size: 18 x 25.5 cm (7 1/4 x 10 1/8 inches)
medium: cut paper on wood

Worn out by waging constant war against the laws of physics and nature, one minor miscalculation can lead a superb scientist down the paths of melancholy and madness. Not to mention artificial breathing apparatuses and a whole lot of boneless limbs. There’s a whole lot here to regret: a whole world lost and left behind in a mad dash for scientific advancement, a lifetime of breathing recycled air, a lack of opposable thumbs.

What drew me to this guy (who has been sitting in my sketchbook for ages waiting for the right moment to come to life) was the sense of weariness. It’s tough being a mad genius all the time. Not to mention the old-school Eroll Flynn mustache.

As to why there is a sentient snow globe on his noggin; well, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps a receptacle for memories of another life? But whose footprints are those tracking through the snow?

“Regrets of a Mad Scientist”, can be seen right now in San Francisco’s Gallery 1988’s “Battle Royal” group show, until July 18, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

size: 18 x 25.5 cm (about 7″ x 10″ or so)
medium: cut paper on wood
click here of the image for giant-size floating pod-folk

What could that be, I wonder, drifting into the brain of the shiny golden larval-seed-pod-person? If it’s just pollen, s/he is having a much better reaction to it than I usually do. Whatever it is, it seems to have had an invigorating… and enlightening effect. And considering those exhaled wisps, it just might be spreading.

One of the weirder aspect of working in cut-paper is that, in some ways, I’m at the mercy of the paper makers. Alot of the colors and patterns that I’ve been using for the past year or so are no longer available. This season, it seems that brighter and more primary colors are popular. My color schemes have had to adapt. On the one hand, I miss the old papers and my familiar tricks and combinations. On the other, it’s always exciting to experiment with the new, and it keeps the work fresh.

“This Humble Contagion”, by the way, is the first of the new pieces that will be featured in Gallery 1988 San Francisco’s “Battle Royal” group show, starting next Friday, June 26th 2009.

size: 10 x 15 cm (about 4 x 6”)
medium: cut paper on wood

When you’ve got a craving, there’s nothing to do but find a way to satisfy it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a craving for pepperoni pizza or an irresistible urge to draw chemically-mutated reptiles. Trying to deny yourself is futile.

Ever since carving Leonardo out of paper and wood an eon or two ago, I’ve had an itch to have him joined by his friends, family, and enemies. Where Leo was the turtle I identified with most, my younger brother, Loki, always dug Michelangelo. I never knew if it was because his favorite color was orange, the surfer ‘tude, or that you can easily make a pair of nunchucks out of the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels. Of course, our household’s version of Mikey wasn’t the pizza-scarfing, skateboard-riding doofus from the cartoon. He was a mean, green, Foot-butt kicking machine.

Eventually, I’d love to do all four turtles and maybe a couple of their enemies as well. They’re just fun to draw and cut! At this rate, I might finish before I’m sixty.

Michelangelo, the “Party Dude in a Half Shell!” is currently available at Gallery 1988 LA.