this is one of the drawings from the group show, ‘flatlanders’ at mendel art gallery. (september 19 - january 2009)

tonight is an opening of a group show at douglas udell gallery in edmonton.  i’m showing the drawing above and 6 other drawings.  i was planning to go to the opening reception, but i’ve been sick and now elijah got sick as well.  so we won’t be able to go.  but if you are around in edmonton, please go to the opening and see the show!

the show will be travelling across canada.  the next stop will be at the douglas udell gallery in vancouver, opening saturday, september 27th.  after that, my drawings will be shown at the toronto international art fair (oct 2 - 6).  this is the first time these drawings have been shown outside of saskatoon, so i’m very excited.

the other six drawings i’m showing are:

chicken breasts

bird eat bird

under the sun

the great escape

swing

reedllik

the are some of my precious old favorite drawings, finally for sale.  if you’re interested in buying one, please contact the gallery.

Douglas Udell Gallery

Edmonton/Alberta
10332-124 street
ph: 780-488-4445

Tue-Sat 9:30-5:30 and by appointment

Vancouver/BC
1558 West 6th Avenue
ph: 604-736-8900

Tue-Sat 10:00-6:00 and by appointment

this drawing is called ‘my favorite neckless’.  i’m showing this drawing at hosfelt gallery in san francisco.  i’m taking part in a group show titled “vocabularies of metaphor — more stories“, all works on paper by fifteen international artists.  the show will run from september 6th to october 18th .   if you’re around in san francisco, please do take time to visit the gallery and enjoy the show.

about the show (by the owner/curator todd hosfelt)

it’s an exhibition of works on paper by fifteen international artists exploring narrative through symbols.  i’m interested in visual languages that are highly personal and lyrical.  the “stories” are also original to the artists and open to interpretation.

the artists’ choice of exploring the intimacy of drawing/painting on paper (and my choice, as the curator) is about giving the viewer a voyeuristic glimpse into private moments.  i’m exhibiting between two and six pieces by each artist to give the viewer the opportunity to observe mutating idioms and to decipher the lexicons of each.    while the show didn’t start to be about work by women, almost all of it is.    i’m including amy cutler, fay ku, shahzia sikander, ruth marten, liliana porter, yuka yamaguchi, yelena yemchuk, baseerah khan, rob matthews, henry darger, sara stites, charlotte schultz, rachell sumpter, crystal liu and seonna hong.

todd hosfelt will be writing about the artists and their works in the show on his blog.  here’s what he wrote about my drawing, ‘my favorite neckless’:

i love yuka yamaguchi’s work.    it’s what frieda khalo would be making if she were alive and japanese.    gorgeously rendered colored pencil (often self) portraits that are seemingly innocent and disarmingly brutal.

i’m reproducing “my favorite neckless” 2008 colored pencils on paper, 11×14 inches.     beyond the play on words, jay brought the phrase “turtles all the way down” to my attention.     the story, in this case, as told by stephen hawkings in “a brief history of time” goes like this:

a well-known scientist (some say it was bertrand russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy.  he described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. at the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “what you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise” the scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “what is the tortoise standing on?” “you’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “but it’s turtles all the way down!”

the story is used to illustrate religious/mythic myopia, but can also be read as meaning that you can never get to the bottom of a difficult question.

and of course there seussian reference to yertle the turtle…

i didn’t know about the turtle book by dr. seuss, but now i’ve got to go buy that for elijah and me ;)

‘jealousy’ — drawn on the street at the fringe festival, 2008

the fringe festival is finally over (well, three weeks ago).  it was very productive in many ways.  i got a nice suntan and a knife stuck in my heart.  as usual, people said to me whatever they felt like saying.  it was wonderful and amusing.

i was surprised that many people remembered or recognized my drawings from my show at the mendel gallery over a year ago.  some people even remembered them from my show at royal red gallery at phonographique three years ago.  a few people told me there were looking for me at this fringe this year since i wasn’t there last year.  the best moment was when a guy told me that he’d had seen one of the drawings, ‘inseparable’ somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where.  he left then came back just to tell me the postcard was up on the fridge door at his friend’s house.  he was so excited he came back for the third time to show my work to one of his friends.  i was very touched by all this.  so thanks and arigato!

i kept track of comments that i enjoyed.  so here’s the diagnosis;

•  ’you should do medical illustration.  you’ll be great!’ — i don’t think so…
• ‘do you draw family portraits? i have a photo here.’ — no thanks…
• ’she’s a freak!  she’s a freak!  she is a FREAK!’ screamed a guy with his full body tattooed and wearing a scary outfit with spikes.
• ‘i LIKE it!’  said 8 year old boy who flipped through all the drawings.
• ‘i wish i could draw…’ — i feel the same way
• ‘ahaha!  look at those boobs!’
• ‘these are amazing!’
• ‘i had the EXACT same image ( an elephant coming out of my belly) recently.  i should draw that!’
• ‘do you like creepy stuff?’ ‘no’ ‘… then why do you draw creepy stuff??’ — good question!
• ‘do you take any drugs?’
• ‘you look normal, but i know you aren’t!  you are not normal!’
• ‘did you draw these?  they are so weird and grotesque.  and you are so adorable!’ — do you want a candy?

i feel so energized and encouraged.  thanks for all the encouragement and cheering as well as your nasty looks.  i did a couple of drawings sitting at my booth and i’ve been drawing away ever since.

more soon, including news about shows i’m doing in september…

one sunny morning, there are three sleepy turtles sitting on my head…

there is elijah digging into my books saying, “buuuuuuuuk!”

run away!

when elijah feels pain, i do too.

you can take a look at the process here:

art recipe 1
art recipe 2
art recipe 3
art recipe 4

this is elijah.

it’s hard to see, but his finger is turning into a caterpillar.  and of course, he’s eating it.

i bought a new drawing desk recently.  it’s set up in the living room facing the front yard.

i usually stay up and draw after elijah goes to bed.  i do some housework first before i get down to it.  i usually draw from 10 to 2 am-ish.

night is very quiet.  i try not to look out the window because i might see a ghost or a someone standing right at the window.  i can’t make an eye contact with them.

i used to draw non-stop without sleep otherwise i would lose interest in the drawing.  but i can’t do that anymore now that i have a baby.  elijah wakes up at 6 am most days, sometimes 5 am.  he’s instantly superawake and ready to go wild.  so i need to be ready for fun in the morning.

after one year of training, i am now capable of drawing one area per day, finishing step by step over several days without losing interest in my own work.

i sometimes go to the basement to draw.  i turn on a ‘curb your enthusiasm’ dvd and draw on the low coffee table, sitting on the floor.  i find myself laughing so hard even though i’ve already watched all the episodes a million times. i love larry david.  ‘can’t go on, must go on…’

until this point, i was doing my best to follow the patterns of real butterflies.  eventually i got bored, so i made up my own butterfly patterns as i finished the drawing.

here it is: “new wings”.

i’m taking part in a group show called ‘environmental 911′ at gordon snelgrove gallery at university of saskatchewan.  it’s been a while since i got to show my drawings in saskatoon.  i’m very happy.

we’ll be at the closing reception probably from 7 to 8pm-ish.  please come and say hi if you’re around in saskatoon.

oh, this drawings is called “new wings”.  16 x 20″

Gordon Snelgrove Gallery

3 Campus Dr.  Saskatoon

i’m taking part in a group show called “ahhhhhhh!ha” at the helm gallery in tacoma.  if you’re around in this area, please drop by.

 June offers the boisterous group show Ahhhhhhh!!! Ha. The show will feature nine artists who work with themes of distortion, humor, fantasy, death and the cute.
Sesame Street will meet Super Mario Land on its way over to the Millenium Falcon. Kids will poke themselves with scissors. Cakes and Creampuffs will float in the sky and the mods will dance on them. A big bang will exclaim failure. Monsters and monsters and monsters will eat your face while Mudman comes to town. All the dead birds in the world will congregate. A giant furry thing will get trapped in a pink net. It’s dark. It’s kinda gross. It’s implausible. It’s strangely attractive. It’s worthy of an Ahhhhhhh!!! and a Ha.

Please come to the opening reception June 19th from 5 to 10PM. Bring your dancing shoes.

Artists::

Sean Alexander

Susan Belle

Rumi Koshino

Jasper Kreiger

Jeremiah Maddock

Natalie Miller

Jason Reamer

Yuka Yamaguchi

760 S Broadway, Tacoma, WA

253.627.8845

during my summer holidays from elementary school, i was supposed to do a drawing every day showing the growth of  a “morning glory” flower i planted in the spring.  it was a combined science and art project.

i always drew the entire made-up 6-week record of the flower growing two days before school started at the beginning of september.  my drawings would end up showing a bigger, more beautiful and impressive flower than actually grew in real life.  a big bloom would show up suddenly in my drawings on august 30th or 31st.

one year, my flower died because i forgot to water it.  i did the same kind of drawings anyway.