Art from Two Feet Below.

Afternoon, Our Main Peeps!

So, I’ve told you many times about my best friend, Noe.  He was the one to give me my attitude for better or worse even though when we met, we, more than often, wanted to kill each other.  Yeah, opposites attract in all facets of relationships.  I was the preppy, in my mind, well-to-do, he was NOT ghetto, but not driven school-wise when we met.  Later, when he got past his “handicapped” phase we all go through, we goot to the Noe that just did…because that’s just what you do.  You grow up, you adapt to who you are.

Anyhoo, one of the many things Noe taught me through the years was a love for art.  I’d watch him doodle, nothing huge, but still it was more than anything I could do.  One day, I picked up a pencil and emulated what I saw him doing.  We’d look at Lowrider mags too draw the rides…and, check out the chicks of course.  We also thought about pimpin’ hydraulics on our chairs even if it was WAAAAAY out of our allowance range.  Gotta dream, right?

Whenever we’d get together at each other’s pads, which was just about every weekend, when one of us, probably me, was not grounded, we’d go to a table to doodle.  Life was good.  Then, Noe died.

I still did art through school, of course, but to just do it, it wasn’t fun anymore.  My homie was dead, so, little by little, I got away from it.

I met Joey Summer ’00, fell in love with her cross tat, and considered getting one myself.  At that time, shows like Miami Ink, L.A. Ink, and the like started showing, which we watched religiously.  I was getting the bug back.  I knew I didn’t have the dexterity to actually DO the tattoos, BUT I COULD do the artwork.  The day, I think, when I got home from work, there was a 100-page drawing notebook Joey’ gotten me.  I filled it in a month or so.  Of course, those first drawings were crap after not really picking up a pencil in, like 15 or so years.

 

40 Days, 40 Nights, I Got Hungry

I stuck to the notebooks, because I didn’t know how big I could go from my chair, but as Joey and friends (new tat friends) and fam encouraged, I branched out canvasses from tiny 1”x1” up to poster size.  Also, I branched out to other mediums like charcoal, which I love for portraits for the soft skin tones.  I found out I like acrylic, not so much oil, because I don’t like walking on eggshells around the piece until the damn thing dries.  I’ve even used make-up to draw/paint.

 

Facade (Make-up)

My themes vary.  I like to take lines from songs, movies, anything that I hear or read (FB) that moves me.  I’ll do landscapes, but those tend to be just that.  I like to make people think with my art…like I try to make them think with everything I do (Two Feet Below).  I want them to carry it with them.

Joey and I’d been going to the annual September Fest at the Museum of the Southwest, which showcased some of my artist friends I’d know from school.  The show of ’11, I decided to try for it.  I had nothing to lose, right?  I thought I was unique enough since I decided to use my chair in my art.  Hell, it’s an extension of me.  I told Joey and our friend, Brad, about wanting to do a series on 4 5’x4’ canvases…the biggest project I’d ever done, which we pulled off in an afternoon!  I got accepted!

Going into the show, my goal was just break even, that being the cost of my booth, which was $275, I believe.  I made $1500, $1000 my first night on 2 of my 5’x4’s!  I was floored when the buyer handed me that check!  The next year, I got in, but the next year, I didn’t, which I was told by friends, it’s all about politics.  Oh well.

Now, I’ve migrated to computer art with the tablet part of my laptop, which is trying in and of itself, because of the surface, but so much fun for the color mixing technology without the mess.

 

"Your colors are bleeding all over my bullshit."  from Sophie B, Hawkins' "Did We Not Choose Each Other."

OH YEAH, I do commissions!  I've got plenty more.  If you wanna see, hit me up.

Again, this is my story.  If you have a “hobby,” push yourself.  Don’t get in your own way.  Make it happen for you.

Be good to each other.

-J-

Joey