More prints

I am continuing to experiment with screen printing. Now that I have the process down I am free to make more directed experiments with colors and overlays.  I have found that 2 and 3 color variations work best.  4 and 5 colors seems to be too much for my current figures.  Here are some of my more successful two-color variations:

 

Three colors:

The green went down first, then the brown finally the translucent red.  Because the purple is so dark there is only an overlay effect from the red. …

The situation in the studio right now

So I got some new toys:

I have been telling myself to check out refillable paint pens for awhile.  I have had not so great luck with the regular kind filled with enamel paint with the pump action nib.   I was never happy with the line quality and I found a lot of the colors would bleach out in the sun.  But a lot of companies are now making refillable ones that you can fill with whatever you want. I checked out a bunch of different places online and ended up placing an order from ArtPrimo.com…

New Prints for 2012

So after the great reception I got for the Number 24 Prints in November, I resolved to make more prints in the new year.  Specifically new prints, not just reprints of my older work, although I probably will do a few of those too.  I originally had this plan to do crazy complex designs from a very complicated drawing, but the drawing fluid does not handle like paint and I found that the results were not optimal.  So I chose to paint new designs directly onto the screens and experiment with overlays, similar to my recent multi-linear paintings. …

My wall for the 12×12 exhibit at Golden Belt

Here are the 4 pieces I completed for the 12×12 exhibit at Golden Belt:

All of the work for this show had to be 12×12 inches.  I do not normally work in a square aspect so I had to get a little creative.  My first inclination was to do square drawings as these pieces are easy to adapt to different sizes.  My paintings tend to be rectangular in shape and 12 inches is smaller than most paintings I have done.…

Art Basel 2011 – Day 3 in Wynwood

Ok, so I spent the day checking out some more great street art.  First up was Krave‘s beach party over at the Sunbather.  We got there early while he was still spreading the sand. This mural is awesome.  Full disclosure: I have known Dan for a long time now and consider him a good friend.  I first met him back in 2006 when I was painting Number 73 on Lincoln Road.

After that we decided to go back to the Bakehouse and see how the old school crews were coming along:

While we were over there, we hit up the big wall along 95. …

Art Basel 2011 – Day 2 in Wynwood

So I haven’t  made it over to the beach yet.  Partially because I am not so interested in the big fair, partially because the traffic situation is particularly bad this year.  But I did make it to a few more corners of Wynwood and the Design District.  I saw the by now infamous Miru Kim performance/installation at Primary Projects – the one where she is living naked with two live pigs for 104 hours in a storefront window.  No pictures allowed but there are some pics over at the New Times. …

Art Basel 2011 – Day 1 in Wynwood

So its Art Basel time again and I am back in Miami. As if the 14 hour drive from NC with a car full of art didn’t leave me feeling totally surreal already, every surface is covered with art.  Busy setting things up all day so I didn’t get a chance to really see much until evening.  So far: a lot of great art everywhere, amazing pop up shops, crazy people wearing crazy things, a group of squatters throwing an illegal rave in the empty lot next to the gallery, crazy, more crazy, etc.…

The Prints are Ready

Silkscreen Printing is a technique I learned back in 1994 at Saint Paul Central High School.  I was entering 10th grade when my family moved from southwestern Minnesota to St. Paul that year.  The graduation requirements at Central (which we students referred to as CenTRO) were different from those at the school I came from.  This difference eventually allowed me to graduate early, but more on that later.  I had already taken “Art” and could not take it again for some reason when I was enrolling. …

Further Complications

The name of the show, “Further Complications” relates to several things going on with me right now.  It describes the increased complexity of the figures in the paintings. It reflects the increased scope of work, for example the super grid.  It relates to my thinking about art this last year of isolation.  It describes the current economic realities that we are all dealing with and the uncertainty of national and global politics.  In essence the culmination of all these forces.

Further Complications in the Figures

People familiar with my process know that I do many sketches for each painting. …

Hanging “Further Complications” at the Durham Art Guild

This is the beginning stage of the super grid. When you obsessively date and time things (like me) getting page order correct is important.  This piece required a level of planning that I had not engaged in before.  This last year I have been contemplating larger and larger projects, and not necessarily in literal terms, e.g. larger paintings (all though, yes larger paintings too).

One of the things I did not anticipate when I started this was how much I would notice the ink capacity of the pens. …

Author Archives

ross