current events

Jim Houser & Ben Woodward Black Book Gallery

2010-11-04T20:28:00.002-06:00

I put together a little edit for Black Book's Current show. Opening Friday Nov 7 be there, and if you have the dough invest in art god damn it these boy are worth every penny.

Jim Houser & Ben Woodward at Black Book Gallery from Vincent Comparetto on Vimeo.

Hot dudes and wet streets

2010-04-24T15:31:00.005-06:00

This blog has moved

2010-04-24T15:25:00.001-06:00

This blog is now located at http://losscollector.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://losscollector.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Caspian Shatters the Earth

2010-04-03T16:27:00.007-06:00

Cannons played too, and they are getting super good. The Erics were in full effect, sorry lead Eric I shot beard eric a lot more than you because of his hot beard and super hot moves.

This little lady is an aspiring street photographer she was like a little Helen Levitt. So cute. We traded portraits.

Jeremy Fish "The Road Less Traveled"

2010-03-22T07:47:00.003-06:00

Denver Colorado's art scene was inspired once again by the great Jeremy Fish. The exhibition aptly titled "The road Less Traveled" was a two stop tour featuring two great places, OK Mountain in Austin Texas, and here at Andenken. Jeremy, the trailblazer that he is, carted all his art around in his beautifully preserved 70s Van.

This particular body of work was beautiful, his style is refined and consistent, yet he's still pushing the boundaries of his mediums: 21 color silk screens, transparent screen inks, and painting beautiful subtle layers with wood stains, you had to really get up close to appreciate some of his details, I was glad I got there early before the mob rolled in.

Usually I wouldn't put so much effort into documenting the people at an art show but Jeremy's shows are unique. His art brings us all together: the washed up skateboarders, the young rippers, and the castaways that we all are. The Silly Pink Bunnies were well represented repping hard as usual. Definitely ran into some great friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was great to see so many people traveling from far and wide to appreciate art. Definitely overheard some amazing sound bites. I kept wishing my camera took pictures of sound. "Dude hot girls don't hang out with us cuz were hot they hang out with us cuz were awesome!" Being one of my favorites.

Hope you had a safe journey back to SF Jeremy, come back anytime.

Oh winter

2010-03-19T23:43:00.003-06:00

2010 demo reel (work in progress)

2010-03-03T18:53:00.002-07:00

My new concept is only put the kind of work in your reel that you want to do. I kind of want to make it way punker more raw action sports oriented. If you have any advice for me it would be appreciated.

Demo Reel 2010 from Vincent Comparetto on Vimeo.

hot Rink time machine

2010-02-28T16:46:00.011-07:00

If you drive 30 minutes outside of Denver and if your coordinates are correct you will enter a time warp and if you are lucky it may land you at the Wagon Wheel which is this amazing roller rink. Since we actually went back in time 30 years we came prepared and dressed accordingly.

Make no mistake Scott Lefavor can roller skate better than you.

Sandra and Frieda mid time travel.

In the true spirit of the 70s I chose not to use auto focus or a high ISO.

My photos are starting to look like I shoot them with a top loading VCR.

Happy birthday Jen Miracle.

Molten Metal

2010-02-28T13:16:00.006-07:00

Every medium has it's challenges, and some undoubtedly are more difficult than others. Some artists enjoy a process riddled with obstacles and almost seem to thrive in the more dangerous situations. Take for example working with molten Iron. Here in Denver we have an annual Iron Pour in the Rhino district. Pretty much anyone whose anyone from professors to sculptors who enjoy working with molten iron come out and share their exciting process with us.

It's quite something to watch. I don't know much about it so I am going to be making some educated guesses. It's very much a team effort, and you get the sense that the medium is unpredictable and things are changing so fast that they quickly have to adapt to things overheating or cooling to quickly. It also appears to be way more out of control than it actually is. These guys are seasoned experts and all though all of there kilns and equipment seem fabricated in a kind of hap-hazard way everything is calculated, but it also seems any number of things could burst into flames at any moment. If a propane tank seems to be getting to hot they throw it in a bucket of water. They use styrofoam cups to regulate exhaust, they stab at solidfying metal with crowbars. If anyone is the true hells angel of the art world these folks are it.

The medium like any medium with an inherently difficult process is fading into history, the materials are tough to comb by and I imagine the kilns are pretty difficult to fabricate. It is supported by it's academic applications and a very tight knit global community (it is very much a gang) who travel around the world to various Iron pours and share there skills and materials openly. They wear patches and various faction affiliation brandings to their specific locations proudly on their fire proof leathers. It's very much a family. I couldn't help but yearn for that type of collaboration.

So the next time your complaining about a printers black saturation, or a slightly off miter cut, think of these guys they are seriously putting everything on the line for their art. Process is paramount.

hybrid imagery

2010-02-20T11:51:00.003-07:00

These are examples of some recent experiments in combining film and digital photography. It seems sort of blasphemous still. And some friends would definitely be bummed on the marriage, But there are certain conveniences about each. I am not sure what to really make of this stuff. I almost need to see a few of them printed.

The rest of these are just digital images.

mix takes

2010-02-11T14:54:00.007-07:00

Camera's Broken and so am I

2010-02-01T12:38:00.001-07:00

Come to my show this Friday at the Sputnik. It will be the most inexpensive anti-climactic exhibition of my work ever!

Trial and Error

2010-01-26T20:42:00.005-07:00

So works been slow but work is never slow. The kind of work one gets paid to do has been slow but the other work, the art work never suffers. All though I have been in so much transition lately. I had to move out of my studio which was large and had a variety of tools like metal breaks and table saws and routers. It may have offered too many variables.

Now I have embraced a much smaller studio the work shop is in my basement storage space. It's pretty hilarious yet it totally works.

My light box collage area is in my other living room. My first exercise was this dimensional city collage.

It's interesting but in terms of how it fits into my desired technique it is a total failure. I have been writing a lot and researching a new direction for the past year. Part of me respects my past techniques in lightboxes, abstract photography, and layered plexi, but I know in order to grow I must explore other things. I have never been a patient person. I am still making art in a somewhat traditional sense, but what has really been overwhelming me is this new aesthetic. I've had to buy many books, and pick up new tools, and take notes, and buy more books. It's been pretty crazy, and I am not even close to the desired technique. I am not even entirely sure what it is am climbing towards, but I know to keep climbing. This theme of metropolis, future buildings seems to be consistent, yet I have no idea where I am going with this. I sometimes find myself getting closer to the answer only to realize I am further from the truth. All this trial and error is to be expected and I try not to get too frustrated. It's important to fail.

And as always I can take breaks and take pictures of Leelou.

Promises of a dark future

2010-01-03T08:46:00.007-07:00

The Thin Man through a pretty spectacular Steam Punk themed New Years party. Frieda and I are pretty into costume fabrication, so we jumped at the opportunity to build some victorian era weapons and accessories. I had this strange future metropolis set I'd been meaning to shoot subjects in front of, but wrangling the right models and the wardrobes was becoming difficult so I then thought, just bring the set to the party and shoot there. So that's what I did and it couldn't have worked out better! Thanks Gio, Carmela, Eric, all the staff at St Marx, the Thin Man, and all of my wonderfully attired subjects allowing me to photograph them.

This gentlemen was a professional costume designer and you could tell because his costume had some amazing craftsmanship. Allthough their were tons of amazing costumes his might just have been the best...

I am a bit biased since she's my wife but this may be my favorite one.

Frieda looked amazing.

This is some classic style right here.

Thanks Colin for snapping one of Frieda and I.

Sometimes the it's not the costume but the man, Tom looked fabulous.

This is Eric the host of the party and his whole radical nuclear family.

The Memory of Snow

2009-12-23T12:44:00.008-07:00

I was back east visiting my family for Christmas it was really fun. We got our first big storm which was pretty odd for mid December.

I went to the Moma to see the Bauhaus exhibit which was hands down the most inspiring art exhibit I have ever seen. Being that my interests and inspiration lie heavily in font design, mid century furniture design, minimal architecture, intense game changing manifestos, poster design, etc this show had it all and the gift shop took all of my money.

Bought a repro of this awesome Schmidt poster. Classic.

Frieda and I went hiking at the infamous Camp Hero site of the supposed Montauk Project with my Family. I was stoked to finally go there I have read about it in numerous books because I am a UFO/paranormal geek. All though I remain sceptical of a lot of this stuff. If you are not familiar with the Montauk Project it is an ongoing conspiracy theory that the government used the base to prep psychics for remote viewing, teleportation, and inter-dimensional doorway bridging. The stories are quite out there and the base itself is pretty creepy.

The old WWII Bunkers are amazing. I wanted to go inside them so bad.

This was one of the largest arrays used for spying and operational until the 80s.

We found an abandoned burned out house with amazing ocean views. I guess the house next door is where Authur Miller hooked up with Marilyn Monroe, and next to that is Paul Simon's house where a single lucky cat lives all year around.

The city looked beautiful as always.

Hip shots with this particular lens are tricky. Kind of a shot in the dark. It's all manual and the focal range is super tight it only has about 6 inches of focused area the rest drops out real fast. So if your walking and not aiming...Sometimes I get mad like damn it's not in focus but then I remember that some of my favorite photos are out of focus so why does it matter?

It's always great to see B-boys hustlin' in Penn Station. Ill never forget the first time I saw break dancing I was in Midtown in 1981 I immediatly began practicing my floor work.

Frieda and I tandem we hit a jump and I wrecked on her pretty hard, you can see her neck folding under my body on close inspection. I look stoked and she's all broken, gosh I hope I'm not as big a jerk as this sequence proves...

I learned how to snowboard on this hill which is situated on a golf course at an exclusive country club in Long Island. It is at the base of Oheeka Castle the second largest private home in America and my mom said that one of the Jonas brothers got married there the night before which is crazy I thought those guys were like 16 and to think he could have been losing his virginity that very day. Amazing.

My mom is always down for sledding. It's pretty awesome.

Random videos

2009-12-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Spiritualized

2009-12-12T13:13:00.004-07:00

Black and White

2009-12-06T22:01:00.004-07:00

New work up at Rooster & Moon First Friday Tomorrow!

2009-12-03T12:27:00.002-07:00

American Boys

2009-11-29T22:06:00.003-07:00

Mineral Spirits

2009-11-28T20:03:00.006-07:00

We spent the day soaking in ancient springs welling up from deep within our volcanic earth.

A specific mineral oxidized one of the metals in Frieda's Mokume Game engagement ring really enhancing the grain.

Invitation to a hanging

2009-11-23T14:50:00.005-07:00

I have a new body of work up at Rooster & Moon. Which is this brand spanking new impeccably designed coffee shop/pub conveniently located on 10th and Bannock. My opening night will be Dec 4th coinciding with the their grand opening. So it should be a great time I haven't shown in a while and this body of work is very simple and cohesive. I hope you guys like them.

Definitely a cool cafe worth checking out.

The pieces are listed below and are available for purchase, please contact me for availability
vin@kungfukitchen.com

Smileys -150.00

Beneath Grand Central Station - 400.00

Iowa - 250.00

LIR - 250.00

Greeter - 150.00

Travel by Train - 250.00

The last thing I remember was the rain - 400.00

lion sized

2009-11-21T15:55:00.004-07:00

Shot from a moving car without aiming

The band Lion Sized performing rock and roll.

Amanda Marie at Andenken

2009-11-21T15:36:00.002-07:00

My friends have no reason to be humble. Yet they are. Especially Amanda Marie. A diamond in the rough. Her amazing new body of work is currently on display at Andenken. Go see it.

Governors "park"

2009-11-15T18:13:00.010-07:00

Govenor's Park doesn't have a lot to offer as far as hills go. So we made the best of a snowy Sunday by doing some east coast inspired shredding. When I think of all the things I've ridden on my snowboard over the years for some strange reason the best memories are in Rochester NY and Huntington Long Island making the best of pretty much nothing at all.

I noticed the plow made a pretty decent landing ramp and the garbage pale on the corner could maybe make a hip jump. Maybe? Craig and Brad thought it was a good idea, well probably not actually. It looked way worse in person. If you didn't hip it just right you landed on raw pavement, and you had to jump at least 10 feet out to land on the downslope. So it was really sketchy.

Eventually some day glow snowboarders showed up to get their jib on and casually avoided our superior jump to do some less than spectacular picnic table grinding.

I wonder when Blogger is going to improve their video import feature, it's kinda jacked.

Majestic Super Kitten

2009-11-10T22:40:00.002-07:00

Friends

2009-11-09T13:13:00.002-07:00

forney Museum of transportation

2009-11-09T12:49:00.002-07:00

My Friend Andrew and I wanted to check out the Forney Museum of Transportation on the free museum night. We had not been since it occupied the enormous REI building. Back than it was very much a misfit museum that almost seemed abandoned it was very erie and campy. But man it's all cleaned up and amazing in its new location I highly recommend it. The bicycle collection was amazing. It's fascinating looking over it with the current headline of the failing american auto industry. Many of the experimental cars in the show were amazing and many were built in small runs all over America. There were so many cool innovations and just brave design concepts that didn't fly. It's such a fascinating dilemma. Speaking of not flying check out the Martin Air car.

It's a total plywood flying car concept that never got off the ground. I mean that both ways. It's so awesome. Just the hand written font above the door is so craptastic!

Read the selling points!

Day of Darkness

2009-11-02T09:19:00.002-07:00

I did Frieda's makeup to look like a Sylvia Ji painting. It was really fun.

This is total Evan Hecox material.

I love when all of my talented friend get together and play music in our house. Frieda and Duncan practicing for a halloween show.

Happy halloween!

2009-10-30T18:25:00.001-06:00

Hello Leelou

2009-10-30T18:05:00.004-06:00

So Frieda and I have taken our first big step as responsible adults and we have adopted a little kittie. Her name is Leelou and she is 24/7 hijinks.

Frieda makes these cool elephant toys and leelou loves sneak attacking Mr. Elephant when he least expects it.

It's also been snowing here quite a bit over the last few days. I shot some yesterday.

The last day of Eldorado

2009-10-28T10:05:00.002-06:00

Still messing with the RB67. Still have a lot to learn and it's learnin' me every day I take her out.

I love the occasional unpredictable light leaks.

I read an interesting article on a photographer who was talking about teaching and how he always spends the entire second year with his students just using 4x5 view cameras. He said it's the only way to get them to be more conscious of their process. Respecting one's framing and realizing the importance of the moment. All the considerations involved and the discipline of film. It's important.

Tis the Season

2009-10-25T12:44:00.005-06:00

So in Denver, like many cities, we have a zombie crawl but our zombie crawl is fairly unique in the sense that it is evolving into this whole other phenomenon. We now have large groups of people dressing up to defend Denver against the zombies. Like kids in Military, robots and all sorts of rad tangent themes. But man were we out numbered there must have been over a thousand zombies this year,

The Robot Defense League was given a little bit of a muscle with the addition of Capt Metal. All though he was busy taking pictures... Anyway it was a lot of fun.

Capt' Metal upgrades are minimal this year but I have finally answered the question so many fans have asked. Where's your robot parrot?

Secret Mission

2009-10-20T10:48:00.002-06:00

A lot of people ask me why I haven't had a show in a while and the answer is I am currently undergoing a transformation. Man that sounds awful. I felt I needed to come up with a new technique that was completely different from my past creative process. I know how to make light boxes I know how to shoot a variety of abstract photos with a variety of cameras. That body of work was becoming fairly predictable and easy for me to build, so I just felt it was time to step up to the plate and make some mistakes and learn some new techniques. So for the past year I have been researching and developing. And honestly I still have a ways to go and I would rather not even attempt to explain what it is I am exactly doing. But I am busy and I am getting a little closer every day. It's exciting this idea that you won't recognize me and you will again have to interpret my work all over again.

Scot Lefavor at Andenken

2009-10-20T10:33:00.006-06:00

So in Denver this month we have the highly anticipated solo show by home town hero Scot Lefavor.

This piece is immense 16 x 12 feet!

This little series is awesome and cheap go pick one up! Now!

It was awesome seeing everyone at the opening it was a great turn out and the art was fantastic. Way to rock Scot!

the mark summer left

2009-09-28T23:36:00.009-06:00

This summer was amazing I got married! Which if you know me is pretty much insane. and if you knew my wife you would know how ridiculously lucky I am. I will post about the wedding later I just haven't gotten around to editing the wedding media down yet. But anyway the summer was awesome, I got to skate a bunch and hit the ocean a couple of times. I was really busy with freelance and the wedding but I managed to squeeze in a lot of fun here are some images from my last trip to NY. We celebrated Frieda agreeing to spend the rest of her life with me with my entire extended family and many friends. It was a blast thanks to everyone who came out.

Met up with some friends in the city. Skating the Banks with Josh brought back a bunch of awesome memories. We got to haul ass in traffic and visit the banks at the Redhook pier which were unfortunately skate stopped but we had a blast.

One of Mings beautiful paintings.

I was shooting with my Nikon d200 with a super old 50 mm lens with a variety of filters. There isn't much if any photoshop in these pictures. I finally feel I have gotten the 1200.00 digital machine to take less perfect Holga like pictures.

This maybe one of the better skate pictures I have ever taken. Josh's stylish gesture helped a lot.

The joke behind this photo is a friend of my dad's kept walking up to Erich during the party to tell him that his girlfriend Angie was way better looking them him. Which is true.

This is my dads baby. A 1952 XK120 Jaguar. One of the best examples of perfect form industrial design I can think of. It's absolutely beautiful.

Closing out Summer

2009-09-08T10:12:00.002-06:00

Oh Jeff why do you have to move back to Wisconsin?

Porta Party

2009-09-05T15:36:00.007-06:00

I ran around with the worlds greatest flash mob marching band with lead rapper extraordinare Boba Fett. It was time for Boba Fett and the Americans to crash First Friday in the Santa Fe art district. Like a true bounty hunter lead marching band they did in fact kill it. A much needed creative boost for the wandering drunken masses. The crowds were down and an impromptu parade was established as usual. This is how we roll in denver.

Sneak attack!

10 watts of sheer power!

Que Guapo!

Strategy: Take no prisoners.

Boba rests before the next attack.

A rare guido siting, almost as rare as Boba Fett but not nearly as much fun.

This particular group of night stalkers would have fetched a hefty bounty, lucky for them Boba was too busy killing the dance floor,

I definitely got some weird photos. it's hard to focus when you are doing the moonwalk.

They usually start off by meeting up at a super secret location and practice while Boba Fet prepares his jet pack.

This looks like some amazing photoshop skills but it's just the reality of America.

The ladies love the Fett.

I especially like the fans that you can see the expression of awe and sometimes that "damn why didn't I think of this".

Another picture that out of context is just amazing.

I do believe in Tuba Steve.

Modernism Showcase

2009-08-31T10:28:00.002-06:00

I love the Modernism showcase in Denver. It gets better every year. all though sadly not a lot of people buy anything. I mean they have very fine fine modern furniture and art and it is priced to sell but I guess my friends and I are pretty broke. We saw some awesome stuff. The first thing that caught my eye was definitely one of those pieces I would have bought if I had the 500.00 dollars. A Le Corbusier poster from one of his drawing exhibitions it reminds of Picasso and Basquiat and it's great to see a time where the top notch architects were not just designing building, furniture, writing manifestos, they were also just great artists.

This was some cool weird drawing machine.

I wound up just shooting weird desolate scenes along the perimeter, I am not sure why.

I really liked this mirror and it gave me the idea of trying to build one myself just as a picture frame. It's a terrible idea.

Check out the sweet hand leading on this billboard. Perfect.

I only bought a couple of things. Some old photos, a cool deco hat for Frieda. I really like this one with the tractor in it you can see the shadow of the photographer which is cool.

and this one is pretty intense to me. I love the crooked horizon line and just the over all sincerity of the expressions on their faces. It's pretty intense Americana. Photographs are amazing.

Travel by Train

2009-08-25T10:33:00.005-06:00

Here is a new film I made for a performance video art submission for a multi-media event titled Flaunt Evolution. The musical score was arranged by Frieda Stalheim.

Art & Copy & lies

2009-08-22T10:53:00.007-06:00

ART & COPY trailer from Baldwin& on Vimeo.

One of my first jobs in advertising was working at a pre-press firm in NYC in 1993. I stood in an impressive dark room watching in awe as a re-toucher made a woman in a bra more "perfect" by magically removing blemishes and stray hairs. From the very beginning I new advertising was less about truth. Art & Copy is an interesting premise for a documentary and handled correctly could have been brilliant, but the director seemed to be so enamored by the "heros" of advertising so much so that he forgot who his protagonist was. He hints at it by presenting small vignettes of statistics forecasting an over saturation of advertising media in our current lives, but that's it then it's back to some ridiculous opulent office space where we see Rich Silverstein discussing how great he is. The funny thing about a lot of these humble ad execs from the upper tiers of the advertising ladder is they are actually pompous egomaniacs. They are pitching the game of advertising to us the same way they pitch anything else. They are conning us into thinking we need it. And if you think the creative people behind ad agencies have all the power in the agency, as many of these execs postulate, than you clearly don't understand economics. But they are so damn charismatic you forget that they are littering the world with nonsense. George Lois is exceptionally honest and I appreciated that. But Mary wells is clearly her own biggest fan and just loves hearing herself talk about how brave she was. I think she took credit for feminism. She was clearly saving the world with her clever post war ads. You get the feeling that a lot of them wished they were starving artists, and they even sound like artists sometimes. A lot of them state that they are in fact making art, after all Toulouse Lautrec was designing ads just like Lee Clow is making Ipod ads. He actually makes this comparison. It's basically the same thing, right? Wrong. You are dead wrong. Dear everyone working in advertising you are making ads you are not making art. You are not Toulouse Lautrec you aren't even close. An Ipod poster will never be nostalgically revered like a Toulouse Lautrec. EVER!

Maybe this film would be intriguing to the average person whose never really considered the process or the power of advertising, but I suspect that the average viewer interested in this film is a bit more street wise and knows that behind the curtain is something much more sinister. A decent protagonist would have been a crew of bombers who bomb billboards. How about the editor of Adbusters? How about one of the many grass roots local efforts that attempts to regulate the amount of advertising in their community? These are no brainers. Present the viewer with the flip side of the coin. Do we really need to see some creative types playing basketball in their own agencies private court? Why not show the designer pulling his hair out at four in the morning in his office crying into his fifth cup of coffee. Then cut to Lee Clow catching some eight Am waves before the big presentation.

The good news is there is a happy ending to this film all though the director left it out. Every 20 or so years advertising is faced with the perplexing problem of re-inventing itself, by either adapting to a completely new technology or adapting to a completely new audience who keeps becoming increasingly clever. Right now many of the biggest proudest most invincible agencies in America are downsizing and scrambling to figure this new climate out. The world of multimillion dollar TV spot campaigns and big billboard runs is being phased out. This paradigm shift isn't just because of youtube but it's because of something else, it's because if you play the same magic trick on the same audience over and over again they eventually find the card up your sleeve. I still can't believe the director obviously hadn't read any Marshall Mcluhan and hadn't done any research on the current state of affairs in advertising. His feeble attempts at offering a dark side was overshadowed by the ultimate con artists (his main subject) into thinking that advertising is somehow a philanthropic industry, which in a way proves just how clever the ad industry clearly is.

If you work in the industry you should see this movie and judge it yourself. It has it's good points, I am mainly regarding the overall premise and how it missed it's mark. I too get a great feeling of accomplishment when I come up with a clever design. I know what my job is and I know how it fits into this grand puzzle of commerce and society. Not for a moment can we forget that there is a certain amount of pollution in what we do.

Water World part 2

2009-08-20T12:05:00.004-06:00

Armed with two semi waterproof cameras we returned with proof of our fearlessness.

My ME1 sure likes taking messed up grainy blue pictures.

Water world part 1

2009-08-18T10:12:00.002-06:00

Went to water world yesterday with Ethan and Frieda it was AWESOME to the max! Pics to follow.

Summer BBQs? Check

2009-07-12T18:41:00.003-06:00

Bday party for Jeff L. Tim hosted a proper Texas sized Bbq. It was awesome.

Tied up in legal

2009-07-05T15:18:00.005-06:00

A couple freelancers and some art directors current work load was tied up in the legal dept. Why sit around waiting for their approval. Let's play hooky! We went wake boarding. We can't surf in Denver but we can get surprisingly close. Getting up on a surfboard while getting pulled by a boat is a bit tricky. Imagine laying on your back in the water with your heels up on the board and then angling it straight under you as you begin to get dragged. I tried getting up from my stomach I almost had it. I found it easier to get up while grabbing frontside.

Sean tried to get up while sliding off the back deck of the boat while standing up and he almost made it it was crazy. It's so fun though feels like surfing to me. Thanks Sean!

"So you need a PDF right now? but I am still working on the roof. What sound? Oh that's a chainsaw".

'Merican Life

2009-07-05T15:05:00.003-06:00

Happy independence day everybody.

Randoms

2009-07-05T14:43:00.004-06:00

point Broke

2009-06-17T15:16:00.004-06:00

Back from the East Coast. got to hop in the water only to quickly retreat to skimboarding. I couldn't believe how quickly the surf broke me. Water was cold waves were big enough and I am a wimp. Got some fun pics though.

Got some cute pics of Trev and Beckys new boy Shepard.

I shot some long exposures in the back yard got some interesting eerie results.

I love shooting in airports. Laid over in chicago this area totally reminded me of Blade Runner amazing how prophetic that film was. I love finding the cubist moments between the glass. You can tell the cubists weren't really exagerating forms as much as they were just seeing what was allready there. Tightly compressed layers of culture converging in the new industrialized urban centers. Cubism is everywhere.

This is the closest I've ever got to a "Stock photo"

Coney Island

2009-06-10T16:49:00.002-06:00

Last Year my sister and I went to Coney Island to take pictures and film. At the time I had just gotten my new camera and I didn't know how to shoot with it too well. Coney Island announces that it's going to close Astroland pretty regularly I am not sure to what extent it is closed at this point, but supposedly this was the last day it was open. So finally one year later I had a moment to edit something together from this footage. I used an appropriate song from God speed black emperor. Enjoy

Sewing in the Rain

2009-05-25T22:22:00.003-06:00

Been raining a lot in denver which is actually great cause we need it. To bad my studio leeks quite a bit. Finished some art this weekend so I can finally get started on my new series. Frieda has been sewing up a storm. Can't wait to show people the cool things she's making but they are surprises for friends so I can't show them yet. I been walking around delerious watching movies and taking pictures of Frieda's feet.

Colfax Street Photography continues

2009-05-12T11:26:00.003-06:00

The reason why my images are sometimes pieced together all weird is because my scanner only accepts 35mm negs I got to buy a new scanner that can handle the 120.

Designs for Flaunt evolution

2009-05-08T10:06:00.001-06:00

Here are some preliminary animations for a multimedia event called Flaunt Evolution.

MATTER gets psychedelic at the DAM

2009-04-28T12:56:00.005-06:00

Rick Griffith and Co at Matter put on a great show at the DAM Friday live printing awesome posters and shirts in conjunction with a 60's fashion show and the psychedelic rock poster show that is currently being exhibited. Nice work. It was fun filming their creative process.

Senior Discounts at the Parker Park

2009-04-18T19:08:00.003-06:00

My dear friend Benj was visiting for SPB convention 09 which was fun. So monday we headed out to a couple of parks. The new park in Parker has to be one of the best parks in Colorado. Sorry about the poor filming and the dirt covered lens. I seriously forgot to check my UV filter for dust! Doh! Being a somewhat professional videographer with some decent HD gear their really is no excuse why I can't seem to properly document skateboarding the fact that all of my hot moves are from 1984 doesn't help.

Lucha Libre

2009-04-05T22:19:00.005-06:00

This was Frieda and my first Mexican Lucha Libre outing and I can tell ya I am definitely a believer. I edited the Lucha Libre promotional video package for my friend Sid Pink in exchanges for some seats. It was awesome. Sid was the promoter and announcer. My camera was definitely on over drive with the visual opportunities everywhere, the audience was an interesting mix of hispanic families and hipster kids. I loved the acrobatics and the humor of it all it shared more with Abbot and Costello than it did with the WWC.

I got dressed up, as a sketchy Lucha Libre fan with a ponytail. Don't ask.

Sid's eclectic style finally found the most appropriate home as a Lucha Libre promoter and announcer. Perfect. He did a pretty damn good job announcing in Spanish, too. Nice work.

Unanimously the pirate goat costume was the best costume of the night.

My friends and I were basically in awe the entire time.

So if it looks like the guy is breakdancing on his shoulders, it's because he was. I can't even explain it. It was amazing.

My friend Michelle looked totally classic escorting one of the wrestlers. Frieda took this picture. She's getting pretty good with the D200.

This was a real florescent light bulb possibly filled with flour. Amazingly effective.

If you have the opportunity to attend a Lucha Libre event in your town I can't recommend it enough. Adios.

heavy Metal Mamiya

2009-04-04T12:33:00.003-06:00

I got a new camera. It is the Iron Maiden of medium format cameras. A mamiya RB6pro. It's interesting I got it a few days ago and my ideas and understandings of every aspect of photography are completely turned upside down. It's more of a camera than I am a photographer that's for sure. Before I set out on my test mission I had to make it a little more street friendly I rigged some gear I had lying around to it.

One of my old clip in straps worked, I was stoked I found my old vivitar arm handle thing. I had to drill out the slider bar to fit the quarter inch mount on the Mamiya, I used this cool shaved down hex head bolt . So she's even tougher looking now and way more adept to street level handheld. Honestly I was really surprised I got any shots, I had no idea what I was doing. I have never shot with a camera like this. It's so awesome. Unlike a traditional camera a certain respect is needed to handle it and to be in front of the lens, it seems my subjects acted accordingly. People actually had an understanding that this was an extraordinary camera and they should want to have their picture taken and be stoic. I have to wonder why so many photographers have just abandoned these great timeless machines. There is a personality to this format that is very unique and imperfect. My neighborhood and my ideas are also imperfect so why do I need a crystal clear lens system and error proof image scanning sensor to tell my stories? Sorry D200 but you got nothing on this armoured monster. Don't worry I'll still use you, just for the less personal stuff.

My test role was shot on a nice sunny day walking Colfax with the beast.
My slide scanner is only a 35mm flatbed adaptor so I need to upgrade that so I don't have to puzzle piece the scans together in post.

Black Power Chords

2009-04-04T12:18:00.002-06:00

So in 1975 I was 3 years old, possibly a defiant little runt, curious about the world, little did I know of Punk Rock, little did anyone know of it. The seeds were planted, Bowie had his glam thing, The Sex Pistols were getting warmed up, Iggy was raising eyebrows but little was established and there was definitely not a solid movement to speak of. Out of such chaos and angst there was bound to be some false starts and in many cases there were torch bearers who were so forward thinking that an audience wasn't even present. They say all future technologies appear to be magic to primitive cultures but you have to wonder what real punk music would have sounded like to someone in 1975? Magical? Unattainable? In many music genres, hell probably in every musical genre, we trace it's roots back to Africa, and African Americans, and now it seems even punk rock may be of the same case.

Somewhere in the ever depressed Detroit Michigan in early 1970s a band comprised of 3 brothers got together played R&B music but then they heard the Stooges and MC5 and that sort of flipped their script and they became the band named Death. So they took that Rock city frame work and somehow made music that was definitely not of their time. I actually think it might be even more profound then their influences. What if Jimmy Hendrix was punk? What if Bad Brains started four years earlier. I read an article about them in a zine called the NY times and it seemed strange. How did I never hear of this? How was this band lost to annals of music history? Maybe it's just overhyped rock. So I special ordered it from my local record store and I listened and I was blown away. It is amazing. It is amazing what these brothers were doing in 1975. Unsung heros, cast off as probably noisy over-amplified messy rock and roll not fit for any stadium or radio station with un-marketable name. The first song kind of reminds of Husker Du, there are a few Iggy and the stooges, MC5 influences, and not so strangely we think of Bad Brains at several moments. I wonder if they ever heard this band before they started? Probably not but there are moments that are just so similar. "Freakin out" is pretty much a Bad Brains song. There are elements of kind of glamish metal singing that no one would even hear until Judas Priest. There are definitely fun 80's skate rock rythmic parts that make me think of old Santa Cruz videos. Let's listen to the last two songs. "Where do we go from here?" Pretty appropriate title for a band that combined all the best elements of punk rock without making too many mistakes 4 years before the eggshell even broke. Again this track sounds so fresh and awesome it just makes me want to shake it. I love how raw his guitar sounds and it has a really fun prog break down. The last song "Politicians In My Eyes" is a veritable anthem and definitely a hit. When the chorus comes in "Always trying to be slick...." you are so sold on this shit your like sign me up let's burn down the capitol building. It's moot to wonder how culture would have developed if they had maybe a more approachable name or if they lived in LA or NY. Who cares I'm just glad I get to appreciate something that was almost lost in the deep recesses of 45 bin history.

Another cool side note is Rough Francis is a punk band out of Burlington Vt that has a son of Death's orig line and they play Death songs.

Locals Only

2009-03-21T11:27:00.004-06:00

Denver is blowing up on the local music scene. I suck at shooting bands but whatever it's fun. Taun Taun and Dbiddle.
Frieda & Kerry sat in for Jeff D. It sounded so epic. It was great seeing Duncan again.

Arting

2009-02-07T15:46:00.004-07:00

First Friday was off the hook yesterday. I saw a Rauschenberg show at Robischon. Which blew my away. It was from his Lotus series printed absolutely beautifully by master printer Bill from Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE). Good thing I didn't have 25 grand burning a hole in my pocket.

I also saw an amazing print show at the MCA titled Shark's Ink. This show celebrated the collaboration of many renowned artists and master printer Bud Shark of Shark’s Ink in Lyons, Colorado. I had no idea some guy in Lyons of all places was pulling such amazing and diverse prints. I absolutely loved the work of John Buck. Who made some of the largest woodblock prints ever created. I imagine. Very cool stuff.

and Don Ed Hardy who was this very west coast surf tattoo style dude who I think a lot of my friends would definitely dig.

I than went to one of the many new Rhino galleries on Walnut to check out my good friend Andrew Warner's show which was totally amazing. Andrews paintings are very big and dark and you just have to spend time with them. It was hard to spend enough time with them with such social commotion around me. I have to go back and check them out again. It was so damn crowded. But you can tell Andrew put a lot of blood sweat and tears into this body of work.

We closed the night out at Andenken for one of my favs, Evan Hecox. Anyone one who has ever seen my art collection knows How much of a fan I am of Evan. I have been trying to cut back on buying art in the state of such unstable economic times yet I probably restrained myself for all of two minutes of entering the show. The second screen print piece in the gallery was of my beloved hometown sea port of Montauk. Damn you Evan! But buying art brings me such joy so who cares. If we deny ourselves those pleasures than once the point of living. And if things go all Beyond Thunderdome think how many sacks of grain you could get rollin' up to Barter Town with a cart full of Hecox paintings. Buy art.

Thanks for driving Frieda, and thanks Sean T, and Jeff S for joining us.

Dreams Realized

2009-01-19T22:50:00.004-07:00

MLK 09 was an especially beautiful day this year, for many reasons.

The largest march I have ever been a part of. There must have been 30,000 people marching this year.

Resolution Revolution 09

2009-01-01T15:51:00.007-07:00

We set it off with a proper warehouse party in patrick's studio. Thanks to Dust on the Breakers and all the other musical guests. It was a blast. Not sure how I wound up becoming deisignated photographer but I did. Rod let me borrow a sweet flash that I butchered the settings on frequently. I occasionally snapped a decent picture, which isn't hard with this fantastic looking bunch. Thanks Patrick and Audrey. More warehouse partys 09!

Mike, Jeff, and Brady. Jeff wore a magical hat that made him wasted when ever he put it on. Fabulous.

Frieda after three drinks is like a Frankenstien after the lightening bolt.

Frieda saved up all her secret dance moves for the last party of the year just to show us what the future looks like.

Cleavage laws are totally lax on New Years.

Happy new year. may all of your dreams come true and stuff.

OYC update

2008-12-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

Winter makes the night brighter

2008-12-14T22:01:00.004-07:00

Own your C montage rough draft 2

2008-12-09T15:01:00.004-07:00

November Reel

2008-11-22T17:36:00.002-07:00

I'll update my demo-reel six times before ever showing it to potential clients. Never satisfied, allthough this new one is at least funner. My dream is too get enough HD work so that my reel contains zero SD and way less sports stuff.

vector line rotoscope test

2008-11-21T16:28:00.003-07:00

When a client asks for rotoscoping I usually sign and think damn. But what is so hard about rotoscoping, and how do we make it easier? Well if you shoot your content in Progressive HD you are off to a good start. Things like hands are way easier to trace when you can see some detail from the larger aspect ratio. Lock the camera down and your talent should remain fairly still except for the items she's moving. A lot of static elements makes for some easy rotoing. This example is kind of rushed and was just a test to show a client what we can do. Now the only aspect of this animation that was truly rotoscoped was her hands. And it was all accomplished with complex outlined masks in Aftereffects. Everything else is just fudging it in illustrator. Hopefully they like it.

San Francisco Travel Document

2008-11-20T10:41:00.003-07:00

Met up with my dear friend Benj in SF for a little skating and fun. We skated some fun spots, took pictures, and checked some art out. I got a sneak peak at Jeremy's new work for his Fifty24SF show and hot damn was it fantastic. It was cool cause it was all about the seedy history of SF so we got a great historical tour of his neighborhood. Here are some pics and a super dumb video of us goofing around. Still getting used to my new camera had some trouble with the 60 fps settings but all things are good now.

Too bad the completely out of his mind security guard didn't like the idea of us even thinking about skating. Fort Miley we will be back and next time it's personal

SF is such an awesome city thanks to all who put us up and showed us around.

video ideas for client

2008-11-12T13:17:00.003-07:00

check out this video too we really like the aesthetic of this.

http://motionographer.com/media/filmtecknarna/lies01_H264.mov

Cigarettes are scary!

2008-11-03T17:16:00.002-07:00

So I just updated my Maya system to my Mac platform and I needed to test it out and re-familiarize myself with the program so I gave myself a test assignment that was in conjunction with a campaign I was working on as a director/editor titled The Cigarette is Dead. They were super fun ads and the company that was art directing the entire campaign was awesome! What was fun about this animation was adhering to 2D PSD files with alpha channels for a majority of the models. So in a unique way I wasn't really modeling primitives and relying mostly on planes. It's a pretty fun and quick way to work. I think it gives it a 2d 3d sort of feel which I like.

Halloween 08

2008-11-02T22:35:00.003-07:00

I get kind of crazy for October 31. I love building a new identity for myself. Frieda and I celebrated our mutual love and respect for Luc Besson, Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich with Korbin Dallas, Leeloo costumes. Awesome!

Hands down the best costume Ian's Liono!

Randomness

2008-10-20T16:48:00.004-06:00

Frieda and Buckminster Fuller

I miss the summer. I miss the ocean.

The MCA is art.

Shock and Awful

2008-10-11T10:01:00.009-06:00

Ok picture this: You are a wealthy aristocrat invited to the opening gala of Damien Hirst's first ever exhibition in Denver at the Museum of Contemporary Art. You are standing there with an equally wealthy societal elite gazing with awe upon the centerpiece of the show, Saint Sebastian. The carcass of a cow preserved in a vitrine of formaldehyde, it's decrepit body laden with arrows much like its famous religious archetype. You whisper in your friends encrusted ear, "His work is about death." and then out of corner of the exhibition space a security guard relinquishes is austere ambivalence and says loudly "NO SHIT LADY!"

You see, a lot bothers me about his work. We could deconstruct it from a variety of angles, all equally highlighting it's artifice but one thing that definitely strikes me and leaves me perplexed is how glaringly obvious it is in terms of it's symbolism. And to embed insult even further into injury he goes to great lengths at explaining the "symbolism" to us. This dead animal preserved in formaldehyde in the middle of this grand institution of art... it's about death and how us humans struggle to understand death. Really wow that's fascinating, so this piece is about death. Ok great thanks a lot. Sometimes you can take something out of context and put it in a gallery and it becomes something completely different to great affect. A car accident for example, (see the work of Cai Guo-Qiang) but to me taxidermy is taxidermy. You can dress it up anyway you want but it's long history inside western hotels and people with bad tastes homes kind of detracts it from achieving any formal "art" significance for me. So this ugly butterfly collage painting that looks like an A plus craft assignment at summer camp this is significant because you, I mean your team of assistants used real life butterflys. Shocking. And we think the chumps in Andy Warhol's factory had it bad? Just to preface this I don't expect artists to necessarily build their own work but I still want to see the artist's mind within his work, I want to know this is the artist's concept, and he is dictating it's process. Richard Serra could never bend a piece of steel that grand but I understand his vision implicitly and I see his hand in those glorious pieces of turned steel. With Hirst I see a definite consistency in theme, but the craftsmanship and the means of production are completely discordant. I can smell the rushed assembly line and that bothers me.

So if we can for a moment put aside the hype, the obscene opulence, and general controversy of his work and if we can just for a moment introduce ourselves to it for what it is, what will we see? Well obviously a certain amount of repulsion is intended. But this haphazard journey must be worthy of certain amount of acclaim right? Well let's take a look at a slight departure of a piece, his medicine cabinet installation. Various medication in rather generically designed packaging, presented much like shelving in a pharmacy. Siginificant symbols of the over-medicated human's desire for preservation, masking illness, and ideally prelonging the advent of death. Wow, again kind of obvious not really ground breaking stuff here. All the containers appear to be empty alluding to them being props detracting further from the installations general authenticity. It's impossible to criticize this disjointed context of work without considering the artists current placement in the world. The pedestal he resides on his above all coherence, and criticism. The genteel league of art collectors that fuels the Hirst Co. output is ready to graciously invest obscene amounts of money in whatever it is he deems fitting to pinch out of his rosy cheeks. You want deliberate over the historical significance one of his color theory paintings even though the color field movement brilliantly covered this fifty years ago? Here you go have fun.

I'm sure my seemingly negative interest in Damien's strange journey as an artist could be attributed directly to his success. After all his work isn't at all about death it's about our reaction. All controversy is an investment. It's funny how a platinum skull encrusted with diamonds is worthless if no one pays attention to it. Some artists spend their lives amassing beauty while others just want to amass attention. And right now no one does it better than Damien. Marshall McLuhan once said, "All media exists to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values." So in that case maybe Hirst is rightfully defined as one of the greatest living artists today, but you know... I ain't buying it.

Interview

2008-09-22T15:05:00.003-06:00

Here is an interview about my process as a music video director.

bad demo reel 08

2008-09-18T13:53:00.003-06:00

You know making a decent demo reel is fun but what do you do with all those projects that you hated, that seemed almost to be jokes rushed out the door with little adherence to the aesthetics of good design? Well why not make a bad demo reel! Yes here it is the one you've been waiting for. Sort of a best of the worst of, for your viewing pleasure.

New Demo Reel

2008-09-12T09:30:00.003-06:00

Finally updated my demo reel. This is the first phase. Feel free to critique. I could always use some feedback.

Manifest Hope submissions

2008-08-07T22:50:00.010-06:00

I have loaded several images and media samples from two pieces that I intend to submit to the Moveon.org based DNC art show entitled Manifest Hope. Both pieces are political in nature and deal with aspects of history as well as the steps we need to take right now to prevent us from revisiting atrocities of the past.

When you peer through the eye piece you see and hear this video, so it is visualized in a very intimate setting. The intent here is to enforce the Hiroshima victim's recollection in a deeply personal manner.

This piece entitled "Prospects of Democracy" incorporates sound bites from a political speech of Noam Chomsky about America's ideal concepts of democracy versus it's current misappropriation. It also a incorporates excerpts from Charlie Chaplin's closing speech in the film "The Great Dictator" which similarly discusses the pitfalls of greed combined with politics.

Here is the audio collage I edited that plays back within the piece when you flip the switch.

http://www.manifesthope.com/

Experiments in Portraiture

2008-08-03T19:57:00.005-06:00

This will be the first of an ongoing exploration into abstracted portraits using my recently built distortion cameras. I used a variety of cameras all varying in levels of intended abstraction all though my attempts at both controlling the level of abstraction or predicting the outcomes was pretty futile. I was surprised at how abstracted the images were.

A matter of fact I think I have to go back to the drawing board a little bit because both my depth of focus and level of deterioration was way beyond what I intended. I fluctuated my lighting situation greatly only to learn that it didn't matter, which in terms of traditional photography makes no sense. Nothing I do seems to make these photos more literal, it's almost as if the cameras or the aspect of chance operation is the artist in charge I'm just a long for the ride pushing the buttons. it's funny because some of these photos are very long exposures and others aren't and that didn't effect the color or the bluriness. Most of the colors come out of chemical reactions rather than colors that were present. Frieda was photographed on a white back drop for all of these.

So what do you guys think? I think I'm on to something but I'm not quite there yet. It's weird when the intent doesn't materialize and something else does. It's exciting. I guess that is what I have to respect about this process. I am setting obstacles in place to obstruct my vision. Even though I am beginning with a subject and a tool typically used in documenting life accurately things can easily be distorted and steered into complete abstraction.

Underground Music Surfaces in Denver

2008-08-03T10:23:00.004-06:00

So many major events undocumented on my blog, I have been seriously slacking! I apologize! Well this weekend was the Denver Post Underground Music Fest where one gets to see two days of purely Denver underground music. All the bands in this festival are pretty much unsigned which in the case of denver makes up 99 percent of all the bands. Pretty much every band except Flobots, Devotchka, and the Fray. And within all these bands there are musicians that float about playing in every other band. It kind of reminds me of the NY Bepop jazz movement in the 50s. Anyway it was really fun, I saw some great music. Friday night I witnessed Dust on the Breakers, Dbiddle, Bad Weather California, Bad Luck City, and Ian Cooke kill it.

On Saturday I watched Frieda sit in on Everything Absent and Distorted set which us a bunch of covers and a variety of friends lending their musical talents. It was great seeing Frieda on stage again even with these big hair dudes.

Then my friend Julie's band Bela Karoli played and they sounded great. I like it when they have these music fests because they have to turn a variety of places into music venues and in the case of this great folk set performed by Rachel Pollard, Gregory Allen Issacov, and Julie Davis, it was a Rug Warehouse. It was lit really great and had such a pleasant ambiance.

Actually Denver's music scene is a pretty awesome thing, I mean here we have a city that has probably received more recognition for it's brothels than it's music historically speaking but the music scene here thrives despite what little recognition it receives. It beyond thrives it's like an army covering every genre while inventing many of it's own tactics. Due to a lack of exposure and a lack of influence from the popular shores of America it evolves much like the Galapagos island spawning diversity and uniqueness that rivals anything I have ever heard. Mat and Kim we are not. We aren't sloppy untrained punk kids rehashing old ideas. We have completely developed our own musical sensibilities based on sharing ideas with our friends and in many cases some of the most interesting things in Denver come out our incorporation of classical instrumentation and mutli cultural interpretations of folk music.

Even that definition is far too narrow and one sided because we also have bands like Mr. Pacman which is more derivative of Voltron than Appalachian Folk. It seems they dug a hole from Japan and came out in Denver. The Highlight for me was seeing them play at Rule mainly because of the contrast of Rule Gallery and Mr. Pacman collaborating. Rule Gallery is a very high end "high art" establishment that doesn't cater to the first friday crowd at all, it caters to art collectors and established artists so rarely does my low brow crowd even stand outside the joint.

Seeing a sweaty Avery naked beyond the ever shrinking speedo rolling around on that sacred floor just feet from a fifteen thousand dollar Dale Chisman painting screaming "This is gonna be the best summer ever". I only wish Robin Rule was there to witness the collision of such distant aesthetics. All and all it was a great weekend of musical appreciation. Thank you Denver.

Road Trip? Check

2008-07-09T08:29:00.002-06:00

Frieda and I bounced to the Orient Land Trust Valley View Hot Springs in one day and back and it was awesome! More pics coming but here is the journey sped up a little bit.

We got sun burnt.

Ruckus Repeat Ruckus Video Exhibition

2008-06-23T13:59:00.006-06:00

Frieda and I collaborated on a film for a video exhibition on display right now at the Belmar Labs. Frieda scored it with a bunch of found sounds. Check it out if you get a chance. Here's what the Lab has to say about the show.

RUCKUS, REPEAT, RUCKUS is The Lab's latest Poop Deck Project, a video art exhibition that explores the spectacular and dynamic dimensions of the digital art medium. Artists in this exhibition find artistic forms that engage with the widespread and fast-paced display of media in mass culture. The metaphor of noise is meant to suggest an urban environment, a background feature that nevertheless persists in making its presence felt - an aesthetic experience that is neither contemplative nor decorative, but continually draws attention to itself.

Install to party zone

2008-06-09T07:27:00.006-06:00

Frieda with a very beautiful Amanda Marie painting in the background. Frieda and Ian Cooke played and it was awesome they both sounded amazing. Thanks so much guys. I plan to post video of there performances shortly.

Holle and Owen reppin'

Dudes kickin' it, Ethan my master silicon blaster

Sid Pink their tan man servant and Kat in attendance. Hey Sid thanks for spending thousands of dollars on art on the show before my show, that was awesome, call me if you need help hanging.

Scott lefavor's skills get scoped. these two pieces were the stars of the show for me.

A sax player and two of my favorite bosses

The install was fun the show looked great and the opening night was a several hundred person party in the true tradition of Andenken. Thanks to all you suckas who bought art and to all you playas that said you were thinkin' about it just to impress the ladies.

I was going to make this into a QTVR but then I remembered I have no idea how to do that.

Let the records show Andenken still throws the craziest party/art exhibitions in Denver. Thanks to everyone for helpin out and to Jeremy for the awesome install and to Amanda Marie and Scott Lefavor for seriously bringin' it and settin' the bar mighty high, and to Tom for curating and having my art in the first pace. Thanks a bunch.

Please visit www.beautyandthestreet.org for more pieces of the show and availability of the art.

Inside my studio

2008-06-02T01:00:00.004-06:00

Here's a sneak peak at some of my work, my studio, and a glimpse at the process involved in preparation for my show next Friday June 6th at Andenken.

The Immortal Robert Rauschenberg

2008-05-16T08:04:00.006-06:00

Robert Rauschenberg

October 22, 1925 May 12, 2008

Inspiration comes in waves but nothing was more profound in my life to when I saw Robert's work for the first time. It was like being hit by a truck, it changed my life, completely altering my concepts of art, the potential of an artist, and how an artist should interact with the world. He is highest rung on the latter I climb. I remember when my mom and I went to see his retrospective at the Gugenheim, just starting from the top and spiraling down through his immense world. The vastness of his legacy was mind boggling. The sheer lattitude and range was unlike any artist. We as artists have to remember how important innovation is and how important it is to occasionally abandon a direction just because we know where that direction goes. Robert taught us that consistency in art can quickly lead to stagnation. He always found a smaller riskier branch and climbed out onto it without fear. I remember once standing in a gallery called Rule in Denver it was loud and crowded, filled with snooty people talking to each other many of which could care less about the art on the wall. I had been standing perfectly still for quite sometime faced with a photo of Robert Rauschenberg photographed by Chuck Close. I felt closer to Robert in a way at that moment, I wanted to talk to him, Mostly I just wanted to thank him, and I wanted to take the photo home and use it much like a shrine. It was shot recently and like many of Chucks photos it seemed more in focus that anything optically possible. As if I could see the ideas churning behind Robert's honest eyes. My friend Evan was standing next to me, "you like him"? "Who Robert, yeah, he's pretty much my hero."

Robert I will miss you thanks for the education. The torch you handed me to carry is kind of big do you have anything smaller?

Under construction

2008-05-04T10:10:00.003-06:00

I am in the studio working like a banshee preparing for my june 6th show at Andenken. I am in the process of completing 11 pieces for this show. All are lightboxes based on my experiences in different cities around the world. I will be showing with Mandy Ploegsma and Scott Lefavor. It's gonna be an amazing show. I can't tell you how good it is to be back at it. It's been too long. Please attend this show if you can.

Kursk Video Premier

2008-03-03T14:10:00.010-07:00

Thank you to all who attended my premier here is the video for your online viewing pleasure. It was an honor working with Ian Cooke.

DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
CONCEPT / SET DESIGN / RIGGING
VIDEOGRAPHY / LIGHTING
ANIMATION / EDITOR
/ ETC:
Vincent Comparetto

LIGHTING / KEY GRIPS / CAMERA ASSIST:
Mary Grace Legg & Emily Crenshaw

EDITING ASSISTANT:
Ian O'Dourgherty

CLOTHING DESIGN:
Carolyne Janssen / Frieda Stalheim

SET DESIGN ASSISTANTS:
Ethan Andrews / Craig Lehman / Andrew Hocknenberry

CAST:
Ian Cooke, and the brave Kursk sailors:
Nicholas Andrews
Miles Dierolf
Nixon Johnson
Miles LaBarge
and Jack Labarge

THANK YOU:
Mary Regenold / Matt & Allison LaBarge / Ian O'Dourgherty / Ethan Andrews / Peter Bergman & Ian Cooke

Kursk Video Premier

2008-02-23T18:41:00.002-07:00

I will be premiering my latest video for Ian Cookes fantastic song "Kursk" this coming weekend at the Esquire theater at midnight both Friday the 29th and Saturday March 1st. The video will proceed Mathew Barneys expensive Drawing Restraint 9. It was a honor to work with Ian and I would very much like to share this video with all of you.

The Esquire Theater

590 Downing Street
Denver, CO 80218
(303) 352-1992

Schwitters

2008-02-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Kurt Schwitters is one of my favorite artists. I could never ever in a million years afford an original, but thanks to Ebay I found a couple of vintage gallery catalogs, one is from italy and the other is from Japan both are from the 1950s. I got both catalogs for about thirty dollars which is sweet.

current events

Jim Houser & Ben Woodward Black Book Gallery

Hot dudes and wet streets

This blog has moved

Caspian Shatters the Earth

Jeremy Fish "The Road Less Traveled"

Oh winter

2010 demo reel (work in progress)

hot Rink time machine

Molten Metal

hybrid imagery

mix takes

Camera's Broken and so am I

Trial and Error

Promises of a dark future

The Memory of Snow

Random videos

Spiritualized

Black and White

New work up at Rooster & Moon First Friday Tomorrow!

American Boys

Mineral Spirits

Invitation to a hanging

lion sized

Amanda Marie at Andenken

Governors "park"

Majestic Super Kitten

Friends

forney Museum of transportation

Day of Darkness

Happy halloween!

Hello Leelou

The last day of Eldorado

Tis the Season

Secret Mission

Scot Lefavor at Andenken

the mark summer left

Closing out Summer

Porta Party

Modernism Showcase

Travel by Train

Art & Copy & lies

Water World part 2

Water world part 1

Summer BBQs? Check

Tied up in legal

'Merican Life

Randoms

Other interests video

point Broke

Coney Island

Sewing in the Rain

Colfax Street Photography continues

Designs for Flaunt evolution

MATTER gets psychedelic at the DAM

Senior Discounts at the Parker Park

Lucha Libre

heavy Metal Mamiya

Black Power Chords

Locals Only

Arting

Dreams Realized

Resolution Revolution 09

OYC update

Winter makes the night brighter

Own your C montage rough draft 2

November Reel

vector line rotoscope test

San Francisco Travel Document

video ideas for client

Cigarettes are scary!

Halloween 08

Randomness

Shock and Awful

Interview

bad demo reel 08

New Demo Reel

Manifest Hope submissions

Experiments in Portraiture

Underground Music Surfaces in Denver