INTERNET FORT

IPCNY New Prints 2012/Winter

2012-01-29T21:34:00.000-06:00

I have a print in the upcoming New Prints show at IPCNY. The show opens this Thursday, 6:00-8:00, and runs until March 24th. More info here.

Paper Show

2011-09-09T21:24:00.000-05:00

Noticias

2011-06-02T01:22:00.000-05:00

Clearly I have been neglecting this blog, so allow me to provide a little update about what I've been up to.

I am currently finishing up some big prints and packing up all my belongings in preparation for my move to Northampton, Massachusetts! Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures in July after I get settled. In the fall I'll begin teaching intaglio and drawing at Smith College, which is very exciting. I'm also looking forward to diving into some new projects after all the distractions and chaos of the past few months.

Apollo 16 astronauts Ken Mattingly and John Young (fashion pioneer)

Speaking of distractions, a while ago I supplemented my astronaut "research" by starting this tumblr blog. But I have no excuse for my newest one about astronaut fashions.

THIS IS SERIOUS RESEARCH ABOUT SCIENCE, OKAY?

Stamping Area

2011-03-27T16:33:00.001-05:00


I thought it would be difficult to get people to let me stamp their faces. Nope.

Sooo I did a little project for this year's SGC conference at the old Alma Mater. 51 stamps were involved. So were 5 faces, 3 US passports, some legal tender, and countless hands, wrists, and name tags. You can rest assured that a large percentage of conference attendees were stamped and provided with documentation that has no bearing on anything whatsoever (except perhaps on the validity of their passports).

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Hey, Printmakers!

2011-03-15T21:57:00.000-05:00

Are you going to SGC in St. Louis this week?

Perhaps I will see you. I will be there conducting Official Business. It will be very Official.

Astronaut Jungle

2011-03-15T21:32:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty excited about the collaborative drypoints my beginning etching students made! Each person got a section of metal and a section of a photograph to interpret using the drypoint techniques of their choice. Then we printed them together in a grid to reveal none other than Mercury astronaut John Glenn. I kept jokingly referring to him as "Astronaut John Glenn" while we were editioning the print, but apparently I was not speaking clearly because everyone thought I was saying "Astronaut Jungle." Obviously, that became the title.

New Works on Paper

2011-03-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

I will carry you home in my teeth.

2011-01-25T17:05:00.000-06:00

Here is some concept art I did for my brother Kevin's film, Old Monster. It will be a modern-day adaptation of Beowulf through the eyes of Garret, a hateful, bitter, contemporary version of Grendel. Take a look at the promo video! Perhaps you can help.

You should know that the Clark-Ryan family is very enthusiastic about Beowulf.

Shopping Time

2010-12-11T10:00:00.025-06:00

Along with my friend Ben, I will have a bunch of work at Las Manos Gallery's Late Night with the Artists show/holiday sale. I believe the show will be open this coming week, but there is a reception on Friday, December 17th from 6-10 PM. More info here.

When I drove down to the gallery to drop off my work, I was looking forward to seeing my favorite sign on Clark Street (and possibly getting a better picture of it).

Alas, it was gone.

R.I.P. Electro.

New Collage Book--In Process

2010-12-07T21:07:00.001-06:00

Here's a spread from the new book of collages I'm working on. I'm using it as a sketchbook for a future print series that seems like it will to end up being an invented stream of consciousness experience shared by the astronauts of a future space race to Pluto. You know, the usual.

I'm serious.

Anyway, I think I should title this one Klimt in Spaaaaaaaaace!

The Anemone

2010-11-08T22:32:00.001-06:00

I FINALLY finished this light box of sorts. I assembled it from 945 test tubes from UW SWAP, a ceiling light panel, scrap wood, an LED rope, and an old cassette tape organizer. It is The Anemone.

I started this thing months ago. Shockingly enough, the process of gluing 945 test tubes to a grid was a tedious one, but hey, I used up all the extra test tubes I had lying around. What? You don't keep a box of assorted lab glass in your home?

Here are some in-process photos:

Master of Disguise

2010-11-02T23:59:00.000-05:00

1.
I'm not sure if every family has its own personal spirits this time of year. But several members of mine, on their way out of this life, have hovered around the moment October vanishes from Halloween and we wake up on All Saint's Day, possibly having gained an hour, and then on the Day of the Dead, and everything is just so pervasive. We're fairly literal, I guess.

My brother Geoffrey was born on October 25th, 1987, and the two weeks of his life were divided neatly by this transition, like a full breath. Later, my cousin Elizabeth was born on the 30th but stayed only a few months.

2.
There's a hat box in my parent's garage that clearly was not intended to withstand the decades of Halloween costume storage it has endured. Face paints older than I are still separating into their constituent parts underneath sticky rubber masks, chewed plastic fangs, and a resilient pair of Groucho glasses.

Let me be clear. I love the costume box. I used to have its matted wigs and face paint strategies strewn across the floor year round. Perhaps I was playing a game that simply could not continue without spider rings. Perhaps I was planning my Halloween costume two months in advance.

Among all this there is a mustache in an envelope.

It's the kind that clips on your septum, tickling your nose and quivering in front of your mouth until you can't stand it anymore. It is a ridiculous disguise that I've since retrofitted into my grandfather's legacy.

For some reason, I usually left this mustache well enough alone. I would always open the envelope to take a look, but I rarely added it to my costumes. It was just a set of flattened, fuzzy vectors I checked periodically. No wonder it's in such good condition.

At one point, my mom asked if I wanted to hear a story about a mustache.

3.
My grandpa, W. G. "Gerry" Clark, a.k.a. Poppi, grew up in Brooklyn, NY. This smarty-pants was always at the top of his class and eventually earned a scholarship to St. Peter's College, a prestigious Jesuit school at the time. However, because of the Depression, he could not accept the scholarship and had to find a job to help support his family. He "settled" for attending night school at then-lowly NYU.

Then came the problem of finding a job. Conveniently, his aunt was the "kept woman" of a Standard Oil executive and was able to secure jobs for him and his brother, Wally, in the mail room at Rockefeller Center.

After a break for The War, he continued to work there, gradually moving up the floors of that building, going to school at night and eventually earning his master's degree. By the mid-seventies he had worked there for 40 years.

As you might imagine, it was a company that encouraged conservative dress and behavior. Clearly, however, they were willing to make an exception for quality. In addition to his standard issue white shirts and dark ties, Poppi was known to sport brown shirts, orange ties, and ridiculous socks. He also maintained a truly impressive collection of candy-colored sport coats. If you were lucky, the pockets of these shirts and sport coats contained several jokes that he had prepared. These are the best worst jokes you've ever heard.

And so this character was to be honored in the company magazine for his 40 years of service. He instructed the photographer who arrived in his office to hold on a minute as he opened his desk drawer. When this photographer situated his camera and finally looked up, he burst out laughing.

"Uh, Mr. Clark, this is going in the company magazine."

"Yes, I know. Take the picture."

It took several tries (because of the laughter), but this is the picture that ended up in print:

4.
Back to October 30th. Late at night in 2007, I said goodbye to my grandpa over the phone from Wisconsin. I'm not sure if he could hear me, but he died 15 minutes later.

After that, the mustaches returned. Fake mustaches, I should add. Like their predecessor, they were hovering and precarious and absurd. I expected them to take my money at poker, which Poppi would have done had we not played for Eagle Snacks. Oddly, they were also a sign of respect, a merit badge for living with the appropriate level of humor (a lot).

So there's that, if you were wondering about the mustaches.

I have a joke for you:

Did you hear? Someone broke into the police station and stole all the toilet seats. The cops got nothing to go on.

How Ink is Made

2010-10-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

I have been hypnotized by enthusiastic Canadians.

Recent Shows

2010-10-23T21:11:00.002-05:00

Channeling Ferris Bueller with my cousin Michael

The show I'm in at Las Manos Gallery has gone well so far (it's up through the end of October). They ended up displaying twice as many prints as I thought they would, which was a nice surprise.

Here are some good pictures of the opening.

I sold a print to a man (and his interior designer), who apparently needed to take it right away so he could get it to his home in remote Utah before any snow made the roads impassable. There might be a magazine shoot at this home in the future, so I'll keep an eye out. I'm also going to find out if he's Batman.

A few pictures of my collage book in ADJUNCT

The adjunct show and gallery night were good times as well. The pictures above were taken with my phone. One of these days I'll act like a professional.

........................................................................................................................

In other news, I just sent one of these to the owner of a miniature donkey ranch. Apparently, there are a lot of miniature donkey ranches. Next time I will request payment in tiny donkeys.

Chicago Artists Month: Las Manos Gallery

2010-10-04T16:42:00.000-05:00

Manatee Adventure

A few of my large prints will be up at Las Manos Gallery for Chicago Artists Month. Play along and pretend I live in Chicago.

The show opens this Friday, October 8th from 6:00-10:00, and runs until October 31st. For those who crave the pleasure of my company, I am going to try to make it down to the reception by 7:00 or so, but I could be thwarted by traffic.

Here's me being awkward at the gallery.

Gallery Info:
Las Manos Gallery

5220 N Clark Street
Chicago IL 60640
(773)728-8910

Hours:
Wednesday/Thursday- 12:30-5:30pm
Friday- 5:00pm-8:00pm
Saturday/Sunday- 11:00am-5:00pm

The show is appropriately titled ADJUNCT

2010-09-28T23:49:00.000-05:00

I have a little book of collages in the UW-Madison adjunct faculty and staff show up until October 7th. The reception is this Friday, October 1st from 5-9 and is part of Gallery Night.

Artists include: Rosemary Bodolay, Rachel Bruya Walker, Tyanna Buie, Lindsey Clark-Ryan, Melissa Cooke, Bruce Crownover, Jessie Eisner-Kleyle, Julie Ganser, Drew Iwaniw, Nancy Kirschstein, Lisa Koch, Heath Matysek-Snyder, Amy Newell, Erin O'Connor, Katarina Riesing, Andy Rubin, Jason Ruhl, Leslie Smith, Julia Taylor, Michael Velliquette, and Glenn Williams.

Friends

2010-09-16T17:35:00.000-05:00

Yay! My friend Nathan's work is on the cover of the Midwest edition of New American Paintings!

And my friend Melissa's work is one of the "Editor's Selections."

Good work, friends.

My plants are science.

2010-09-14T10:26:00.002-05:00

It's all downhill...

2010-09-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

Friends, around this time last year I made this:

Flight of the Manatee

This year, I've learned that I'll always be outdone by my six-year-old self:

The cover of a well-reviewed report on manatees

Here are a few more hard-hitting investigations (originally accompanied by facts copied from the World Book Encyclopedia):


The Bush Baby: It's Funny (I think)


How hot is Jupiter? Hot hot.

Actually, I have to say, that Jupiter project was pretty thoroughly researched. And it was SEWN in a pamphlet, suckas! Montessori: hell yes.

Zoology, Part Deux

2010-09-04T14:21:00.003-05:00

Nope, I missed this

As I threatened previously, here are some more pictures from my internship at the UW Zoological Museum, where it is perfectly logical to hear someone say, "I saved these fetuses for you."

I spent most of my time preparing skeletal specimens of small birds and mammals, which involves defleshing and gutting dead critters that scientifically-minded donors find on the ground. These animals are then frozen until they can be prepared. Sometimes for up to a decade. For example, if the collection has, say, a large donation of small rodents that has been in the freezer for ten years, including the time(s) when the freezer was broken, then the preparator will most certainly hand those off to some ~~suckers~~ interns to process. You will be pleased to know that there are some pictures of such rodents below.

After the animal has been sufficiently defleshed, it is allowed to dry out a little and then fed to a colony of dermestid beetles that will clean off much of the remaining flesh. If the animal is too large for the beetle colony or, perhaps, there is no preparator available to deflesh it, the same effect can be achieved by burying it underground. Did you know that for several decades there was a headless rhinoceros buried at Picnic Point?

Once "cleaned," the bones soak in a maceration/water rot tank (often water and/or hydrogen peroxide) to remove the remaining grease and bits of flesh. When opened, these tanks emit one of the most foul odors in the known universe, so if you are an intern who flakes out and doesn't show up consistently, you can bet you will be emptying the maceration tanks. I was not that intern. However, I was the intern standing in the next room, smelling it anyway.

After the bones dry, each one is labeled with the animal's collection number using a tiny, tiny pen. Then the disarticulated skeleton is placed in a box and taken to be amongst its kind. I always found it interesting to try to imagine an animal based on a pile of its painstakingly labeled bones.

So then, here are some pictures of the prep room and of most of the steps involved with creating a skeletal specimen. Sorry some are out of focus. And you probably shouldn't look if skinned animals gross you out.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

As much as I joke about the less-than-glamorous aspects of the job (like the sweet sounds of brain being scooped out of a longhorn skull), I really did enjoy working at the museum. Unlike the other interns, I was not a Zoology major, and therefore had no anatomical coursework to match up with the animals I was taking apart. But I ended up absorbing visual and tactile information about them, particularly how they can be so fragile and resilient at the same time. The whole process was a strange balancing act of tearing apart a small animal while maintaining its delicate inner structure.

UWZM

What interested me most was the idea of transforming an animal into information. It's this intersection of an individual creature, academic knowledge, organizational systems, and a high degree of craftsmanship and technique. You end up with skeletons, skins, and data that tell you more about the species but are partially defined by their own format and clearly different than the blood and guts reality that first came through the door.

That and the fact that articulated skeletons are beeyoutiful!

Basements: I Like Them

2010-08-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

My studio life is mostly in boxes at the moment, so it's probably an appropriate time to talk about that paragon of storage: The Basement.

I grew up in Florida, 2 feet above sea level, where such wonders are impossible. As a kid, as if I wasn't strange enough, I was fascinated by my grandma's basement in New York. To this day, that creepy yet oddly peaceful bunker is what I imagine when I think "basement."

Grandma's decor is always well-considered, but that basement is just emphatically unfinished. And I frigging love it. It's mostly empty, like a cave complete with non-perishables, a washer and dryer, and pool toys from 1978. I would just stand down there in this dim, cold, and quiet place, always amazed that it could exist a few feet away from the heat and noise of summer.

I don't know how this keeps happening, but I've worked in basement libraries and basement print studios; I even lived in a basement room for 3 years in college (also known as The Great Centipede Conflict). Maybe it's because I'm freakishly pale and best-suited to life underground. Like a mole. Nonetheless, my vision is excellent.

Upon arriving at UW-Madison 3 years ago, I was immediately obsessed with the treasures left behind by the Physics department in the basement of Sterling Hall.

Basically, what I'm trying to say here is that I finally put together some photos from my internship at the UW Zoological Museum. They have a hell of a basement, so you can imagine I was pretty excited about it:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

(Advance the slideshow by clicking on the image; click "Link" to see a larger version in flickr.)

The actual collection is very cool and open to the public by appointment. But they probably won't let you go in the basement, hence the service I have provided here.

Next time: animal guts! I spent most of my time at the museum eviscerating small (dead) animals to be consumed by flesh-eating beetles. I KNOW, YOU CANNOT WAIT!!!

The Triumphant Return of Mustachio Nut

2010-08-16T15:53:00.001-05:00

Mustachio Nut II: Judgment Day

I sold out of my first edition of Mustachio Nut prints back in October, and the resulting sadness prompted me to print a new version. After a blazing reaction time of 10 months, it finally exists.

I will pretend that I've timed the introduction of this new print with the publication of the following book:

'Stache

Mr. Terry Taylor was good enough to include Mustachio Nut The Elder in his compilation of delightful facts and activities. You know you want to learn how to make a Mustache Mask of Deception while looking at my print...in print.

It begins

2010-08-10T19:38:00.000-05:00

Hello

Hello, friends. Welcome to the beginning of my blog! I'll be posting about current projects and studio goings-on, but it's all an excuse to sneak in stories about manatees, document every time I explore a really old basement, or express any thoughts I'm having about astronauts or geckos or handstands.