Thursday, January 3, 2008

-2008


As you can see from the text above, I am in a two person exhibit over at the giant Jonathan Levine Gallery here in NYC with the wonderful Xiaoqing Ding.
Also Mr. Jonathan Weiner will be showing his solo show in the main room so it's really a three person show. I'm in very good company and am a true fan of both of their artwork. Lots of previously unseen eye candy.


Part II
Some discarded mock-ups of my new site had a prairie/Dust Bowl feel to them. To plug some friend's sites, a combination of inspiration led to the piece below. After seeing my site design from early 2007,(sorry I didn't archive it), my friend Tom Prior said I should really look at the movie 'Days in Heaven' by Terrence Malick which has an Andrew Wyeth feel to it. A few months ago cartoonist,Leah Hayes, and musician,Michael leviton, introduced me to Brooklyn singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten her myspace music description says "sad prairie folk music." It was really nice to listen to while working on sketches.

After a bunch of unsatisfactory drawings I ended up drawing it in flash as my current menu since I was stuck on what to do for the new version.
I did this drawing based on my flash menu.(by the way I added a new roll over animation last week on her. Check it out.)

After transferring the drawing onto a piece of birch primed with a wash of brown, I blocked in the background and some of the water texture.

"Thought" 19"x 32" oil on wood.
I ended up leaving the cattails out of the picture cause I thought they might be too distracting and wanted to keep the image a bit more iconic. I'm still debating that since I do like them in the drawing.

14 comments:

  1. I think you should include them, as a reference to the shore. For me the space isn't well enough defined.

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  2. Very good drawing... Most of your drawings have this iconic aspect for me (in special "The Last Hour"), so I'm glad you didn't keep the cattails... I dunno, the final painting has this side of being alone, and away from the earth...

    Oh, and I would like to say that I'm a great fan of your work,it makes me feel a lot of things together... Well, anyway, thanks a lot.

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  3. Hi. First time commenter, big time fan.

    I would leave the cattails out to emphasize the water that seems to reflect a sort of mental abstraction that ties in with your title.

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  4. There is a very thoughtful, lonely feel to the painting that is not necessarily negative. If you add the cattails, it might take away from that feeling. Still, with or without, like most of your artwork it is awesome. Keep up the amazing work!

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  5. Hi Esao, congrats on the show, Im sure it will be a hit. I live in LA but if I was in NY, I would totally be there. I was wondering if you could post some pages of sketchbooks, or some drawings. I really enjoy looking at your line work.

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  6. that roll over is rad, your paintings have a great heaviness about them through yours use of deep shadows and texture, its as if everything is lightly covered in a light amount of caramel. Its awesome

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  7. Congrats on the show! I'd be there if I was still in nyc, but this is what I get for not buying one of your pieces when you were fresh outta school!

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  8. Hey, My 2-D art class has us do these weekly art reports. We have to draw a piece of art and write 2 paragraphs about it. This week, I drew this using colored pencils -_-. I loved the sketch of this becuase at first it looked like she was swinging under water, which would be awsome if she was.

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  9. Hey man, congratulations on the show! Someday I'll make it to NYC for a delight to see your art "live". I vote for not including the cattails. The more mystery the better...

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  10. aarrgg i cant seem to post a picture of a JUTURNA tattoo i found online, help!

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  11. Hello, Esao! I know I'll probably sound like a crazy fan girl writing this message, but I'd just like to say...I love youuu! Haha, yup! You really amaze and inspire me. I've never fallen in love with a particular artist until I discovered you and your work. :)

    I'm a young, aspiring artist myself. I've been drawing and painting for years...but for awhile I was scared to follow my heart and chase after my dream of being an artist. After seeing how successful you've become, I feel like I could have a chance of my own. I'm just now starting to get my work out there...but I have a long way to go. If your interested in taking a peek at some paintings I've done, I'd be honored to recieve some critic!

    Perhaps someday I'll have my chance at sharing an artshow with you. :)

    Love,
    Hikari.

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  12. hello. i came to your site for tattoo ideas and left with some interesting ones. anyway. i wanted to let you know you have a crazy and fascinating site here. my friend, megan, and i love it.

    -whitney

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  13. Hola Esao ...
    from dominican republic , I love you'r work , it's amazing =D

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