Andy Borehol

STILL WORKING.

Late night working.

NEW:

Studio portrait, 2011.
Another winter beard. Acrylic, ink + graphite on gessoed paper. Don't have Photoshop right now so the presentation's a bit sloppy.

Did a little etching.

Drew on some glasses.

Built and painted some signs for the day job situation.

ZINES:
A few years ago, worked on a set of drawings for a Renaissance jokes zine. Probably going to be redrawn.

Nobody gets it right all the time haha.

A doctor visiting a plague patient. Went to a science centre when I was a kid and saw one of these things. Terror ensued.

Working between projects on another zine.

EARLIER2:
Went through some more of the old books I had laying about and found some
BEANO comics.

The strips are mostly about making jokes on fat people, being hungry, beating up sissies, and vaguely racialist material. 1988!

More of the same. Here, the serial characters are drawn as bears. Used to spend a lot of time looking at this one as a kid.

In high school literature class we had to bring in our favourite books we read when we were kids, and read them to the rest of the class. People were all about the Berenstain Bears and some Clifford the Dog; I read this. The class became pretty opinionated haha. Also, that's the end of the strip... seems pretty abrupt.

AUDIO CHIT-CHAT:
Luc Tuymans on Bad at Sports.

Chuck Close for National Gallery.

Discussion of Canaletto for National Gallery.

NEVER DIE EASY JAMS:

and

WORK JAM:

RIP GURU.

STAY+.

Strategic realism.

2011-06-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

Recently studying:

Marc Trujillo

Kyle Ranson

Erin McSavaney

Will Wilson

Will Cotton

Adam Vinson

Vania Comoretti

Ulrich Lamsfuss

Steve Huston

Richard Combes

Jenny Saville

Jacob Collins

Jay Senetchko

Philip Ayers

Adolph Menzel

Aaron Coberly

Tim Doud

John Currin

Joel Sheesley

James Childs

Jacques Sultana

Ian Cumberland

Ralf Scherfose

Gavin Nolan

Annemarie Busschers

George Luks

Zack Zdrale

Nicolás Uribe

Tommy Hilding

Sean Cheetham

Daniel O'Connor

Lane Bennion

Michelle Farro

Matt Klos

Pedro López Zamora

Kent Williams

Juan Moreno Aguado

Jose Luis Ceña

Jeremy Miranda

Geroge Bellows

Daniel Coves

Eve Mansdorf

Edwin Dickinson

Alex Fowler

Michael Ciervo

Pakayla Biehn

James Chronister

Pedro Campos

Roland Hicks

Mary Jane Ansell

Stephen Wright

Simon Hennessey

Michael Taylor

Antonio López García

Alejandro Marco

Ann Marshall

Robin Williams

Kim Cogan

Ian Davis

Charlie Roberts

Julien Beneyton

Christa Palazzolo

Chris Garcia

Colin Chillag

Roberto Bernardi

Jocelyn Hobbie

Nathan Lewis

STAY+.

A few things:

2011-02-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

NEW WORK:

A colour study for a painting I'm working on.

A poster I'd done up for the show that's closing this weekend. Didn't end up printing it because it was narcissistic, and also not particularly successful as a poster.

Midway through a number of other things, but they won't find their way here for a little.

EARLIER:
Found a box of old childhood books when I last moved. Here are some of the images I liked as a kid.

Cradle of Civilization. One of the books in the "Great Ages of Man" series that Time Life published in the 60s. The cover as explained in the book:
"Gypsum figurines, their huge eyes symbolizing awed adoration of Sumerian gods, served busy worshippers as stand-ins at the altar 5000 years ago."

Ancient city of Nippur. Drew a lot of maps as a kid based on this kind of stuff, but they were lost along the way.

More figurines.

Marsh people.

Gudea, ruler of Lagash, carved in stone.

Here's another:

Why Things Are. A book of questions and answers with a lot of cool illustrations. Really got into the layout of this book.

Haha lady looks surprised to be chowin' a whole cake and washing it down with a 40.

Really liked, 'Why did people start to live in towns?'

Always was confused by the image for the, 'Why did the Chinese make the Long March?' because I thought they were referring to the month and not the crossing of the mountains and plains of China. When you're young, you don't understand the whole story of a thing.

Another solid spread: tiny candles in the ears of the sailors of the Penelope, and an accurate depiction of a cartoon.

LOOKING AT:

Jonas Wood.

Richard Estes.

Kris Lewis.

Lee Price.

STAY+.

Studies and Pencil Drawings Zine.

2011-01-15T06:13:00.000-08:00

NEW ZINE:

Photographed the zine I made for this show. 18 7" by 8.5" pages of pencil drawings run through a photocopier. Some are original drawings, some are studies of stuff I've done or am doing, and some are studies of paintings from artists I like.

Cover:

Title page:

"Recent Paintings."
8JAN2011-19FEB2011
Open House:
21JAN2011
6.30PM-8.00PM
At Seven Shores.
5-8 Regina St N
Waterloo, Ontario
519.342.0916

Pages 1&2:

"Still life with matches and mitts," and, "Under the Influence."
A boxes of matches used to light candles, mittens, and a low-fidelity likeness of Gena Rowlands.

Pages 3&4:

"Luger," and, "Nutritional Mathematician."
A drawing of this painting I'm going to submit for the Kingston Prize, and a drawing for a painting I'm working on right now.

Pages 5&6:

"Study for Jesuspiece," and, "After Beaston."
Drawings of:

This and Beaston's canvas, "Cleaning Crew."

Pages 7&8:

"Amateur Preservationist," and, "After Gubia."

A study of this work by M Gubia.

Pages 9&10:

"After Evoke," and, "Upon Leaving," both previously mentioned here.

Pages 11&12:

"After Beckmann," and, "Self-Portrait in Black."
Drawings of:

Beckmann mid-way through his career (post-academic stuff, and before his technique became a bit more crude as I would see it), and a self-portrait.

Pages 13&14:

"After Schiele."
Studies of:

"Portrait of Melanie,"(1908) and, "Portrait of Otto Wagner,"(1910).
A portrait of Schiele's sister and a portrait of Otto Wagner, an architect of the Vienna Secession and by far one of my favourite artists. The study that I made of Wagner was from a fragment of a Schiele oil painting, and not the above watercolour, but you get the idea. Some of Wagner's work, from left to right: Villa Wagner II, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, St. Leopold's, and the facade from the Portois&Fix building:

A photograph of Wagner:

I've been reading a copy of Alessandra Comini's, "Egon Schiele's Portraits," in which it is explained that Wagner--a proponent and champion of young artists--tried to give Schiele a 'leg up' by sitting for him as part of a potential series of Viennese dignitaries which could be toured across Europe to the great benefit of Schiele's career, only to have Schiele paint the above highly unflattering watercolor portrait of Wagner, leading him in short order to refuse to sit any further for the artist. The project was promptly abandoned.

A larger drawing of the Wagner portrait. 6.25" by 8.75" in graphite on 8.25" by 11.75" paper.
I'd also written a very lengthy analysis on the current popularity of Schiele, a consideration of his work as a turning point in the construction of the 'new artist,' and the role of that artist in society, BUT after a second reading, thought better of it.

Pages 15&16:

"Mesopotamian Votive Figurine," and, "Still life with boots."

An alabaster and gold figure dating from about 2800BC. More on this later.

Pages 17&18:

"After Roberts," and, "After Alvarez."

A study of a sculpture by Ann Roberts (there's another 2009 sculpture of hers on display at Harbinger Gallery if you're near there), and a study of a painting by M Alvarez, who is also making superior stuff.

About:

Back cover:

That's the whole of it. Thanks again to Sean, Marg, Maya, and everyone else at Seven Shores, Maddie, Shahin, Eamonn, the artists whose work I've studied, and everyone else who's been showing their support.

STAY+.

Andy Borehol--Recent Works.

2011-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

New solo show:

"Andy Borehol--Recent Works"
8JAN2011-19FEB2011
Open House:
21JAN2011, 6.30-8PM
At Seven Shores.
5-8 Regina St N
Waterloo, Ontario
519.342.0916

Works not previously exhibited in KW, brand new work, a submission for the 2011 Kingston Prize, and free zines. JAM.

"Andrew McKay (b. 1984) is a self-taught artist painting under the
name of Andy Borehol since 2006. He has shown both in group and solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States, as well as overseas, and this past summer has begun work curating exhibitions promoting Canadian artists. 'Recent Works,' is his second show in Kitchener-Waterloo since moving to the region a little over two years ago, and features canvases and panels based on local subject matter.
For more information, please see his blog: thedissatisfactory.blogspot.com, and his back catalogue: www.flickr.com/photos/andy_borehol/.
--STAY+, 2011."

A brief follow-up.

2010-12-12T19:04:00.001-08:00

HI.

Almost finished the zine for the show coming up in January in KW. It's 20 pages of pencil drawings. Working in graphite makes a mess.

Pages 9+10.
5" by 5" study of an EVOKE painting. Sometimes I make drawings of things that are already drawn to put some better hand-eye discipline on what I'm doing. To the right of that is a drawing of a girl who tells good jokes.

The original.

Page 3.
LUGER.

Page 11.
Finished 5" by 6.5" study of a Beckmann self-portrait. I hope these photocopy at least somewhat plausibly. But on the other hand I'll be giving them out free so keep all complaints of shabby quality to yourself. Jokes.

There was also an early painting of Beckmann's ('Young Men by the Sea', 1905) that reminded me of Janesch's from the last post, but in looking for an image of it I came across these which are more interesting:

From a fashion thing out of DVMAN magazine.
More Kalle Gustafsson.

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH RACIALIST DEPICTIONS ANYWAY?

The left is an image from the Wikipedia article on Entartete Kunst mentioned in the last post, and the right is a mural mounted on the side of a building in the downtown here. Swipefile busted.

ALSO:

Another Mucha sculpture, this of Sarah Bernhardt.

A FEW OTHER THINGS TO BE SUSPICIOUS OF:
How it works on Patmos:

Do and do not do:

Lookout! People are probably hiding all manner of things from you and you're maybe too much the fool to even know better:

BUILDING JAM:

STAY+.

Overpowering the general isolation.

2010-11-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

DEFUNCT:
Here're the panels from the series I'd been working on over the past couple of years, 'Every man is a reflection of yourself.' The intention of these panels was to analyze the nature of conflict in and about masculinities; the ways and blueprints men devise in attempting to navigate the world.

For example, some years ago I was working on a collaborative drawing with an aquaintance of mine who, unsolicited, laid out what he'd concluded about convincing women to 'fall in love with him.' To paraphrase:
"I'll do a thing three times--it could be anything, like say, buying flowers--and if I get a postive response all three times, or sometimes even twice, then I know it's a good thing to do; it'll work. I've got certain places that I'll bring girls when we go out. Like, down by parliament there're benches used years ago by CSIS to listen in on conversations because the curved shape of the bench allowed a person to hear what was being said on the far side. I took a girl there once and she told me she loved me. I later took others there, too." I'd never before (or since) listened to such a mathematical 'approach,' and I remember at the time being very put-off about the whole thing, nevertheless finding it very interesting that one could take it so seriously...

Concerning the panels, because of the meandering length it's taken to get this far into the project, that the works would most likely require some further meandering elucidation to convey the ideas behind the paintings (and thus explain the probably awfully misogynistic-sounding titles), and that the three years' work of this project has resulted in what I feel to be an irreconciable aesthetic gap between the earliest and latest panels, work on this project is ending. One more is in progress, and I'll be finishing that in the future, but the works will be exhibited as part of other shows and won't be on display as a separate solo exhibition.

'Sure women do leave. But men leave too.'
Acrylic, ink, graphite + paint marker on 24" by 24" panel. 2008-09.
The difference between 'going' and 'going.'

Closer. The last time I've used a paint marker for highlighting in a painting of any decent size.

'This is a serious question.'
Acrylic, ink + graphite on 18" by 24" panel. 2009.
Previously posted. The difficulties of integrating personalities as viewed through the integration of each individual's private possesstions.

Closer.

'Pfff. Bitch shouldn't have fallen in love with me!'
Acrylic, ink + graphite on 18" by 24" panel. 2008-09.
See what I mean about titles. This painting centred around something that is particularly alarming I think--the pre-conceived mis-matching of personalities very much emphasized and encouraged by contemporary culture. The smallest perceived discrepancies is a tossing out of the whole thing. Today, there is a very real methodology applied to the cellularization of the individual. Compare 'interests' and 'likes'--is it a 'match,' something to really build on? MAYBE. If you're not sure about things, they've got an answer for that too, don't even worry about it:

First.

Followed by. Haha.

Closer.

'Girls are just a decoration!'
Acrylic, ink + graphite on 24" by 24" panel. 2010.
Also previously posted. From where do the ideas men hold arise, and what is the relation of their success in life as far as the manifestation of these ideas is concerned.

Closer.

Maybe too close.

REMINDED OF:

Some of Laurie Papou's work reminded me of this Albert Janesch painting, 'Water Sport,' from 1936. I'd seen it at the National Gallery as part of the show they'd put on featuring Fascist and Socialist Realist art, and regardless of political bent, thought it was a good work.

Another thing from that show on display was a book explaining degenerate art, of which I'm pretty sure this was a page. More on entartete Kunst. Relevance today?

SKETCHBOOK:

Finished the ragbook sketch of Mucha's 1899-1900 sculpture 'Nature'.

ZINE:

Started on a sketchzine for a show coming up in January. A study of Max Beckmann's 1919 'Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass'.

PHOTOGRAPH:
No photographs this time around; someone had written 'NECKFACE' (haha) in jagged lettering down the street but when I went today to see it, it'd been buffed.

STUDYING:
I'm nearly finished Kurelek's autobio 'Someone With Me,' and it's pretty much about his escape from childhood bullying, later escape from the advances of homosexuals, and finally his enthusiastic conversion to Catholicism. I was hoping for more insight into his work, but it wasn't to be found there.

STAY+.

Well, you all know what things are and what they look like.

2010-10-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

Finished. Acrylic, ink + graphite on 24" by 24" panel (sprung for a fancy one this time).

Non-photo and 4B over gesso.

Closer.

Closer.

GET BUFF:
Buffing these two panels to use for other things.

Past it's prime.

Done after I'd quit smoking. Just lost interest in painting it.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Wealthy neighbourhoods and lawn sculpture--what is the connection?

Poorer neighbourhoods and the loss of places to do work--what is the connection?

STAY+

The gasoline on your fires.

2010-10-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

HELLO.

PAINTING:

Nearly done the painting I'm submitting for the Kingston Prize this year; post it in full when it's completed over the next day or two.

DRAWING:

"What's the 'deal' with obsolete observational humour?"
Finally starting to work on SOVIETZIP1917. For an idea of the content of that project: The Jules Bourglay Imagination League.

STUDYING:
A few weeks ago my friend Mike pointed me in the direction of an NFB short on William Kurelek, who I'd been previously unaware of. Going to start really looking into Canadian artists I think, and just study more art books in general. Here's the film if you want to watch it:

Frank Sinatra resemblance.

LOOKING:
At some paintings recently by Laurie Papou, who also happens to be a Canadian painter. Here are some of her works I thought were interesting:

SKETCHBOOK:

From a sculpture of Herakles. You know, when he was done his labours and just became a big fat wastoid. Guess he lost his 'appetite'...

A study of VanGogh's "L'Arlésienne, Portrait of Madame Ginoux," a subject he painted several times over 1890. Sometimes I finish studies, too. Just not this time. Yet.

That's it for now.

STAY+.

Stragglers...

2010-10-09T18:31:00.001-07:00

A small drawing based on the sculpture mentioned last post.

PENCILS:

Walter Payton figurine hanging in the old den.

Machinery shed in the alley behind the Ontario Seed Company in Waterloo. The lady who works at the Chinese food place next door there parked her car in front of the building and stepped out to go in, but seeing me sitting on the broken glass-covered steps drawing, got back in her car and moved it, saying, 'I don't want to ruin your sketch,' which I thought was a pretty nice thing to do. It's hard to render chainlink.

Another drawing done in the old den. A gift card (it wasn't addressed to Nelly--no such person exists, I just have bad vision), a Freebass/Skallywag tour poster, and a photo of Minouche: half-cat/half-raccoon, but full-time stand-in for human.

FILLER:

This is already on my Flickr somewhere, but I was going through some old things cleaning up and came across it. Done in December 2005, it was the first real drawing I'd done since leaving high school a few years before. Not exactly a triumphant return with such skewed perspective, but you've got to start somewhere.

Done during some bogus lecture on Marxism probably around the time we had the head of the Canadian Marxist-Leninist Party in to laud the relevance of Leninism in Canada (and in 2006 no less...), I'd recently decided to quit university and start making art as much and as often as possible. Living in Ottawa at the time which had a few legal walls I'd pass by regularly, I guess I used to look at more graffiti-type stuff back then (it didn't really take).

PHOTOS:

Apparently this used to be a block of flats.

Pantone sunset.

JAM:

STAY+

We eat from the same plate.

2010-10-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

NEW.

PAINTINGS:

Finished the study of 'The Suitors' sculpted by Ann Roberts.
Acrylic, ink, graphite + charcoal on 20" by 24" canvas.

Closer.

Working on a submission for the Kingston Prize. Pretty rough now, but it's getting there.

SKETCHBOOK:

Study of Schiele's 1910 'The Scornful Woman'.

Study of Mucha's 1899 'Auto-portrait."

Study of Bruegel's 1559 'Battle Between Carnival and Lent'.

Study of a 1911 Dudovich poster for ink.

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Felt a little down the other week so I dropped a pint of blood at the bank, and walked two hours to the city limits. They have some pretty large backyards in those parts.

Waiting for the bus outside this place, a thin bald-headed man came out to survey his plants. Satisfied, he walked back inside and watered the plants there in the window. Looks like it'd be a pretty good place to live.

This "BRAND NEW" shop was across the street. It is an auto-mechanic.

Thanks to everyone who's been taking the time to look at this.

STAY+

It was something about 'best before dates,' right?

2010-09-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

So I guess autumn's here again which means I've returned to aimlessly walking around all the time.

Also been thinking it's time to start a career...

Here're two of the new paintings I've been working on:
While my motivation to paint this doesn't stem from my considering myself to be very much Portuguese or a Christian, there's a sort of diffuse Portuguese thing going on in this neighborhood, and one of the features of that which I've noticed is that there are certain kind of stores that sell 'juice,' by the bucket which comes in both 'red' and 'white' varieties. After speaking with a friend of mine who used to live behind one of these stores, I understand that the juices are used to make homebrew wine; it's uncertain if this is for religious purposes at this point. I've gone by a few times to speak with the owners of one of these stores, but they're always closed and absent--which incidentally I was also told is generally the case, save for a few appearances with packs of dogs or maybe during the rooftop corn harvest season. In any case, they often have religious icons in their windows which are interesting to look at, and here's a painting of that on a 45" by 32" piece of salvaged mdf.

Starting out...

A few days later.

This second painting is a study of a sculpture of two anthropomorphic dogs which look like they are maybe arguing about something or other:

If you're in KW for whatever reason, you can see the original piece at Harbinger Gallery.

STAY+

Crowded House zine.

2010-09-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Drawings from the zine made for the recently closed Crowded House show:

STAY+

New workspace.

2010-09-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hey again,
Here're some new things:

A working study of one of Mucha's sculpture.

A small 9" by 12" panel that was given to a very kind family in Toronto who took me in when I was temporarily orphaned.

I moved recently. I took a razor to most of my old work.

New studio. Pink walls exchanged for large window and natural light. Finally have room to set up drafting table. JAM.

My brother and I make comics. You can see them here. Your word is BOG.

Works from Crowded House.

2010-08-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Thanks so much to Lisa and Steve, the Harpers, and everyone who came out to the show, it was great to meet all of you!
Here're the other four works from that show:

"He might have been you, you might become him"
Acrylic, ink + graphite on canvas.
I've forgotten the size of this because the canvas was measured in centimetres, not inches, but it's about a metre tall by 80cm wide?

"Self-portrait in black"
Acrylic, ink + graphite on recycled panel.
18" by 22"

"PF Bondesen-David in profile" or "The people's aristocrat"
Acrylic, ink + graphite on recycled panel.
The photo is a bit washed-out by the looks of it, but it was taken last minute.
18" by 20"

"Is this the way to your den?"
Acrylic, ink + graphite on panel.
18" by 24"

I'm moving this week, but I'll try to post up the zine drawings and some other smaller projects that'll be finished up over the next couple days.

STAY+

CROWDED HOUSE: New Canadian Portraiture.

2010-08-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Dimitri Karakostas.)

Hey friends,

The art show that Julia Dickens and I have been working away at over the past few months is opening... SOON!

"CROWDED HOUSE.

Not in the clamour of the crowded street,
Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng,
But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.
--HW Longfellow

When we first embarked on this project, we had decided to produce a series of portraiture early on, all of us in some way dealing with the human form, ranging from highly realistic to the surreal. As we set to work, it admittedly wasn't until some time later that we came to the conclusion that through working alone in our studios, we were building a mass work that would integrate our individual capacities into a new and complete whole.

Presented here is a collection of portraits from nine artists working across Canada. The individual faces depicted in the works shown here as a single collection, are a more or less accurate respresentation of 'the crowd.' As is the case with actual crowds this exhibition may appear welcoming or hostile, a number of individuals together, or the teeming throngs of the faceless. The crowd and it's representation here may attract or repulse the viewer--perhaps both silmultaneously--leading one to consider what is the individual's role in, and response to finding one's self in the midst of other individuals.

Essentially 'Crowded House' is a reapprisal of crowds and the conception of such. The ways the mass exert force on the indivdual; the nature of individuality and collectivity; and ultimately, the ways in which the one exerts a force in directing the collective.

Thank you."

With works by:

Julia Dickens
Beaston
Dietrich Rosteck
Sherry Garcia
Vanessa Black
Kirsten McCrea
Ceilidh Stidwill
Andy Borehol
Theo Pelmus

The show is brought to you with the great assistance of Well and Good, and runs from the 16th of August to the 29th of August.
Opening night is the 20th at The Baitshop in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto.

On Facebook.

There will be zines, cheap drinks, and other fun things so come out!

STAY +

Little books of little drawings.

2010-08-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Started working again on practice drawings and paintings in this book I picked up maybe 4 years ago, but never took the time to do anything in. It was made in India as part of some fair-trade initiative. The cover is made of pressed cardboard, but the pages are made of %100 recycled cotton rags! So thick and good. Pieces sometimes fray off a little, but still so great.

A study of Gauguin's, "Self-portrait with the portrait of Emile Bernard ('Les Misérables')," (1888). Emile Bernard not pictured.

Study of Gerstl's, "Self-portrait laughing," (1908). Topped himself after the dissolution of an affair with Schoenberg's wife. Pretty high strung cat by the looks of it!

This is a drawing from a Moleskine I have kicking around. I'm not going to post a picture of the book, because you all know what they look like. How many times can I draw the same sign? A LOT. This was the first one, though. The bottom drawing is a view of the garden at my father's house as seen from the kitchen. It was winter then. Both of these were from about 2 years ago.

What's more,
PLACE TO PLACE zine:

Pages 1 and 2 of the Place to Place zine.
Waterloo Towers and an Oktoberfester circa 1972, referenced from the 1972 New Toronto High yearbook, "NEUTRON."
Drawn on 11" by 17" gessoed paper and reproduced 1:1. Nothing but fancy photocopying here.
You can get copies for free in Ottawa at Trio, and in Waterloo at Seven Shores.

Tough little bro and Bauman's Superette.

Pages 5 and 6; it's the Ali Baba.

Pages 7 and 8. The first drawing is a sketch for a series of class portraits from the previously mentioned 1972 yearbook.

Last page. From an edition of 240.

STAY +.

A new painting from last month.

2010-08-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Forgot this last post:
A couple of weeks ago in between working on stuff for the show mentioned last post, I finished this repaint of a canvas from a while back. It was burned up in one of the many Glebe fires. Commissioned for Will, by our mutual friend, Gary (thanks again!), it's a little better than that previous one, but feel free not to view it larger because it wasn't a great photo I took there. Both are acrylic, ink + graphite on 16" by 16" canvas, but the older one had a bit of paint marker too.

NEW.

OLD.

STAY +

'Born alone, die alone' and other stories.

2010-08-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Oh hello again.

Several years back, as part of my job at the time, I would ride for hours in a truck with an old man by the name of Lorne. We would sometimes break at obscure locations in the country where he would drink tiny coffees, I would eat plates of fried potatoes, often meeting all manner of strange people during this process. One of the things he would always tell me to do--as he did himself nearly everywhere we went--was to read whatever you come across. From the 30JUNE2010 edition of the local paper here:

Lonely old man? Ruse to rob you of your precious old violin? Maybe both.

Maybe more importantly, the show I've been working on organising is going to open soon. I will post more about it over the next fews days, but in conjunction with Well and Good, it's going to hang in Toronto at The Baitshop. Many good artists are going to be there:
Julia Dickens (co-curating!)
Beaston
Dietrich Rosteck
Sherry Garcia
Vanessa Black
Kirsten McCrea
Ceilidh Stilwill
Theo Pelmus
You should take the time to look at their work!

Also, not to sound like a curmudgeon, but man, why don't they make songs like this anymore? Here's a hot tip: it's not the Young Jeezy.

More soon.

STAY +

PLACE TO PLACE: New Works by Andy Borehol.

2010-06-06T14:11:00.001-07:00

PLACE TO PLACE: New Works by Andy Borehol.

A presentation of works produced during the past two years of the artist's residence in Waterloo, Ontario. Many of the individual works in this show have served as breaks from other, more heavily portraiture-based series Andy Borehol had been working on over that time. Many of the panels in this series centre on the unfamiliar subjects of urban landscapes and still life produced in an attempt to develop a more scientific and mathematical technique, the artist intending to utilise those new skills to produce a more diverse and accurate portraiture in the future.
(As a gift to visitors to the show, a complimentary folio from an edition of 240 featuring ink drawings of the works on exhibit may be had while supplies last).

Also on display are selected works from 2011's collection, "Every man is a reflection of yourself," a critical look at what exactly is the composition of a man's masculinity and the methods and conflicts which produce such. In ten portraits, the artist is seeking to explore and reveal the radically varying approaches to life in which individual personal conflicts have been recognised, and how a man might develop through the resolution of those conflicts.

To view the works of Place to Place, please attend the opening on the 25th of June, 2010, 8:00PM, at Trio in Ottawa, Ontario's Westboro neighbourhood. This exhibition will run through the summer until the 13th of September, 2010.

Preview of Place to Place:

"Ali Baba." (detail)
Acrylic, ink + graphite on 3 panels.
4.5' by 2' in total (55" by 25" framed)
2009-2010.

A view of the Ali Baba Steakhouse from the intersection of King and William Streets.

"Love machine."
Acrylic, ink + graphite on panel.
24" by 24"
2009-2010.

Consumer products distribution device in the basement bathroom of 59 King Street, Waterloo, Ontario.

"Vegan still life." (detail)
Acrylic, ink + graphite on panel.
24" by 30"
2009-2010.

Detail of a still life featuring hemp milk, avocados, dulse, and sourdoughed spelt bread from Grainfields. For more information on the nature and benefits of a vegan diet, please see the related Wikipedia page, Vegan Outreach, or buy/borrow a copy of Davis and Melina's Becoming Vegan.

"A Saturday in the distillery district."
Acrylic, ink + graphite on recycled panel.
25.75" by 29.25"
2009.

A portrait of Shannon R. outside the Seagrams Lofts at 3 and 5 Father David Bauer Drive.

"Short shift" and "City limits"
Ink on gessoed paper.
11" by 17"
2009-2010.

Pages 10 and 11 of the above-mentioned folio; a self-portrait of the artist and municipal signs noting the demarcation between Waterloo and Kitchener, Ontario.

Two panels from 2011's "Every man is a reflection of yourself.":

"Girls are just a decoration!"
Acrylic, ink + graphite on panel.
24" by 24"
2009.

From a Sunday afternoon conversation in a Glasgow park. The major theme here is what the artist took to be an incorrect dismissal of the idea that ultimately people embark on divergent paths, and the consequent difficulties of setting aside failing interpersonal relationsips out of the need to develop an unhindered self.

"This is a serious question." (detail)
Acrylic, ink + graphite on panel.
18" by 24"
2009.

Debating to what degree people can manage to combine their own individually accumulated possessions when they resolve to live together and how this is reflective of that greater relationship.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, view these works, and I hope to see you at the opening.

Thanks to Rob Brazeau and all the Trio staff, Hobo and Aaron, Patrick for the use of his camera, and everyone who has shown their continuing support.

STAY PLUS.

Canadian portraiture show at 52 McCaul.

2010-06-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hello.

Julia Dickens and I are curating a show of Canadian portraiture at 52 McCaul in Toronto for late August of this year. To raise $$$ for it, we are selling some old work for CHEAP!
I don't make an enjoyment of the fun of Facebook, but Julia made this where you can see some of the work that she, the Captain, and I have up. Here's one that I did, for sale at only $50!

The image is I think 18" by 18", but it's on 30" by 22" (or so) paper.
Do you have friends? You should tell them.

Here's a piece I'm submitting for the show when it rolls around:

"Man with trinkets."
Acrylic, ink + graphite on 18" by 22" recylced panel (dug outta the trash as usual).
It's a painting of DJ Tic, who hosts CKCU's (Carleton University Radio) Wednesday edition of Special Blend. He has a country house with a great big barn full of all kinds of things and puts on concerts there. This is a scene of him in front of a wall of little cubby-holes full of toys and trinkets collected over several decades. Good dude!
A little closer:

To give you an idea of the scale:

Here's another I'm working on:

ALSO: I have a big solo show coming up in 3 weeks in Ottawa. I will say more about that at the end of the weekend when I get back from my Grandma's birthday--she's turning 90! WOW.

STAY +!

Under that influence...

2010-05-30T13:17:00.001-07:00

"He was attracted to man's need for love. We need it like food, water and air--but we don't know how to get it. But that's our struggle. And what gets in the way--ignorance, superstition and greed, fear, defensiveness, who the hell knows what it is! But all these things get in the way of the one thing that we all need... and that interested him."
Peter Falk on John Cassavetes.

Part One:
Watch more free documentaries
Part two:
Watch more free documentaries

The Joy of Living, 1934.

2010-05-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Loads of new art coming sometime over the next few weeks.

STAY +.

Also:

2010-04-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

Found a package dropped on my doorstep and it is a BOUNTY. I used to get along with those Faber-Castell PITTs/Microns, but looking for a finer line, I switched a couple of years ago to using Rapidographs. Despite the cost, they're leaps ahead of disposables in line consistency as far as what I need them for, and are probably much better environmentally (read: I do not have a huge heap of scrapped PITTs after finishing a painting). I had been buying them online in sets of seven to circumvent the $40/pen, but after a spot of investigation I found out that you can send old or worn ones here:

Pen Repair Department
Chartpak, Inc.
One River Road
Leeds, MA 01053, USA

with $7 and they will give you as a 'repair', a BRAND NEW PEN. Weird. So if you use these, definitely worth your while to send em back as they wear.

I am excited for this record to come out soon:

STAY PLUS.

Still working.

2010-04-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of beater sketchers for
this.
Both acrylic, ink + graphite on 6" by 6" illustration board.

Study of:

and:

Study of:

What a total massacre this one is! Just awful haha. Since eating rice krispies at Grandma and Grandad's kitchen table with a big poster of his staring down, Rockwell's definitely been a major influence though. Some
decent examples--Ol' Blue Eyes and Beech-Nut Gum!

Also:

Posted this part-way through a while back. Finished it up a few weeks ago; only three more paintings to finish and 200+ zine covers to print before the show; they are taking forever.

STAY PLUS.

Self-portrait of semi-employment

2010-03-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

"Short Shift"
Acrylic, ink, graphite + house paint on masonite.
20" by 24"
2010

Not working much these days. A self-portrait of what I looked like coming back to the house sometime in January or February. May appear less sullen in real life.

A little bit closer.

They say he lives on bread and water alone.

2010-03-02T10:50:00.000-08:00

Here're some things:

A couple of pages from a (free!) zine of Waterloo Drawings for a Waterloo/Ottawa show this spring. Ink on gessoed 8.5" by 11" paper drawn with a .13 Rapidograph. My eyes hurt.

Lino block for zine cover. LOTS of unnecessary cutting! I might do a zine of all lino prints if I have the time.

A painting in progress for the show. A vending machine in the basement bathroom of a local hotel/bar/cafe. The barista said that if she were on a date with a guy and he came back to the table with a gob full of mints, rub-on neck tattoos and smelling like imitation cologne, it would probably be a deal-breaker. Hot tip!

Where I make with the drawings. A long way from working on the floor with a board 'mounted' on a milkcrate haha. The walls are pink because I think it used to be a girl's room. I was going to paint it, but set up and started working before even taping-off. Then I ran out of acrylic for fills and used the tin of latex house paint for finishing a few things. JAM. At the end of the summer I'll be in a new studio which might be a less emasculating place to work. MAYBE.

Some great food-related JAMS by Loer Velocity

Real talk,
that swine is not good for for you.

Also, I will be in Toronto tomorrow checking out the punk rock photography of a friend of my pops. If you live in that city, check it out!

STAY PLUS.

Chicken dinners, du Mauriers, pills for sleep.

2010-02-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

I recently put a couple hours into a new canvas. It's a second portrait of a neighbour I had when I last lived in Ottawa. That summer I mostly spent time walking around in the afternoon heat listening to Marvin Gaye, and then painting at night when it'd cooled down. Because of some bad 'life choices,' I'd set down in a pretty dodgy neigbourhood, my backyard being used every 30-40 minutes for people to shoot their junk. On the upside, they recycled--the bluebin was consistently 3/4 full of syringes, mostly because I didn't think it was a good idea to move it about by hand to empty it/I didn't think they were conventionally recyclable. I've never been into the needle scene so I couldn't be sure, but that always seemed like a lot of used needles.

Here's the first portrait I did, from when I lived next to him. Sometimes a man would come by on weekends and shout at him for an hour or so in a language I didn't understand. Other than to buy snackboxes, he never left his flat. When I asked him, he was really interested in my painting his portrait, and we became sort of friends after that. He would come by at 1 or 2 in the morning and ask if I had any sleeping meds. Or if I wanted the leftovers of his snackbox. When I was working on it, I once used this painting to fan smoke away from his fire detector which'd been going off for some time. Neither of us would have otherwise been able to turn it off because it was located 12 feet off the ground. I showed him the finished panel, but he was distracted that afternoon and I'm not sure what he thought of it...

The man himself. There was a photograph/minature on his wall of a scholar. I wondered if it was him, but never asked.

A sketchbook self-portrait from about a year ago.

A dubious study of a Courbet self-portrait.

Posthumously, "Father as Tyrant"

2010-01-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Recently, it was my father's birthday. I painted for his office this joke portrait of him as Mussolini--based on an old Italian Fascist poster--having become a union rep/would-be autocrat, also recently.

Closer.

Framed. I made this panel from a scrap piece of metal I found. When I was done making it, my hands looked like the Tinman's. I wore a mask, but maybe should have worn gloves?

Here's a brief animation of the process of applying the acrylic.
STAY PLUS!

Practice Sketchbook

2009-12-19T07:17:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I started working in a sketchbook again because I wanted to study the technique of certain paintings I came across, and because a Moleskine was cheaper than buying panels and less time-consuming than rooting out scraps from garbage bins to build them. These (and all the rest in the book) are done in some combination of acrylic, gouache, ink, and graphite.

"Study of Laura Knight's 1939 The Gypsy."

A few years after this was painted, Knight went on to become the official artist of the Nuremberg Trials. She also wrote two autobiographies, the 1936 Oil Paint and Grease Paint, and the later 1965 The Magic of a Line. Neither of which I've been able to find for under $50...

"Study of Bruegel's Peasant Kermis."

This took some time to do, but was interesting work. This is a detail of the figure holding a jug of wine next to a piper at a festival.

A detail of the detail.

An earlier photograph before the inking and halftones were done.

STAY PLUS!

New Blog!

2009-12-15T16:12:00.001-08:00

Beauty, Although Tranisitory... study
Originally uploaded by Andy Borehol

Finally got around to starting one. Most of my previous work is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_borehol/ (new work will still be posted there in the future). This blog will also feature new work in addition to some photography, works in progress, artists whose work I like, and some other things. Also, largely, to keep track of artists whose blogs I've been inconsistently looking at. JAM.
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