posted: March 30, 2009

 I just designed this book for Ellen Weinstein.

posted: March 8, 2009

Leo won a medal at S.I. on friday!  Gold?  I think so, maybe it was silver or something.
Details to come...

posted: February 6, 2009

posted: February 6, 2009

Got together pre-SI opening for a dinner with Harry Campbell and others...
we ordered too much food.  Picture Here.

posted: January 29, 2009

24/7 Updike!  All you can eat!  My wife's illo for Time a bit ago. He was happier then I think.

posted: December 9, 2008

Singer Songwriter Amiee Mann is up for a Grammy for the design of her new CD called @#%&*!  SMILERS.    Isn't that cool?

posted: July 24, 2008

James Yang and Greg Nemec's video AWAY FROM HOME done for ICON5 is now online.  Nice job guys! Away from Home

posted: July 7, 2008

Edel Rodriquez had his third annual pool party on Sunday, set to mesh up with the end of ICON5 for those with any life left in them after all the
get-togethers of the week.   Due to a late night the night before and limited trains to Edel's house we ended up taking a Limo to Edels house.  The only one available was already booked by a well know rock star and his girlfriend.  I think his name was Lars or something and he was from Sweden.  Our Driver was a nice Indian fellow named Gary.
We even split some champaign with him in the limo with Lars and his gal Udda.  Edels party was rocking, rocking from a loud rock band next door having their own party.  Seems Lars was headed there.

posted: May 27, 2008

Thought I'd post some of the fine work my wife Ellen Weinstein
has been working on.  She's been pretty busy as of late.  I've tried to get her on Drawger but she says "One Drawger per household is enough!"  I was going to add some work from Time here, but I'm not sure it's run yet.

Web Link

posted: May 18, 2008

For Eons man has sought the elusive Williamsburg passage to the fabled House of Wax, only to be denied.  Sure, safe passage could be made through known trading routes like the Brooklyn Bridge, but it was long and tedious.  A quicker route to the land of Wax was needed.
Today I found it.  After years of promises to visit The House of Wax, today the dream became a reality.  My stead, my bike.  A foto essay of the journey.

posted: April 7, 2008

Piggybacking on A.Richard Allens Post on his visit with this sketch of A.R.A. at the Thailand Cafe.  Goldin and I Iooked over at A.R.A. and saw  him break into a cold sweat, we thought maybe he was not used to the spicy Thai food, but I think it was his cold and jet lag.  He was a trooper.   Nice to meet Mr. Hunt as well, I have photos and will use them if need be.

posted: March 29, 2008

Came across this great interactive piece in the NY Times today on the great Al Jaffe.  Shows his fold-in art for Mad Magazine.  We all grew up on this stuff and it still holds up well. Better than well, I think it trumps most things done today. Link here

posted: March 1, 2008

There is an amazing exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum.  An artist from China named Cai Guo-Qiang.   I saw an exhibit of his work in Minneapolis a few years ago.  His installations are huge and amazing.  This work shown here is called head-on and contains 99 lifesize "replicas" of wolves. 

Here is a link for the show...

Cai Guo-Qiang

posted: February 1, 2008

Two opening in Downtown New York Last night, just a stones throw away from each other.   The mega event Stefan Sagmeister @ Deitch Projects was mobbed.  I never made inside it was so packed.  Apparently Sagmeister kidnapped Massimo who was trying to get help by writing a message of some sort on the window.  I think he was later released unharmed.

Sagmeister Event

Just a few blocks away Mr. Serge Bloch was having an opening for his works on paper @ Living with Art Gallery.

Serge Bloch Event

posted: January 3, 2008

I saw the animated movie Persepolis last night. I first heard about this via Isabelle Dervaux when she mentioned trying to get the artist as part of ICON5. (not sure that went through)  Written and drawn by Marjane Satrapi, I highly recommend this movie.  Mostly in black and white, it's a story told in the first person by a young girl growing up in Iran.  We go from repressive rule by the Shah to even more repressive rule by a religious government .  In between an escape to study abroad in Vienna adds distance and humor to the story. The animation is top notch and the story is both funny, educational and touching. 

The Official Site

posted: November 20, 2007

Earlier this year while on Maui I was surprised to see that the street artist Swoon was doing a residency at the arts center Hui No’eau for a month, working with Maui youth.  Swoon who’s real name is somewhat secret or was…(she used to hide it to avoid prosecution for pasting her works on private buildings) works in paper prints with elaborate cut outs which are glued in public places.   Swoon was extremely energetic
and positive artist in person.

Exhibit at Dietch Projects

Paul Mullowney is the director of print making and runs Hui Press.  This excerpt from the Hui site: “As part of a newly created Artist in Residence Program, HuiPress was launched in 2004, taking fine art printmaking on Maui to a new level. Nationally & internationally recognized mid career and emerging artists are invited to work with Master Printers and University Interns in an environment designed to support creative expression in printmaking. Our aim is to foster experimentation, innovation, and collaboration, while pushing the boundaries of traditional print media.”

Illustrator and artist Marcos Chin was on Island for some R and R so he, his friend Mikey, Ellen Weinstein and I wandered over to the art opening.  The exhibit was a collaboration of work done by students and actual Swoon artwork.  It was a bit hard to tell which is which in some of the photos.   It was a great night and the place was packed with lots of youth who enjoyed the spotlight. 

posted: September 18, 2007

posted: May 8, 2007

posted: April 21, 2007

Swim For the River Documentary

This Documentary is on TV today (NYC area) at 4pm. The website
lists other viewing times in other areas.

Chris Swain braved whitewater, sewage, snapping turtles, hydroelectric dams, homeland security patrols, factory outfalls, and PCB contamination to become the first person to swim the entire length of the Hudson River from the Adirondack Mountains to New York City.  In the film, Swain’s experience links together stories of the river, which begins in wilderness and ends in one of the nation’s densest population centers. We meet heroes who are fighting to protect the Hudson against a range of threats from industry, inept regulatory agencies, and public indifference.

In the film the epic of the 19th century destruction and redemption of the Adirondacks compliments the modern-day story of citizens fighting to block the building of a huge trash plant that would burn one quarter of New York City’s garbage. Meanwhile the environmental group Riverkeeper battles the ExxonMobil Corporation to force it to clean up the largest oil spill in the United States and we get the latest in the three-decade old fight to make General Electric take responsibility for its PCB contamination.

We meet famous people, like folk singer Pete Seeger, but we also see how ordinary citizens can and do make a difference through choices they make effecting the environment, and by joining together around a common cause. SWIM FOR THE RIVER is a hopeful film that avoids preaching to the choir.  Swain’s lighthearted commentary and incredible physical achievement appeal to a wide audience.  

Swim For The River

posted: April 2, 2007

Some shots from the Advertising and Uncomissioned exhibit at SI on March 30th....

posted: March 21, 2007

posted: March 10, 2007

Dan Adel Gallery Opening

Lots of work in the show.  Dan is a busy guy.  $26,500.00 for one painting! !

posted: March 10, 2007

My friend David Wallis is doing a talk at Barnes and Nobel Astor Place on Wed. the 21st @ 7pm for his new book Killed Cartoons, casualties from the war on free expression.  It contains illustrations  too, I guess they figured the cartoon title would be a bigger sell.  There will be an after party at Sauce Lounge later that evening after the reading.  

The skinny:

Editor  of "Killed Cartoons: Casualties From The War On Free Expression"
to lecture about:  "Graphic Violence."

astor place @7pm

To mark the publication of KILLED CARTOONS: CASUALTIES FROM THE WAR ON
FREE EXPRESSION [W.W. Norton & Company, March 12, 2007; $15.95
paperback original], editor David Wallis will lecture at Barnes &
Noble, Astor Place (4 Astor Place New York City; 212-420-1322) on
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 7 PM. The collection, heralded by
renowned cartoonist Gahan Wilson as "amazing in its range," features
nearly 100 editorial cartoons and illustrations that were spiked by
newspapers and magazines because of the potential for controversy.
Works by celebrated contemporary artists such as Garry Trudeau, Steve
Brodner, Sam Gross, Edward Sorel, Ted Rall, Paul Conrad, Mike
Luckovich, Matt Davies and Anita Kunz are displayed alongside
unearthed gems by legends like Al Hirschfeld, Herblock and Norman
Rockwell.

At Barnes & Noble, Wallis will discuss the reasons for what might be
termed "graphic violence" – the rejection of compelling political art
by increasingly timid newspaper and magazine editors. "Reasonable
motives sometimes inspire editors to kill," writes Wallis in the
book's introduction. "But too often ... they suppress compelling
illustrations, editorial cartoons, and political comics out of fear --
fear of angering advertisers, the publisher's golf partners, the
publisher's wife, the local dogcatcher or the president of the United
States, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, homophobes, gays, pro-choice
advocates and anti-abortion protesters alike, Catholics, Jews,
Muslims, and Midwestern grannies -- especially Midwestern grannies."

About the Editor

David Wallis, an advocate for journalists, frequently lectures about
the media business at Columbia University's Graduate School of
Journalism, New York University, and the New School.  Editor of the
acclaimed "Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print," Wallis is the
founder of Featurewell.com, a syndicate that markets articles by more
than 1,500 writers and journalists.  He has contributed articles to
Slate.com, The New York Times Magazine and the Washington Post, among
other publications.

The talk was good, cartoonists tend to be on the front line of what's acceptable with the general public on a daily basis.

posted: March 3, 2007

posted: February 4, 2007

Pirate Radio, opps, Pirate tv coming from the deep recess of the Catskills!  Live and Direct from Christoph Hitz's 16' deep eagle picking trout out of ice covered pond comes Skate TV.....
Here we see Golding trying to learn the ways of the Hockey man....

LINK TO MOVIE

Who knew hitz was into the polar bear thing?  

posted: January 31, 2007

At the risk of becoming John Cuneo's publicist I will mention his new book is now out and online.  I saw a quick glace at it last night and it's well designed by Robert Festino.  Good luck with the book John!

From Fantagraphics website:
nEuROTIC
John Cuneo
Like Emily Dickinson, master illustrator John Cuneo has spent years generating a huge oeuvre of work that has never been published… anywhere. Unlike Ms. Dickinson, however, Cuneo’s consists of stacks and stacks of weird, perverse, erotic, hilarious, and disgusting images delineated in his sketchbooks. But make no mistake these full-color sketchbook drawings are as lushly finished as his prize-winning illustration work for such magazines as Esquire (where he illustrates the sex column), Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Entertainment Weekly, and The Atlantic. nEuROTIC is a sharply designed little full-color hardcover that collects the very best of Cuneo’s humorous erotica.

96-page full-color 6” x 8 5/8” hardcover $19.95

Link is here>

posted: January 27, 2007

posted: January 26, 2007

posted: January 23, 2007

A select group of Drawgers assembled last night to meet and greet our Drawger representative from across the pond Linzie Hunter, here on a secret mission | Holiday.  New Pasteur Vietnamese Restaurant would be the place to meet as Thomas Keller's Per Se was booked solid for the night.  A $25 per price was thrust upon even the late-comers who dined on left overs.  Linzie broke out a grab bag of gifts later on containing noxious candies and teas from some foreign country.  A good time was had by all. Some photos by David Gothard.

posted: January 18, 2007

Interesting billing at SOB's this week: Hugh Masekela, African jazz great with the Klezmer band the Klezmatics with Irish singer Susan McKeown & Boo Reiners added in. Sounds oddly interesting. Hugh's Grazing in the Grass version is awsome.

posted: January 17, 2007

Jan. 6th: Woodstock NY.  John Cuneo  50th Birthday party.  John was surprised by perhaps 50- 100 of his close friends who flew in from California and Denver to be there.  It's a special thing to have that many people respect you to that degree.  John was presented with a special "sketchbook" (rated M for mature) made by 20 top illustrators as a gift.  Thats to Tim Bower and his wife Kim for organizing that.  Thanks to John's wife Jan for getting the party  together and keeping John happy. 

posted: January 3, 2007

Our own estiemed Mr. Pelavin will display his talents to any drawger using the instrument he is perhaps most gifting at: Lettering at the Society of Illustrators this thursday evening.  The Show is called Letter as Image, Image as letter.  Pelavin will also sign autographs, pose for pictures and tell stories from the trenches of the illustration world to all who dare arrive at the venue.  No wagering.

the work of
Michael Doret
Louise Fili
Gerard Huerta
Tom Nikosey
Daniel Pelavin
Tom White

January 3 - 27, 2007
Museum of American Illustration
at the Society of Illustrators
128 East 63rd Street
New York, NY 10021
Opening and Artists' Reception
Thursday, January 4, 5:30 until 8:00 pm
Festivities upstairs begin at 7:30 pm
Presentations and Discussion with the Artists
Tuesday, January 9, 7:30 pm
Wollman Auditorium at The Cooper Union
51 Astor Place
New York, NY 10003
(RSVP to Mike Essl for the Cooper Union event)

posted: December 12, 2006

I know David Gothard mentioned this already, but if you have not seen these two shows at the Brooklyn Museum you should make haste!
Ron Mueck does scale based figurative sculptures (Leo posted in the past about him) and Walton Ford does amazing huge watercolors of Animal themes.   Fantastic!  I have to go back and see more of it.

posted: November 16, 2006

Zina's painting make me think of these picks of Leo from Icon4... Look he has hair!

Sean Kane  sent me this old pic from back then... sorry sean I did not get you into the picture...so. the remix!

posted: November 8, 2006

Nice to meet some new drawgers as we trained for the AI night and the all night FUCHS TAXALI party.   Even made it down to catch Adam McCauley play!

posted: October 30, 2006

Tim O'Brien is running the NYC Marathon for the first time this weekend!  Let's all cheer him on!  I made a little movie to encourge him.  (some famous drawgers make halloween cameos)

Tonka Movie

posted: October 29, 2006

I think this is somehow related to the American Illustration event(s).....

LARGE POSTER VIEW

Illustration Today A Symposium on the State of the Art 66 W. 12th St. Tishman Auditorium Sat, Nov 11 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Ticket Price: See below.

Presented by Parsons The New School for Design and the Department of Illustration Through images, illustration shows us who we are by rendering how we perceive, interact with, and think about the world. But the medium is at a crossroads: the traditional forms of editorial illustration are losing their dominance, new vistas are rapidly opening up, and older avenues are being reinvented. Over two-dozen leading practitioners will talk about and engage in spirited discussions on a range of topics. Steven Guarnaccia, Parsons Illustration Department Chair and former New York Times art director and Dan Nadel, Parsons Illustration Department Assistant Professor and publisher of The Ganzfeld, will moderate the symposium.

Tickets: $10 general admission; FREE with Parsons/New School ID and for Parsons alumni (1 per person, must be picked up from the Box Office). Email boxoffice@newschool.edu or call 212.229.5488. Ticket Info: The New School Box Office, 66 West 12th St., Main Fl., Monday-Thursday 1-8 p.m., Friday 1-7 p.m.

Open To: All

posted: October 25, 2006

Travel, Turmoil, Testimony, Travails, Tonsillectomy, Toxicity?

posted: August 23, 2006

Since When Did Children’s Books Have a Museum? Interview with H. Nichols B. Clark  by Steven Heller.   This I found on the AIGA site.

GO TO THE ARTICLE >

posted: August 21, 2006

A warm saturday in August, a cool pool, a strong drink, warm hosts and good company.  That was Edel's party in Mt Tapor, NJ.  A really nice place.  I mean really nice place.  Thanks to Drawger for bringing people together.

Fellow New Jersey Designer/illustrator Felix Sockwell pushing his new brand of "I dig NJ" tees.  Seriously this guy was selling them at the party which I thought was a tad odd.  Buy your own from the man himself:  BUY THE SHIRT

Edel ready with a neck brace should anyone do too deep of a dive.  Joe thinking about his gig later that night in Staten Island.  Yuko being coy.

The food was off the hook.  Jennifer, Edel's wife made some terrific Cuban sandwiches. All the food was top notch.

Edel's pool is fantastic.  Lots of nice plants.  Great big trees all around.  He's even recreated his little house from Cuba on one side.  

Ok, I really did not understand the billboards Edel built about his property.  His neighbor was moving out because of them. 

The Mojitos were working on Eileen.

An astonished Brian Rea spots a very soggy Fidel clearing his eyes in the pool.  Was it real, was it the Mojitos?

Somehow I missed the fact that this was a Birthday Party, but then I'm still waiting for the year 2000 celebration.  The cake makes the scene....

Dang Sockwell and Fuchs!  Always with the games, knocked the birdies into the cake!

The party for me winded down with a personal tour of the casa with Edel showing the way.  Most ended up in the studio and Edel showed his artwork and techniques.  He seemed to be particularly proud of his new Thomas Kincaide Painting.  I found this odd but said nothing.

posted: July 10, 2006

I found this web page with interviews with various designers and illustrators, it's kind of interesting, check it out!

Link to page

posted: June 20, 2006

Belated Dad Picture. We always had an odd relationship, he was the farmer who was practical and hard working and did not understand the "creative" son. Now I understand he is just some guy that happens to be my dad. I love him but it's odd to realize that parents are just people you may or may not click with. We have a much better relationship now. He's had some health issues of late. A stroke this year has made his left side numb and he's still in recovery and not yet back home with my mom. Enjoy every day. I remember one day during the Batman (?) movie he came into the theater and yelled my name out as I was late for my paper route. Gee I felt dumb.

posted: June 8, 2006

posted: May 15, 2006

Opps, I saw by the gallery show instructions that we had to take the last image and change it, but only after I did my Enos. Opps, Well I'll post it here.

posted: May 7, 2006

Illustrator Monika Aichele was in the Rome show, but also has a one person show up in Barcelona called "Not only Monkeys." Now how cool is that? She sent me these pictures of the exhibit. Check it out in the gallery section. The gallery web address is: http://www.distritoquinto.org/

posted: April 28, 2006

While all you hard working illustrators better yourselves with projects I am engaged in late night sloth with the women illustrators in Rome. Here is a shot of me with the lovely Cathie Bleck,The lovely Trisha Krause, and the lovely Jody Hewgill. I will post more photos once I get them edited. Photo by The lovely Thorina Rose. Not shown: The Lovely Ellen Weinstein. BTW I'm back in NYC the fun only lasted a week. 
The occassion was a show was put on by Teatrio who have done other illustration shows in the past. All women artists, about 40 in all. For some reason the show was titled "The fabulous colored pencils of the world" I think due to translation issues. The show will be traveling in Italy for two years.  Each artist did a portrait of a famous woman and  also exhibited several other works.   Big up to Mark Heflin at AI for his participation in creating the show.  I think it was the brainchild of Cathie Bleck and Vivianne Flesher.  

posted: March 4, 2006

The 06 SI book and editorial show opening was last Friday night. I snapped these pics at the opening. I'm sure the show is great, but one never gets to see too much of it between all the schmoozing. Generally the night seemed to be off from it's regular vibe. Maybe it's the state of the industry? Maybe it's just me?More pics in the gallery section....