TEEEE SHIRTTTTTT

This Massachussetts noisey band called DEK BOO asked me to design a t-shirt for them. I've had a few requests for t-shirt designs lately,and I have to say that they are a little hard to design. Tshirts present a problem of creating a cohesive, floating image that works with the form of the body/shirt. Then, on top of that, I have the problem of creating a multiple color image that doesn't require perfect registration. You see, I don't have a t-shirt press in my studio (mark that on my xmas wishlist) so I cannot print designs that have tight/exact registration between colors. So, I have been creating designs that have a little play to accomodate stretching of the shirt, or just being a little offff. The band wanted something abstract to represent their "big" sound, something with subtler colors, and something that wasn't too chaotic. Tell me what you think.

They liked the design. They are ordering t-shirts, and sending them to me...so the colors may vary depending one what shirts I will be printing on.
Big thanks to P for all the computer help. P is becoming my photoshop yoda, showing me that I too have a photoshop force deep within myself, and all I need is some training to unleash it.

NEW EFFFEXXXX

Hey hey!
so, I just finished the layout for my band (gay beast 's ) upcoming show FRI. NOV. 28th. SOOOOO SOOOOOO SOOOOO excited for the show. it's with Aids Wolf and Skoal Kodiak. I think it will be the show of the century. or at least the year.

In honor of playing with Chloe and Yannick (of seripop) I kind of went a little nutso on the drawing of this one. and Also, since I've learned such awesome sexxxperimental print techniques from studying their stuff, I decided to attempt some new techniques. It's my first print working with process halftones. I tried to do this weird thing where two of the process colors are actually overprint colors....and black is printed twice. This sounds more mysterious than it actually is. It's hard to see in the pic, but the big blocky shape is a bunch of skyscrapers, and houses, but they are turned upside down. This, and the black text are printed first. Then there is the Cyan (process) color for the veggie people / backround, then Magenta for the banner, veggie people, and backround, then Yellow for banner, backround and veggie people, and then finally black printed again for the last process color in the veggie people, and the backround.

Illo is definitely saul steinberg influenced, and I've had these pics of these adorable felted veggie dolls laying around for a while, wanted to use them.

this is a mockup, but i'll try to take a pic of the final print. Was thinking about doing a little split fountain action for the banners. we'll see how it turns out.
oh. and the band names are upside down.... OMG I'M SO CLEVER AND SUBVERSIVE!!!!

Gang Gang. a computer facsimile

A very controvertial friend helped me scan my drawings in and do this layout for the upcoming Gang Gang Dance / Marnie Stern show. I am pretty happy with it. CRAZY BANANA PEOPLE.!!!! I had those banana drawing sitting around and I thought that their tropical sound really could benefit from a bit of banana action.
I haven't printed it, but it's going to be a 4 color silkscreen. it's something like 18''X23'' or something. and then there's going to be a text out art print that will be bigger.. I think that one is 21'' X 30''. Can't wait to print it! starting tomorrow.
will show you the finished product.

Lots going on right now. 2 t-shirts in the works for the bands Child Abuse, and Dek Boo. T-shirt design for an Israeli promoter, and posters and art prints. I think I'm going to die I'm so busy.

and OH! It's MY BIRTHDAY TODAY! Happy 29 to me!

XOXO

OUTTA THE RUT!!!

I hate slumps. I'm glad i'm outtttta mine.
Finally fucking printed up these wire posters.

It's a really bad photo...but it's a 5 color silkscreen. 12'' X 30''
some are very subtle (visible in real life) but all but one of the colors are split fountains. A Split fountain is when you print more than one color ink on the same screen. Hard to explain. See how much better I am at printing than working on a computer. This needs to change.



This other thing is from a couple weeks back. I did a U.S. Girls Tour poster. Megan Remy is behind U.S. girls. it's a tape looping, effect drenched wasted soundtrack. It is great! so I was really happy she asked me to do a poster for her. I was REALLY nervous that she would hate it because she has specific tastes and she gave me really specific directions. I modified and blew up a picture of a 60's girl group The Hearts, and printed all this weirdness on top.
She liked them! which is great. but Megan Remy...please pay me!

4 color silkscreen 17.5'' X 21''

QUICK!!!!

While I've been crossing my fingers, hoping that the Wire promoter approves my poster, I realized that i've done nothing to promote my bands show this saturday. Sometimes doing things so quickly, forces you to make simple decisions, and you'll get interesting results. or at least DIFFERENT results....I am trying to diversify the way that I come up with ideas. Here was a 5 minute xerox flyer I did. I grabbed some dark gray paper, grabbed an image of a never-ending sausage from an old catalog, and scrawled some type.
flyer style. Look for a "real" silkscreened poster within the next coupla days.
if you live in minneapolis.. come to this show. it's going to be great!
gay beast, shearing pinx, tender meat, worms in dirt...all sexxxxellent bands.
write me for location!

IT'S LAAAATE!!!

Hey. it's 3:44 in the A.m. I JUST sent off a proof of this Wire poster that i've been working on. Actually, I got most of the design done a couple days ago, but i've been really anxious about the small task of getting my drawings scanned, and putting the tthing into illustrator to assign colors and get a legitimate proof off to first avenue. I AM NOT USED TO THIS. this whole professsh design proof bullshit. well, here's my sllloppy proof. you'll see how the real thing turns out. there's going to be some crazy split fountains, and all this other junk. it's going to be great.
that is,,,if they approve it. i think it might be a little too odd for them...but you never know.

30'' by 13'' on white paper.

5 color silkscreen.

I have to say. I think my color palett is going to greatly improve with this whole computer business. I feel like I fall into a lot of ruts, because I'm deciding on colors as I'm printing them . I ended up changing the order of the layers, and pretty much all the colors that i had originally thought of.

that's it. off to bed.
will post pixx of this poster when it gets printed, and also my U.s. girls tour print that i did last week.

woot woot! and wish me luck throwing together a design tomorrow for my band Gay Beast's show with Shearing Pinx this Saturday. oooh it will be a good one. Gay bEast, Shearing Pinx, Worms in Dirt, and Tender Meat.

if you see this, you should come on down to MXXXXXXA this saturday for the show. NO WAVE FIESTA!
XOXO

Posters...Prints PAST!!!! ahh the memories.

since I just started this blog...but i've been making stuff for a little while now...I thought i'd just post some images of projects past....and tell you interperves what is still available.
Here we go. From Most recent, to least recent.
*** means that I have a few copies left
XXX means that it's out of print!


Paper Mice Flyer. 4 color silkscreen.This show was really really fun.***

3 color silkscreen Palmfest poster. Everyone at palmfest hated this one. I made it (from drawing to printing) in an all night 8 hour art-orgy.***

It's a bad photo..but here's a tape case that i made for the rad label DNT. (they put out my bands lp). It's for a compilation called MAsh Mansum. Bands included are: Hunting Lodge, Twin Crystals, Shearing Pinx and gay beast. We only have a few copies, and the run was limited to 100 so gettum while you can. ***

Here's a poster for gaybeast's last show with Shearing Pinx. ROUND!
I guess it appeared on an episode of Diners Dives and Drive-ins. WEEEIRD.
I think I have one of these left. ...maybe two.***

Poster for Old Time Relijun, Slapping Purses...etc. Was happy that Big V's hired me to do this one.....but for some reason they haven't asked since. 6 color screenprint. XXX xold outx

T-shirt for my band gay beast...for our last tour. Was reeeeal happy with that lettering. kind of goth, kind of metal, kind of tech. It's like everything that i kind of hate, but secretly love. two color screenprint. Most of these have sold. only have ones in yellow and black I believe. GETTUM. ***

Heavy Focus, 420 Noise Festival poster. This was a fun one. the design came easy, and I was really happy with how it printed up. 3 color silkscreen. XXX

This, on the other hand was a total nightmare to print. and the design was pretty anal and annoying. You can't really see it, but there's all these teeny tiny circles, dashes and triangles on all those big circle shapes in the backround. Plus, I was experimenting with using oiled paper on my weeeeak assed exposure unit. HARD! plus that 4th layer was a full-bleeding mess. 5 colors...only like 2 left.

Slapping purses tape case. 2 colors. XXX. slapping purses is AMAZING (and I came up with the name). This tape sold out. I'm excited to do his upcoming 12'' cover design! let's cross our fingers and pray that nothing stops that from happening.

5 color Art print that I made for the Radar Eyes print show. This show is the best fucking thing that happened to me. I was totally flooored that Seripop asked me to be in it, and I can't believe that my dumb-ass art got to be on the same walls as nearly ALL of my printmaking idols. Talk about dream come true. all the heavy's Comeau, Zeloot, Maku, Pizzoli, Deforge, Bongout, Seripop...and all these other people that I didn't know about before. E-mazing. Go see the show in Houston at the ARt car museum. should be opening w/in a week or two. I'm trying to get it to come to Minneapolis. XXX Xold out at the moment. I have some that just need the last layer.

4 color art print. also for Radar Eyes. ahhhhh. Still like this one. Sometimes I don't understand the way that I think.*** I think I have 3 or 4 of these left. and they are BIG! Need to do more art prints. They are funnn, but it's hard to fit them inbetween poster gigs.

3 color silkscreened 7'' Sleeve. Split with the awesome olympia band TWIN. This was the first thing that I printed in my home studio. I believe that this is the second run of the sleeves. I remember totally crying over the first one, and printing was SO hard, because I didn't have a pressure washer yet, and I didn't have an air conditioner in my 3rd floor attic studio. so it was a VERY sweaty, shirtless, drippy time. We have like 20 of these left.

Neptune tour poster (the first one). 4 color silkscreen. this was, in my opinion, my first really good poster. I was very anal about it, but i felt like it really worked in the end. It was nice to see it hanging in a few places that we played while one tour.***

ooops. a little out of order. This was the second thing I printed in my home studio. 4 color silksscreen on orange paper. Am happy with this one, but at the time, it was very hard to work with brightly colored paper. I had a hard time controlling the colors. XXX

and there are a few prior, but they are embarrassing and ugly.
o.k. now moving on. I have TOO MANY projects to count. So I should just shut up and get back to work.
XOXO
DNML

RNC....and a bunch of weirdo queeers

Today was the beginning of the Republican National Convention. Everyone was unsure if the thing would go off due to complications with hurricanes, unplanned pregnancies, and a missing prez bush...but on it went.

Minneapolis has been seriously gearing up for a ton of bullshit to go down. Activist friends have been housing other activists from out of town, meetings upon meetings have occured in radical spaces all over the city. What we didn't expect were the crazy preemtive house raids over the last two days, or that fucking Amy Goodman from democracy now would get arrested.


There will undoubtably be some fallout after both of these incidents.

I, personally had a hard time convincing myself that staging a large-scale march, or other violent/semi-violent/non-violent protest would actually DO anything constructive. I do not feel the need to build community with other back-patting activists...I like a PROJECT! a good, old-fashioned project where an outcome is clear and present.

So I decided to participate in this public performance by the artist Sharon Hayes. It was put on by Creative Time in NYC and the Walker Art Center, here in minneapolis. The performance was called Revolutionary Love 2: I am your best fantasy. Basically it was a bunch of queers, gathered together, reading this letter that Sharon had written. The letter is from the perspective of an estranged lover, and develops into a series of commands. The readers command the audience to take their queerness seriously, to understand that their experessions of love, and lust, and identity not be undermined, or depersonalized within the hubbbbub of the political process.


Me, and a whole krew (about 70 of us) all gathered at the Walker, were bussed down to a designated spot sort of away from the capitol, but still totally visible. We waited around while things got set up. We made sure out outfits were on right, and then we gathered in a square and recited the letter 3 times. Everyone was dressed to the fiercest. Drag, sexxx, weird, flapper, "punk", undressed looks were all in effect. It was kind of amazing reciting the thing. All these onlookers gathered and were taking pictures and videos. It was really cathartic to all be reading aloud from the perspective of only one person. To have all these different bodies, and experiences gathered together pushing something totally personal out into the public. Especially because we were SO out of place with all the republicans and zombie convention onlookers. It was a completely different experience than marching in a rally. It felt way more specific, and way less anonymous. So kudos to Sharon Hayes and everyone that put it on.

On a graphic note. My pal Ilana is visiting from chicago, so we decided to work on a print together. So far it's REALLY weird...and it has lots of strange drawings of exercise equipment. we'lll see how it goes.

back to the print shop tomorrow! yippeeeee!

THE LATEST!!!

I have a bunch of posters in the works right now. Here's the latest, for two rad bands NEPTUNE, and THESE ARE POWERS. They asked me to help commmemorate their shows together. GO SEE THEM IN YR TOWN...cuz they aren't coming to mine (XUCK).
This design will be tweeeked a bit and turned into an art print for my print residency at this print center here in town. Poster is a 3 color silkscreen 16.5'' X 21'' on white paper. art print will be bigger. FUNNN!


This one's a teeny bit older, but it's also a poster, that will end up being slightly modified and enlarged to become an art print. It's a print for my band GAY BEAST's show with HEALTH and ICY DEMONS a little while ago at the St. Entry. Happy with all the color overprints and am still on this kick of printing black underneath all the rest of the colors. FUNNNN! and the possibilities are endless.


For the art print, i will remove the text at the bottom, and tweak the colors a bit. will post later!