Pleasure, pressure... pain

Things have slowed down a bit now on the artistic front, so I'm finding the need to push myself a little harder to keep projects coming. I have done a bunch of kind of crafty stuff recently, working quite a bit with stuff I would otherwise discard (i.e.: wooden President Brie containers, empty spraycans, stuff I find at the town dump when I bring my compost there, etc.). This work is of course rather enjoyable to do from a process perspective; I do love process; but they leave me feeling a little less fulfilled than something like a 4'x6' painting might.

I had an awesome night of freestyling with what I consider to a "best of" compilation of Burlington emcees down at the 1/2 Lounge the other night. Hosted by DJ Kanga and my man Backwoods (Heileg), with appearances by Rajnii, Habit, Adrift, Question the MC, Polyrhythms, and several others,(Notably absent was Humble) this was definitely a high point of my creative month thus far. Good vibes were definitely flowing and I felt on top of my game as far as bringing positive and intricate freestyles without falling off.

The night before last was highlighted with a trip to the infamous "barn," essentially an enormous garage that some friends and I utilize as a painting studio, and a long evening of new painting. Shape and I got things rolling pretty early with some great critical conversations and strong coffee and Transplante made a slightly late appearance but brought the thunder artistically, resulting in all 3 of us getting some new paintings started. It felt really good to start something new again and I felt the influence of recent work informing the way that I have been working. Expect to see some photos of this stuff soon...

Oh yeah, the pressure and pain part. I am never one to dwell too much, but I am definitely feeling some pretty significant physical ailments at the moment, lower back, left knee, right hand... whatever. I'm not really bitching. I guess I mostly mention it because it feels relevant and furthermore because whenever I notice some physical pain I tend to get focused quickly on doing what I need to do to get rid of it, so I am thinking it's time for some more excercise.

Ya know, I dug around a bit for something more to share with y'all this morning, but honestly nothing is moving me. I've seen a couple of pretty cool videos lately, but so have you. I guess that's it for now. Get out there and make some art... I know I will. Oh yeah... something I saw...

Latenight

Wall2Canvas

Turning pages...

What a sick weekend I just had!!! The Wall2Canvas event turned out to be a huge success. Hundreds of people showed up to watch everything from amazing, live freeform graffiti to beautifully planned and executed wheatpaste collages and an awful lot of painting that falls in between. My own work was extremely spontaneous in it's nature, while it certainly had a framework laid out in advance. I met some pretty amazing artists and just interacted with a lot of really cool people. I am very thankful that I spent the $10 and took the time to be a part of this event.





Check out more shots of this event here


So the day would have been done right... but NOPE! Since my good friend and long time collaborateur had come up to take video and photos of the day and had driven his epic Mocean 365/Mocean Mate Dodge Sprinter which has long been in need of some sprucing up, I quickly assembled a crew of some of the best around and got back to my lot and straight to work. As the picture indicate we painted until the wee hours of the evening until a couple of friendly yet not so friendly police officers came along to convince us that even though we were on private property connected to the building I live in, we would still have to move along.





Check out more pics of the evenings festivities here


All in all, I feel blessed to have been a part of so much creativity in one day. I woke up the next morning sore... from painting. That's good stuff. So the projects continue and the energy keeps moving on. So, that's it for now, but as usual, here's a little something to feed the fire:

September Update

Art Hop 2010 is behind us. My paintings and the work of dozen of others are all still hanging at the VCAM/RETN space if anyone out there hasn't had a chance to check it out. I believe they are doing open houses on the weekends. The Art Hop was a really cool experience and I'm glad I got to be a part of it. Friday night was super cool, with my evening being spent a great deal making music at KTR and then culminating around the corner at the Green Door Studios. It was just really amazing to see Pine St. transformed by creative energy and positive spirit. Saturday morning the Kids Hop event was a huge success and we had a blast making paper hats and just hanging out with other families.


Looking forward, I have been selected to be one of the 12 artists who will participate in the Magic Hat, Shelburne Art Center WalltoCanvas event on October 2nd. I am pretty excited about this opportunity to share my art live for a group of people and potentially win $500. Not too shabby. As of yet I have not formulated a plan as to what I will do, but I am definitely thinking deeply about the opportunity to convey a message to a group of people I might not normally have the opportunity to speak to directly.


To be honest, I feel pretty inspired.


I recently started a new painting speaking to the agricultural/industrial nature of the VT countryside. This painting will address genetically modified corn and it's effects on the cows that are being fed it in order to increase their milk production. DOW(Mycogen) and DuPont(Pioneer) will definitely be highlighted.

I am thinking a lot about wintertime projects that are a little less fine art and a little more "sellable." Etsy, Artsprojekt at Zazzle and Boardpusher are all likely to become a part of this equation in addition to a lot of lower tech, more reused, repurposed work and a lot of silkscreening.

In other ways I have begun to look even further forward to next summer. I have begun compiling a list of possible locations for murals, intend to visit City Hall and research building owners, etc. My recent work and the upcoming graff comp should be enough of a local portfolio to allow all of this to work.

So, here's to creativity and the joy it brings me. I am so pleased to have invited the visual arts back in to my life.

Here's a little something for ya...

Happy Monday

Too sick not to share. I love international hip-hop, in particular South American stuff.




Check out the super talented Montreal based crew Nomadic Massive

The work that got delivered...

Special Delivery

So, yesterday I dropped off my art at VCAM/RETN to be hung for the Art Hop. I have to say that the entire process of becoming part of this annual mass art show had at first been something truly exciting to me, but in some ways I have retrospectively begun to feel like a member of a herd. The artists don't get to be involved in the hanging of the show, are shuffled in and out without any real input and may (I speak from personal experience) even be treated dismissively by folks whom they might try to ask a question or two. To top it off, the Sevendays Juried show which I had received what appeared to be an open invitation to costs an additional twenty bucks... to enter one piece! It has already cost me $55 to join SEABA, hundreds in supplies to make the paintings, probably close to a hundred hours and thirty years of painting, studying and learning. Why are we charging the artists to show their work people? If this is a artistic collaboration with South End businesses and the purpose is to show off both the city's artists and showcase the revitalized business spaces, thus driving traffic down Pine St. and into spaces often otherwise neglected then why are the artists footing the bill? Am I any more likely to make money as a result of taking part in this show? Unlikely. Are these businesses?

I love what they do and I love art so I will always do whatever I can to support it... Hell I even bought $5 ArtHop buttons for my entire family, but really? Twenty more dollars to show one more piece?


Anyway, enough about all that... this is how I would like to be spending my time...

The Passing of Time...

How did I get here from there?

It has been many months since I have had the time and an internet connection in order to post blogs to this page. I haven't "missed it" but have definitely noted that it wasn't able to happen and wasn't part of my internet existence. In 2010 so much has happened.

It all started with a painting collaboration that took place in the coldest months between myself, Shape, Transplante, Humble and a crew of others who helped to inspire and move a seven panel painting from splatters of latex to a simple direction for my work to follow.

Next, there was the Intrepid Manifestations spoken word theatre piece that took a small event at the Flynn Space by storm. This piece brought Travis Card back in to the fold as a friend and collaborator (more on that later). A 45 minute long conversation between 5 poets with spotlight pieces for each that was one of the most passionate works of art I have been a a part of in years.

This was followed by the rebirth of my personal painting "career." After almost ten years away from working on canvases in any scale that warrants review I have been able to produce some of the best paintings of my life, finally moving away from a strict spraycan world and back to the brush.

In the interim I squeezed in training for, competing in and completing my first triathlon... something that was born both from a physical rebirth and an inspiration from a coworker who I had held dear to my heart before her departure from the Group Home that I have made my job for this period of time.

Throughout this time music has made it's way in and out of my life with a series of freestyle formatted shows, many 2nd Agenda appearances and a continued process of sharing my poetry as both music and written or spoken word.

Now, here I am weeks from my first appearance as part of Burlington's Art Hop; a seminal event that plays host to the majority of Burlington's working artists for one weekend. I await confirmation of my participation in a graffiti competition being hosted by Magic Hat and the Shelburne Art Center (fingers crossed), and have a December show at the North End Studios to look forward to.

So, I'm looking back at a pretty good year. Looking forward to more. In a few days MB starts back up at school and a week later Isabel. This will bring some much needed structure and balance to my schedule. It appears as though the long awaited move is going to happen and this will create a scenario with much less chaos spacially and my ability to have a real painting studio, in-house with access to all of my tools.

I feel like I could go one and on, but I think this serves as a pretty decent update. So, if you've never read my blog before, scroll down and check out some of the stuff I've posted in years past. And if you do know this page and are still interested in my life... well, I'm back.

Here's a little something I found that demonstrates the ability to find beauty in the madness while also pointing out just how many mistakes mankind has made along the way.

The Grain Terminal from Charles le Brigand on Vimeo.

It is happening again

My how christmas and the new year kept me away. That and my newfound lack of internet connection. But, where there's a will there's a way. So, here we are again.
The quick skinny: Lots of paintings got made that I need to post. A new spoken word theatre troupe got formed "Intrepid Manifestations" with our innaugural showing on February 14th at the Flynn Space in B-town. Lots of cool new projhects are afoot with the GH kids and I am in general just psyched to be moving forward.
That's all for now.
Missed ya-