Dark Lords, Their Minions, and Frost Breath

© Eric Battaglia 2012

Here’s a little something else I did last week titled “The Dark Lord Riseth, His Minions Follow.”

By the way, that painting I posted last time now has a title, “Frost Breath,” and is posted for sale on Etsy.

22 Berwyn art show

Modular22, the art/design hybrid collaborative show is still going on through December 22nd at Studio 22 Berwyn. Saturday’s opening was fun, and it was great to see what the whole thing looked like once it was together. This assemblage of laser-cut panels was the brainchild of Jessica Calek and Dan Streeting, who run 22. If you live near the Berwyn area, you really should put it on your to-do list to pay this gallery a visit.

Photos by Mandy McGee

 

Adventure Time Tribute Group Show

If anyone is local to Chicago, you may want to stop by the OhNo!Doom gallery Saturday August 11 through August 30. There just so happens to be a terrific Adventure Time! tribute show, featuring over 40 artists, including myself. The show opens Saturday (oh, that’s almost here) August 11 from 6 PM through 10 PM.

This piece incorporates pyrography, gouache, acrylic, modelling paste, and graphite.

Saturday’s Art Events

Collect-O-Rama was smaller than I expected, but still had plenty of weirdness to experience. This benefit for the Intuit Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art was one-day only. Maybe they’ll have another next year. Saw lots of weird stuff there and I also picked up this nice Mexican bark painting.

From there we went to Replica Chicago‘s storefront opening at 4425 N. Milwaukee Avenue . It’s great to see indie businesses open up storefronts like this, a sign that the Chicago independent art and craft market  is doing pretty damn good. Head up and check this place out, and if you need anything screen-printed, keep them in mind!

If you haven’t been to the Oh No! Doom gallery yet, you should. Saturday was the opening of Relentless, which featured new work from Matthew Ryan Sharp, Tyler Coey, Yosiell Lorenzo, and Brent Nolasco. The exhibit’s up through June 7th, at 1800 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Constructor Craft Fair

Head’s up to any Berwyn/Chicago locals: The fifth annual Constructor Craft Fair is Saturday June 9th at Fitzgerald’s at 6615 Roosevelt Rd. in Berwyn.  Come check it out, it’s always a blast, with art,crafts, music, and beer.

Doings and Goings On

In keeping with my goal of getting out to more galleries and art events, I’ve been trying to make sure I go to at least two or three exhibitions and/or openings a month. So far, I’ve done four events in the months of March and April. 

I was excited to go to the opening of Black Thorns in the White Cube at Western Exhibitions, curated by Amelia Ishmael, because the theme was art inspired by black metal.  It just so happened that I was working on a series of small pyrography paintings of corpse-paint faces at the time, so I was in a very black metal mood. This exhibit ended April 14th,so blame yours truly for not having posted about it sooner.

I also went to the Creative Chicago Expo at the Chicago Cultural Center, although I was really only there for the last two hours on Saturday. While I was there, I checked out the exhibit Morbid Curiosity, the Richard Harris Collection. Richard Harris is a collector focusing on the representation of death by artists and cultures from around the world. The highlight of the show for me was the bone chandelier by Jodie Carey, especially since it sort of snuck up on me, despite its size.  I highly recommend seeing this exhibition if you’re in town, it’ll be up at the  Chicago Cultural Center until July 8th.

Most recently I went on the Second Friday art walk in Pilsen. I was interested in seeing Matt Maniscalco and Jennifer Cronin’s paintings at the Black Cloud Gallery, and had missed the opening the weekend before. And I always like this little light display along Halsted St.

Photo by Mandy McGee

New Art Piece

A few months ago I posted this piece and mentioned that I was looking for something else to add, and a way to incorporate color.

"Duets"

This is what I finally decided to do. I added the blue background, then some red-orange for the wings. I still felt like I needed something in the center, so I tried a little pinstriping. Overall, I’m satisfied with this piece. I titled it “Duet”.

All images © Eric Battaglia 2011

Devil and the Halloween Party

The devil tried to crash the Halloween party, but had a little trouble getting through the door.

Just a little sketch I worked up, toying with some other ideas.
Happy Halloween!

50/50 Pilsen Show

Photo by Mandy McGee

I made these bookmarks to sell at the craft show.

 

Friday October 14th was the last day of the 50/50 Pilsen (Chicago) art and craft show, and the only night for the art show. We had a lot of people there, and the show overall was a terrific event. The art show was scheduled to coincide with the Second Friday Art Walk, which happens on Halsted St. on the second Friday of the month.

I’ll be posting those bookmarks pictured up there to Etsy soon.

Scott Marr, Pyrography Artist

Two weeks ago I was writing about pyrography artists working in an unconventional way.  Recently I discovered Scott Marr, an Australian artist who does some interesting work blending natural pigments with pyrography.

Coming up Friday night, the 50/50 Pilsen art show.  This is the second portion of the 50/50 Pilsen show, which explores and blurs the boundary between art and craft.  I’m working on the finishing touches for a number of pieces I’ve been preparing this summer.