Art Trials and Tribulations

New works for Apama Mackey Gallery

2009-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here are two new works that are heading down to Houston to be in a group show at Apama Mackey Gallery. Sweet Mess and More than enough are both 7" x 10" gouache and graphite on watercolor paper.

Me, Mine, and not Yours

2009-08-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of the new work on paper by Joe and I that we are offering sponsors of our show Me, Mine, and not Yours for a donation of $100 or more. Each one is a 14" x 17" unique work on paper combining acrylic paint with pencil drawing. Email us if you'd like to help us out and get this bargain drawing - you can also specify colors (approx) if you'd like. Each one will be different as the space gets divided up according to a little back and forth battle of the brushes.

New Work for Houston Show in August

2009-07-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have been working on some new drawings for our show at Mackey Gallery in August. The tide seems to be drifting me towards graphite on paper and a return to drawing. Also as you can see the subject is my life again.

Michael

2009-04-08T16:52:00.001-07:00

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A video composed from YouTube users who have posted their attempts to be like Mike.

New work and pregnancy

2009-01-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some new items from the studio that are obviously influenced by my whole journey in pregnancy. They are all works on paper and range from 11 x 14 inches to 12 x 17 inches.

The nursery has become my studio

2008-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who may not know, Joe and I are expecting our first child to arrive this January. It's an exciting time which has pretty much transformed my studio practice from focused on me to focused on the baby (I am about a month from my due date). I figured I would post the nursery pics on my blog so you can see what I have been up to outside of the "studio".

So as the "nesting" instinct kicked in, I designed and made a mobile for my little one. A flock of birds which rest on yarn wrapped sticks and twirl through the air with the slightest provocation.

Joe and I also designed and executed a mural for the baby's room. A simple forest theme in greens, tans, and blues. We are now taking commissions for your kids' room as well...

Two Sides of One Brain

2008-07-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

So lately I have continued the more abstract gouaches but have also taken to making some drawings in graphite again that are completely representational. The following is a mixture of the results....

Building Barriers: Read in Peace

2007-12-17T19:41:00.001-08:00

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Finally gotten the time to enjoy that book you've been meaning to read, only to be interupted? Follow the steps in this easy how-to and you'll be able to read in peace.

LA Fluxco Show

2007-05-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was in LA for a group show at Fluxco Gallery. The show featured five artists from the west coast and five from the east coast and was pretty cool since it ended up that each artist shared a room with an artist from the opposite coast. I was in a room with an artist from LA named, Mike, who is responsible for the wooden extentsion cord reaching towards splat. It was a fun show and owner of the gallery, Ford, said that this was one of his favorite things that he has put together in the space. It should be open for a few more weeks (till mid June) so if you are gonna be in town email me and I'll put you in touch with Ford since it's by appointment only.

Enjoy the pics - there's Michael Eudy posing with Ford's golden words in the background (and then Michael's paintings in the shot above). I am also there with my friend Kabira who I have know since birth and who was my fabulous hostess for my time in LA. Then there are some gallery shots including some details of the architectural oddities that I really enjoyed responding to in the art. Letting the works creep out into and under the enviroment more that before....Pictured below is Joe's video again in another context - this time it was in a room with his drawings and then photos of buildings by another artist - the two cities coexisting together. It was cool to see Joe's work small kind of like a little painting at that scale.

Good Intentions at Temple Gallery, April 9 - 13, 2007

2007-05-10T07:36:00.001-07:00

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So I finally got it together and finished the video documentation of the gallery show Good Intentions that was on view at Temple Gallery from April 9 - 13, 2007. Walking through the gallery with a camera captures the intricate nature of many of the works on view. The only thing some people may notice is that this video documentation was taken before all of the changes in the show occured - so the tables are still there and the yarn graffiti over the fire alarm isn't there yet. Enjoy the evolution! By the way if you want to see this documentation in a larger viewer that you can read titles on - go to www.blip.tv and search jahjehan bath ives.

H-Town and OFFsite

2007-05-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

Joe and I just got back from our whirlwind weekend in Houston of friends, food, and art. We are already missing all our Houston peeps and are currentely working on a transporter to beam us there whenever we want mexican food and great people. The show The Distance between Two Points: Joe Ives and Jahjehan Bath Ives with Mackey Gallery OFFsite was awesome. We had a great time flying in with our art and setting up for a cinco de mayo opening. It was so fantastic to see everyone and we had such a great time that we basically forgot to take pictures - so believe us more than two people showed up. So imagine lots of folks in front of the art and enjoy the shots. Also if you didn't get there to watch the videos you can see them here on the blog - click on March posts and watch centering. Then go to Joe's blog at www.joeeives.blogspot.com and you can watch his video too.

2007-04-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

This piece is called "expectations are hard to keep". It just started one morning with the idea of trapping space and grew into something that I think may be very tied to the fact that every time I turn around it seems like another friend is pregnant. In case you'd like to know it's gouache on paper and is 16x20 inches.

Creating Objects in a Blank White Space

2007-04-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

These works are all gouache on paper and are 9 1/2 x 13 inches. They all start with me thinking about the objects I have been making or am wanting to make or sometimes just a mood I am in. Then I pick up a brush and see what happens.

It's Time to Partaaay

2007-04-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

The show is finally up. Joe and I spent most of the day today setting up and here are a few shots of the results. To see more please check back later in the week, once I get someone with a good camera in there OR come to the opening this Friday from 6 to 8:30 at Temple Gallery in Philadelphia. The address is 259 N. 3rd St and there will be cookies and art!

Building Barriers at the Dining Table

2007-04-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

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Tired of being interupted by pesky people wanting to share thier days with you when all you want to do is enjoy a few moments alone with a cup of tea? Follow the easy steps in this how-to film and build new barriers.

Building Barriers Using a TV

2007-03-31T16:46:00.001-07:00

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Tired of being interrupted by other people wanting to talk while you simply want to zone out and watch TV in peace. Follow the easy steps in this how-to film and build new barriers.

The Final Countdown

2007-03-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

I am now narrowing down the works for the show and these are two shots of my studio currentely. The piece that has it's own stand is called "waiting for you" and the work next to it is still waiting for a name (if you have any suggestions feel free to email). The other work which looks like a backwards J is called "this is all that was left". A moment of reflection if you will allow... I've noticed that the work is really becoming quite figurative lately. Maybe that's coming from the gesture of taking materials that are commonly found around the house for kitchen table crafts to create backyard magic. I am transforming my surroundings into little meditations with yarn and house paint.

Two weeks to keep on trucking

2007-03-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

These are some of the newest pieces in my studio which I thought I would share. The little puddles came first and the chair cozy came second. Enjoy.

Teaser

2007-03-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak peak of my postcard image for my upcoming show. This is a detail of the new large piece that I just completed in my studio. To see the full thing you'll have to wait for my show which opens Friday April 13 from 6-8:30pm at Temple Gallery in Philadelphia.

Painting myself a new game

2007-03-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been doing a bunch of little gouaches inspired by the objects that I have been making. I have been making some of these in response to the general tone of my day and using them to envision objects that I haven't made yet so there is a kind of back and forth between the objects and the paintings. The last one I did is called "stop hanging your shit on me"; that was a bad day but it made a pretty little painting. See if you can guess which one that is. Another one is called "i will shelter you"; that was done for Joe when he was having a bad day. I hope you enjoy.

Centering - Whirling Dervishes and Headbangers

2007-03-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

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merging whirling dervishes and headbangers

This video is a new investigation using clips pulled from videos on the internet. I reconstructed a piece that draws lines between the meditative acts of the whirling dervishes and the headbangers. Joe helped me composed the mashed up music.

Video- Patterns

2007-03-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

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A visual investigation of shadows and patterns with an interview about the patterns that one individual sees in the world

This is a video that I recentely completed. It started with an investigation of shadows that I found one day and I built the final piece in layers of audio and video. Enjoy!

LaLa Land

2007-03-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Since this is my last official spring break and Joe and I are still recovering from not travelling all over europe this year, we decided to head for LA this past week. We flew away from Philadelphia just in time to escape the plunge from the 50s into the 20s and arrived in LA for the "nicest week in months" according to my friend Kabira who lives in Silver Lake. We utilized the sunny days with temps in the 70s to go around and see alot of art and some beautiful landscapes. Here are a few of my favorite moments - I loved the tagged palm trees at Venice beach.

I also really dug the faux wood grain at our hotel - it was silver and blue, a totally flashy LA kind of look. Anyhow we had a great time and now I am thinking of how tagged palm trees and flashy faux wood grain can translate into the work....time will tell. My show is in a month so now is the nose to the grindstone time.

SwapMeet in Providence

2007-02-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

At the start of February the Tyler Painting Grads were up in Providence to do a show called SwapMeet at the ISB Gallery. We got together with the RISD Painting Grads to organize a show of our work up there and then they are going to be bringing a show of thier work down here in March. I brought the piece "Kick It' to show and then when we arrived on site my fellow grad, Brett John Johnson pulled out a pink shower curtain that he used to keep his piece clean. Well needless to say I was really enamored of that pink plastic and so when my friend Erin challenged me to make a piece on site I begged Brett for the pink stuff. Armed with a pair of scissors and some white yarn that I had knotted on the way up I proceeded to make the piece on-site called "It's a Girl!" I hope you enjoy these little snap shots of the product of this "designer challenge".

New Paintings

2007-02-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

Lately I have also been doing a series of gouaches when thinking about the spaces in the 3-D works. Here are some of the results from January and February. In a few I am combining the paintings with collaged elements to create works that go outside the frame of the space defined in the painting. I have been thinking of these as my designer sketches, much like the design boards created to previsualize spaces in interior design. These are my imagined spaces functioning as possible proposals for the "real". Final works in and of themselves that can become departure points for the objects or veiwer.

DIY Modernism

2007-02-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

This is some of the work that I have been doing lately in the studio. A departure for those of you who may be more familiar with the labor intensive cutouts and patterning that I was making previously. This work came from my exploration of what was behind that patterning and really is about merging modernism and art history with an impulse to make these little gestures which surround us in our domestic existence.

I want to transform my life, I am nesting, I am watching DIY shows, I am trying to achieve transcendence with pipe cleaners. DIY is about trying to improve yourself and your life by augmenting your surroundings using the quickest and cheapest means possible. Anyone can do it; all you need is yarn, paint, and possibly some upholstery foam.

Marrying the ideas of DIY with abstraction I am attempting to reach beyond the pathetic nature of limp yarn, plastic party tablecloths, and fuzzy pipe cleaners to craft objects that create moments for both contemplation and laughter. Sincerity and sarcasm exist in the same breath as pathetic materials aspire to noble results. There is a relationship established between the seen and unseen, the suggestion that what is physically perceptible also contains a moment of transcendance.