"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.

New Exhibitions - "Blaque Lyte" & Keith Herzik Retrospective

"Blaque Lyte" - Curated by Chris Kerr and Paul Nudd

Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago

Opening reception: Saturday, October 29, 5-8 pm

Black lights have been used to serve a variety of purposes since the scientist William Byler invented it in 1935 to enhance detection methods from air travel radars to x-ray. From college dorm rooms that create otherworldly spaces to forensic teams uncovering bodily fluids at a crime scene. Drawing from the tendency of their own art work to explore the contradictions within the weird and gross, Paul Nudd and Chris Kerr asked over thirty artists from Chicago and around the world to experiment with different forms and materials to update and immerse viewers in the profound inverse world generated by black-lights.
Along with the thirty artists installed in gallery 2, Gallery 5 will included a retrospective look at screen printer Keith Herzik entitled "There Are Still Lofty Dreams, Meager Desires and Still Silliness." The curators note that Herzik “ignores and willfully defies most of the recognizable hallmarks of screen printing,” he is trying to push the medium and its materials to their limit. Early in his career Herzik studied with cartoonist Peter Saul in Austin and has since created numerous punk-rock posters and is a prolific publisher of handmade artists’ books, zines and other publications.

Exhibiting Artists:
Benton Moss, Thomas Mazzarella, David Shrigley, DeeDee Scacci, Keith Herzik, Nick Black, Mike Andrews, Lilli Carre, Giselind Von Wurmb, Evah Fan, Seth Scriver, Leif Goldberg, Marie Rosen, Eric Lebofsky, Paintallica, Andy Burkholder, Mariano Chavez, Edie Fake, Onsmith, Ben Stone, Sanya Glisic, Kristen Romaniszak, Laurent Impeduglia, Geoffrey Todd Smith, Brandon Heuser, Joakim Ojanen, Hanna Andersson, Anya Davidson, Nicole Northway, Max Morris

I created a series of drawings called, "Faxed Escape Route" which included faxed spam cruise package offers collected from various office jobs I've had.  Below is an example of the type of drawings I did:

 Newcity Review

Chicago Weekly Review
Blaque Lyte facebook page

Nudd and Kerr also printed a suite of prints to accompany the show which includes: 

Sanya Glisic, Andy Burkholder, Onsmith, Seth Scriver, Hanna Andersson, Joakim Ojanen, Lillie Carre, Edie Fake and liner notes by Paul Nudd. Extremely limited edition of 44 (9 multi color prints per edition). All prints are 11x15 inches and are printed on blacklight sensitive Mr. French paper with fluorescent inks. Available at the opening this Saturday or through Chris Kerr. 

Here's the printed liner notes by Paul Nudd:

New Print - "One of many Mothers of Hate"

"One of many Mothers of Hate" - 11"x17" 2-color screenprint made for the "Hatebreeders" print exchange put together by Curtis Readel.  The title of the exchange is based off of a Misfits song.  Here is a link to the previous exchange based off another Misfits song.

New Print and New Exhibit - Opening this Friday!

"Invocation of Abundance" - a 2-color screenprint at 18"x24".  Made especially for the exhibit, "Power In Numbers" curated by the Chicago Art Department.  Opens this Friday, March 11th in Pilsen at 1837 South Halsted, 7pm-10pm.  This is an international exhibit of prints with over 40 artists participating.  The prints will be on sale during the opening and for the duration of the show (until March 25th).  If you can't make it to the show and are interested in purchasing one of mine, let me know.

For more info, click the graphic below:

New Print - "Some Assembly Required"

 

This is a single color screenprint I did for an exhibit curated by Paul Nudd.  It's for the art book to accompany a show of severed head sculptures and features other drawings and prints by some very notable artists such as David Sandlin, Bruno Richard, John Hankiewicz, David Shrigley and many others.  Here is some info on the exhibit at Western Exhibitions here in Chicago (I did the illustration for the promo as well).

10x10 Project - New Print with Spudnik Press & Homeroom Chicago.

This is a 3-color screenprint I made for a project entitled, 10x10, put together by Spudnik Press and Homeroom Chicago.  10 artists based prints off of 10 selected music acts' songs - all from Chicago.  I made this based off of a song by my good friend Keith Helt's new project, "Sky Event."  The pre-order of this suite of prints and 10 recorded tracks is only a mere $20 until mid December and $30 afterwords.  Here is more info on the project (artists and music acts) and how you may order this awesome package.

New Print: "The Accusation"

Here's an extension to my previous Donald Distortion. This print was part of a small print exchange at Anchor Graphics. Email me at onsmith (at) sbcglobal.net if you're interested in purchasing one.

Coming Very Soon - Claptrap No. 2...

I've finally got around to publishing the second issue of Claptrap (5 years after the first one). This issue will contain 26 printed pages of:
Drawings & doodles from 2006-2008
Some selected unpublished gags
Collaborative drawings with fellow Chicago artist, Paul Nudd
Center full-color spread
The cover is a wrap-around 2-color screenprint with rubber stamps printed on the inside. The first 20-30 copies will include 3"x5" doodles from the first issue of Claptrap. The book measures at 7"x8.5". I'll be selling these at Quimby's, Chicago Comics, and maybe a couple of other online ordering sites and it should be out by early February. Oh, and the print run is 125.

Recent Prints: Woodcuts & Screenprints...

This is a woodcut print I did at the beginning of this semester called, "Laborer and Monkey-Wrench". The block is 16"x20" and was more work than I had anticipated, but it's nice to work in a larger scale for a change.

This one is a two-block woodcut print called, "Peepholes". Both blocks measure at 9"x12" and were printed with water-based ink.

"Duel with Oklahoma" is a two-color screenprint I did in an edition of 40. It's on "speckletone" 100lb. French paper measuring at 12.5 x 16.5.

Finally, this is "Perspire/Expire", a four-color screenprint from a drawing I did previously. This is for Paul Nudd's "Corpus/Corpus" zine and print collection which will feature Nudd, Mike Diana, Greg Jabobson, Bruno Richard, Anne Van der Linden, Mariano Chavez, and others. I still feel like it's crazy that I'll be sharing "space" with these ridiculously talented folks, but Paul Nudd asked and I jumped on the opportunity.

I apologize for the poor photos I took with my 5 year-old digital camera, but at least you can get the gist of what these prints look like.