Doktor A. News

Last month we made the trip to Bristol to visit the “Art from the New World” show at the Bristol City art gallery (The same place that held the big Banksy show not long ago..)

It was well worth the trip.

Curated by the Corey Helford gallery it collects together a whole gaggle of cutting edge American (and English living in America) artists together and shows there work to the general public in a big show away from the usual “scene” type venues. This is a great entry level show for anyone who hasnt ever heard of the phrases “Low Brow” or “Pop Surrealism”.
As you can see on the flier above there is a top line-up of artists with some amazing pieces many new for this show.

You are greeted in the main hall before entering the show gallery by a huge inflateable Buff Monster Ice cream. Buff has also painted a large mural on the walls in three alcoves in the same room.

To the left of the ice cream was a huge Todd Schorr piece.

Inside, the show hall is a large open space with a lot of room to breath and weave between the many people wandering around the show. This wasnt an opening or anything special just a regular week day and it was still very busy.
ok so the place looks empty in the photos but I was waiting for people to move before snapping.

And here are a load of closeups of some of the pieces.
Not really a dud in the show and a great variety of styles too.

This was the first time I had seen actual works from a lot of these artists. Its odd to have known and followed some artists for years and yet never had the chanbce to actually see an original work before. One of the problems of being in the UK with practically all the shows being in the USA.

Brandi Milne

Travis Louie

Silvia Li

Stoupakis

Greg Simkins

Todd Schorr

Sas Christian

Mark Ryden

Mellisa Forman

Liz McGrath

Liz McGrath

Mia

Camilla Rose Garcia and below Joshua Petker

Outside the show gallery it’s easy to miss Colin Christian’s piece. Although it’s huge at around four feet tall, it’s hung in the room behind the one with the icecream. Take a moment to wander in there and check it out. Its a cracker.

The show runs till the 22nd of August 10am to 5pm daily.

Do go and check it out if you can.
Also it’s worth noting most of the pieces are available to be purchased, though many had sold when I visited.

…Museum site link…

Well the piece I posted last night was so popular I decided to finish it right away.
So I took some more snaps this morning and here you go.
Please click on the images to enbiggen.

First off filling in some blanks.

Above the door to the studio is an Elder Sign to either keep Lovecraftian beasties out when I am in there or stop them getting into the house through the studio windows. Other precautions have been taken against Zombie infestation (no really!)

And this is a close up of the print case so you can sort of see whats in it.

Another picture of the book case and you can see the cast iron stool better in this one and also the main display case in the studio.

And a closer pic of the display cabinet which is a bit over stuffed right now to keep easily broken things away from tiny Max fingers.

The cabinet end of my main work desk with some shelves to hold my radio and sketch books and some bits and bobs and materials.

And my main work desk. This is were all my sculptures and construction work is done. (This pic is a splice of a couple of shots hence the odd missing bit on the top left hand side).
I have a couple of engineers cabinets to store all my tools and the smaller parts I use, differnt sized gears, hemispheres, keys, hats, you name it. All the bulkier parts and found objects live in big boxes in the store area behind the bookshelves. I drag them out and fossik arround in them when I need them. The drawers contain paints, more tools and more odds and ends. Its sort of a working chaos. I guess only I know where everything is kept.
The desk itself was found in a house clearence store for £20. It was black and needed a proper clean up. It had been ripped out of an old Mill when it was demolished and was last used by a taylor in the 1980′s. I built the legs for it to brint it back to glory. (See one of the previous blogs about the studio renovation for some details on this).

The mask is from the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. And the paintings are a collaboration by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters and one by Andrew Bell. I still have a few other paintings to go up in here but I need to add another shelf above the main desk and some more wall cabinets form mini figures too first.

And one last snap of the desk looking back at the bookshelves.

So ther you go. A pretty good overview of my little workspace.
If you want to know any more details or ask what specific things are please leave a comment.

I just tidied my studio so decided to take some photos.
This is just one side of it though. The other is loaded up with secret works in progress right now so that will have to wait till another day.

My studio is on the top (Third) floor of my little Victorian end terrace house.
At the foot of the stairs there is the main light switch.

Just above that are my collection of framed Letter Presses cards.
Starting top left and going L to R :
Joe Ledbetter, Brian “Candykiller Taylor, Nathan Jervinicus, Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters, Brendan Monroe.

On the wall opposite those is a print case with lots of interesting tiny things in it above a Dave Carson original ink drawing.

Directly at the top of the stairs is a display case with my Cthulhu Idol collection in it (But the photos didnt work so well there so I will have to try that again some time..)
Next to that is the door into my mini store room under the eaves and guarding the door is my Scott Radke sculpture which I have dubbed “The Time Thief”. In front of the store area is my main art book shelf. You can just see my stool in front of the window. Its cast iron and has an old tractor seat welded to the top.

Behind the stairwell is my small writing desk housing my Laptop. I do all my digital work sat here. Yes that is a working phone on top of the desk. In the case on the wall is part of my Qee/Dunny collection, I need to build another five cabinets like this for all my other mini figures. To the left of the case is an Original Andrew Bell drawing (Cropped in this pic oops! To the right is another Brian Taylor Letterpressed print. I also have a Chris Ryniak one which need framing. Then in front of the desk there are original paintings by Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters, Two by Chet Zar, Jason Limon and a sculpture by Amanda Spayd. There is also a Crayola print on that wall but it’s cropped in this pic. Above the paintings is a shelf of stuff. Lots of things I like up there. Quite a mix of things from Totoro to Kaws via Tin robots.

Here is a wider shot showing the Andrew Bell and Crayola pieces as well as a Greg Broadmore Ray Gun print. Hiding behind the chair is a print by Dave Carson.

That’s all for now. More some other time.

There is a review up for the recent mini Mourning edition Stephan LePodd over at Tomopop.

Here : http://tomopop.com/show-and-tell-dok-a-custom-stefan-lepodd-mourning-edition-11328.phtml

Mr. Greg Broadmore of Weta workshops in New Zealand, creator of the wonderful Dr. Grordbort’s Rayguns and lead designer (of guns, ships and beasties) on the splendid movie District 9 (among others). Recently had a few kind words to say about my Mechtorian toys.

On Weta’s forum he posted, “I encourage everyone here to go pick up some of your awesome Steampunk Mechtorian vinyls. Too cool.”
and in an email to myself he said, “They’re terrific – I really dig them.  Perfect weird, cute  little accessories for beside my computer!

Thank you sir.
It makes me very happy to know you like my crazy little creations.

Now go do what the man with the big gun said…