New Art for 2025!

Letter from the Editor

All of the work below is for sale once the series is complete. You will be able to see it all in person at the opening night, details forthcoming. Feel free to email or DM me and I will put your name on a reservation list for the art. I will reach out to folks, in order of message received, to see if you are still interested when the time comes. Cheers! - S

IN WITH THE OLD

A series inspired by a desire to remake the original covers for Hot Water Music records, celebrating my signature 90’s Emo style. Through this process I will make amends for my past transgressions and get this shit out of my system before I have to finally grow up.

Floral Arrangement

Rookies

Sad Clown

Put a Bird on it

Mendoza

Circle (K) of Life

Wet My Beak

Sure Shot

Houdini

A F@#king Cup of Coffee WIP

Artist Statement

On my Sleeve -

As an artist, I am heavily influenced by the crudeness and honesty of American folk art, old carnival signs, Bill Traylor, Joe Coleman, Wayne White, skate culture, Natas Kaupas, Ed Templeton, Robert Williams, Don Ed Hardy, Melinda Beck, Jordin Isip, Matt Mahurin, Barry McGee, cut and paste punk Art Chantry; 90’s New York City hardcore, modern street art… the list goes on. These are a few of the highlights.

Peak EMO(tions) -

The themes I choose to resurrect, for this EPIC late 90’s early 2k Emo revival, trend towards hard life lessons, self-reflection, and the untamed expression of youth.
The art is sarcastic, a bit silly as well as decorative, and not simply dark. I’m trying to finish the thought with color and comedy to create something weirdly beautiful and hopefully a tad rad.
I’m reliving the salad days through a more colorful lens and a newfound pride for the love and craft of making real, one of a kind, physical art. Painting traditionally after such a long time away from the brush, has been educational, invigorating, and daunting. The comfort of remaking classic album art and settling on a theme quickly, allowed me to get stoked and get to work. My impetus for putting this series together is broken into multiple motives; overdue self-crit, greasing the wheels, and a momentary fuck you to technology. This has been such a therapeutic concept and one that has allowed me to ask myself “how would I treat these records now?” Planning this series has enabled me to spend renewed focus on the paint and the brush. My hands are slightly dusty but improve with each panel. Time away from the computer screen and this AI bullshit has been necessary.

Personal Growth -

Old habits dying hard no.1; The composition of supporting details, the background so to speak, is weaker in my old work. In the past I would pay little attention to the panel outside of the hero characters. With this new series I have awakened a love for the entire canvas. Every detail of this new work is intentional and the proof is in the rendering. Striking a balance between exposing the underpainting or making spontaneous marks and a desire for more technical polish has been engaging. Mark making was more directed this time around. Intentional rather than all encompassing or hasty. I hate how dirty, and quite frankly lazy, my old work is. Some folks may think I’m talking about elements of my style that they love and consider my fingerprint. Selfish as it may be, I am giving the paintings the attention they always deserved but never received.
Color first; all of the old work is brown. I can’t help but see the original covers as colorless through mature eyes. It makes me sad because this band and their history is anything but colorless. A major goal of mine for this series has been to develop a fresh palette, a strong identity of color. One that would draw out my favorite colors from Golden paints and create a selection for SINC art. Something sour, like a jolly rancher, albeit slightly dusty. The color is a necessary part of the comedy in these tragedies. Each painting is a study of color contrasts and compliments. Each painting also tethers to the other paintings color wise.
Conquering Self Doubt; For me the process of starting a new painting has been very difficult. Sometimes it takes a second to remember how to go and that it is OK to just do something, anything. I have been working on defining a process, one that gives me the opportunity to properly organize a plan of attack, get to work with confidence, and enjoy finding the rhythm again. Pun intended.