Co-Creation. Said ‘artist’ and ‘non-artist’ paint together.

acrylic 6 ft x 4 ft

I painted this for Mandy and Tania. Truly friends.

It’s the largest canvas I’ve painted thus far and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. The process was somewhat unique compared to how I typically approach my paintings. Or rather, complete them. Aside from navigating this larger size–rotating it, leaning against the wall (I hit the ceiling fan once which almost sent both the canvas and I sailing through the air _ not pretty) and laying it on the floor–I never approach my paintings strictly from the direction they eventually hang–I invited the ultimate owners to participate. To say the least, they were intrigued.

Tania turned me down flat but Mandy couldn’t wait to lay the paint on. I brought the picture to a point and knew when it was time to call in my co-artists. It turns out that Mandy has quite the consistent paint flicking flare. She piled on the caramels, creams, and whites and as usual, the walls and floors did receive a refresh in the process. Sara McLaughlin lilted on the stereo and everyone dove into the experience. Marty (hubby) and Tania felt pleased to direct the odd string of paint flying across the canvas. A little eggnog and rum helped worked off any edge that may have been there after a stressful week at the office and all in all the painting was hung in their hall with care in time for St. Nick to .. ok ok… .

We completed it the eve of Christmas Eve and I can tell you it was a perfect start to my holidays. Simply, because Tania and Mandy loved it. In fact, they couldn’t steal it away from my studio fast enough.

PS. This painting was a special request in which borrowed the position of the body from another artist’s painting. However, the experience was original and one of a kind.

Thanks Tania, Mandy and Marty.

falling

acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 10″

Fudge Sundae

acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 54″

Maybe it’s too obvious or literal for an abstract but I was thinking of a fudge sundae as I painted this out on my deck last summer. Sometimes it just isn’t any deeper than that.

nikeartist - consumer-made

 

Thinking in terms of the ambiguous label ‘web 2.0′ …I’ve incorporated several layers to this concept* all based on the needs of today’s consumer including the necessary two-way interaction that brands MUST provide to thrive.

This site is for any user who wishes to wear their own art on their nikes. This equates to the trend of consumer-made products and the need for people to create content. In addition, users are able to create a personal Nike blog to express themselves, selecting from a series of Nike templates. The ‘nikegallery’ is an actual place in Second Life that allows millions of users to view and/or purchase Nikes for their virtual life. The creator receives royalties for any Nikes sold. (For those who haven’t heard or tried it - Go check out… Second Life it’s the most popular virtual world today.) This experience speaks to social networking and the need for establishing skills status. Featured artists and top 100 designs are showcased on nikeartist.com along with a rating system. The ‘nikestudio’ provides the tools to apply the users’ art to their Nikes as well as a toolbox for creating.

*concept only

Life

acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 48″

This painting is all about life and the years as they pass. The inner rings of a tree trunk with a little erosion.

Messy painting, a memorable ad

I no longer feel silly that I have to scrape the paint from my studio floor.

Sony Bravia’s newest ad

CBC Spynet

This is one of the more memorable initiatives I’ve worked on. A CBC4kids tv/web convergence program. I worked with one of the most flexible, open-minded clients I’ve ever come across.

Interestingly, the term “consumer generated content” did not exist at the time but this is an early example of this very idea. Each week the TV show presented an online mission in which users contributed content. Some of these contributions were included on the TV show.
The process: We delivered several concept sketches to the client based on gadgetry (digital watches and spy devices were a big influence) and an existing stage set for the main interface. Once the concept was chosen we established the look and feel for 8 interactive missions and corresponding stage props. Everything was developed in flash with an xml feed … As you can guess, a lot of folk were involved in pulling it all together. Collin Moock, James Porter, Dondy Razon, Lee Horrocks…

And today? If I was developing this program today I would integrate mobility txt (for shout outs) and an RSS feed potentially. Syndicated content would alert the user to a new clue or mission. Also, users could download the tv episodes to their ipod video or phone so they could catch up on the mission of the week if they missed it on airing.

There are a lot of different tactics available today that could bring this program into 2006. Blogging would be a given and perhaps if the client had an incredible budget, who says this couldn’t turn into a virtual world like Second Life… but now.. that is thinking big.

Here’s another thought.. “how do we monetize this puppy”? Well, you know someone always asks that… Have you heard about marketers placing ads within the gamers world? Yes, a billboard ad within the virtual city… or hey, maybe on the avatar’s skate board.. that’s the kewl avatar the user chose when he entered the virtual world.

triptych chaos

acrylic on canvas, 3 - 24″ x 36″

My son likes to call this painting “fruit rollup”.

I take this painting off the wall and add another layer whenever I feel inspired to do so. I lay the panels on the floor in random order and direction. Then, I just start laying on the paint. The direction and order in which I rehang them is not predetermined. I simply hang them based on how I like them.

I’ve taken this approach because it’s interesting to see how a piece can evolve based on the moment. By ruling out a specific direction in which to paint and hang the canvases you can really affect the outcome.

Fathead Graffiti

Originally uploaded by funkandjazz.

san francisco graffiti

There’s a great flickr photo set by funkandjazz featuring no less than 1,604 photos on san francisco graffiti. It’s good to that someone is documenting this style of art because it’s ever-changing. Lots of good colour.

How do you feel?

Information artists Jonathan Harris and Sepandar Kamvar are measuring bloggers feelings and mapping them onto an interactive landscape.

We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the “feeling” expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.).

The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day.

At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what’s on our blogs, what’s in our hearts, what’s in our minds.