Weirdly Positive Positively Weird

Group show on view now at CO Exhibitions. Happy to be a part of this great show put on by Burlesque for my second time showing at their gallery space. My first show there was in 2011— LINE: An Exploration of T-shirt Graphics. Glad to be back with yet another series.

This show is all about positivity, sunshine, coming out of hibernation, high hopes of the upcoming spring season, gleeful happiness, maybe still some cynicism, putting on a bright and shiny face that might be forced but the biggest thought that counts is that we’re trying, and we are here, we’re showing up. Maybe it’s uncomfortable, maybe it’s weird, but the important thing is that we’re all in this together.

CO’s collection of artists for this group venture embrace levity in its most vibrant and beautiful forms. Allow the drawings and paintings of Jose Dominguez to provide the map to a better state of mind through text-forward & narrative playfulness. Get lost in the screen-printed jungle of flora created by Ben Petersen. Fall through the rabbit hole bursting with energy in Lindsey Wright’s pop iconography laden illustrations. Allow yourself some play in the effervescent design world of Peter Steineck. Melt into the psychedelic vibes of Ian Babineau’s risographs & multi-layered work of the print posse, Fatherless. And tiptoe through the prose tulips via Anne Ulku’s hypnotically typographic paintings.

The opening night was beautiful. With the collection of a total of seven artists gracing the walls in the space, the interaction, the people, the music and the energy and vibe was everything we needed to kickstart a great season of change, growth and progression.

The work I created for the show has a big part of me. I’m constantly gaining insight and inspiration from things that happen in my life, the things I encounter, the projects I work on. Everything is the stepping stone to another thing. For as long as I can remember as a designer in school and throughout my career I’ve kept notebooks and would jot down fragments of ideas and thoughts. They all have their time and place, coming from a pretty specific thought process, conversation, or idea. But as I read through past books or lists of thoughts, as they’re taken out of their original context, I find new meaning and perspective. I started collecting these little snippets of interesting phrases I’ve written, or drawn inspiration from. That’s what this series is about. They all seem to have a positive spin, but also are a little bit quirky, especially when seen all together.

I’ve also been back to exploring handmade type. There have been many years of type design and precision lettering, and it feels like a great stepping stone to connect to some roots of getting a little bit messy and disarming some of my perfectionism. So many posters of my past are perfect and printed with the most beautiful precision. I am more recently interested in the raw and realness of what a one-off, handmade piece feels like. Much like where these phrases, text and inspirations are coming from—deep within exploration of self, society, and the cosmos.

I created a series for this show #1–#14. I imagine these becoming a long series over the years. Stay tuned—I’ll write about this again on here once I reach #100. Some process here from my instagram story highlights.

Weirdly Positive Positively Weird opened on May 4th, 2019 and will be up until May 19th with more events happening during Art-a-Whirl during the last weekend.

Co Exhibitions 1101 Stinson Blvd NE #2
M-F 12-5pm

Here’s the show page if you want a sneak peek before getting over there to purchase! They are $40 each.