August 28 2010
Today, I'm happy to announce that I have a piecen in The Shore Institute for Contemporary Art's annual juried group show. The show runs September 4th through November 14th, with an opening reception on September 12th from 3-6pm. Just down the shore from Manhattan, SICA is easily accessible from NJ transit (here is a map). More to come!
And don't forget to check out my drawing at the always awesome Prospect Park Zoo, about which, see previous post.
June 23 2010
Double news today! First, I finally got around to uploading some botanical drawings and other natural illustration type things - nothing serious, but a grand tradition to play with. So head on over to the sketches and see them here.
The drawings are a selection from a Scientific Illustration class I took at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and one of my drawings is currently on display - along with a slew of other Pratt kids' - at the Prospect Park Zoo! It's a small show, and the work isn't really capital "A" Art, but they're some impressive drawings nonetheless. I'm guessing it fits into the Zoo's Wild Arts Weekend.
Directions to the Prospect Park Zoo.
I haven't actually been over to see the show, but I believe it's up through the Fall, so go see it and let me know how it looks (incidentally I don't actually have a photo of my piece in the show, but it's of a group of baboons, so there).
June 8 2010
Big new work in Only Map Left! I'm not sure I like the precedent of adding to specific bodies of work once they're posted, but in this case I think it's the right choice. Titled The Clarke-Asimov Treaty, the big new painting (6'x4') was made after my show in January, but still dealt with the same content. I'll try to upload some sketches, because this was a sort of crazy piece, it's a mock history painting, depicting a fictional account of a historical event, in which historical figures determine history by discussing fiction (whew!). Purposefully confusing reality and Sci Fi as much as possible, the tableau features from left to right: an astronaut, Frank Herbert, Virginia Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein, a robot, Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Stanley Kubrick, and Ray Bradbury.
If you're interested.... The Clarke-Asimov Treaty was a joke agreement between its titular authors that determined the long standing question of who the world's greated Science Fiction author was. They agreed that the greatest Sci fi writer was in fact Clarke, while Asimov settled with being the world's best Science writer.
May 24 2010
New work up! Go check out Remote Humanism, a free-form meditation on exoticism and authenticity. As shown already, I'm deeply concerned with the technological future; but what else is there? Can the natural world really supply a more accurate realm of human experience? The work here touches on marxist theory, modern stereotypes, and cyborg jungle beasts. Plus I can finally reveal what that Jonny Quest teaser was all about:
May 21 2010
Well the Pratt BFA show went well, and a lot of people showed up for the Open Studio event. I posted some pictures of the show curated by Alexi Worth, so check 'em out here.
May 6 2010
Pratt BFA Open Studios!
*Update: I've got a piece in the group show*
On Sunday May 16th, come on down to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, for an open studio event with all the graduating drawing and painting students. There will be some sort of reception and a gallery show of work selected by Alexi Worth. My studio is in East Hall on the second floor, but there will be tons of cool spaces to explore. Always fun seeing how artists work...
April 27 2010
I want to mention some new updates to the site without distracting too much from the mysterious announcement below... so I'll keep it brief. NEW MUSIC! Five new tracks in the player and click through to Soundcloud where you can download them. Also added an official sidebar link to my blog Manifest Future. Originally started as a web element for the fictional RAF of The Tomorrow Archive, the blog lives on (it basically documents the modeling of our world after the future portrayed in Sci-Fi).
April 1 2010
March 25 2010
New sketches! Giant shark flower! Click below to check 'em out.
March 1 2010
Any attentive visitors may have noticed a new page on the menu bar, if not check out the STORE! Yes, I am fully engaged in the struggle against consumerism, but an artist has got to eat somehow. Not a new dilemma, and I encourage anyone interested in creative exchanges to read Lewis Hyde's The Gift, from which this quote becomes a sort of preface to my new economic venture:
"The artist who wishes neither to lose his gift nor starve his belly reserves a protected gift-sphere in which the work is created, but once the work is made he allows himself some contact with the market. And then - the necessary second phase - if he is successful in the marketplace, he converts market wealth into gift wealth: he contributes his earnings to the support of his art."
February 22 2010
I had a couple pieces at Shindig NY's party last weekend at The Living Theater on the Lower East Side. Some artists from Pratt, Cooper Union and NYU alongside a great deal of neo-bohemian revelry. For actual images of the work, check out Only Map Left.
Interested in buying or displaying a piece?
Please contact me at beandrew@gmail.com
All work and images © Benjamin Andrew 2009-2010