Alternative Comics UPCOMING EXHIBITION! Ink Drawings/prints at URBAN SPACE

HEY APATHY! COMICS ONLINE

12 x 8 Foot INK DRAWING

will be included in upcoming exhibition

Urban Space 401 Richmond Nov 1/2010

To quote one of the great(est?) philosopher’s of recent times, “ GREAT GOOGILY MOOGILY!” I just started to relax following a long season of exhibitions and was preparing for a solid month of grants writing when out of nowhere I’ve got another show. Since February 2010 I have done 8 exhibitions including outdoor festival performances, comic book conventions and a simultaneous street performance and video installation at two locations during Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival. That schedule worked out to be almost one show every month, all of which were convention style, meaning I had to transport all of my work, set up a portable gallery and tend the booth for two- four days. The Buskerfest was particularly exerting as it lasted for four 16 hour days in a row. Now that the busy season has past I was looking forward to some reclusive studio time and was glad to have the street gear in storage for the winter. Though as it turns out, not for very long.

At this time of the year the aspiring artist is generally chained to his/her computer conjuring proposals and budgets for the upcoming grant deadlines. My first submission is due on the 9th of Nov. followed by a few more applications due at the beginning of Dec. There for I had set in my mind to focus exclusively on these essays and forms over the next few days. The time so far has been divided between a lot of brainstorming, (though I know exactly what I intend to develop artistically at this stage it is more important that I cater the phraseology of said project to best suit each of my requests for funding and the councils reviewing those requests) and some preparatory paper work. I’ve had to make no small amount of inquires in order to ensure I create a proper budget and resume. I am still trying to get some answers out of the Toronto Arts Council, which is basically the only thing holding back the process right now. Tomorrow I’ll start the writings, likely between 6-9 pages worth depending on how much the conceptual approach differs from grant to grant. For example an animation might be more appealing to one council as a narrative film for festivals while another would prefer that same project to be called a media installation and shown in a gallery. Nuclear or Nuculear is still nothing but trouble.

As my obviously fragmented and slatternly expressions in the above block of text might suggest, the grants writing process is rather consuming and requires both extensive amounts of time and concentration. So just as I’ve initiated the rewiring of daily mental faculties and physical tendencies from creative production and performance towards academic and bureaucratic nightmares, I get an invitation to do a show, this coming Monday. While this has thrown me for a bit of a loop and surprise, especially considering the inexplicably short notice, the experience has proven improbably timely despite might current workload. Although I have to dig back into my storage unit and prepare another instant exhibition, this one will be in a public gallery space and this sudden connection has actually assisted me in the granting process.

One of the pending bureaucratic nightmares involved in the grant submissions is the inclusion of an authorized note of exhibition. The Councils expect the artist to have a gallery or space booked for the completion of the proposed project ( which ironically can not exist yet according to most grant regulations). This letter of confirmation has always been a struggle for me because I am a completely independent force with no gallery or representative to vouch for me and almost all of my shows are juried/ booked in the early spring. This means that there is no way for me to know if I’ll be accepted or to obtain the necessary letters until late spring when the results of the applications are released. Amazingly enough my meeting today about the upcoming show also resulted in a booking for next fall and subsequently the important letter of confirmation that I so desperately required.

Not unlike the unusually circumstantial obtainment of an exhibition space at a time when such an acquisition was vital, so to was the oddity of how the situation came about. A few months back I left a giant shared office studio located at Richmond and Spadina, just beside 401 Richmond (a giant Art Complex here in Toronto) in order to focus my studies on animation. Since I’d no plans of producing any original artworks this year ( and quite possibly ever again) in favour of small computer based cartoons and comic strips, I had no use for the grand studio and retreated to a home set up using the money that would have paid for the rental space to upgrade my animators electronics. I had some concerns about the relinquishing the commercial space but it has been one of the best moves I ever made.


 Shortly after leaving the studio I received a call from Urban Space, a major gallery located in the 401 Richmond Street complex. The gallery asked me if I could do a live performance at the main entrance of 401during this past October’s Nuit Blanche festival. Due to logistical reasons  (I RALLY WANTED TO WORK QUEEN STREET) I offered them my animations to project on the exterior of the building instead and the installation turned into a great success. So almost instantly upon my exodus from the shared studio which overlooked the professional building, I had moved into a bigger institution. Mind you that move was primarily symbolic as it was really just my projections that were being featured for a single night, but that night looks better on my resume (and in person) than 5 years of dealing with passively aggressive Machiavellians posing as young artists and studio mates.

The Nuit Blanche projections ran simultaneous with a live painting performance I did independently under a tent gallery on Queen Street West. These two events marked the end of my exhibition season and resulted in the slight moment of relaxation I mentioned at the beginning of this entry. Coincidently my symbolic entry into the 401 Richmond Street Building lasted for about as long as my rest period as I received yet another invitation by the Urban Space gallery, only this time it was to book two exhibits inside the gallery and (GASP) get paid for it. Earlier this afternoon I went down to gallery to see the space and confirm the exhibitions. I’ll be hanging some work in a group show this weekend and will have the entire space to myself in the fall. Pretty cool.

I think I may wait until tomorrow to discuss the group show, it only has three artist including me, and is going to awesome as well as an honour. I will however give a little credit were it is due and close this off explaining how these absurdist developments came about so suddenly. I got an email yesterday from a long time patron/collector Max Allen and though I’d no idea where or what the show was going to be I know Max’s style and was certain the exhibit would be intelligent, provoking and important regardless of any commercial viabilities and my tight schedule these days. It turns out that Max, already the founder and curator of the Textile Museum of Canada, radio producer and long time art collector just became a managing curator for the Urban Space Gallery at 401 Richmond. As one of his first duties in the new position, Max procured a showing of art about cities, in particular a comparison of physical and financial provocations regarding New Orleans, Detroit and Toronto and just like that my symbolic entry into one of Toronto’s most respected Art’s building transformed from a symbolic one to fully developed physical working relationship.

In delusion, er conclusion, I touched on a number of small topics here that require further explanation but have pretty much covered the basic sequence of events which occurred between Oct 2- 26 which have resulted in my first gallery showing in over two years and more importantly I am rambling out many, many words these days just to flex my essay-writing muscles which are going to be put to the test during the next few weeks. more at http://www.heyapathy.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Strange Day

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

ALTERNATIVE COMICS

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

just somemore animation stills

ALTERNATIVE COMICS The Billboards and the Violinist

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

The city is a giant gear propelled by all the strange people moving through it. On the right a large female model is trapped on the face of a towering commercial skyscraper, her billboard belly partially assimilates and annihilates young women by way of a subliminal force. The ominously flickering screen engulfs the mind and bodies of it’s victims intrinsically drawn into a vortex of unobtainable dreams. The gears spins on. Fortunately one potential target has developed an immunity to the advertisements prowess, in a small apartment on the left a girl is learning to play the violin. The music, read from alchemic notations, surrounds her with an indescribably majesty protecting her from the devious destruction of the world and chaos all around… more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS A Heroic Assimilation

HEY APATHY! Alternative comics

Flicker, flicker, the gigantic screen transmits sublimated imagery faster than a speeding bullet. The repetitive yet ever so slight evolution of the messages bombards our homes, the streets and the theatre offering us heroic salvation with each flashing new scene. The superhuman, having arrived from a far off star , brings promise of hope and freedom as he expends his supernatural abilities in the name of justice. As his presence brings joy to the world with each new adventure, the attention mounts tensely and all eyes turn towards the alien.

 At first he was publicized as an enigma, and shortly thereafter mimicked, but despite all his triumphs the man receives no solitude. He had devised a secret home far from civilization but the documentary crew sought it out for use as a stage. Forced to reside in among men of the city, the hero falls upon financial hardship. The monetary rewards for the dispersion of evil were few and far between until the sponsors stepped in. Running shoes, capes, band aids and ice packs and any and every other product under the sun would come to bear his likeness and dignified symbol until the media madness began to take it’s toll. After missing the opportunity to thwart a fascist power due to a photo-op worth millions the hero underwent an alarming change. Realizing that his battles proved far less profitable and that the villainous regime was disempowered just the same, the alien turned towards more commercial endeavours all but forsaking his predestined quest.

Over the course of a few months, several movies and commercials, the alien became fixated on a cola he’d endorsed. Supplied with a life time quantity the hero proceeded to devour first two, then three and as many as twelve cans per day. Oddly enough the reasonably harmless cola churned malice and addiction against the unusual extraterrestrials DNA. At first the consumption resulted in malaise but soon ate away at the soldier’s physique. His skin peeled off in a leprous fashion and his skeleton underwent painful malformations. His abilities subsided as did his will until there was nothing left of the once glorious figure but a zombie-like core. Fortunately for the corporations which proffered him wealth his deformations remain a secret to this very day and no one seems to miss the champion of the future because severak younger and palatable actors have filled his place.

more strange stories at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS What lies beneath the brickwork ...

HEY APATHY! Alternative comics

A strange deviation lurks beyond the metropolis' shadows breeding and brooding in the darken alleys and sewers. Though still unassuming yet a certain times visible, these weird horned malformations reek of diabolic intent. A alchemic concoction constituently designed of a unique intermingling of the physical and intangible is slowly formulating a new race. The bacteria necessary for these creatures inception is common and harmless to those without contact. The rotting foods, wasted containers and used toxins normally found in all garbage when left to culture in dark and damp places contain the necessary fluids for the ensuing development of a most frightening enemy. However these fermented and macrobiotic organisms of decay are uselessly inanimate with out the inclusion of certain rituals and would likely only fester in unkempt corners and unfiltered sewer ways.

The rituals involved are on their own much more devious and as a rule cause great harm to any involved. Through any act of malicious aggression, violence or depravation the chemical environments may be well prepared for the birth. Following even the most miniscule of horrific occurrences the air and area of the location becomes stained. A telepathic residue changes the scene’s composure leaving unseen markings viable enough to incite change. In instances of extreme devastation the psychic residue may be so extreme as to force those who enter the premises unknowingly to re-enact the previous terrors despite clear and sane histories free from violence. The rituals do not require such escalated events to proceed as almost any act of hatred will suffice in the change.

It is the unique mixture of these, our excessive physical wastes and intrinsic motive and acts of cruelty, which have completed this new formula of probable destruction. As garbage is left unattended in the darkest corners of the city, so to do these corners nurture evil acts. From the most insidious crimes of man against man right down to terrible self inflicted and addictive injuries are seething through the un-trodden pathways, alleys and underground tunnels. Most of these atrocities have been ignored by the people and press while those which have been acknowledged have since been deemed social acceptable. Yet despite the mass denial and inexplicable justifications, the spell has been cast and a change will soon take place. The accumulative fervour of all these negative acts is breeding and brooding in the development of a new race. With horns on their heads they have been witnessed quite seldom but rest assured in unrest for an army of evil is growing behind the unlit brick work in the monsrous metropolis known as the City of Gears…  more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-at.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS an artist's statements

HEY APATHY! Surreal Artworks

Another attempt to explain what I do in 500 words or less, okay it's late and I'm bored but I think this will still prove valuable...

HEY APATHY! Is an ongoing artistic investigation into the metropolis, the people, and the mechanics of being. Using a combination of fine artworks and popular mass media I have developed a visual vocabulary expressing a stern yet optimistic warning towards future days. The entire project, initiated in 2001, reads as an extended narration involving ink drawings, murals, gallery installations, comic books, publications, street performances, video and animation. By way of this interdisciplinary and increasingly public process I’ve determined a vehicle for discourse suitable to both the gallery connoisseur and viewers of all ages. The validity of my life’s work will be examined through a brief analysis of the project’s history, cultural significance and current explorations.

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

In the initial drawings (2001) the city was announced as an ominous gear powered by an endless sea of faceless denizens. At that time I was working out an introverted artist’s studio and envisioned the metropolis as a nihilistic conglomeration of misdirected superficial and commercial ideologies. In order to better understand the phenomena in question I developed a uniquely extroverted artist’s process through which public presentations, performances, interactions and interventions would help resolve my inquiries. Since that time I have used the public forum to initiate exchanges with peoples from all over the world and of all walks of life. With each passing year I learned more of architecture and others as reflected in the ultimate progression of my works. Today the city is still rendered as a giant gear, only now it is fuelled by all sorts of strange individual rather than anonymous cogs in a machine.

Urban Arworkst and Large Murals

The primary objective of the “HEY APATHY!” artworks is to produce a commentary simultaneously intellectually provocative as well as accessible to viewer of all ages. In order to best achieve a dialogue amongst broad audiences I have assimilated various technical approaches. Equal attention has been given to the development of sustain studio artworks and to the production of multi-media and accessible artworks. By experimenting with various presentation techniques, and one on one interactions my artwork delves into humanist themes introducing unsuspecting pedestrians to alternative ideas usually reserved for gallery walls. Through the inclusion of street performances, animations, and comics, HEY APATHY! is capable of communicating to an inclusive audience of all ages, races, and walks of life.

HEY APATHY! Public Exhibitions and Street Art

To the artist interested in initiating mass dialogue the possibilities of multi-media artworks facilitates necessity. In my most recent studies I have developing a series of videos, comics and art books suitable for both online presentation and gallery exhibition. I am currently creating a new hand drawn animation sponsored by the Ontario Arts Council in which over 300 fully rendered stills will be compiled on film. The idea being that the finished artworks will be prepared as a wall installation to accompany the film. The unique and extensive project travels through 13 short vignettes recounting the evolutionary narrative expressed throughout my art works including imagery developed between 2001-2010. The completed project will not only extend my technical vocabulary but will further my attempts to reconfigure popular culture, fine artwork as a sophisticated yet accessible conversation. The “HEY APATHY!” endeavour continually exposes a humanist ideology crossing the irrational barriers which segregate one man from another retaining much significance universally and decidedly Canadian. (Damn 541 words but close and better luck next time!)

HEY APATHY animation sample from FLIES HOLES AND ROACHES 2002

visit http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS in Toronto Magazine

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics in Toronto Magazine

I received a copy of the latest Dandyhorse Magazine today from contributing author and editor in chief Tammy Thorne. I've done some illustrations for the magazine in the past and was interviewed by Tammy this past winter. The article was published in this new spring issue along with a new illustration based on the primary themes the periodical references. Dandy horse is a cyclist and bike oriented fare which discusses personal, political and all issues concerning bicycles and their positive impact on our urban center and the environment in general. The articles look also at various social issues with an enticing a activist ideology. For this particular publication the major thematic hypothesis revolved around different interpretations of the term “social justice”.

HEY APATHY! Social Justice Superhero

The article discusses my evolution and experiences as a street artist as well as some of my insights on the metamorphoses of Toronto. Not to many people ( actually absolutely no one) had the same unique vantage as I did on the streets to witness our big city get bigger. The article gets down to my interpretation of social justice which fittingly runs throughout all my stories and artwork. The basic idea is that the city is a giant gear but it is up to all the different individual character’s to make that gear spin. Basically a call and a warning for each of us to slow down and take note of the import of our actions on a day to day basis. Thanks Tammy for the awesome  article, I think you expressed my expressions without even the slightest of misinterpretations ( though I never actually graduated from O.C.A.D. which keeps popping up in all these articles, maybe they should just give me an honorary degree!).

I was proud to get involved ( and not just because of the interview) and created my own “social justice” hero with a bicycle for a head. Dawning a flowing cape and an insignia initialled S.J. this weird little superhero is ready to ride. The connections between cycling, the environment, mass transit and humanity are readily discussed through out the magazine. I found some really interesting information about Toronto’s new large scale environmental centre as well as an enlightened comparison between T.O.’s and Vancouver’s approach to subsidized housing. Anyways you’ll have to go out and buy one I’m not giving any more away.(Viva Capitolismo!)

Cover of Dandyhorse Magazine

In a similar fashion to the SPACING Magazine, in which another HEY APATHY! article was published earlier this year, I was extremely honoured to be part of a socially driven and political publication. It has always been my mission to create artworks of social significance which can be used as a means of discourse and potentially incite change. Neither Dandyhorse nor Spacing are driven by celebrity or known to be exploitatively fashionable. In fact both magazines are intellectually charged and designed to perpetuate dialogue and information of the utmost relevance to the learned Torontonian. Though I’m not one to turn away art or fashion press exposure, I am incomparably proud to be part of these more important magazines.

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology 2007

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics STREET ART

       

The 2007 was by far my most exciting as well as one of the shortest in the five year experiment. Having the luck of a profitable Christmas, I passed the 06 -07 winter indoors working on the pages for HEY APATHY! Book One. At the time of the March holiday, which often started my spring performances, the weather remain vicious but I was content to remain inside until midway through May when the spring finally sprung. I dove right into my new large location across from the Silver Snail and started painting enormous murals at a previously unmatched pace. Every weekend of good weather I made 10 x 12 foot ink murals live on Queen Street West. The new drawings were the biggest of all my performances and could be created in as little as 3 hours. The new season, new location and new performances generated new success.

      

Weekend Performance Painting on Queen Street West

           

I had used the area out front of the Black Bull Pub across the street from the Silver Snail for about a month the previous winter. The location held many advantages including shade, space, and the inability for other artist to intrusions but I knew that there would be certain political grievances ahead if I was going to maintain the spot. First of all the location was often used by a seasoned professional who is famous in Toronto for his enormous chalk renderings. However I was aware that he’d primarily relocated to a busier corner in front of the Eaton Center. I hadn’t seen the Chalk artist on Queen for at least 8 months so I had little concern of offending his seniority. Oddly enough on one of my first days in the new spot I returned to my table to find a set of earplugs sitting mysteriously by my pens. I had already started wearing plugs on the street as a result of experience and had a strange inclination that the gift came from someone else who was aware of the noise. I instantly thought of the chalk artist, the only other person who could possibly know how noisy that corner is over the course of a day. Obviously this is purely speculation but I like to think that the ear plugs were a sort of permission or changing of the guard giving me the approval to occupy the space.

               

ATTACK OF THE CN TOWER! Ink Drawings from the streets 2007

                

Though I never actually encountered the chalk artist I did run into territorial problems with another vendor over the space. For the first few days of the spring a sculptor named John started to compete with me for the space. He would come over a start yelling but I’d argue with my licences which I could tell at a gaze that the apparently derelict sculptor did not possess. One morning he actually picked up my table and smashed over my head and shoulders while I was knelling down to unpack. In another instance I had plaster shattered all around me and my work. Eventually through much peaceful negotiation John and I resided to accommodate each other and share the large space. Some how we made friends and enjoyed a very peaceful comradeship though the space was not fully ideal for two. Fortunately as my business picked up John too had some good fortune selling several sculptures at gallery rates and he retired early giving me the whole space. Despite our vagrant introductions, I am still good friends with John-Paul who ultimately proved the old adage that you can’t tell a book by it’s cover.

Working on some small canvas' during he weekdays

            

By the second week of the good weather I was running a tight ship. No one else disturbed or distracted me and the show went on full force. The CN Tower turned into an eyeball and heroes fought endlessly with villains. The city was a gear and it was being spun by all kinds of people. During the week days I worked on small canvas’ which were selling from $300-500 and in high demand. On Saturday’s I would paint large performance murals gathering enormous crowds and painting up a frenzy. I addition to the Queen Street performances I also did 6 paintings at various P.S. Kensington Car free Festivals totalling 27,10-12 foot ink drawings for the duration of the season. One of these incredible feats was captured in a time lapse video by photographer Craig Boyko. Entitled 3.5 hours with Mike Parsons featured a 10 x 12 foot depiction of the city of gears created one Saturday afternoon out on Queen Street West.

             

Live Painting at Kensington Market Street Festival

                   

Having worked as hard as I could and near perfecting my street art I retired for the year on the 1st of September. In a short 4 month season I’d actually talked to more people and sold more paintings than in all of my previous years combined. Instead of $10 sketches, I was selling paintings and my full line of merchandised comics, t-shirts, and prints were always running out of stock. My performances were becoming powerful as I attracted more and more onlookers and most importantly of all the summer weather was immaculate. At the end of August I booked an exhibition space for the first time in years, and retreated to the studio to develop 7 new pen and ink canvasses.

 more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology 2006 part 2.5

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

I’ve been posting this Street Art Chronology over the past couple of weeks as a first draft attempt to recollect my public performance artworks from 2004-2009. Basically I am running quickly through my documentation and memories in order to start to organize all these experiences which I will eventually edit, and catalogue on my website. So please forgive the rushed anecdotal an somewhat incomplete stories however they are proving themselves quite useful as a first stage sort of writing. Asides from certain articles being better written than others, I have also found some difficulty placing all the important events. In fact in yesterday’s post regarding the 2006 season, I forgot to include one of my strangest experiences.

During the early fall of 2006 I found my self over worked and rather stressed after numerous battles with the by-law officers, other artists and most fatally indestructible an onslaught of rainy weekends. The result left me far behind my regular quota for the season and the fear of a wet winter only exemplified my despair. I woke up early one Saturday to find yet another pouring storm and in my frustration I tripped on a smashed my acoustic guitar. The instrument was a hand made Seagull I had played on for years and in combination with all the other circumstances the incident caused me much grievance. Aggravated by my loss and the terribly wet weather I threw my fist to the wall in hopes of release. This was just about the stupidest thing I’ve ever done and though it took me three days to acknowledge the fracture I hand indeed broken my drawing hand. I received my cast the following Tuesday and was forced to return to the streets despite my condition. Interestingly enough I’d practiced many drawing techniques using my left hand and for the first time I discovered a wholly practical use for my ambidextrous experiments.

Although somewhat limited I managed to continue to produce and perform on Queen West a throughout my recovery. I was generally working on detailed comics pages during the fall but the accident forced me to make simplistic brush drawings like the character I had previously sold in 8.5 x 11 inch frames. Creatively stifled and obviously frustrated I had a rough time transporting my work to and from the streets and had too reduce my display to a 4 x 6 foot display for a couple of weeks. Oddly enough during this period of time, like any wounded creature in the wild, certain street predators took notice and actions against me.

Alternative Comics "The Epiphany!" Street Art 2006

There was another artist who had followed my example and started selling his drawings on the street. And like at least three other artists before him he had started to parody my drawings using similar black and white characters, phrases and drawing techniques. I’d let the incident pass for the most part as this imitator had set up a reasonable distance from my own display and had only a small and obviously incomparable display. However this relationship escalated following the casting of my broken right hand. Incredibly but not altogether surprisingly, as I set up my reduced display and sat down to work away with my left hand I looked up to see this other artist setting his drawings directly beside me. The sight was ludicrous and the people were making comments about who did it first and comparing us to each other in an unfavourable fashion. Right beside my image of a man’s head exploding with a comic world bubble stating “Not Again!” was almost an identical image drawn by the competitor in which his character said “This Keeps Happening!” . Another odd coupling involved two near identical images humanoid type creatures spitting flies. In fact I started to get angry as this was becoming a pattern and I was tired of street artists sitting in close proximity pretending to be me. At any rate my hand started to get better and before to long I was back up to my regular show. My drawings got faster and bigger again and amazingly the weather even started to pick up a bit.  Coincidentally at the same time that I was recovering the other artist was moving further and further away from my display until  he eventually  disappeared altogether.

more at www.heyapathy-comics-art.com

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology 2006 part 2

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics Street Art

Part 2 continued from yesterday

The 2006 season lasted well into the fall with a brief relapse in good weather in time for the holiday season. Following the Edward Day show and the Cambridge Galleries Solo Exhibition, I continued to work on the streets performing weekend murals and working on pen drawings. The weather remained friendly until late in October and I happily held regular hours on the sidewalks of Queen West. It was an incredible experience to sit comfortably out doors in the fall as I witnessed the city change seasons and faces. All sorts of new people had arrived from all over as new students and new businesses started their year. The leaves changed slowly but assuredly though the temperature remained seasonably remarkable until the sudden November winds.

MONSTER COMICS STREET ART 06

Without warning the streets turned cold and uninhabitable, the likes of I’d not seen for near two years. I returned to my studio satisfied for the season and decided to work on HEY APATHY! Book One. However the monstrous gusting passed rather quickly and the dampened weather recuperated in time for the Christmas shopping. I got back out on the street mid-way through November and found the holiday season worth weathering the colder weather. I would work until 7 each night with a lantern after dark. It was certainly getting colder but business was booming as many a weird drawing went off as gifts.

The most unusual occurrence erupted during my winter street art exhibits as the weather took a strange yet welcome new course. The winter let up and the sun started rising beaming temperatures in the low teens reminiscent of spring. For the last two weeks of December I set up a 12 x 12 foot display on Queen Street West across from the Silver Snail and painted giant pictures under a beautifully sunny and windless sky. It was as warm as 10 degrees Celsius and the streets were consumed by pedestrians more than in all my previous encounters. It is a very rare occasion for Toronto to experience such fine weather during the busiest shopping event of the year and every one took advantage. Including me, thanks to the unseasonable warm and dry climate I was able to do live paintings all throughout the month of December. It was like fourteen busy Saturdays all strung in a row. I never met so many people nor received such excited reactions, especially those from the younger awestruck viewers. Following a two week long street art extravaganza I finally retired to my studio for the winter and started putting together the artwork for my first HEY APATHY! Comic. The weather stayed relatively mild for the better part of the winter but there was no way I was going back out on the streets until spring. more at HEY APATHY!

 

Cover of HEY APATHY! BOOK ONE/13

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology 2006 part 1

HEY APATHY! Alterantive Comics at P.S. Kemsington 

Street Art Stories 2006

continued from ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology 2005-06 part 4 As the summer picked up so did the heat., in every sense of the word. The temperature rose as did the crowds and once more my performances were proving successful. I had expanded, uncontested to a full 10x14 foot display featuring a complete line of prints, large murals, and t-shirts when simultaneous success brought forth enemies both new and old. While I successfully exhibited the works at the T.O.A.E. and was invited to take part in a group show in one of Toronto’s best galleries, at the same time the celebrations caused me more by-law hardships while working on the street.

 

By the summer of 2006 I had developed numerous and practiced techniques for my live painting performances. I had stop detailing the images with bamboo and focussed entirely one brushes using the wooden handle end instead of the pen. 4 x 6 foot Monsters and spiralling metropolis spewed across the paper in a matters of minutes. The images involved several characters from the 2005 ink drawings including the Superhero, the Samurai, the Machinehead and the Evil eye. I worked out on Queen Street on a daily basis while performing on the weekends and at several P.S. Kensington Car Free street festivals . Numerous midnight missions were also made landing graffiti style cartoon decapitations all over the city.

 

Live Painting at the T.O.A.E.

The street drawings were starting to gain recognition and were successfully shown at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. The weather remained cordial throughout the entire weekend and the open air festival proved unbelievable busy. On the first day I painted a large set of character faces which I proceeded to cut and frame for the Saturday sales. This was a process I had repeated almost daily while exhibiting the work on Queen West. At first I would make ten or twenty of these scribbled monsters and they would last for a week but by 2006 I was making at least that many each day. Eventually it got to the point were I would set out a 4 x 6 foot scroll and draw 50-60 characters in a rough grid as a performance and hope the supplies lasted. Fortunately or otherwise the character performance at the T.O.A.E. was the last batch of small hand drawn artworks I ever made. I replaced my 8.5 x 11 “ selections with digital prints after the exhibition.

4 x 6 ft. Character Performance and Selection of Prints

 

I talked to adults and children and people from all over the world. I even met people who spoke only other languages as the show is a huge attraction for tourists and collectors alike.One of the most impressive encounters I had at the outdoor exhibition was my introduction to the curator of the Edward day gallery, Kelly McCrey. The Edward Day gallery is one of the most highly respected of fall the Torontonian establishments. Kelley invited me to take part in a group exhibition and I was proud to accept his incredible offer. The HEY APATHY! Street drawings were reaching new heights both technically, professionally and most importantly in terms of interactions.

 

Having travelled many drawings since my introverted studio days I really started taking to engaging the crowds. Every drawing had a story and I was talking to more people and drawing bigger crowds. Of course, like before, the attention attracted grievances . A neighbouring and fully licensed jewellery vendor took offence to my success and started perpetual reports of my “inappropriate” activities to my old friends the by-law enforcers. At first the by-law officers let me pass with my buskers license but the jeweller persisted. He even made false reports of illicit behaviour resulting in visitations and fruitless searches by the actual police. Eventual the by-law officers, after numerous complaints from the vendor, told me that my license was not fully legit. They got me on a technicality which states that the busker cannot actually put articles on the city walk ways. After several repeat encounters, in which I was always sent off of the streets, one of the by-law officers told me that he found out more about the licenses and that there was one I could get. I followed his instructions immediately and found myself fully licensed and back on the street.

 I lost almost two weeks of the summer battling with the vendor’s complaints and despite my full license I moved a safe distance away from that jeweller. It occurred to me that all the attention, my music and madness may have been quite problematic to his business so I tried not to hold any lingering hatred for the man. However I soon realized that the bout was indeed personal as the angered jeweller was quickly horded by drunken street people and musicians who occupied my vacated spot near the vendor for the better part of the following two years. Amazingly no matter how loud, how drunk, or how large their group expanded, I never saw the jeweller file another complaint?

Street Art Queen West 2006.

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology 2005-06 part 4

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics EYEBALL CITY

Believe it or not the 2005 season never actually came to a close for me. The winter was mild by all comparison and virtually non-existent by Canadian standards. I had moved up and out of various shared accommodations and rented a large studio apartment in Kensington Market. Though the summer had been a lucrative one I had no real plans for continued business or exhibition during the winter season and found my self continually hitting the streets all the way through to the spring. The weather stayed above 5 degrees Celsius, dry, windless and sunny so I bundled up good and remained one of few vendors on the beat. Despite the long months made of short brisk days, I continued to earn enough to keep the ship afloat.

I had a lot of help through out that season as many repeat patrons purchased work primarily for my benefit. One incredible patron returned on a weekly basis purchasing 10 sketches a week until he’d collected a full hundred. The street life was unusual and the tourism and shopping was scarce and I ended up fraternizing with various street people. It was a totally different world out there yet a worthwhile adventure as I braved the cold weather and learned more things than I’d hoped. I actually saw the sun get lower in the sky and by judging the length of the shadows I knew when it had risen again to lengthen the days. There is something strange and meditative about spending an entire year observing the world from a single location. I experienced a truly unique vantage of the metropolis’ cycles. A February came and slowly passed by my pens finally froze and I was forced to scribble with markers. However at the onset of March and close to my submission, the temperature starting rising and it was as if winter hadn’t come at all.

The early spring brought about a seasonally impressive March Break and the streets were filled once again with large crowds. During the holiday I started performing again and set forth to create 3 large scale ink murals. The first drawing I made featured the ominous EYEBALL CITY featuring the gear themes with an optically twist. I had already hypothesized the metropolis as a giant machine propelled by all of it’s denizens only now it was centrifugally spinning around the eyeball of consciousness, a psychedelic representation of human hope and shared dreams.

The second large illustration depicted the grotesque CITY MONSTER, an enormous creature made up of all the cars, wires, building and people personifying the power the urban atrocities. I remember blasting the John Coltrane Village Vanguard records while painting when a father and son stopped to watch while the rest of their family was shopping. The Dad was leaning on a rail near my display when I heard him say to his son “This street is cool!” They both had a glow about them which told me how much they were enjoying the experience so I looked up and down the road to see what they meant. There wasn’t anything anywhere, no people, no vendors just me, the monster, and Mr. Coltrane.

The third drawing of the spring holiday was supposed to be something I’d decided on but have since totally forgot. As I stood up to attack the big. piece of paper before a gathering crowd my knee struck my ink container sending a black pool across the page. Without hesitation I jumped into the ink stained mess and started scratching away. The image ended up being another CITY MONSTER vomiting up a black tar. The accidental inspiration proved inspirationally gratifying and the drawing was sold later out of my studio at a high end gallery price to someone who had witnessed my salvaging of the nearly ruined performance drawing. Each of these three monster comics murals measured 10 x 10 feet and were drawn with black India ink, brushes and bamboo. The first two creations took three days each to complete while the third accidental drawing was done in a day. I’ll never forget all the people I met and especially the endless sea of young vacationing students. That March Break Holiday was incredible and incredibly busy as it was the only one during my entire lifetime to be blessed with such fine weather. continued tomorrow

 

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Technological Talisman

HEY APATHY! Surreal Alternative Comics

Yet another unusually hot spring day in the city of Gears. The thick air and burning sun pumped us up around 30 degrees Celsius as the sluggish denizens filled the early morning streets. At first the metropolis was energized in every sense as people flaunted and strut in their scantily summer fashions fully ready to make use of the fine weather. However as the sun continued it's climb and the heat crept steadily upward, the excitement became filtered and numbed by the inevitable  stroke and dehydration. The parks filled with bitterness and irritation from any who tried to move.

By noon the temperature had risen and though I did not check it, that heat was more than abnormal and relentlessly rising. I heard bickering from the benches and witness no less than three fights as my neck started reddening forcing me into the shade. It was at about three in the afternoon that I found my self seeking shelter under a large tree from the sweltering rays. The heat kept on creeping and I found that I could barely replenish my perspiration by downing several litres of water.

At four o'clock the concrete stared to melt peeling back layers and revealing strange thoughts. The air started to waver as though it was water and those who were left standing were in the utmost of rage. Car horns could be heard , along with much yelling , from all perceptive directions of the urban landscape. Still getting hotter at five in the late afternoon, I found my self caught in a daze completely incapacitated while stuck to the tree. It was here in the mucky humid waving heat of the city that I nearly passed out, but it was not from the heat but from something I saw.

From across the blazing park a figure stood alone and idol, easily noticeable as the only person unaffected by the heat. As the blurry grudged air slowly subsided the being appear ever slightly more clear. At first the only peculiarity seemed to be the tall strides, as absolutely every one else was incapacitated by the humidity. Then I noticed the beings head like a bull only with four horns and three faces or possibly four. The movements of the creature became smoothly surreal as it moved closer and closer until I was most certain it's legs were in fact constructed mechanics resembling tentacles and tendrils intertwined yet mobile.

I squinted to view this atrocious absurdity and though it appeared to take no notice, it continually approached. Now the faces were moving and intermingled forming and reforming before my very eyes. Amazing the effects of a hot humid vision, an hallucination for sure brought about by the sun. The creature got closer and I could see that it's hips were made up from small screens projecting strange expressions and I almost laughed as I was compelled to smell my water for a spike.

At last the monster arrived only inches before me when under all the animalistic mechanizations I saw some thing more terrible. It was a man in a lab coat and large rubber gloves wearing the cape and cowl of a hero with his arm spread wide apart. His teeth were gritted and hissing and I could hear the sound of machinery from under his breath. His torso was opened with intestines of computers and the bull's heads seemed to be one with his own. The strange scientist reached forward with one of his gloved hands and made a gesture as though he was turning a switch. "That's a wrap" were the words muttered out from the machine noises and all at once the heat and desolate weather system seemed to recoil.

The vision, the scientist, the sounds and the humidity all vanished at once. The temperature did not drop instead immediately corrected and the dehydrated irritations of the city had ceased. Who knows maybe I just fell asleep in the sun but that certainly doesn't explain how I finished the drawing posted above this weird account of today's heat wave gone wrong. Any ways I got back to my studio, ate some food and worked on the O.A.C. animation trying to forget that we are quite very possibly all rats in a lab....

 
 

more drawings at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS MACHINE HEAD!

HEY APATHY! ALTERNATIVE COMICS CHARACTERS

A technological virus spreads throughout the streets of the City of Gears! Strange mechanized tentacles are assimilating thoughts, fashions, social interactions and mankind itself. Either a result of or the villainous proprietor, an ominous business demi-god presides over the atrocities. Shooting computerized appendages out into the crowd, the evil Machine Head perpetuates the dehumanizing epidemic!

Spent some time making more of these silly character descriptions for my website today. I've got enough of them done to publish an usual and entertaining webpage. Maybe tomorrow I'll get up to the work. Most of my time today was put into the animation and I may have over done it a bit as I feel particularly drained although it is still early. Staring over a light table and being forced to redraw the same picture over and over moving it only ever so slightly would make a great torture. I wonder if I could sell the technique it to the army?

The MACHINE HEAD assimilating the human mind... http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics Scene from the LAST OPTIMIST

It has been an extensively uninterrupted and subsequently productive day at the drawing table. I spent most of the morning and better part of the afternoon working up some stills for the new animation. I created a 3rd of a second in approximately 5 hours. Sounds a little ridiculous I must admit, but the scene I'm working on involves an enormous crowd of characters and will probably only last for about four seconds. In my broken animators brain that translates to about 60 drawings. Those 60 drawings can then be compartmentalized into individual aspects, such as 60 drawings of the buildings, and 60 drawings of the skyline. Those 60 drawings can then be divided into 60 renderings of each window and 60 black fills on those buildings which are dark. The algebraic tortures continue onwards at which 60's upon 60's of images and touch up all come to a head on a tiny little particle representative of my sanity and mocking me for not choosing a simpler method of expression. But I've done this before, and probably will to some extent again, worked on stop-motion hand drawn animations and the result is always impressive for at one moment the tasks may seem endless then all of a sudden the cartoon comes to life. I let you know when that happens probably some 60 plus 60 or maybe 60 more days from now. The sooner I stop counting the better.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS MONSTER SKYSCRAPER ROBOT DRAGON!

HEY APATHY! A technological monstrosity from the business district!

A giant technological terror manifests itself in the financial center of the City of Gears! Raging like a rapid komodo, the aggressive energies generate a lizard like form. The Ferocious Dragon magnetically adapts mechanizations as scales, towering over the denizens with a reflective, electric, armoured flesh. A tiny superhuman soars over the monstrosity curiously considering the crisis at hand. Looking closely at the escaping devastation, the Hero sees a strange organic matter connecting the beast to the surface below. It would appear as though no matter how fierce or enormous the Business Dragon might grow , it cannot escape the grasp of nature below.

This 20 x 30 HEY APATHY alternative comics panel was drawn with fine point pen technical pens and black India ink, I did this drawing while working as a street performer in downtown Toronto. During my last season as a full time street performer I made several of these organics vs mechanics themed artworks. Using very small point refillable pens was ideal for the streets as dipping instruments such as brushed or nibs, can get really messy and markers are a waste of time and money. The tech-pens allow for intricate archival line-work similar to the quill technique but much more travel friendly.

 

moer drawing and comics and stories at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/