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Archive for July, 2009

ArrowDeco form no.1 – a sculpture

when i was asked to participate in the new show for Quint Contemporary Art (Homing In), a show which required a piece with size limitations (no larger than 2 feet wide), i didn’t have anything ready to go. i usually try and have a new piece for every show, but i didn’t get much notice for this one. i was already working on a huge piece for a commission job, and i wasn’t sure i’d have enough time to complete even a small piece.

after about a week of contemplating what to do, an idea came to me like a flash. all at once i knew what i was going to create, what it would be made of, and even where i wanted to hang it in the gallery. what you see here is the result of that flash – an ArrowDeco form made of steel and frosted acrylic. the only modification to the idea was that i used frosted acrylic for the arrow instead of frosted glass – the glass was going to take too long to get. as it happened, i didn’t have the piece finished until the night before the show…as usual. (at least i finished it!)

thanks to a great guy named elliot hathaway, a fine welder (and also a photographer), i got the steel welded just in time for a very reasonable price. thanks elliot!

ah, the perfect spot. just above your head, in the doorway, as you walk from the front to the back gallery.

in the corner

doorway sculpture

underneath

close

there are more, better quality photos HERE

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mural commission

July 04th, 2009 | Category: arrow deco, michael james armstrong, mural

i’ve yet to get shots of this piece installed, but here it is outside of my studio just after completion.

me and mural

spray paint on three 4′ X 8′ aluminum panels. they’re installed on a backyard fence next to a pool, with about as much separation in between them as you see here.

i didn’t get paid much, but i had fun making it, and i’m glad i had the opportunity. it was good practice to do something this large, as i hope to be able to do many other large scale pieces in the future.

complimentary contrast mural

left:

left

middle:

middle

right:

right

and here’s the drawing for the piece:

go HERE for bigger pics.

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Huge crowd shows up to Quint Gallery

July 04th, 2009 | Category: art show, art show review, quint contemporary art, san diego

when you have an art show displaying 50 artists from the same town, you get a shitload of people at the opening.

outside:

big crowd at quint gallery

streaming in:

streaming into the gallery

looking in:

view from outside

looking out:

redhead at quint gallery

and when you’re the only artist out of fifty, who’s pieces were at eye level, to hang your piece 8 feet off the ground, nobody thinks to look up and see it.

crowd of nonseeing

they don't see it

even my friends, who all came to the gallery specifically looking for my piece, didn’t notice it their first time around and had to ask me where it was.

c’est la vie. i thought it looked great in the spot i chose, and i wouldn’t have changed it even if i knew know one was going to notice it.

sal underneath

here’s what a few others had to say about the show:

Dylan Ousley

Kevin and Richard from Art As Authority – Review #1 and Review #2

Katherine Sweetman from San Diego Visual Arts

and of course Robert Pincus

if you attended, what did you think?

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Hey, I was in CityBeat! Thanks Seth.

July 04th, 2009 | Category: citybeat, michael james armstrong, san diego

this post is really late, but much thanks and appreciation to Seth Combs at San Diego CityBeat for taking an interest in (and writing about!) my work. it means a lot to me.

here’s the cover of the may 27th issue:

and here on page 16 is the article:

GO HERE to read what seth had to say.

thanks again seth!

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