The River’s Cascade, Under the Blossoming Plum

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Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu 2012

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Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu 2012 Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu 2012

This Hunger Shall Not Be Satisfied (Futakuchi-Onna)

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This Hunger Shall Not Be Satisfied (Futakuchi-Onna) This Hunger Shall Not Be Satisfied (Futakuchi-Onna)

Postcard Pack Strikes Back

Postcard Pack 3 - Now available in the shop!

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Cold as the Winter Wind, Sharp as a Fox (Yuki-Onna)

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Cold as the Winter Wind, Sharp as a Fox (Yuki-Onna) Cold as the Winter Wind, Sharp as a Fox (Yuki-Onna)

40 Ways to Get Your Art On

August 24, 2010 in News | 3 comments

PhD Online ProgramsI was pleased and surprised to find, amid the detritus of my emailbox, a very nice little note informing me that PaperCuts has been selected as one of BestBloggers Top 40 Modern Art Blogs. Neat, huh?

Thanks go out to the kind soul who nominated this papery forum, as well as the BestBloggers folks for choosing PaperCuts. It all makes me feel a wee bit guilty for not posting as often as I would like.



So, here’s a sneak peak at a piece that I just finished today, but haven’t had the chance to photograph or scan in yet. Enjoy!
LavaRoid Villains final drawing by Patrick Gannon

Photographic Evidence: 風雷貌 / A Wind-Swept and Thunderous Countenance @ Gallery G2

August 11, 2010 in Exhibitions & Events, Japan, News | Add your comment

photos from A Wind-Swept and Thunderous Countenance @ Gallery G2Something miraculous occurred on July 30, 2010, the final day of the 風雷貌 / A Wind-Swept and Thunderous Countenance show at Gallery G2 over in Ginza. I, for maybe the first time, remembered to bring my camera with me. I could have sworn I had it opening day. I even put the little guy in my bag. Somehow, it escaped, wriggling out and hiding under a mound of paper.

There was such a great variety of work in the gallery, from metal sculpture to painting to dolls to cut paper. A plethora of techniques and styles and outlooks on the world.

I encourage you to have a look at the gallery on my Facebook page and see for yourself.

As for the Flemish-inspired portraits of wind and thunder above…well, after seeing them hanging in the gallery, I’ve decided I’m not quite 100% satisfied just yet. About 98%, I think. So, I’ll be going back in and tweaking this and adding that. So, no close ups. Maybe soon. Then again, I’m buried so deep in doing some very cool commission pieces and prepping for the next two shows this Fall… well, it might be a while.

To Endure Beyond This Moment

August 5, 2010 in Art - Recent Work, Japan | 16 comments

To Endure Beyond This Moment cut paper art by Patrick Gannonsize: 20 1/4 x 14 5/16” (51.5 x 36.4cm)
medium: cut and torn paper on wood
click here or the image for a cetacean-sized view.

If I learned anything during the making of this piece, it’s that you can’t hurry a whale. They are stubborn, willful critters, and they’ll do exactly what they please at the precise pace they want to do it. With that much bulk, who’s going to argue?

Surprisingly, they also have some very definite and peculiar feelings regarding color schemes. Take this massive gentle-whale above. My original intent was to create a soft, romantic mood. Maybe a little pink, perhaps a touch of lavender. After all, the basic concept for the piece grew out of love and its fleeting, ephemeral, transient nature. Not to mention nature’s loveliest metaphor for transience: the cherry blossom.

Whenever I start working out colors I try to keep an open mind, testing out all kinds of papers even though I know most of them won’t work (and the occasional one will kick off the gag reflex). More often than not, instinct works its magic and tells me which paper is the right fit. Every once in a while, the paper that works best visually runs up against my preconceived notions or my original concept. And that’s when I’ve got a fight on my hands. This whale fought. Hard. As usual, in the end, I lost. Hopefully that’s a win for the piece (and my subconscious).

To Endure Beyond This Moment cut paper art by Patrick Gannon

So, instead of soft, pop-py, and romantic, the whale got red. RED. Instead of transient, he got tempestuous. He got sex, passion, and maybe a touch of violence. He kept the cherry tree.

As a side note, I’m pretty sure this is the biggest, largest, hugest piece I’ve done yet. It seemed appropriate for a sperm whale. Which explains why I’ve settled for posting an iffy photo of the piece. I just can’t get up the gumption to scan it in. Especially since my copy of photoshop insists on crashing during every third save attempt. One of these days, I’ll gird my loins and dive in. I’ll be sure to post a better shot then. Until that far-off day, please enjoy.

To Endure Beyond This Moment cut paper art by Patrick Gannon

Gallery Show – 風雷貌 / A Wind-Swept and Thunderous Countenance @ Gallery G2

July 22, 2010 in Exhibitions & Events, Japan, News | Add your comment

風雷貌 / A Wind-Swept and Thunderous Countenance @ Gallery G2, Ginza, Tokyo opens Thursday July 22 - July 31, 2010Listen closely to these steamy and sultry summer nights and you will hear it. The expectant stillness. The breath-baited calm that heralds the coming of the storm. Riding on the shrieking winds the typhoon will soon be among us, battering us with pelting rain and berating us with peals of thunder.

It’s been nearly a year since Gallery G2 last invited us to play around with the forces of nature in 2009′s 風雷暴 / Fujin Raijin Exhibition. This year, rather than tempting the wrath of the storm gods, we are exploring the crackling countenance of thunder (as well as lightning) and the gusty guise of wind. Now, when I think “countenance”, I think portrait. And when I think “portrait” I think Flem. As in Flanders. And so it was that I looked to the Dutch masters and their wacky chiaroscuro for inspiration.

So, yeah, I drew a portrait of the wind. Stop on by the gallery before the 31st to take a gander. Even in my sleep-starved state I was mightily impressed by the girth of talent on display. Everything from metal sculpture to acrylic painting to hand-made dolls and, ahem, cut-paper are represented. It’s well worth weathering the sudden summer heat here in Tokyo.

I’ll be at the gallery Saturday, July 24th (count on me being late…it’s a safe bet). I’d like to be there at least one more day, but I haven’t decided which. Drop me a comment or email with your availability, and I’ll try to be there!

Here are the details:

Name: 風雷貌 / A Wind-Swept and Thunderous Countenance

dates: July. 22nd (Thurs) to July 31st (Sat) 2010 gallery closed Wed. 7/28

Times: 12pm to 7pm (Last Day: Closes at 4pm)

place: Gallery G2; located in Ginza, just around the corner from Melsa (メルサ）.
Tel: 03-3567-1555
gallery website: right here.
MAP

artists / 出品者：大澤冬樺（墨）／田村晴海（創作人形）／中村滋（アクリル）／パトリック・ギャノン（切絵）／松井直友（金属）／守屋礼子（アクリル）

日付: ２０１０年７月２２日（木）〜７月6３１日（土）
時間: １２時〜１９時 / 最終日は１6時まで
住所: Gallery G2 東京都中央区銀座２丁目８−２　日紫１F
電話: 03-3567-1555
Read the rest of this entry »

A Whale of a WIP and a Pleasant Stroll

June 30, 2010 in Japan, News, W.I.P.s | 6 comments

Sakura blossoms and treesWow have I been negligent lately. It’s not that I haven’t been working on art… I have. So many things have been hovering in the planning stages that I really didn’t feel safe to write about them just yet. Happily, my schemes are starting to solidify.

Take, for example, my most upcoming of exhibitions: 風雷貌 (ふうらいぼう) Fuuraibou at Gallery G2 in Ginza, Tokyo. It’ll run from July 22 thru the 31st. There will be more to say about the show soon, after I figure out a good English translation for the title. Until then, mark your calendars.

In the previous blog entry, I mentioned that I was working on the biggest, wackiest piece I’ve done yet. Well, it’s 99.99% done. Just one last piece to glue down. The catch is, it’s so darn big that it won’t fit on my scanner. Yeah, usually I have to scan my artwork in two or three (or four) parts, then mosaic them together in Photoshop. And it’s a royal pain in the neck. This one is so big, it’s gonna take at least 6 or 8 scans, I think. And I’m just dreading it. Getting all the lines to line up, forcing the colors to match, zipping around and erasing all the miniscule dust particles… the thought alone makes me shudder. It won’t be as detailed, but I’m trying to eke out a good photo, and will post it as soon as I can.

Sakura blossoms and treesIn the meantime, I thought I would share a little bit of the inspiration that drove this whale of a piece. Cherry blossoms! In April, just walking to the shop for milk turns romantic as the sakura petals fall all around you. This year, they even hung on the trees for a couple days before being obliterated by torrential rains. The dark and twisted trunks of the older trees are a fascinating contrast to the delicacy of the blossoms. You can see a few more on Facebook.

Oh yeah, and here’s a Work In Progress. All the bits and pieces before being conjured and cobbled and puzzled together. Can you figure out what this will become?

Whale WIP

A Cunning Inspiration

June 3, 2010 in Japan | 2 comments

Image of Inari StatueInari, Shinto God of rice, sake and prosperity. And foxes. Trust me, you wannna watch out for those foxes. They’re tricky little devils. Back in Greece, Aesop was constantly having to deal with their clever machinations. Here in Japan, Foxes double as trickster spirits, along with their sometime ally/sometime enemy the Tanuki. Both critters have the power to shape-shift, often to make fools of us dimwitted humans. Or worse. They can even sneak into your mind and demand that you draw pictures of them.

Over the New Year’s Holiday, I passed through Kyoto on my winding way to the hidden islands of the Setonaikai. On the quieter side of Kyoto Station, away from stately Nijō Castle and flamboyant Ginkakuji sits Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Image of Inari StatueThe shrine is most famous for it’s enormous tunnel of Torii gates, but what most impressed me were the foxes. They were everywhere, always in pairs, guarding the entranceways to each shrine, large and small. I stopped counting at around twenty, but they kept on coming. Some of them carried keys in their mouths. Hopefully not to the chicken coops. It is said that these foxes are benevolent, but I kept an eye on them anyway.

More Foxes (and some Torii’s and stuff) are posted on Facebook.

Image of Inari StatueIn other news, I’m hip-deep in paper right now, working on the largest and most complicated piece I’ve attempted yet (that I can remember). With all the overlapping and underlapping and gluing and ungluing, right now it feels more like an engineering project than a piece of art. My fingers are crossed that it all comes together, and that I don’t accidentally glue myself into it like a fly on sticky paper. I should have some WIP pics up in a day or two, and the piece done soon thereafter. There are a bunch more announcements brewing as well.Vixen (Inari) cut paper art by Patrick Gannon

Travel Reading

May 6, 2010 in Art - Recent Work, W.I.P.s, ` | 16 comments

Travel Reading cut paper art by Patrick Gannonsize: 16 1/2 x 11 5/8” (42 x 29.7cm)
medium: cut paper on wood
click here or the image to read the big book.

It’s been a while since I’ve taken a vacation. In fact, today was the first time I’ve escaped from Tokyo in months (to Kamakura, for a bit of temple hopping and mountain climbing and local beer and sausages. ‘Twas awesome).

They say that “getting there is half the fun”, and generally I agree. It was certainly the case today, with the train ride jammed full of good conversation and weird observations. Not to mention the long, satisfying nap which was the return trip. Sometimes though, all I want to do is find a way to distract myself until I reach my destination. Wrapped securely in a cocoon of books, movies, music and sleep. All the while doggedly ignoring everything springing up all around.

Travel Reading cut paper art by Patrick GannonI’ve been trying to work on a slightly larger scale recently. It gives me a chance to tell more complicated stories with more subtle emotions and concepts. Not to mention that some of the papers I’ve picked up recently are just too beautiful to slice apart. Take, for example, the background paper in this piece. The deep blend of colors mixed with the gold ink is just stunning in person. It’s really a piece of art unto itself.

Travel Reading cut paper art by Patrick GannonOr the subtle variations in color in the beastly blue.

Travel Reading cut paper art by Patrick GannonFinally, here’s the scribble I worked off of. The concept popped into my head more or less fully formed, but with an entirely different cast of inappropriate characters. By this time, I had revised them to their near-finished state. The big hands on the mount’s front limbs were a late addition. It’s surprising how much intelligence those opposable thumbs add to a creature; they make all the difference between a beast of burden and a sentient creature.

Travel Reading cut paper art by Patrick Gannon

Walkin’ On Sunshine

April 22, 2010 in News | 1 comment

A Bright and Sunny Day tattoo of cut paper art by Patrick Gannon
A Bright and Sunny Day cut paper art by Patrick GannonI have no tattoos.

I’m not sure why, really. I dig art and design and squiggly spiral lines. You would think the ink would be right up my alley. It’s the commitment. The permanence of the thing. That much ink and intent absorbed indelibly into the flesh. It defines you, at least at that one moment in time. It’s a flag stabbed into the earth declaring, “This is me. This is where I stand”.

Which, when I think about it, is pretty much exactly the same thing I do when I cut and glue and make each new piece. Except that I never run out of canvas. And if it turns out really bad, I can stick it in a drawer and hide it from the world.

All of which is a long way to go to talk about this leg. The leg is from Brooklyn, NY, USA where it is still attached (I assume) to Jared Roberts. It’s tough to express how flattering it is that Jared liked my work enough to carry it with him all the time. Thanks, Jared, for a huge compliment!

The tattoo, by the way, is based on A Bright and Sunny Day, a piece I did a little while back about a little dude who likes to eat clouds.

As for me, I’ve been keeping busy by making sure I didn’t get kicked out of the country. Oh, and I’m working on making a couple of big pieces. Bigger and more complicated than I’ve done in a while. I’m very excited and a little scared. Which is usually a fortuitous formula for making art. Also working out some plans for upcoming shows and whatnot, all of which I’ll be talking about when the details are concrete. Read the rest of this entry »

The Look of Scissors

April 14, 2010 in Exhibitions & Events, Japan, News | Add your comment

はさみの音 - The Sound of Scissors photographs
The way things usually work is as follows:

I plan and scheme and schedule for a couple of months before each Tokyo exhibition, working out the time needed for every piece of art and pre-show preparation, making sure to give myself plenty of time for accidents both happy and grumpy. Then, somehow I’m pulling an all-nighter right before the show, putting the finishing touches on one more piece I Just Had To Do. The morning of the show, basking in the victory of completion, I pack up every item and head out. Every item but one.

That item is inevitably a camera. Hasami No Oto (The Sound of Scissors) at Niji Gallery last month followed this pattern pretty closely. However, in days past, I would somehow manage to forget the camera (or to charge the battery) each and every time I dropped by the gallery. This time I remembered it on the last day. Probably because my vigilant wife accompanied me.

Sadly, that didn’t mean that I was conscientious enough to actually use it. The poor little thing sat in my bag all day, mewing like a forgotten kitten, waiting to achieve it’s snapshot-snapping purpose. And I ignored it. Luckily, my friend Mayuko Fujino, another artist at the show, had just accidentally bought a humongous digital SLR and was experimenting with it all day. You can see the fruits of her labors right here.

So, a big thank you goes out to Mayuko for sharing the photos with me and letting me share them with all of you. I hope those of you who couldn’t make it to the show feel as inspired by the wide variety of cut paper artwork as I was. Enjoy!

はさみの音 - The Sound of Scissors photographs

Tripping Over Perspective

April 5, 2010 in Art - Recent Work, ` | 8 comments

Tripping Over Perspective cut paper art by Patrick Gannonsize: 8 x 10”
medium: cut paper on wood

Given “Travel” (the theme of the recently wrapped-up Sound of Scissors), most folks would picture the glittering lights of Paris, the sun-baked desert pyramids of Giza, or the stone noggin chorus line of Easter Island. Then they would draw that picture. I, however, am not most people. By which I mean that I never get to go to any of those cool places. Instead, my mind wandered to the kind of travel that I do get to enjoy.

Evidently, the kind of travel that I enjoy begins with me dipping my head into any convenient hole or hollow whereupon it is rent from my body molecule-by-molecule, cast through time and space, and finally bonded to the underside of a nebulous, floaty, precipitation-prone bundle of gasses.

On the other hand, I coulda been thinking along more metaphorical lines when I was sketching out this moody forest scene. Something about how different experiences force us to re-evaluate the things we’ve always taken to be universal. Perhaps travel inside ourselves. Maybe even a short trip through the metaphysical astral plains. Y’know, that sorta high-minded nonsense. Read the rest of this entry »

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