Dave Alsobrooks

OK, another ArtSLAM!

// February 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Art, Design, Life, Picks

We’ll be at it again this Friday at LabourtLove Gallery! Although it’s really not related, I always think of this when I think of ArtSLAM!

3 artists will create 9 pieces of art in 20 minute bursts. Topics come from the audience. It’s a fun time, especially for hanging out in a gallery. Here’s a link to LabourLove’s blog, where you can get all the details.

Basically, the event will start at 7 pm this Friday, 2/5/10 at LabourLove Gallery in Golden Belt, here in Durham, NC. See you there!

An image from ArtSLAM! v1.0

ArtSLAM!

// December 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Design, Life, Picks

Hey, folks. I’m one of three artists to do battle on Friday, Dec. 11 at LabourLove Gallery at Golden Belt in Durham, NC. Basically, audience members tip their concepts into a hat and one is drawn out. The 3 artists will have 20 minutes to express this concept in a visual piece. The pieces will be auctioned off at the end of the night. Should be lots-o-fun. I’ll be sharing the stage with Kelly Dew and Owen Beckman.

Here’s what LabourLove is saying about the event.

One-year Painting.

// October 16th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Art, Design, Life

I’m starting a year-long painting today. Well, maybe not an entire year. But it won’t be completed until August of 2010. As part of my new residency from the Durham Art Guild at Golden Belt, I’m required to donate a painting. Rather than get to the end of the year and randomly pick out a piece from the previous year’s body of work or select a piece which may or may not sell, I thought I’d give them something that had a hand in everything completed during my time in the studio. The real foundation (literally) for my work.

I had previously assembled a rough tabletop as my primary work suffice when I realized it could actually be a painting. So I’m going to use the tabletop as a workspace and as a painting. Along with collaging stuff I’ll allow my normal working process to contribute to the eventual painting. It’ll serve almost like a journal of the year’s work. It should be interesting. And fun. But my idea of fun is throwing paint and carving letterforms into plywood.

You can come see me in the space (tonight) as part of Durham’s Third Friday event. The studios at Golden Belt are located at 807 East Main Street in Durham, NC. I’m in Studio 138 in Building 3. Cheers.

On the hook.

// October 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Design, Life

I’m happy to report I’ve started a year-long studio residency at Golden Belt in Durham. Many thanks to the Durham Art Guild and Scientific Properties who awarded the Residency. I’ll be developing a community program and will be required to provide quarterly reports on progress to the Guild. I’m happy to oblige on these points.  : )

I’m looking to expand on the art forms I’ve explored so far. This means I’ll be looking at projections, interventions in public spaces, traditional 2-D forms, sound and video. Not necessarily in that order… and not necessarily any or all of these forms will make it out of the studio door. Is that vague enough? Stay tuned… I’m accountable to progress!

Here’s the press release from the Guild.

The Sketchbook Project

// October 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Design, Life

Sketchbooks offers a glimpse into an artist’s life, which is why The Sketchbook Project’s goal is to create a publicly accessible library of sketchbooks that people can browse, peruse, and check out. The Project was started by Art House Co-op in Atlanta, whose premise is that this sketchbook collection has the potential to open a new line of communication between artist and viewer, since the experience of making and viewing are both so personal. Before joining our permanent collection, completed sketchbooks will be exhibited at select galleries across the US.

I’m participating in The Sketchbook Project. Check out my blank, pristine Moleskin sketchbook as it arrived. I have to fill it with art and return for a national gallery tour. My topic: Danger, Danger. Should be fun!

The completed sketchbooks will hit Atlanta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Chicago galleries before entering the Sketchbook Project permanent collection.

Highway One prints.

// September 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Design, Life

I was recently asked by a local advertising agency to hang some Highway One work. If you’ve followed the story here, you’d know these images were created with projection in mind. So I stepped back and punted. What I ended up with are 8 x 10 prints on Arches and Strathmore papers. I fixed these and then applied several coats of varnish. These prints are applied to a larger 22 x 15 vertical sheet and a custom Highway One wax seal is applied along with varied hand-stamped ornamentation. Each $75 print is signed and hand-numbered by the artist. I’m doing sets of 5 for each Highway One image — this Flickr set contains all of the final images. Even the ones not in the installation. Contact me if you’re interested.

MUSA artist profile: Newton/Alsobrooks.

// September 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Picks

I’ll soon be installing the Highway One work at the upcoming Made in the USA (MUSA) exhibition in Raleigh later this year. Here’s a little info about the exhibition:

MUSA is an art exhibition housed in a furniture factory that fell prey to economic pressure and closed its doors in 2002. In a broader sense, MUSA examines the effects of globalization and the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial era in the U.S.A. in general and North Carolina in particular. As America has shifted from a society that produces to a society that consumes, numerous factories around the country lie dormant, a testament to what once was a way of life. David Newton is one of the exhibiting artists.

Content is important in David’s work, but there are some formal concerns that also unite. His forms are generally spacious and airy, with color playing an important part. An affinity for the combination of geometric and organic forms, and an ongoing interest in line are two prominent features. In addition to hardware and found objects the most common material is welded steel, with occasional woodwork.

An example of some of David’s work.

And an image I’ll project along with some ambient sound at the MUSA exhibition.

MUSA artist profile: Pecchio/Alsobrooks.

// September 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Life, Picks

I’ll soon be installing the Highway One work at the upcoming Made in the USA (MUSA) exhibition in Raleigh later this year. Here’s a little info about the exhibition:

MUSA is an art exhibition housed in a furniture factory that fell prey to economic pressure and closed its doors in 2002. In a broader sense, MUSA examines the effects of globalization and the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial era in the U.S.A. in general and North Carolina in particular. As America has shifted from a society that produces to a society that consumes, numerous factories around the country lie dormant, a testament to what once was a way of life. Pamela Pecchio is one of the exhibiting artists.

Pamela earned an MFA in Photography from Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT. She completed a BFA in Photography at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. She’s shown her work domestically across the Carolinas and in Georgia, Tennessee and New York City. Pamela has also shown her work abroad in China and Italy.

An example of Pamela’s work.

And an image I’ll project along with some ambient sound at the MUSA exhibition.

Sun Ra, currently visiting Earth.

// September 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Design, Picks

Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground 1954-68 is currently on display in the CCB Gallery at the Durham Art Guild. The exhibit runs through 10/18/09. Drop by — it’s a must-see while it’s here.

Close inspection yields some great results: album covers, original artwork, press-releases, business cards, etc. all show the “hand” quality, regardless of whether the hand happened to be from space or Birmingham. The language used is also entertaining, even though completely serious. Make sure to check out the (ALL-CAPS) press releases and watch some of the documentary running in the gallery space, too.

I designed some artwork for the exhibition. We derived the design from a mask commonly worn by Sun Ra, but turned it into a maze and put in orbit.

And an example of something cool you’ll see… a print block.

The Durham Art Guild is located at 120 Morris Street in Durham, NC.

MUSA artist profile: Servon/Alsobrooks

// August 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Life, Picks

I’ll soon be installing the Highway One work at the upcoming Made in the USA (MUSA) exhibition in Raleigh later this year. Here’s a little info about the exhibition:

MUSA is an art exhibition housed in a furniture factory that fell prey to economic pressure and closed its doors in 2002. In a broader sense, MUSA examines the effects of globalization and the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial era in the U.S.A. in general and North Carolina in particular. As America has shifted from a society that produces to a society that consumes, numerous factories around the country lie dormant, a testament to what once was a way of life. Jody Servon is one of the exhibiting artists.

Jody Servon was born in New Brunswick, NJ and currently lives and works in Blowing Rock and Greensboro, NC. She received a MFA in New Genre from The University of Arizona and a BFA in Visual Art from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She is currently an assistant professor and director of the Catherine J. Smith Gallery at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Previously Servon was an assistant curator at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art in Florida.

An example of Jody’s work.

And an image I’ll project along with some ambient sound at the MUSA exhibition.