Things To Come

Here's a preview of something I'm currently working on. I'm in the middle of two different installation pieces, the one for June is still in more in the collection of raw materials phase but the other one which I'm taking to Dallas with me is very much being put together at the moment. I have about a week to turn it out, but it's going to be awesome!

May The Sea Swallow Us Whole

Just finished up a series of paintings I'll be sending to the Pawn Gallery in Dallas, TX. for my solo show there titled: "May The Sea Swallow Us Whole" I'm totally in love with these paintings I don't know if it's cool or not to say that about your own work, but it's the truth. The above shot is of most of the paintings laid out in my studio getting in some final drying time before packing. The whale piece below it isn't going to Dallas but instead is currently hanging on the wall at Thinkspace in LA. Compare it to one of the sketches I posted a couple of entries back to see how the translation from sketch to paint unfolds. It looks like I'll be going to Dallas for the show and if I can swing it time wise, I'll be bringing Installation elements to put the finishing touches on the show.

Painting these scenes of drama unfolding in the midst of seascapes seems to have unlocked something in my brain, and there will be a quite a few more pieces to come before this series runs it's course.

At Long Last... (Almost)

Last night was the opening of the "Off the Wall 3" show (see press release in an earlier post) and let me just say, it was Awesome! I had a great time meeting the other artists and commiserating on the experience of scale. I talked my voice raw.

My full size billboard painting "LA Allegory" occupied the entire back room of the gallery, strategically placed by the refreshments. It's so large that a full quarter of it had to wrap around to a side wall. It wasn't until seeing it in such a fashion that the full scale of the project really struck me. All that crouching, hunching over in the sun, navigating the wet patches of paint and constant sweeping of leaves did add up to something. I have to tell you, It felt good to drop the thing off a couple weeks ago have it out of my hands. With it hanging in the gallery as such, already it feels like it's taking on a life of it's own. I'm quite excited about the prospects of where it'll go next. which should happen in the next 10 days or so. As soon as I find out I'll post something.

FINISHED!!! (almost)

Other than a couple corrections, this thing is done!

Out Of Paint

Fortunately or not, I can't work on the Billboard every day. Sometimes I just do not have blocks of time large enough that will make rolling the thing out worth my while. Here's some progress I made on it a couple days ago before running out of paint. I rolled it out at 7:30am, sanded, primed and laid in the drawing until about 11am, took my dad to his radiation treatment and on a couple errands and was able to be back working on it from 2:30 to 5pm. It doesn't look like much progress, but believe me it is. I'm buying loads of paint today and am seriously going to try to finish this thing up in the next three days. Wish me luck.

“OFF THE WALL 3” Press Release

Here is the Press Release for the billboard show I'm involved with. In addition to a giant full size 14x48 foot billboard which will dangle somewhere in LA, I'll be showing a four by two foot remix for the the gallery opening/reception. This event is not to be missed! :

“OFF THE WALL 3” Turns Old Billboards into New Works of Art
Unique Indoor/Outdoor Art Exhibit Premieres April 21
LOS ANGELES—To celebrate Earth Day, Peter V. Schulberg, owner of the Los Angeles Eco-
LogicalArt gallery (www.eco-logicalart.org) will host OFF THE WALL 3, a unique, indoor and
outdoor, fine art exhibition in which discarded billboards are transformed into spectacular works
of art. For the first time ever, original artwork will also be created on actual 14’ by 48’ recycled
billboards located around Los Angeles for the run of the gallery show which will premiere on
Earth Day Eve, April 21st , at 6 p.m
OFF THE WALL 3 will feature works by a two dozen
local artists who have created paintings out of vinyl
canvases made from recycled billboards. The work will be
on display both inside ECO-LA’s Los Angeles gallery and
on the building’s exterior, and include both new works and
a retrospective of the previous OFF THE WALL 1 & 2
shows.
Displaying large-scale artwork on billboards is not only a
novel concept; it will take OFF THE WALL 3 to
unprecedented heights. “Once again, ECO-LA is working
with cutting edge artists to turn ‘dead’ ads and the staid
gallery world inside out,” observed Schulberg. Traffic data
indicates that the original art billboards may be viewed by more than 250,000 Southern
California motorists per day. Los Angeles’ popular Getty Museum, by contrast, attracts on
average 4,000 visitors per day.
More than 60 artists participated in the two previous OFF THE WALL shows. The shows
attracted hundreds of eager visitors to the Eco-LogicalArt gallery and resulted in more than
$25,000 in sales of recycled vinyl art. “As an eco-bonus,” Schulberg noted, “approximately
10,000 square feet of pvc vinyl has been diverted from local landfills.”
OFF THE WALL 3 Page 2
The idea of turning old billboards into new works of art came to Schulberg in 2004 when he
learned that tons of billboard advertising is tossed into landfills every month. Schulberg, who
makes functional art from recovered materials, thought the situation cried out for a green
solution. He began experimenting with applying paint to the vinyl sheets used in billboard
advertising and invented a new stretching process so that the material could be used as canvases.
He then placed notices on art newsgroups offering free canvases and exposure on the exterior of
his gallery.
Schulberg compared the response to the movie
Field of Dreams. “I asked artists to work for nothing
on this weird new material for the opportunity to
have their work exhibited on the exterior on my
gallery—hostage to the heat, wind, rain, and a kid
with a paintball gun,” Schulberg recalled. “But the
artists, some who sell for thousands of dollars, came
and keep coming.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the vinyl canvases proved
almost impervious to the elements. None of
artworks showed signs of fading, flaking or wear, even after being pelted by winter rainstorms.
Even local graffiti artists left the artwork alone. Schulberg notes that the vinyl canvases turned
ECO-LA into Los Angeles first “drive-by gallery.”
The warm response generated by the first two OFF THE WALL exhibitions gave Schulberg the
idea of expanding the show’s reach by returning some of the vinyl canvases to the place where
they began—that is, to actual billboards. With grants supplied The Vinyl Institute
(www.vinylindesign.org), a national trade organization representing manufacturers of vinyl
products, and Scion (www.scion.com), he then enlisted the support the Outdoor Advertising
Association of America (www.oaaa.org) and display heavyweights CBS Outdoor and Van
Wagner Communications to donate prime billboard space. As a result, “eco-logical” artwork will
appear on five billboards located around Los Angeles, including atop Schulberg’s gallery, during
the month’s of April and May. Once the billboards are taken down the art will be stretched into
conventional canvasses and offered to the public in a “back to earth” event at the gallery.
Schulberg’s hopes for his eco-logical art experiment continues to rise. With ECO-LA about to go
non-profit, and with hundreds of billboards getting “killed” daily he has plans to create a national
“renewable imagery” billboard art tour, of getting the material into public schools and to
providing free mural walls to the inner city kids. “It’s a green win-win whose time has come,” he
said. “But this new dynamic also recalls an old Shaker saying that is one of my touchstones: ‘We
do not inherit the earth from our parents; we are borrowing it from our children.’”
# # #
OFF THE WALL 3 Page 3
For additional information, contact:
Linda Rosner
Artisans Public Relations
(310) 837-6008
lrosner@artisanspr.com
WHAT: OFF THE WALL 3, a unique indoor/outdoor art exhibit.
WHEN: April 21- May 20, 2007.
Wednesdays through Saturdays
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or by appointment.
WHERE: Eco-LA Gallery
4829 West Pico Blvd (2 blocks east of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA, 90019.
INFORMATION: www.eco-logicalart.org
eco-la@sbcglobal.net
(310) 525-0676.

International Call for Artists

Found this in my inbox this morning. Sounds kind of cool A good opportunity for anyone wishing to take that leap into the realm of international artist.

grafisk vaerksted \ NAESTVED – The Print Studio for Artists - would like to celebrate its 20 years anniversary in 2008 by inviting you to take part in

Naestved International Exhibition of Contemporary Mini Square Prints

- and we ask you please to pass on this invitation to other artists.

The Exhibition will be an international survey of contemporary miniature prints to be held in April - May 2008

The purpose is in the first hand to introduce the Danish public to contemporary miniature prints from around the world while in the second hand to enlarge the collection of works within the grafisk vaerksted / NAESTVED and Naestved Kommune (Naestved Municipal County) and making the archives available for academic research, museums, artists, and print students alike. The works within this research archives can never be sold.

The Exhibition will initially be exhibited at Naestved Cultural Centre & Museum exhibition spaces and thereafter will become a travelling exhibition

We invite you to submit up to three (3) different prints. Works in all print media are eligible, including editioned, serial editioned, variable edtioned, open editioned, uneditioned, uneditionable, as well as digitally informed works.

Maximum dimension of the print is 8 x 8 cm. The Maximum size of the print matrix/substrate is 18 x 18 cm. (this maximum size includes both image and border areas). The original prints must be matted with plain white matt board. The outside dimensions for the matting / passe-par-tout must be 20 x 20 cm. for both the „passe-par-tout“ and backing board.

• Official entry forms are not required for entry.

• There is no entry fee.

• Entries must be received by November 15, 2007.

Submit the following:

• Print[s]: Prints must be signed, have a title and an arrow on the back of the backing board indicating the top of the piece

• Short C.V. [includes email and web address if available]

Each print submitted should include the following information:

• Name of Artist

• Title of Work

• Medium [specify techniques/printing methods/ if mixed]

• Date of Work

Please note that submitted works will not be returned, but instead will become part of the research archives of grafisk vaerksted \ NAESTVED & Naestved County

Send all materials to:

Naestved Exhibition of Mini Square Prints

grafisk vaerksted \ NAESTVED

Sygestalden 15,

Groennegades Kaserne Kulturcenter

DK-4700 Naestved

Denmark

• Please send entries in a sturdy package clearly marked „Print(s) for exhibition“ and the declaration „No commercial value“. Enclose sufficient postage for delivery.

• The Naestved Exhibition assumes no liability for works lost or damaged during transit. All prints received will be properly handled and after exhibitions retained and archived within the research archives of grafisk vaerksted / Naestved.

If the submitted works are not monoprints you are free to use the prints for other exhibitions etc.

A catalogue of works and exhibitions will be published at www.grafisk-kunst.dk .

The Naestved Exhibition of Contemporary Mini Square Prints/The Print Studio for Artists is a non-profit, cultural and research-oriented event/studio and no profits will be sought from its submissions and/or participants.

For questions or comments please contact The Naestved Exhibition of Contemporary Mini Square Prints at grafisk-kunst@mail.dk

Your attention and dissemination of this information are greatly appreciated!

On behalf of grafisk vaerksted \ NAESTVED – The Print Studio for Artists

Torben Soeborg

PS: The Print Studio for Artists is situated in the provincial town Neastved in the Southern part of the Danish island Zealand, about 80 km South of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark