“Fanatic - A Group show of Excessive Enthusiasm”
October 10th - November 8th, 2008
BLVD Gallery

“Fanatic” was a group show that explored the enthusiasm expressed in “Fan” art. The artists that participated in the show were given the task of creating art that is in tribute to something that they are truly a fan of.

Rob and I thought about it for a day. It was a no brainer. We are true fanatics of Brazil. We are learning to speak Portuguese, contemplate moving there, love Brazilian cinema, and even dressed up as carnivale samba dancers one halloween. It was the perfect motivation to delve deeper in our fanaticism for this beautiful country and their culture. One of my favorite memories of this project was the music. There is so much great tropicalia and rare songs. We had a blast hunting them down and listening to hours and hours of it. We made a disc of our favorites and had a mixes available at the gallery. I will have some available to download soon.

FAVELA CASUALTY
ACRYLIC ON AOAK
>
MESTRE ACORDEON
CAPOEIRA MASTER, AUTHOR & MUSICIAN
JOSE WILKER
PLAYWRIGHT, ACTOR
LEADING ROLE IN FILM BYE BYE BRAZIL

DEIZE TIGRONA
FUNK CARIOCA MUSICIAN

FERNANDA MONTENEGRO
"THE FIRST LADY OF BRAZILIAN THEATER"
LEADING ROLE IN FILM CENTRAL STATION

ASTRUD GILBERTO
SINGER, BOSSA-NOVA LEDEND

CARMEN MIRANDA
"THE BRAZILIAN BOMBSHELL"
SINGER AND MOTION PICTURE STAR

RITA LEE OF OS MUTANTES
PSYCHEDELIC ROCK BAND

SERGIO DIAS OF OS MUTANTES

ARNALDO BAPTISTA OF OS MUTANTES
TROPICALISMO MOVEMENT





Brazil Book
click on arrows to explore
click on image to zoom
5 pages

the beginning

Broken Rhythm was born from a question on faith. The question was about whether good and evil could be more sympathetic to each other's position.

A question like this led us to do research about religion and evil. To our surprise, evil and good share a lot more similarities than imagined. One man's evil, is another man's good.

Broken Rhythm was a concept about Jesus, Satan, and the angels that surround them. In the Bible, angels aren't cute. They are angry, ass-kicking, flaming-sword-wielding, vengeance-mongers who kill demons in their spare time.

We flipped a coin to determine who painted Jesus or Satan. Rob painted Satan and the left half. Mary painted Jesus and the right half.

click image to enlarge


click image to enlarge
rob painted the left, mary paited the right
acrylic on wood
2006

acrylic on wood
2006
click image to enlarge

Romantic Misunderstandings began with just a head floating in outerspace. We researched beheadings and found many legends about St. Valentine. On February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed.

Under the rule of Claudius II (photo above), marriage was outlawed to make it easy for soldiers to join the army. A lottery of names gave the men a new lover each year. Valentine, a leader in the underground Christian movement, performed marriages in secret. When Claudius II discovered this he had Valentine beaten, beheaded, and his head served to Valentines' blind lover.

Nothing is certain, but it's a great story.

Jason of Flying Coffin used this design to print tees and crews. They are all sold out from his line, but we have a stash available.

BOGUS PHILOSOPHY
acrylic on wood
2006
This is a great example of how we approach painting. Kind of a free for all.
Bogus Philosophy was inspired by Basquiat.

Rob's sketches are already drawn out in his mind.
It's only a matter of how well he can illustrate them on paper.
We picked key words to help keep us focused...
danger
lurking
bombs
float

Once we start painting, ideas move from one direction to another. Sometimes we don't know what's going on.
Rob painted the left half of the water.
I painted the right.

These guys are canon ball traders, obviously.

Sometimes 2 paintings are set up and we paint simultaneously.

Commission for Atwater
2007






Now that is one happy customer if I may say so.

All the PFOM kids were painting murals, and asked us to join in but we didn't know what to paint. Nervous and inspired, we went home around midnight to practice. 5 hours later we ended up with the piece BRAINSTORM above. Rob painted the right half, I painted the left.

Rob and I painting a mural at Olivodoce Gallery in Seattle.
We both painted a large egg shape and went nuts with it.

If you look closely, the skulls on the bunny's vest are actually plug outlets.

We were ready to saw our paintings out of the wall but decided not to.

Jilf's mural was amazing. Watching him paint perfect lines was a rare treat.