Sketches from Creative Writing course this past summer

The summer seems so far away, and yet there was a time I rode my bike without a jacket to UofT for a terrific writing course for Graphic Novels, by Toronto based artist, Willow Dawson.

The class was amazing, the variety of what people were doing was so great, and I still had some time to do some stylized drawings...

Please check out Willow Dawson's website, she is about to launch her new book, 100 Mile House.

Social Media Darling

Here is a Little Shot that Olex sent me after the artist project.

Look at this kid! If I held Annie the whole time I am certain more people would have stopped by the booth.

Thanks Olex and Danaka for coming by the booth and for sending me this great shot!

Found Some Drawings From 2006

Trying to clear out some junk, and you know with me that is a major feat. But as they say, live in hope.

I tried to clear some stuff from the file cabinet and came across this pamphlet from 2006 when I was in London, UK. I went to White Chapel gallery which is at the end of Brick Lane, an incredible immigrant portion of London.

These drawings were made on the tube and I must have been passing Black Friars at the time.

Weird, I would have never remembered even doing these drawings but now that I look at this woman reading the paper I actually have a vague memory of this person, being in the manky tube. 

This show, Inner Worlds Outside, was full of outsider art and had images by current art darling, Darger, the Chicago janitor cum Art genius post 1970s death.



I love the cover image, it is at once Victorian and Cycladic at the same time, by Francis Picabia, definitely not an art outsider for reals.

Here is a close up of Darger's intense paintings of the Vivian Girls as they fight their epic battles.

Some of the artists in the show were also Madge Gill (a Clairvoyant), Dubuffet, James Ensor (Belgium's Famous Painter!!!yes, you TMBG fans) Miro and Adolf Wolfi. A real mix of established and outsiders who dealt with some similar issues.


here is that Wolfi guy, I like this image too.

If you wanna learn more about outsider art,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art   you can find a lot of artists to check out.

Its kinda a tricky thing as so many of the people who profess to be outsiders are part of the mainstream art world, obviously not your Darger types who are penniless insane hermits who get discovered after death.   Dubuffet, a "artist" coined the Art Brut or Raw Art term and that applied to the art of the insane, prisoners or naive artwork he collected. In today's 'nothing is really alternative' world, outsider art is kinda a genre- in this one man's opinion.

A Week to Go!

The Artist Project opens in about a weeks time, where did all the time go?  I think I will be ready though.

Here is another new image I have a small sample of at the show

We are getting ready, if you plan to attend, please drop by booth 119.

Saatchi competition

Yes, the In Glorious Colour completion on Saatchi, could it have a cheesier name? No. Will I ask you to vote...yes, it closes tonight.

http://www.saatchiart.com/eric.farache

Here is a different crop, as shot in 2008 with Canadian Living, by Mr. Fantastic himself, Stacey Brandford ( no, he doesn't have greying temples or stretchy arms but he really is a great guy ) 

The submission is just a small portion of the negative as shot with a Yashica twin lens, I was trying for something I had more control over the focus, it's a very different effect from the Holga.

Thanks again to those who vote or take the time to look.

Finally printing some Holga pictures from 2013

I like the feel of this piece, I feel a little lost, it reminds me of being a kid-amusement parks are so overwhelming and stimulating.

Drawing/ Illustrations

Flipping through a lot of old illustrations, there is a real elegance to the line work in old drawings. 

A guy from OCA would say that is due to pen and ink of the era and he might be right. Good ol' Roark, actually he really liked ink and brush if memory serves- our teacher just loved him, I think he used to blush.

I was looking at this drawing and I love not only the font for the word, but the way this drawer communicated the idea of "correspondence section", passing a letter

, A Boys Own Magazine circa 1915.

You are always welcome to come to the studio and flip through it yourself, standard fee applies: a coffee from the Jet.

These Two Jokers

Just took in the Warhol show at the Dali museum the other day in St. Petersburg...Andy is like Tupac, he is releasing more material dead than alive, and in Andy's case, that is an accomplishment.

Also, we have been listening to a lot of 60-70s oldie stations and hearing the power of Diana Ross' voice, amazing really. 

So, with those 2 in mind, I happened to notice this picture as for another Warhol show back in 2006 ( I guess he was dead for about 20 years at that point) as I was flipping through an old copy of Modern Painters at the studio. 

Still, there was some interesting sketches  at that Warhol show I saw, but you can't help thinking, especially in a Dali gallery, it's all about the money. 

Maybe with art that doesn't matter, to paraphrase a Diana Ross song, as long as it touches you in the morning.

Upcoming work for The Artist Project

I shot a bunch of work this summer with the Holga camera, some of which was on the water or just rural Ontario.

This picture is from Lake Magnetawan, the water there had a great amount of pond lillies, by the edge where it starts to be still. We went for a canoe ride and also found these melon shaped plants below the surface of the water, interesting but not necessarily something to photograph.

I have been using a variety of old film in the camera, about the 2003 vintage when professional photographers started dumping film en masse and I would be getting these left over rolls from people who had made the leap to digital. I think this is Kodak 100T, T for colour balanced for tungsten lighting. Everything is super blue to balance out the yellow of indoor lighting. This is yellow orange due to the scanning and I think I love it. 

So I am trying to get a bunch of work ready for The Artist Project which is February 20-23, please try to come by, there will be a few hundred artists of different stripes.

Florida Toll Booth

 I stopped to pay the toll and get my receipt, the guy working the booth was probably about 25, but in that 38 second transaction there was an entendre. There was a mutual head nod.

 I  looked at this guy and thought, this guy has this tough job in a night shift but he seemed like a nice kid, his forehead had a few big scars but he had this honest face with a wry smile.  These drawings don't really translate, I drew them many hours after I got home.

Yet again, I have pulled out the Wacom Inkling, this is the pen tool that allows you to draw in your sketchbook and then transfer your drawing into a digital file to manipulate in Photoshop or Illlustrator. The software is buggy and there has not been an update in 2 years as far as I can figure but it is a pretty neat device. 

The software prepares a mini movie of how the drawing was created, stroke by stroke, but it doesn't have a way for you to save it. I was going to make another movie using VLC for some other drawings I have made but I can't figure why the damn thing will not work and it is 5am. 

A New Talking Head

This was a lot of fun to make, this was my very own Count when I was about 6 and I am always happy to use it as a puppet with the kids ( not myself alone with the lights off or anything un-American like), as it is still around and comes out pretty often in the basement play time ( with the kids, not myself alone... you get the idea)

Shout out to Heidy Marsol for her blog, Hye's Musing on popular culture, movies etc
please have a look: 

http://hyemusings.blogspot.ca/

Loop Blog

Hey 

Here is a copy of a little interview thing I did with Sandra Smirle for the Loop Blog, when I look at these photos, I am shocked to see how neat the studio looks...I really have to work on that, anyhoo, have a peak: 

a visit with Eric Farache

How do you navigate the art world?

Alas, that is very hard nut to crack for myself at least. Loop has afforded me the opportunity to raise my own profile but to be honest, I don't know where I put my decoder ring to really get a lock on the art world. Like many other artists, I have tried group shows, facebook pages, Saatchi Art profiles etc., I am not sure how that helps really. 

Last year, I was in the The Artist Project, and that seemed to introduce my work to a entirely different group of people, frankly I am always trying to figure that out. 

 

What themes seem to reoccur in your work?

Sexuality and fantasy have always been a theme in my work for the past 10 plus years. This sexuality can take on many forms, there was a sexual ambiguity to my older GIJoe toy photographic work. My more recent watercolours ( like in my Loop show Life Lessons and Quixtopia explored sexuality of boys as they become men and confront the ideas of fantasy vs. reality.

I am fascinated about the facades we project, whether our sexuality is, in essence, a truer more naked version of our personality or another kind of mask we wear. Our personality/psyches are so complex, I try to figure out what causes people to act the way they do and sometimes, I try to discuss that on watercolour paper.   

What is your biggest challenge to creating art?

  
At this moment, the biggest challenge for me is carving out the time for art, I have a 2 kids under 4, there is not a lot of time left for artistic practice or what Woody Allen summed up as the desire to  "forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. And then see if I can get them mass-produced in plastic."
So I tend to work in fits and bursts, the challenge is continuity and to maintain interest in ideas from one break to the next. I seem to work in a naturally split way, between painting and photography and now comics, the challenge can also be to stick with one thing till it is completed before moving on. 

What are you currently reading, listening to or eating that is fueling your inspiration these days?

I have this graphic novel I started years ago that I have committed to myself ( and now you dear reader) of finishing, so I keep looking at different graphic novels and various old comic books to contrast what I am doing. I had really racked up some library fines when I noticed this massive book, called the "someday funnies' at Riverdale Library. It is a collection of comics about the 1960s that were complied in the 1970s but the editor could not get it off the ground for another 30 years, it was just terrific story telling often in very small space. The pace of my novel is fast and so is the speaking voice, it is in a kind of first person so I noticed some of Dylan's personal story telling seems to stick in my mind when I am working.

I am also very influenced by coffee to be honest, I have about 3 americanos or macchiatos a day. I am far too easily found at Jet Fuel or Rooster Coffee House, I need to work on that. 

Do you have a day job - does it influence your practice?

It allows me the luxury of paying for some things so that is an influence! I have worked in commercial photography for almost 15 years now (...egad)  I work often as a photographic assistant, which basically means running computers, taking care of lighting ( or more often then naught, getting in the way...) I started working with photography after including a photographic component in my final of my MFA, it got me intrigued and I kept at it. Digital started soon after and by 2004, I was already pretty sick of the technical pursuit. So, my photographic work with the Holga non digital 'toy camera' is in essence a reaction to my day job, wanting to do something different, less precise and more fun. 

Thanks Eric for your studio peek!

To know more about Eric's work visit

www.ericfarache.com

vagabondchic.blogspot.com/

http://www.loopgallery.ca/loop/E._Farache.html

You can also check out the Loop Blog here: 

http://www.loopgallery.ca/loop/E._Farache.html

and catch more of the updates of all the other members of Loop and what they are up to.

Thanks again to Sandra Smirle

Mini Moi in Montreal

Winter is coming,  I will be showing some of the Talking Heads work at Gallery Youn, in La Belle Province.

Yes, Juno Youn, that art impresario is organizing a fun winter show.  if you plan to be in Montreal this winter, bring some long johns and come to the show!

Other artists include the amazing photographer Richelle Forsey, for all things Forsey, please look at her website


Here work is quite varied, but much of what she is doing lately is abandoned spaces like this little gem we have at our place

She founded the TLR club ( Twin Lens Camera) and they produced this book, Modern Canadian Interiors

I love that title.



I shot only a few abandoned spaces myself, main one being Whitby Mental Health before all the structure were torn down.

here is a photo I shot with some painting i did on top.

Courtesy: The  Skelton-Magner Collection

Mini Moi, at Gallerie Youn, November 12th to December 21st.

Book Covers For TCAF Application

Made these book covers for my Toronto comic art festival application form, These covers are slightly altered to give an example of the kind story telling inside them.

This Took Me By Surprise!

I got an email back from the fine people at The Artist Project (which I will be part of February 20-23/2014) They mentioned something about my work on the website, I went to look at what they were talking about...This was a nice surprise to see!

Still working on new work for it as well.

All the galleries have not yet been loaded to their website, I will make a link later so you can see the variety of artists who will be there for 2014.

Upon Seeing My Painting Again

We went to a friend's house for a great dinner a few weeks back, this piece is theirs now, from my 2011 Loop gallery show, Life Lessons.  Looking at these characters again, I was struck how the central character reminded me of one of my mom's strange Moroccan wives tales. 

The story is about, on the surface, about a woman who can't stay home, even naked because she is a busy body. But on another level, I think the story was about female sexual curiosity. 

Amazing how you paint something, and with time another layer of meaning comes through, even to the artist. 

Anthropomorphic Work

There is a new show at the Gardiner Museum about animals, I hear these bad boys are going to be there.

The Gardiner Museum

Comic Book

Finally getting some comic books finished, some of them are little 8 panel ones, I hope to have those done in the next week.

I really have to thank Willow Dawson, Graphic Artist par excellence. She is a Toronto based artist who taught a terrific class at U of T this summer, I took it and I think it has really pushed me to get some of my work to cross the finish line.

Please check out Willow's work

As for my comics, I will post them as they get printed... here is a tease, panel 1 from my mini comic- Immigrant Fathers Are Drama Queens

Peace in the Valley 2013

Swing City

This is a piece from my Loop Show, Quixtopia, yes I made up a word for my show. I was thinking about the castles we build in the sky (utopias) that are utterly unattainable. To be clear I DO NOT mean  the way the Star Wars gang were seeking a safe haven in Bespin cloud city. More the way a white haired psychic in Calcutta said to me, " you make all these castles in the clouds, and, (imagine sounds of the traffic dying down at this point) when you come back to reality, you have no more energy to put these plans in action...."

heavy man, heavy.

Swing City, watercolour on cotton paper, 22x30, 2013. 

This piece was very influenced by original Spiderman cartoon.