(event, photography) Toronto's 1st Ninja Parade

 

Just over a month ago Toronto had it's first Ninja Parade.  Unlike the zombie march, where people dress up and participate, the ninja parade was more spectator oriented (although dressing up was not discouraged).  Martial arts masters Ayumu Ishikawa, Daichi Takahashi, Hayato Shimabukuro, and Isamu Yamamoto flew in from Japan to oversee the other ninjas involved in the parade.  They arrived a week in advance to see some sites and get to know the parade route.  

The day came, and over the coarse of an hour and forty-five minutes ninja descended from the rooftops at Dundas and Shaw.  Each ninja took an average of fifteen minutes to maneuver between traffic and pedestrians along the parade route, all while showing off their stealth tactics.

The hired photographer, Brian Muller, had fallen ill shortly after the parade ended, and was hospitalized and then quarantined for two weeks.  His widow has finally allowed me to see the pictures taken and after going through the nearly four hundred pictures, these are the most promising.

 

Photos by 

BRIAN MULLER

1983-2012 

(painting) Another Painting For Mr. Fuks Birthday

Last year my roommate Alon was very specific in his birthday artwork request.  This year he gave me no feedback when I asked him about it.  Seeing the he is Jewish and into motorcycles my first idea had him sitting on a chopper spinning the back tire on a Nazi's head while blowing more away with a machine gun, there might have been a sexy lady on the back of the bike.
As I started to sketch that idea out a conversation we had before Christmas flooded back to me.  "You know what you should paint me, Deadpool and Wolverine, you know from marvel comics.  But I want Deadpool holding up Wolverines head after a crazy fight or something."  I had already gotten him a gift, and was thinking of breaking it into 8 pieces to get into the Chanukah spirit.  So I told him it was too late and then completely forgot the request.  That is until I was sketching his present.
I turned the page and began loosely laying out the image.  The next thing I know he is saying goodbye off to New Orleans for a week.  Now i had enough time not only to paint the painting but frame it, wrap it in a ribbon, and have it waiting for him when he walked in the door.

(painting) Image Orgy for the Art Historian

My latest painting is called Image Orgy for the Art Historian. It contains 75 pieces of art history going as far back as 1425.  I decided to paint it on a glass frame I rescued from the behind an art store. I started with the black outline on the front of the glass, and then flipped the glass around to paint the paintings.  To do that I had to paint the dark and light tones before painting the mid range.
Here is a list of the paintings, try to find them all:
Masaccio, Holy Trinity, 1425
Botticelli, La Primavera, 1478
Da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-6
Michelangelo, ceiling of Sistine Chapel (Creation of Adam), 1508-12
Titian, Pope Paul III, 1543
Naizen, Arrival of the Portuguese, 1593  
Caravaggio, Conversion of St Paul, c1601
Rubins, The Miracles of St Francis Xavier, 1616-17
Rembrandt, The Nightwatch, 1642
van Ruisdael, Windmill at Wijk, 1665
Fragonard, The Swing, 1767
David, The Dead Marat, 1793
Kiyonaga, Interior of a Bathhouse, c1800
Gericault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1819
Goya, Saturn Devouring one of his Children, 1820-3

Millet, The Man with the Hoe, 1852-62
Monet, sketch for The Picnic, 1865-6
Manet, The Execution of Maximilian, 1867
Homer, Long Branch, New Jersey, 1869
Eakins, The Gross Clinic, 1875
Muybridge, Galloping Horse, 1878
Renoir, The Boating Party, 1881
Manet, a Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1882
Degas, Ballet Rehearsal, 1874

Seurat, Bathers at Asnieres, 1883-4
Gauguin, The Vision After the Sermon, 1888
van Gogh, The Night Cafe, 1888
van Gogh, Cafe Terrace on the Place Du Forum, 1888
Toulouse Lautrec, Jane Avril au Jardin de Paris, 1893 
Munch, The Scream, 1893
Morbelli, For Eighty Cents, 1895
Cezanne, Cardplayers, c1890-5
Matisse, The Joy of Life, 1905
Rousseau, The Snake Charmer, 1907
Braque, House and Trees, 1908
Munter, Boating, 1910
Boccioni, The City Rises, 1910
Nolde, Masks, 1911
Schmitt-Rottluff, Die Brucke membership card, 1911
Kirchner, Berlin Street Scene, 1913
Kandinsky, Improvisation NO30, 1913
Leger, Contrast of Forms, 1913
Malevich, Suprematist Composition, Black Tropezium and Red Square, 1915
Duchamp, Fountain, 1917
Popova, Painterle Architectonic, 1917
Matisse, The Moorish Screen, 1921-2
Hopper, Automat, 1927
Rivera, The Making of a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City, 1931
Dali, The Presence of Memory, 1931
Orozco, American Civilization - Latin America, 1932
Magritte, Le Viol, 1934
Moore, Two Forms, 1934
Bonnard, Nude in the Bath, 1935
Picasso, Guernica, 1937
Miro, Head of a Woman, 1938
Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939
Mondrian, Fox Trot A, 1950
Pollock, Autumn Rythm, 1950
de Kooning, Excavations, 1950
Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950-1

Rouault, Ecce Homo, 1952
Rothko, Green on Blue, 1956
Johns, Three Flags, 1958
Stella, Tuxedo Park Junction, 1960
Warhol, Twenty-five Coloured Marilyns, 1962
Hockney, Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills, 1964 
Raushenberg, Retroactive, 1964
Lichtenstein, Big Painting No 6, 1965
Nauman, Punch & Judy (Kick in the Groin/Slap in the Face), 1985
Martin, The Gate 1985, 1985
Koons, Rabbit, 1986
Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991
Lijun, Group Two NO , 1992
Rauch, Ubung, 1999

(painting) Boobscape commission

I was approached one night after work by a friend of mine, Sean.  He told me he wanted a painting for his bedroom door.  He wanted a Boobscape.  So I set off to making him a small one to see if we were on the same page.

He told me it would be facing out into the apartment so he wanted the boobs of the Boobscape to be toned down.  I then cut the sheet of paper to the dimensions he gave me and got to work.

 After I was Finished I had to cut the Boobscape in half because of the style of his door.

 

(painting) Cigarette Warnings

After long last I have finished my series of cigarette warnings. The process took a lot longer than I had originally thought it would.
First I had to collect all 16 warnings on 20 packs of Next Gold. Thank you Eugene at Collage Variety (college and huron, toronto) for digging thought carton after carton to help me get them all. The paintings had to be painted on the proper packages
I then filled them with expanding foam so they would keep their shape while I painted on them. he next step was the gesso followed by transferring the drawings. I chose one at random to start on but worked on them all at once. By that I mean that after painting a colour on one package I'd try to fit it somewhere on another pack. Once they were fully coloured I added the black outline to make the colours pop and add an illustrative feel to the images.
I had a lo of fun working on this series I hope you enjoy them as well.