See Wertz Pull Prints in Public!

My Darlings,

my presence has been requested as part of the All of Us or None poster show at the Oakland Museum, and I’m eager (yet full of trepidation). A good friend recently pointed out that my current level of neurosis is rather high, and I think it’s because I keep on making public appearances in very public places. Like, for instance, in museums and bookstores. And I don’t just appear, darlings, I do things in public. Like sing, or, in this case, pull screenprints that will be given away to the gathered masses for free.

I usually spend a good deal of time by myself with just a pencil and some paper and my dog to talk to, so you understand. Things could go wrong. Terribly wrong. My good friend (and collaborator*) Jim Winters will be there to help out if we have to clean out a screen or extract a squeegee from my eye socket, so that’s good.

I’ll be pulling (about 50) prints in the gallery from 5:00-6:30 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012, in the galleries of the Oakland Museum. It’s free, I think.

Here’s the mantra for the evening : IMPERFECT = REAL. Write this on your hand with a sharpie, and come on down to the galleries to see me pull prints. Directly afterwards, I’ll be signing the large Peace Sign OMCA Prints at the OMCA Store. See below.

Hope to see you there!

xm

Here’s a preview of the print I’ll be pulling:

Here’s the OMCA Peace Sculpture Print:

Here’s how messy the process can be:

* Plus the guy is an amazing artist, and got me on the road to silkscreen – I should be there supporting him, not the other way around.

new prints & books & tees up in the shop!

Hey kids,

It’s been a busy summer in the silkscreen studio, and finally I can share some of the work I’ve been producing. There’s a mess of new stuff to peruse on the shop page: the collaborative book by Mister Jim Winters and myself, Queen for Two Weeks, numbered and signed and packed up pretty in a cellophane wrapper. The super-tall-and super-fifties Sutro Tower screenprint. The longer-than tall Lake Merritt (featuring the also-longer-than-tall Lake Merritt Monster). There is also a photograph of an attractive young man modeling the t-shirt design (it looks just like the Sutro Tower print) I did for therethere.

xm

Valentine’s Goodies up in the Shop!

… and a lovely St. Valentine’s Day to you, friends.

We have a few new items up in the shop for Valentine’s Day : some Pug Love for a Tom of Finland Tribute show called ‘Secrets of the Dog Park’ that should get your fur standing on end, as well as a poster we designed and printed for the fine fellows over at the ALO music headquarters. Both were printed by yours truly at Inky Oxnard Studios (with help from the fantastic Mister Jim Winters) in lovely West Oakland, California.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

xm

Songs in Reverse – a print collaboration

Dear Friendlies,

Jim Winters and I just finished a print collaboration called Songs in Reverse. These prints will be shown in conjunction with the SGC conference in Philadelphia in March 2010.

The idea behind the Songs in Reverse show is to highlight a favorite piece of music of each artist, re-contextualizing each song in a queer fashion. I chose There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon) by the B-52′s. Jim chose The Man That I Am With My Man by the Hidden Cameras. Our collaborative print was based on Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club.

There’s A Moon In the Sky (Called the Moon) (inspired by The B-52′s).

‘There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)‘ is one of those songs you hear as a teenager that reaches out of the speakers and taps you on the shoulder. Pssst: we wrote this song for you. Yes, you, the awkward one with the bad skin and weird feelings. Charles Nelson Reilly was my first queen on the TV. Fred Schneider was my first queen on the turntable. If you’re in outer space, Don’t feel out of place. ’cause there are thousands of others like you.

The Man That I Am With My Man (inspired by The Hidden Cameras)

Jim sez: “The Man That I Am With My Man, by the Hidden Cameras is a love song to men. Men and their rituals. Rituals that provide close proximity to each other, and in the song, ones that blossom into homoerotic experience. I find the song beautiful, humorous and sexy, and by mentioning both ‘the Army’ and ‘the Klan’ within this sexualized male ritual scenario, it becomes a political commentary reminiscent of a piece by Barbara Kruger: “You construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men”.”

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? (inspired by The Battle of the Naked Men and Culture Club)

‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me‘ was such a great song. I remember coming home from Junior High School to see Boy George on the local video show (this was before MTV). He was so confusing: is he a boy? Is he a girl? It didn’t matter. I didn’t know if I was a boy or a girl either. I was the girliest boy I knew, that’s for sure. Boy had a great look, to be sure, but this song packs an extra punch because it speaks to the anger and potential violence we experience for loving one another. Americans would much rather kill than kiss, and this Brit used makeup as his armor.

You can see a few photos and video of the print process (including visiting Nat @ Bloom Press to cut the prints down) here. It was great to collaborate with Jim, and I’m thrilled with the results.

I’ll get these up in the shop for sale soon.

xm