Upcoming in The Motor City

Theres quite a few killer art events happening in Detroit in the coming weeks and the surrounding burbs..first off is "Black, White and Red" at Funhouse Gallery in the Russell building on Clay street in Detroit, an art show pushing artists creativity by limiting them to just black red and white, the opening reception is June 29th and runs until July 27th. Funhouse Gallery always comes through with the best of the best in Detroit so don't miss out on this one!

Next up is "Small Wonders" a post wedding art show celebrating the wedding of Modern Detroit icons DVS and Jessica! The theme of the show is works of art under 7 inches in size, knocking most artists way out of their comfort zones..and this is a family friendly event (another first for Damned Show DVS!) It's a one day show that happens on July 13th at Tangent Gallery in Detroit

Corpus Illuminata happens August 9th and 10th at Tangent Gallery on Milwaukee street in Detroit, a horrifiing look at all things medical in relation to the human body. Vintage evil ass medical equipment will be showcased along with art in this show, not for the squeemish! 

How about a bit of the old Ultraviolence? Coming September 5th,6th and 7th is "Ultraviolence- A Visual Vocabulary Of Stanley Kubrick"  a knock down art show featuring anything and everything Stanley Kubrick. Curated by newcomers Debbi Notemily and Sinister, with guidence from show veterens Diane Irby and Adam Layne, this show should pack a wallop..Tangent Gallery on Milwaukee street in Detroit.

And of course, looming on the horizon, The Damned Show coming in October..more details in future blogs!

CALL FOR ART!

Heres your opportunity to break into the Detroit art market, which is quickly becoming the market to be in. 

"Ultraviolence-A Visual Vocabulary Of Stanly Kubrick" takes place September 5th, 6th and 7th, 2013 at Tangent Gallery in Detroit. 

All forms of art related to the film catalog of Stanley Kubrick will be considered and can be submitted to;

ultraviolencekubrickshow@gmail.com

Deadline for entry is July 31st, 2013. 

Complete guidelines can be found on our Facebook event page Ultraviolence- A Visual Vocabulary Of Stanley Kubrick.

Remember, only artwork that touches on the films of Stanley Kubrick will be considered! 

This is shaping up to be a huge event, so quit screwing around and get crackin'!

Sinister

Ready To Jump Off A Building

You know, I'm really fucking sick of the town I'm living in, and the surrounding cities for that matter. 

Oxford Michigan. The gravel capital of the world. The belly of Hell for an artist. 

I grew up here and lived a significant amount of my life here. It is the same sleepy little town it was 40 years ago. The powers that be want it that way. Just look at the "slogan" they paid some scary out of state firm $6,000.00 to come up with; "Oxford, small done right." Powerhouse branding, ahem.

Meanwhile, the town is in financial hardship and flailing. Businesses here are milk toast safe and wholesome. What they don't understand is safe and wholesome equals boring, boring equals zero money. Duh.

I have tried bringing this township into the modern era by working with a local business and creating a graffiti style mural on the back of their store, which got alot of positive reaction from the public. Yet, the gallery I did the mural for wouldn't show my art in his gallery. It was too edgy for tired ass Oxford. It would rock too many boats. 6 months later, said gallery is out of business. (And the current owner has painted over it)

Today I tried talking to the chamber of commerce about setting up my art tent perhaps every other weekend along with other artists to sell our stuff and bring potential foot traffic to the tired ass downtown. Their answer was typical, they told me I could apply to set up a tent at their lame ass Thursday night music in the park event. Get this, if I pay a $100.00 booth fee. FUCK YOU.  I then asked how much the bands are paying for the opportunity to play there and she was appauled. She told me they were paid to perform, and I asked "to perform what, their art?" Well, that was a conversation ender. I am an artist and musician and know that creativity fuels both. 

So, basically, the town wants to fuck me out of a hundred dollars. And somehow that will put Oxford on the map and bring in fresh money to the cash strapped town. Forward thinking man. 

Sinister

Planning Your Artistic Future

The art scene in Detroit is growing. More artists are moving into the metro area and there is a pretty healthy vibe going on all around. The caliber of art is amazing, artists are pushing boundries in all disciplines. Newer influences are mixing with old and the majority of galleries are making ballsy moves and showing virtual unknown first time artists. Of course there are still a few galleries sticking to the L.A./Juxtapoz Magazine mold of only showing a small stable of proven seller artists, a crop of about 20-30 artists within the state and nationwide that create the same "low brow" art that collectors hoard digital prints of. 

But for the most part, galleries in and around the Motor City are giving the little guys a chance, and looking at art with open minds. 

Which brings us to the fact that there is massive competition that pushes us artists to either keep reinventing ourselves, or perfecting our styles with deadly ambition. 

My approach as an artist has been all over the map. It's not a strategy of making "something for everyone" to appeal  to a broader audience, it's just the simple fact that my mind is exploding with different ideas in a scary amount of different genres. I do graffiti art, oil painting, screen printing, acrylics, watercolors, sculptural, abstract, realism, impressionist and on and on, which kind of screws me in the long run because it's like, what the fuck can I really label myself as an artist? 

I want to learn glass blowing, photography, pottery etc., but I have to stop at some point and perfect what I know. Selling art pays bills, not constantly learning art. 

I'm getting older (cringe), and I have to start focusing on what I know. I want to focus on spray paint art, oil painting, drumming and restoring and customizing vintage BMX bicycles. (What?? Vintage BMX bikes? How is that art?) 

Yep, bicycles. I raced BMX in my "wonder years" growing up, I know everything about them, so why not take my artistic mind and create rolling works of art? Fuck it. Do what you know asshole. (This is my self mantra) 

So along with my Winking Zombie banner I paint under, there is my new venture; Detroit BMX Customs. Fuck you if you don't like it. 

This is my future. I now have a map, a plan, ambition and a place to build it all. 

What are you going to do?

Sinister

Studio Recording Session, Sunday June 2, 2013

It was good setting up my old Ludwig warhorse drumset in the studio over the weekend. I layed down more drum beats for the soundtrack of a documentary being shot about me and my art, plus I recorded digital files to use in mixing for other bands to use. There was also a video recording of this session to later use in the documentary. 

I was pleased with the sound quality finally achieved, by that I mean it took a long time to adjust the microphone distance close enough to my drumset to acuratly record, but far enough away so that my set (and playing) didn't crash the digital recording. I'm a heavy hitter, so when I layed into the cymbals it would blow into white noise for a few seconds. I guess thats why I've always prefered analog over digital..plus digital recording is too steril. It makes music too crisp and mechanical sounding. But, these tracks will be great for mixing into hip-hop or rock. 

I didn't go into the session with any real practice or clear ideas of rhythms I wanted to get across, I just freestyled whatever came to mind. The recording engineer asked for fast, slow and heavy beats, and that was the about the only direction I took. 

The drumset I used is not pretty, I like to compare it to the beat up guitar Stevie Ray Vaughn used. It has a very unique sound quality to it. 

I should have sound files within the next week or so..if you know anyone in the music business thats looking for some huge ass beats, let me know here or contact me at winkingzombie@gmail.com

Sinister

Registered SINISTER Mural Buffed

A registered work of art with Oakland county and the state of Michigan was buffed Sunday

by a new business owner in Oxford Michigan. 

It was created for the Detroit Institute of Arts "Inside/Out" program, where copies of great masterpieces from the DIA are hung outdoors in cities throughout Michigan. This mural, designed and executed in spray paints by Sinister, featured two circus dogs in the foreground that appeared to balance the DIA piece on the tips of their noses, and an 8ft high horse trick rider. Sinister created the piece in loud bright colors to contrast with the earthy tones of the DIA piece.

Sinister tried working with other businesses to have them hire artists locally to paint murals on their walls also, but everyone wanted "free" art, or were too uptight to try something actually relevent that would have drawn people to the struggling lame ass town of Oxford. 

During the painting of this mural, Sinister got nothing but positive reactions to it, from the young and old. People would watch him paint with his spray cans and engage him in conversation. Taking pictures of the mural and the artist. 

God forbid lame ass Oxford would actually do something to attract young people to this vanilla ass town. None of the morons can figure out why all the businesses fail here. The place is BORING. They're so caught up in trying to project this "wholesome" image that they don't see how all the cities that ARE thriving, are the EXACT OPPOSITE of Oxford. When was the last time you said "Hey, I've gotta pocket full of money, lets go somewhere boring as fuck!"

Oh well, kudos to the new business owner that'll last 6 months or so there, a lame ass clothing store..just what bangin' Oxford needs. You got your finger on the PULSE of hipness now with your mismatched buff color blank wall.

Into the recording studio

As an artist I try to keep my hands into all areas of creativity, drumming is just another extension of making art to me.

Today I'm going into a recording studio with my old Ludwig warhorse drum kit. I put it together using different vintage Ludwig drums..for a reason. I use a 26 inch bass drum, wide open, no muffling, two sixteen inch mounted toms, with different depths, and a 16 inch floor tom. Three 16's. Today I will be using a deep Slingerland circa 1980's marching snare. 

This kit has a powerful bottem end to it that you just cannot get with standard drumsets. 

I will be recording more beats for the soundtrack of a documentary being shot about me and my art, plus isolated beats to sell to other bands looking for hard hitting backbeats, from rock to hip hop. 

As an artist you have to keep your eyes and mind open to different venues for your creativity if you want to survive. Don't pigeon hole yourself into one style of art, I work on canvas with spray paints, oils, acrylics and do watercolors, sculptural and screen printing as well. Drumming was my first love, and now I am going to channel that into making money as well. 

Sinister

ULTRA-VIOLENCE A Visual Vocabulary Of Stanley Kubrick--CALL FOR ART!!

I am co-curating with Debbi Notemilie, the Ultra-Violence show coming to Tangent Gallery on September 5th, 6th and 7th 2013. We are looking for artwork in all mediums..anything and everything about the films of Stanley Kubrick will be considered. You can FB search Ultra-Violence a visual vocabulary of Stanley Kubrick for our page and details. Submissions deadline is July 31st , and images of your submission can be sent to;

ultraviolencekubrickshow@gmail.com

Get crackin' because this is going to be a monster!

Sinister

Take Action! Let's use these abandoned buildings and vacant lots!

I get pissed while driving through busy foot traffic areas in Detroit seeing all the empty real estate just sitting there, vacant. Or the large empty lots where a building once stood. You see it everywhere, Lake Orion, Pontiac, Royal Oak, Ferndale and especially Detroit. Why aren't cities using these spaces to attract out of town money? Yes, I get it, alot of the properties are privatley owned, and they want to sell or rent..but what about all the foreclosed spaces and city owned lots? 

As an artist, I see these as great opportunities. Why shouldn't I or the hundreds of artists around metro Detroit be allowed to come in and set up our artwork to sell? 

Legalities, permits, blah blah blah..I get it, people sue, there must be bathrooms, etc. etc. Plus most cities want to charge artists some ridiculous fee to set up a booth (ie; every towns "First Fridays" events) instead of looking at the BIG picture, drawing out of town money into their cities restaurants, bars, local galleries and stores, they only see the quick buck they can make off the artists with fees. They also don't realize the power of social media, every artist has hundreds, and some thousands of followers on FaceBook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram etc..Each artist promoting themselves on these outlets can bring HUGE amounts of bodies into cities. With ZERO cost to the cities. 

There are some orginizations trying to do this already, "Revolve Detroit" is one of them. Working with building owners to set up "Pop Up" shops in locations around Detroit. But the process of waiting and being lucky enough to get chosen just isn't good enough. ALL artists, no matter what medium, should be allowed to get in on these opportunities. I'm not bagging on what Revolve is doing, but they seem a bit more focused on helping coffee shops and eateries than art, safer bets. 

Well, I'm here telling you all this because I'm getting the ball rolling. I'm going to sit down with whoever I need to and hammer this shit out. I plan on implementing this idea into whatever town will listen and be setting up within the next two weeks. I am sick and tired of fucking around WAITING for people to call me back or WAITING to hear from so and so if I made the cut to get in on THEIR little projects. I'm starting my OWN fucking projects. Lifes too goddamn short to wait.

Sinister