See y'all next year!

Open your heart, open your mind
A train is leaving all day
A wonderful trip through our time
And laughter is all U pay

Around the world in a day
Around the world in a day

Now dig
Loneliness already knows U
There ain't no reason 2 stay
Come here and take my hand, I'll show U
I think I know a better way, y'all

Around the world in a day
(listen 2 me, babe)
Around the world in a day
(all the babies sing it now)

ooh-la-la
ooh-la-la-la-la-la-la
no-sha-sha
no shouting
no shouting
no - no shouting

The little 1 will escort U
2 places within your mind
The former is red, white, and blue
The ladder is purple, come on and climb

Around the world in a day
Around the world in a day
come on, sing
Around the world in a day
Say papa, I think I wanna dance

(summer she is sweet)

Around the world in a day
Around the world in a day
all the little babies, sing around the world
Around the world in a day

A government of love and music boundless in its unifying power
a nation of alms, the production, sharing ideas, a shower of flowers

Whether you can make it to my art show, or not, Kneeling Bull Magic's back and has some Grooves for your ears!

Here'e the scoop on the show:

Record albums and compact discs (the plates employed for these prints) are both things that I’ve collected for years as a result of my obsession with music. In this age of iPods and digital storage, these two items are generally discarded by many folks. It’s natural that both are integral to my current exploration into the art universe.

Since the days of hitting the pause button while recording on my boom-box, I’ve always enjoyed making a good mixed tape. This has evolved into mixed compact discs which led to mixing podcasts today. Point being, fairly often a c.d. will fail to write and get dejected from my aging computer. Well, I decided to start saving these “useless” discs. After looking at them for awhile, I had the idea to use them as a non-traditional printmaking plate and started experimenting...
...the result being a group of prints where I use “printmaking tools” (burins, roulettes, mezzotint rockers, soldering irons and wood burning tools plus a multitude of pointy objects ranging from sharpened nails to diamond-tipped dry-point tools) to inscribe or engrave these plastic discs (most print-makers prefer more enduring plates made from metal or stone). I find parallels between art and science which lead me to see these little prints as the building blocks for future art; so, I’ve given most of these one-of-a-kind, original prints “scientific” titles concerned with atomic particles.

Somehow, the compact disc idea led to me looking at vinyl record albums a little differently. Once I realized that these discs are readymade or found plates (check out Duchamp’s “Fountain”), I had to start inking them up and pulling prints. I’ve enjoyed the subtle differences in these prints that arise from different record labels and different number and length of tracks. So now, I not only look for albums I’d like to listen to, I also look for an aesthetic I could achieve using this artifact as a printmaking plate - some quality beyond the sound engraved into these discs.

This show is the culmination of this artistic investigation. What better excuse, than this show's opening, to get out my record collection, put the needle to the groove and play some vinyl? I’m going to go back, way back, to a time when a house party involved a stereo cabinet with a turn-table and some good friends. There’ll be some scratches, skips and that white noise of the needle riding the grooves but the right vibe should be flowing. Grooves for your eyes, ears and heart!

Big thanks to:
*Stumptown Art Studio for loaning me a little etching press that I use in my garage/studio.
*Brian Lane of Print Zero Studio in Seattle for renting me time in his studio to print the larger pieces in this show.
*Jeremiah Anderson of Balancing Axe Timberframing for hooking me up with wood to build the nice frames for most of the show.
*Pete and Michelle of Walking Man for letting me use all their cool framing tools to get everything put together.
*All my family and friends who are helping me to make this show's opening groovy!

Yeah, that's me (far upper left), as a kid, with my BOOMBOX!
A teenager's most powerful weapon against the dark world of adulthood. If only I still possessed this awesome tool today, this is what I might play...

P.S. Watch out for the rap attack, it may harm innocent bystanders...

This is the finale, y'all. I'm rockin' a mullet and thinkin' about being a gigolo. Nuff said.

Let's go back, way back, to a time when rap and computers were both fads that wouldn't last long. What little soul I have in theis white body of mine was first stirred up listening to music like this. So, get out your Kangol and fat laces and get ready to pop, lock and break, y'all.