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

Posted in arrow deco, art deco, michael james armstrong, quint contemporary art, sculpture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

mural commission

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

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?

Posted in art show, art show review, quint contemporary art, san diego | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Hey, I was in CityBeat! Thanks Seth.

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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Homing In – 50 San Diego artists!

it’s really going to be quite an odd experience for me to show a piece of my art in the very gallery i work for. but that’s what’s going to happen on friday the 29th. i’m a little worried people might think i’m being shown favoritism. i assure you that’s not the case. i’ve been working there for almost 2 years and this is the first time they’ve shown any interest in showing my work. in fact, i’m a bit baffled by the whole thing. not enough to question it though, i suppose.

i’m also excited to be in the same show with my friend and former co-worker claudia cano. she makes very well crafted woven photographs, and her piece for the show is very cool.

i’m doing a new piece for the show (i try to always do a new piece for every show i’m in), a sculpture made of steel and acrylic. due to life kicking a few clouds of dirt into my face the last couple weeks, i’ve yet to finish it. however, i think i’ll be able to get it done by thursday…the day before the show opens. i hope. if not, i have a backup piece i can hang – but i’m really hoping this new piece gets finished in time, i’m really excited about it.

this show should be huge. i’m estimating at least 500 – 600 people will show up throughout the night. i’d suggest getting their early so you have a chance to actually see the art before too many people start crowding in.

hope to see you there.

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glashaus grand opening (group show)

you may remember that i just recently moved into a new studio. in that very space, this saturday, will be the first art show of many to come. this time around will be an open studios/group show in conjunction with device gallery.

in addition to my most recent work on display in my studio, i’ll have 3 new pieces in the show – drawings on mylar on steel.

i hope you can make it!

ps- i didn’t design the invite but i did design those glashaus letters.

Posted in architecture, art show, barrio logan, device gallery, drawings, glashaus, michael james armstrong, san diego | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

3 layer drawing

36″ X 12″, spray paint and rapidograph on 3mil double matte mylar

Posted in architectural, architecture, arrowchitectural decograf, drawing, michael james armstrong, rapidograph, sketches, spray paint | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

hand drawn deco font

there aren’t enough art deco fonts in the world. so, i thought i’d add one.

i can’t even say i drew this the old fashioned way. type designers of the eighteenth century probably had more sophisticated tools than i used to create this drawing. i had fun with it anyway.

after it was done i scanned it, took it into photoshop, filled it in, and then utilized the old copy and paste to “type” it into a word. “decography” isn’t the name of the font – just a word that popped in. i’m still working on what to call it.

turned out pretty cool, i think.

can anybody help me take a pencil drawing of a font and make it a typable reality?

Posted in art deco, design, drawing, font, hand drawn, michael james armstrong, typography | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

black and white composition

i added 5 new photos to my “composition studies” set over at flickr. click the sliver of blue to check em out.

sliver of blue

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composition and color

while outside of my art studio waiting for spray paint to dry, i decided to have some fun with my trusty canon750.

20 or so composition type shots like this:

corrugated concrete

and this:

concrete wood

check them out over at my flickr site.

i’m sure that i was under the subconscious influence of this guys work (a long time good friend of mine). his “street”/”bituminous” shots are absolute genius works of color and composition.

Posted in art studio, barrio logan, composition, michael james armstrong, photography, spray paint | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment