We’re off and running with the 2nd printing of Words for Paintings.  Some very kind words from my friend and Stepsister Press publisher Annie Heckman’s blog here .  Get your copy of the book through Stepsister Press.

After such a busy winter, things have slowed a bit in the studio, however,  I did start a new 60″ x 45″ painting in early March, and am gearing up to get back into it:

3 facts about this painting:

1.  It is canvas over panel.  I’ve been wanting to work larger and building really big panels is both time consuming and expensive.  This is allowing me to recycle some stretchers from 2003 and doesn’t necessitate a finely finished surface. Stretching canvas over the panel hides all of the screws and mechanical joinery.

2.  It is ridiculously orange.  The studio is glowing from the reflected light.  It’s like there’s a beer sign on down here.  This will probably prove to be a bad decision as I work on it.

3.  There’s a grid of small hot pink dots in the upper right hand corner.  This will also prove to be a bad idea.

On the good news front, I’ll be doing a residency in Belgium next summer at the Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee.  I’ll be there with my main man Scott Stulen, Steve Seeley, Curtis Readel, and Dominic Paul Moore.  We’ll be making prints and drawings and listening to metal.  I’m pretty sure we’ll do a show of work from the residency at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago after we get back.

Beautiful Decay online“anyone who makes artwork about death metal, Old Dirty Bastard and mixes in digital painting trickery is A-OK by me!“

A fantastic review of DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER

The new year got rolling with the opening of my DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER solo show at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago on January 8th.

A few install pics:

The show received a “Top 10 Picks” on Bad at Sports and was featured in a GenArt Collectors Circle event with interview.  As always, plenty of new pics of the show and individual pieces in my portfolio link.

I also submitted my essay for the book to accompany the John Kissick: A Nervous Decade traveling exhibition organized by Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Kitchener, ON.  You can check out the essay here:

John Kissick: Abstraction as Appropriation

There are sure to be some tweaks and copy editing as they assemble the book, but this gives the general idea.

I sent four paintings to the group show Pennsyltucky: Are We There Yet? which opened at Clarion University on January 25th. I’ll head out for the closing reception and to talk with students on March 4th.

Words for Paintings is set for release on Friday, February 12, 5-8pm at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago.  Here’s a peek at the cover:

Finally, I’m working on 3 new works on paper to send to the group exhibition Flatline at SELLOUT in Minneapolis in March.

New paintings and drawings by Jason Lahr

Exhibition reception: Friday, January 8, 2010 5-8pm

Special College Art Association reception: Friday, February 12, 2010 5-8pm

(The second reception will also feature the release of “Words for Paintings” a book collecting over ten years worth texts and images from Lahr’s work. Introduction by Maria Tomasula and design by Robert Sedlack. Published by Stepsister Press, Chicago)

www.packergallery.com

www.stepsisterpress.com

www.jasonlahr.net

It’s been just over a year since I finished my studio, and about a year exactly since I’ve been working in earnest on the paintings for my upcoming show at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago.  A few shots of the studio as of two weeks ago:

And a few shots from TECTONIC/TAPOLA/LAHR show at SELLOUT Gallery in Minneapolis:

Updates on the Words for Paintings book, John Kissick essay, and DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER show card soon!!!

It’s shaping up to be a busy fall…On the painting front, I’m full steam ahead in the studio, getting work ready for my solo exhibition, DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER, which opens at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago on January 8, 2010. There are some photos of new work in the Portfolio link and a couple of in-progress shots here:

I’m in a three person show at SELLOUT in Minneapolis, they have Diver Down (2009) and a handful of boy scout drawings. A big thanks to Scott Stulen for including me in the show.

My book Words for Paintings is steaming along. Painter Maria Tomasula has written a fantastic introduction, and designer Robert Sedlack is hard at work making the collection of texts a.) work as a whole and b.) look super awesome. Look for an event for with Stepsister Press and Packer Schopf Gallery in February during the annual CAA conference (which makes its way to Chicago this year).

In further writing news, I contributed the essay for the printed piece for the exhibition Something Geographical which opened at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in September and travels to the South Bend Museum of Art in November. The exhibition features work by Vernon Fisher, Buzz Spector, and Xiaoze Xie and my essay focuses on the proliferation of information in our contemporary experience, the ways in which our navigation of this information overload is similar to the reading of a map, and the ways in which each of the artist charts a path through our wash of information. The show looks fantastic and all of the artists were a joy to work with. A huge thanks to William, Brian, and Rachel at Zolla/Lieberman as well as Vernon, Buzz, and Xiaoze for making this such a fantastic experience:

And finally, the John Kissick essay marches on towards my January deadline which is also when I send a group of paintings to Clarion University (my BFA alma mater) for the group show Pennsyltucky…

It’s been almost a year, but I’ve finally gotten around to converting the site over to this new format so that I can keep things updated more easily and much more regularly (at least in theory).  I have quite a few projects in the works, so here’s a quick rundown of what’s on the horizon:

On the painting front:

-Solo exhibition (DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER) at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago in January—February 2010

http://www.packergallery.com/

-Group exhibition at PUNCH Gallery in Seattle this May with a heavy metal theme

http://www.punchgallery.org/

-Solo exhibition at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, dates to be determined.

On the writing front:

-I’m in the process of working on a book to be released by Stepsister Press (http://www.stepsisterpress.com/) next winter as a tie-in to the DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER exhibition at Packer Schopf Gallery.  The book will be a collection of texts from the past 10 years entitled Words for Paintings.

-I’ll be contributing an essay to a monograph on Canadian abstract painter John Kissick (http://www.johnkissick.ca/).  The book is part of a survey exhibition entitled John Kissick: An Anxious Decade organized by the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery in Kitchener, ON, Canada.

-There’s another essay that I’m writing for an exhibition in Chicago this fall that will be traveling to the South Bend Museum of Art (aka-my day gig), but it’s a bit too early to talk about it.  I’m pretty geeked to do it though.

On the “other” front:

-I contributed a sound piece to Steve Tomasula’s (http://www.stevetomasula.com/) multimedia DVD book TOC: A New Media Novel being released by University of Alabama Press this spring.  My piece is used for the final section/credits.  Pre-order at: http://www.amazon.com/TOC-Media-Novel-Steve-Tomasula/dp/157366152X

  solo exhibition  SOMA Gallery1411 West Main StreetFort Wayne, IN  46802 www.somagallery.org