R. Crumb does the book of Genesis

That's right, underground comix hero Robert Crumb has illustrated the entire book of Genesis. I just discovered this a couple days ago, and immediately picked up a copy. If you're at all familiar with Crumb's work, this might seem like an unlikely pairing. However, Crumb takes the work seriously. He is not poking fun-- he is, as far as I can tell on quick perusal, quite faithful to the original text.



Of course, the book of Genesis is chock full of sex and violence, and as you might imagine (again, if you know his work), Crumb does not shy away from a relatively graphic portrayal of some of these scenes. No doubt some folks would be offended by some of the images, but hey-- it' in the bible!





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If you are not familiar with Crumb, he was one of a group of artists in the 1960s that appeared in Zap comics, often doing the cover art as well. He created many memorable characters such as Mr. Natural and Fritz the Cat. Some of this early work was extremely graphic, but his illustrations for Genesis are in good taste as far as I'm concerned.


Keep on Truckin'... yup, this is R. Crumb


Weirdo, Crumb's mag in the 80s

I can't wait to read through this book, it looks absolutely awesome! (In case you haven't gathered, I have always been a big fan of Crumb's work.) Two big thumbs up!!!

My MFA Thesis Show

Here are some photos from my MFA Thesis Show art installation at the Pickman Gallery, Miskatonic University College of Fine Art.

Okay, just kidding, but it could be. All I'm missing is my Artist's Statement and an unpaid student loan.





What this actually is, is an installation I put in a couple showcases at the school where I work, Arts Academy in the Woods, a charter high school for the arts in Fraser, Michigan (suburban Detroit).

I've been teaching 2D Art at AAW for the last eight years, and am now also teaching 3D Art. Having cleared the showcases of last year's work, I didn't have any new student work to show yet as it's still early in the school year. I've been collecting wood from the curbside in my neighborhood the last few weeks on "garbage night", planning to have it available for my students to use in some upcoming "found art" assemblage pieces.

Prior to my taking over the 3D Art class, the students in that class had not been exposed to things like installation art, nor to the concept of postmodernism in general. So, I thought what better way to introduce it than by creating an installation piece with no title or any other explanation for it.

Of course, many students at our school have wondered, What the heck is this?! Where is the student art? After a couple days I put out a poster board on a table with the heading Is This Art? I made three columns, titled Art, Not Art, Not Sure, and left space for people to write their comments. As you might well imagine, there has been a range of reaction from "this is crap" to "anything can be art" (paraphrased).





For those who think that this is not art, I would refer them to the work of M. Pederson (see below), who has a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a MFA from California College for the Arts, as well as an extensive CV with a long list of shows, etc.







If you want to see more about this artist, here is a link: (click here)

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So, what do I really think about this? If you have to ask, you'll just never understand.

New painting by Jesse Jacobi

This is the latest painting by my son Jesse-- I think he hit a home run with this one!

(click on the image for a larger view)


Jesse Jacobi, Mujahidin, 18" x 24", acrylic

Assemblage Art: For the Birds

I've been looking at some "found object" assemblage art recently, for my students to refer to during an upcoming project in the 3D Art class that I will be teaching this year. One of the things I have been looking at is work that involves dolls in some way. Here are a couple of nice examples:





Then I came across the following image, and at first I thought, Cool-- someone took a Barbie and stuck some birds on it!



I soon realized, however, that this is an official Barbie produced by Mattel in 2008!


Alfred Hitcock's "The Birds" Barbie Doll



I've never bought a Barbie doll, but this one is so cool, I could almost go for it.

Inherent Vice

The image above came from a review of Thomas Pynchon's new book, Inherent Vice. Sorry, I forgot to bookmark the site, and the artist was not named, as I recall. Anyway, I like the picture, so here it is. BTW, I am currently reading this book.

Inherent Vice at amazon.

It doesn't look good for the Arts in Michigan

GRANHOLM KILLS HISTORY, ARTS, LIBRARIES. Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed Executive Order No. 2009 - 36 officially closing the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. The closure of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries is just another step in Gov. Granholm's plan to get rid of arts and culture and arts education in Michigan for good.

http://metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=812

Work in progress

I haven't posted anything lately because I haven't really had anything much to say, plus, I've been out of town a lot and jut generally busy with other things. Anyway, I figured I had better post something so folks wouldn't think I had croaked or something........

The images below show the progression of a painting that has slowly been developing over the last several months. I've been trying to work more out of my subconscious mind lately, and thought that it would be interesting to do a sketch with my eyes closed, using both hands simultaneously, drawing more or less symetrically. Some additional drawing was done with eyes open, after the initial "blind" sketch.


black Prismacolor stick on newsprint, 14" x 17"

Next, my old illustrator tendencies took hold. In other words, I dug up some photo reference for the various facial features. Next step, Photoshop.



Work on the painting began with a black line drawing on canvas board, drawn with a brush.


acrylic, 18" x 24"

More black was added.



Next came a glaze of transparent dark cool red.



Green was added.



I spent a couple hours on it tonight, no photos yet. I'll post again when it's a bit farther along. Hopefully this piece will be completed before the school year starts. Stay tuned......