7th Annual CARDED! show hosted by Hot Art Wet City

Hey, hey, hey! I'm happy to announce that my image "Soul Seeker" was accepted into this year's CARDED! show which is hosted by Hot Art Wet City. This is the 7th annual one night art trading card show and it's always a good time. If you plan on going you might want to get there a bit early as it gets pretty crowded with art card fans eager to make some swaps. You can find out more info about the show here. 

New painting : Operation Sushi

  Today's post is all about my latest painting. I created the watercolour below, "Operation: Sushi" for Hot Art Wet City's upcoming Boobies and Weiners show in Vancouver. Unfortunately time and money constraints make it so that I won't be able to get the piece down there in time. Do go see the show though because I'm sure it will be a good one.

 I don't usually paint nudes of any sort but I was inspired by something I saw in my Facebook feed. In the city I live there are plenty of great restaurants to eat at but there has been a disturbing trend in the food service industry to sexualize the whole dining experience. Large chains like Brown's Social House, Earls, Original Joe's,Cactus Club, and Moxies have aggressively expanded and have required their serving staff to fit to a "grooming standard" that would be unacceptable in most industries today. 2 1/2" high heel minimum, hem lengths 2" or more above the knee and a look of "sophisticated sexiness" are written rules the servers have to to abide by. I'm not kidding here, these are facts. Added to the list are the unwritten rules that you should be very slender, attractive and young. I know I've had this rant before. It's not that I'm just a seasoned server who can't fit the Barbie mould but I think this standard of service is dangerous. It's damn scary slipping on a wet tile floor with a tray full of glasses, I can't imagine doing it in stilettos and a mini-skirt too. As well, I think this style of service puts an unfair burden onto the server when interacting with the customer. Not only does the server have to sell food to the customer using her body(?!) but she has to always consider the relationships between the patrons themselves and between her in relation to her attire. I don't know how many times I've heard people tell me how awkward it feels to have "breastaurant" server clear plates from their children or see the face of their own daughter in them because the server is so young. Why? Why and when did we decide that men needed hard-ons to eat?!

So.....just when I thought the restaurant culture couldn't get any worse I saw a headline about a new food service concept that's come to Vancouver by way of Japan. This new low is called Naked Sushi where diners can order a selection of sushi that will be served on the body of a young, beautiful and naked woman. This young woman is not to speak, the customers are not to touch her or make lewd gestures but rather she is just supposed to lie still and be a plate. Yup, a literal object. You've got to be fucking kidding me. I'm going to end this rant with a big "Fuck You Assholes" and I hope everyone involved with this new venture has mothers, daughters, wives, girlfriends and sisters who are discounted, disrespected and treated as nothing more than a source of desire for other men. Oh, and thanks for the painting inspiration. Jerks.

The translation on the chopsticks are: man, mouth, men and geisha

Hot One Inch Action 2014

Woo-hoo! I made into this year's Hot One Inch Action! This fun one night art button trading show is one of my favourites and I'm only sad that I won't be able to attend. Below is my submitted image "Big Mac" which is from an artist's proof of a yet to be editioned drypoint. 

If you haven't been to this yearly show yet you really must go. It maybe teeny tiny art but it's big time fun. And make sure you trade for my Big Mac!

The Jealous Curator talks at Hot Art Wet City

  So last night I went to my friend Danielle's talk at Hot Art Wet City where she spoke about her best-selling book Creative Block. As I told you before, Danielle and I have been friends from before our blogging days and I was eager to catch up with her now that we live so far apart. Realistically I knew we wouldn't be able to have one of our coffee chats though because there were far too many people there who wanted to talk to her too. What can I say? She's one popular gal.

  As I was driving to the event I felt nervous for Danielle for having to speak in front of so many people. How was she going to do it?  What if she stumbles on her words? What stories would she be telling? She had said that she would bring up the conversation that we had so many years ago that spurred the Girl Crush Workshop series and the subsequent book. Eeek! I was nervous about that too. Of course I had nothing to be nervous about because Danielle is a fantastic and entertaining speaker who has always  been able to stay authentic and accessible.

As I've watched Danielle's career progress over the years I've noticed with delight how any time she's felt insecure about her choices and worried that she should act like some preconceived idea of an artist, curator or author, that someone has reminded her otherwise. Back in June '09 I had written a post about Danielle's blog to help promote it. Later Danielle had asked me to remove her name from the post because she wanted to remain anonymous as the Jealous Curator. "Why?", I asked. At the time Danielle believed that no one would think a stay-at-home mom in the suburbs would know anything about contemporary art. It didn't fit her preconceived idea of a curator. I didn't agree but I obliged and took her name off. Luckily many other people felt the same as myself and she was exposed for what she is: a formally educated fine artist, a creative director, an educator, and a public speaker who just so happens to also be a stay-at-home-mom who lives in the suburbs. I always thought adding the mom part made everything else look more impressive.

The whole world has asked for Danielle Krysa the original and an altered one won't do. I remind myself of this every time I doubt myself and think I should make my work more like so-and-so's to be more accessible. Stick to the original.

Below are some pics I took of the night's talk. Supposedly the brownie badges are going to be made for purchase. When they come out I'm snagging "My inner critic is an asshole". What's your pick?

Hot One Inch Action Saturday November 9th 8-11pm

Hey everybody! Guess what? I got into this year's Hot One Inch Action. If you've never been before it's the fun one-night art button trading show put on by Hot Art/Wet City. This year it's being held in their own gallery at 2206 Main St (@6th Ave) on Saturday November 9th 8-11pm. This is a really popular show and the space does get jam packed with traders but that makes it even more fun.
 This is the tenth year of the show so it they've added another ten artists into the mix to round it out to 60. I live too far away to do any live trading but I can't wait to see the other pieces that were accepted. How about someone else trades for me? Below is my submission. Keep an eye out for it and tell me how the show goes.

FK IT DUDE

This weekend is going to be a busy one. Lots goin' on. If you didn't have anything planned you might want to see me on the Langley Studio Art tour. While I man my table and chat visitors I will be preparing for Christmas. There's not much time left you know.

If you wanted to start this weekend right I suggest you go see FK IT DUDE which will be showing at the Hot Art Wet City Pop-up Gallery on 752 E. Broadway. This multi-artist show will be an homage show to the cult classic "The Big Lebowski". I don't know about you but I love that movie and when I saw the call for submissions I jumped at the chance to create something. 

I did a mixed media piece on cradled board that let me use a little digital painting and a little encaustic work. My piece references one of my favourite characters, "Jesus Quintana", and his love of a shiny bowling ball. Although John Turturro's part is quite small in the movie  it's just fantastic.What's your favourite character?

Digital and encaustic

I polished the encaustic so it was really shiny.