"Afterimage" Exhibits at DePaul, Columbia and RBSC: SAIC.

In conjunction with the "Afterimage" exhibit at DePaul Art Museum, I am exhibiting my collection of toys, ephemera, and other odds n' ends at the Roger Brown Study Collection.  Below are photos from this exhibit. (More info below.)

 

It's a huge honor to install my collection at the former home and studio of Chicago Imagist, Roger Brown.  An extra bit of greatness, is that the shelves that my collection sits on once belonged to Ray Yoshida.  Along with fellow artists, Edra Soto and Carl Baratta, we installed our collections exhibiting a distinct connection with Brown's and with the nature of organic collecting and art practice/influence.  This has been a wonderful experience and I hope that more folks can come to experience all the collections there.  Our installations will be up till November 18th.  

Also, another satellite exhibit at the Columbia College Center for Book & Paper Arts is showing some collaborative prints I made with Paul Nudd as well as work from the fellow artists mentioned above, Lilli Carre, and Eric Lebofsky.  Below is an image of one of the print suites exhibited, entitled "Head Heaps" (Onsmith + Nudd, 2009):

I also have some of my minicomics exhibited at the Joan Flasch Artists' Books Collection at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.  If you're in Chicago, please check out one or all of these fantastic exhibits.

COMIC ART BATTLE - This Sunday!

I will be a participating comics warrior this Sunday (4/8) for the Comic Art Battle at The Hideout.  It's a fundraiser for CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) happening June 16th & 17th.  Come on out if you can.  (Poster by Ezra Clayton Daniels.)  Here's the lowdown:

COMICS ART BATTLE at the Hideout Easter Sunday 2012
Benefit for the first Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE)
Door at 7
$5 Donation

Refereed by Ezra Claytan Daniels

In the Ring:
Aaron Renier
Jo Dery
Brooks Golden
Susan Sarandon
David Alvarado
Krystal DiFronzo
Joe Tallarico
Onsmith
Jeremy Pettis

Followed by a musical DJ set from Fatty Jubbo

"Afterimage" Micro-Exhibit at Roger Brown Study Collection.

September 13 - November 18th 2012

I am to curate my collection of toys, vintage junk, ephemera, and a few pieces of artwork at the amazing Roger Brown Study Collection.  This is in tandem with the post-Chicago Imagism exhibit at the DePaul Art Museum entitled, "Afterimage."  Two other artists, Edra Soto and Carl Baratta, will also bring in their own collections.  Mark your calendars.

In addition to me using the RBSC as a storage center for a month, some of the collaborative prints and drawings I created with Paul Nudd will be featured at the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College (again, in tandem with the "Afterimage" show for the dates above).  More about this exhibit may be found here.

Reminder: Black Eye Signing at Quimby's.

Flyer by Paul Nudd.  If you're in or around Chicago on Friday evening, please stop by.

Upcoming Events!

 

I'm part of a group show in Detroit to accompany the release of the Black Eye anthology.  Here's the info from the curator, Ryan Standfest's site.  The opening is June 5th.

 I will be on a panel discussion at the Printer's Row Lit Fest with Ivan Brunetti and Elio.  It's scheduled for Sunday, June 5th at 2pm.  If you're in Chicago, please stop by if you can.  We'll be discussing comics, obviously.  (Click graphic for more info)  Speaking of Ivan Brunetti, the Chicago Tribune ran a feature on him and quoted me.

 

Signing for the Black Eye anthology is set for Friday, June 24th!  I'll be there with Ivan Brunetti, Lilli Carré, Paul Hornschemeier and Paul Nudd.

 This is the illustration I did for the Harold Washington Literary Award reception dinner.

Small Press and Comics Symposium of Chicago

I will be speaking on a comics panel with Aaron Renier, Corrine Mucha, and Chris Ware on March 24th at the School of the Art Institute.  All the necessary info is included on the wonderfully designed poster above made by Lilli Carré.  Here too, is the website for the event.  New City has already wrote up something about it here.

I've Got Balls... I've Drawn On.

These are the ping pong balls I drew on for Nick Black's project last summer for a Hyde Park Art Center festival.  There were several other artists that did the same for his ping pong blower he built (see below).  The blower worked on a compressor with a kiddie pool for the base complete with strobe lights and openings for folks to catch the balls as they flew around.  

 

Onsmith & Nudd Collaborative Prints Exhibition.

The opening reception for the exhibition from the print residency I had with Paul Nudd is on Friday, July 10th at Spudnik Press. If you live in the Chicago area, please come by and check out the prints we spent the greater part of 4 months on as well as come to draw with us for our newest collaboration. Address and other info is on the postcard above. Here is the press release for the show:

Spudnik Press

1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 308

Chicago, IL 60622

312.532.0304

www.spudnikpress.com

Friday, July 10th - Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Gallery hours: Mondays & Thursdays 6:30 - 11PM, or by appointment

Opening reception: Friday, July 10th, 7 - 10PM

Spudnik Press is pleased to announce a new exhibition of work by our Spring 2009 Artists in Residence, Paul Nudd and Onsmith. Ice cream, buzzing flies, cow udders, double-tongues, fishing tackle, jarred brains, twisted limbs and floating heads. These are all things Onsmith & Nudd. Three separate suites of prints meld these two artists' signature styles into a cartoonish netherworld of darkly comic doom. Witness the mushy quadruple-stacked heads that form the menacing totem pole-like Head Heaps. Or the freshly staked heads and weird diseased udder worship of Monkey Nudd Wine. Onsmith & Nudd made close to 1000 prints this year, plenty to sift through, scour and pick apart with a fine toothed comb.

As an extra added bonus, visitors are invited to participate in Onsmith & Nudd's newest collaborative body of work, Horde of the Flies: An Infestation. Many large sheets of paper will be provided so that Spudnik's guests may draw between 1 and 1000 flies that will eventually culminate in a massive swarm of pesky winged insects. Examples, materials and sources will be provided.

$(Heart) Show at NFO XPO This Weekend...

This is the drawing that I'll make into screenprints for a show this weekend at "NFO XPO", which is part of Version Fest. Info and some explanation of $(Heart) below:

$HIT = MONEY = LOVE = ART

Paul Nudd and Bert Stabler have organized an incredibly great print show that celebrates the connection, first pointed out by Freud, between the wealthy miser who retains his feces, and the artist who plays with hers. Our goal is to present art that illuminates our reflection in the porcelain pond.

The show includes work by:

Mike Houston
Keith Herzik
Martin Mazorra
Andy Bolus
Bruno Richard
Jake Austen
Onsmith
Kristen Romaniszak
Paul Nudd
Chris Kerr
Mindy Rose Schwartz
Edie Fake
Melissa Brown
Ryan Duggan
Paul Mack
Bert Stabler

The show is taking place in the NFO XPO, part of this year's Version
Fest.

April 25 & 26 , 2009
1pm to 8pm
Benton House Gymnasium
3052 S Gratten Avenue
Bridgeport (off Bosley Park)
(a few doors north of the Benton House)

Signing at Quimby's - Oct. 11th 7pm.

As part of Trevor Alixopulos' signing tour for his new book, "The Hot Breath of War", I'll be signing along with him, Laura Park, and Jeremy Tinder at Quimby's here in Chicago. What will I be signing? Well, if there's anyone who shows up with copies of the Hotwire anthology, I can sign those. Yeah, I don't do much nowadays and I don't have a book of my own... I may have a couple of new minis there that I did with John Hankiewicz though. So there'll be something new at least...

Odds n' Ends & Some News...

I will be at Quimby's tomorrow night at 7pm (Friday, July 18th) for the Windy Corner Magazine signing along with John Hankiewicz and the editor (and main cartoonist) Austin English. The way I'm involved is that I interviewed John Hankiewicz for this issue and I'll be there to support these guys. Here's a link to the Quimby's site with the event announcement.

This is a drawing that Paul Nudd did for me. I'm flattered. Paul and are brewing up a possible collaborative art/comics project and I'll let you know more when it happens.

In other news, I recently finished up a new mini comic and a mini of drawings (some of them are shown above) that are split 50/50 with John Hankiewicz. We'll be putting this out sometime before the end of the summer. The two of us are also working on a 4 page comic for the Chicago Artists' Coalition newspaper. I'll post something about it once it's ready for print.

There are some photos up on the Pony Club Gallery's Flickr account from the show I was in curated by Chris Cilla. Go and check 'em out here.

Recently, I took a position at Beverly Arts Center on Chicago's south side teaching a comics class for junior high and high school students. The class will be over this week, but I've made scans of a lot of their comics and will post a link to a Flickr set. The above drawing is by Gabriel (13 yrs old).


Finally, here are a couple of my recent doodles. I'll try to update this blog more often.

Brunetti, Hankiewicz, Onsmith Lecture This Thursday

I will be giving a lecture this Thursday night (May 1st) at Columbia College Chicago along with Ivan Brunetti and John Hankiewicz. We'll be talking about our work and a bit about self-publishing comics. The lecture will be at Columbia College's library on the 3rd floor (624 S. Michigan Ave.) from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. (Above image is from the poster for the event.)

Photos from the "Off-Kilter Comics" Exhibit

I've uploaded some photos to my Flickr account that I took of the exhibit I curated in Minneapolis called "Off-Kilter Comics" as well as the signing I had with Ivan Brunetti, John Hankiewicz, and Zak Sally.

Above are some photos of the opening taken by Terry Beatty. You can see more of the photos from the opening at his blog. Here are even more photos of the opening. There was also a nice write-up of the show in the Southwest Journal from Minneapolis.

"Off-Kilter Comics" Exhibit & Signing - Minneapolis, MN

I am curating a show at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design called, "Off-Kilter Comics." The exhibit features over 70 works including original comics pages, prints, and original drawings by:

Ivan Brunetti
Lilli Carré
John Hankiewicz
Onsmith
Zak Sally
Dan Zettwoch
Above is the front of the postcard for the show and here's the back with additional info:
I'll also be signing books with Ivan Brunetti, Zak Sally, and John Hankiewicz at Big Brain Comics on April 5th from 3 to 5pm. Here's the flyer for the event:

Sketch Exhibit at Columbia College.

Above is a few doodles made with a rubber stamp I carved out.
I have 10 pages of sketches in an exhibit at Columbia College called, "Sketchy Five." The show is open to the public and is located at 623 S. Wabash Ave., Hokin Gallery and will be up until April 20th. Below is one of the pages I have in the show. I'll be at the reception on March 29th at the school.

Huizenga, Nilsen, And Harkham - At Quimby's Last Night...

Kevin Huizenga, Anders Nilsen, and Sammy Harkham made their last stop on their book-signing tour here in Chicago at Quimby's. I decided to make some small drawings for the three of them, so above are separate cards for each of 'em. These three cartoonists are pretty damn inspiring to me and it was great to hang out with them after the event swillin' beer and talkin' 'bout comics and whatnot.

Purchase their new comics:

Kevin Huizenga - Ganges #1
Anders Nilsen - Big Questions #8
Sammy Harkham - Crickets #1