2:18 PM, Altadena, CA. This can be called an “Impromptu Sculpture”. It happens to be one of a lot of Impromptus that have entertained me lately. This poor guy was caught in the mechanical jaws of a commonplace office tool, the subliminal message of what can happen when office duties overtake us.
9:45 AM, Los Angeles, CA. Powerfully mundane, everyday objects, or found sculpture. This handmade wood box was next to a temporary structure near the entrance to a museum in LA’s Exposition Park. I had no idea its purpose or use. It lacked markings, locks and hinges. It just sat there and I just liked it.
#615, 11:37 PM. This is approaching the sinister with the pillow doubling as a hood. In truth, it’s simply an IKEA cushion and a toy robot making an interesting combination.
#614, 10:19 PM. This guy was amazing. This is a toy replica of a character named Mr. Bill from a television show called Saturday Night Live during the 80’s. The concentric circles were an exercise to mask his identity to the point of near non-recognition. What a fitting tribute to this funny character that always seemed to get pummeled or met some other dire consequence at the end of his skit.
#611, 9:06 PM. Vintage toys are cool. Their working innards are ingenious and the exteriors are complimented with decorative graphics. This toy utilized an intricate mechanism that operated the moving parts and to think that it worked without batteries or electricity is amazing. My aim on this was to echo the red structure of the antique toy with the drawn red shapes on the right side.
#609, 11:00 PM. Using the same storefront window display, I moved aside for a different vantage point. Later on, I added the digital drawn shapes and noticed the “Bible Songs” package design in the lower left corner and the parking meter on the right hand side of the picture. The unplanned combination of bible songs and parking meters excited me enough to make a painting based on this digital study.
#608, 10:37 PM. Growing up with film cameras, I used to experiment with double exposures. The unexpected combinations from the transparencies and overlaps of exposures had a dramatic appeal. Now that I work exclusively with digital cameras, a convenient way for me to mimic this effect is to shoot an image reflected on and what’s behind a clear surface. This was a storefront window display in Glendale, CA.
#606, 12:20 PM. I’m finding that photography and drawing can make an interesting union. It’s not a new idea but something that I would like to explore so I should always be camera ready. This tag team technique happens to be a snapshot inside an antique store in Whittier, CA. and a drawing done in Pasadena, CA.
1:13 PM, N. Hollywood, CA. I think this was the goldmine or close to it for used books. It’s called the Iliad and the name has nothing to do with the Odyssey according to the store’s website description. Check out the Charles Bukowski poster. His fan base stretched from San Pedro to N. Hollywood and way beyond. What a character and unique writer. RIP.
10:58 AM, Hollywood, CA. For sale and all of them. The paperbacks’ owner said that she is strictly a dealer and not a collector. Everything was arranged in numerical order and grouped by publisher. If that’s the case, then judging by the numbers at the top of the spines, she has a fairly complete selection on this shelf. She had many, many more shelves.