood’s, L'll Abner.

Galería Esther Montoriol with Pere Llobera, JUJA. June to September 2020. 

Cupids fly Bunnies fly

The fairy puts a spell on her and three cupids emerge. 

‘‘C for Cupid” and “Four for Bunnies”. Installation view at Galería Esther Montoriol. JUJA. Syd Mostow and Pere Llobera. 2020. Cupids fly. Bunnies fly. Love is in the air.

JUJA Paintings Pere Llobera & Syd Mostow

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.

4 Happy Bunnies

‘‘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.         

“3 Happy Bunnies”

Hanging our show. Pere Llobera, Syd Mostow, at Galería Esther Montoriol. 2020

Leaders Aren't Made, They are Created

''Leaders Aren't Made, They’re Created''
The beaver is receiving special powers—superpowers, by the fairy.  A fearless leader, or just a beaver on a tree trunk. Can beavers grift?
200 × 150 cm, 79’’ x 59’’, painted drawing (is that even possible?) on Fabriano paper, 2018. 

Mickey Mouse and Pluto

“Love's not Love”. Galería Ester Montoriol, 2020. JUJA. Mickey Mouse doing it with Pluto. It’s Cupid’s fault. 

As vulgar as this seems, it's about the cupid.

Don't Eat Meat, Eat Pussy

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, which got trashed, BTW.

Popeye Laverda Mirage

Popeye and a Laverda Mirage. 

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 grinding 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. 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, an even tougher looking biker’s 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 one, and it was equally beautiful like the Laverda Mirage, but sounded harder because of the V twin boom bloom design. Motto Guzzi are bikers' bike. Seeing cops driving them—what could be more Spanish and incongruent? 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. 

No Title Yet

200 x 150 cm mixed media on Fabriano paper. 2021

Installation View Expo at Atelier Cora Egger, Barcelona

"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: carnal love, lost love, promised love; and the related themes of gender, power, morbidity, sexism, and pornography. 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. She offered me the space to do a solo show. Lots of artists and friends that I hadn't seen for a long time came out to the opening. That felt good. 

Wood Gnome

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’d see it every day in the tunnel leading to the Ferrocarriles (Catalan commuter train).  

200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59’’ mixed media on Fabriano paper, 2019.

Beavers R Cute

“Beavers “R” Cute”. They are. And furry too. 
200 × 150 cm, 79 × 59’’ painted drawing on Fabriano paper, 2018.

Gnome BBQ Deer

“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. 

Titian

Based on "Mars Venus and Cupid" by Titian. 

The original Titian is such a powerful painting. My dear friend Toni Serra, R.I.P. suggested the image. So I painted it. 

Rip it Out Baby!

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 × 150 cm,  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. 

Oh my Ears, my Whiskers 1

First in a series, “Oh My Ears, My Whiskers”. 40 × 50 cm, mixed media on wood. A landscape. A house. An exuberant bunny. 

Oh my Ears, my Whiskers 5

‘‘Oh My Ears, My Whiskers 5’’. 40 × 50 cm, mixed media on wood. 

Oh my Ears, my Whiskers 2

“Oh my Ears, my Whiskers 2”. The title is from Alice in Wonderland. 40 × 50 cm, mixed media on wood. 

The Cottage

In 2016_17 did a series of small works on wood panels dealing with the idea of freedom. I wanted to make my version of a traditional landscape painting. So what's in a landscape painting? Well, a horizon line, a house, flowers, and the subject. An exuberant bunny rabbit jumping over a cottage. In this painting, the bunny has disappeared and only the cottage remains.

60 × 40 cm, mixed media on wood.

Oh my Ears, my Whiskers 4

This series of bunny paintings were a return to “narrative painting” and the seed for the painting I am doing now. 60 × 40 cm, mixed media on wood.