Cowboy
2009
18 x 24”
acrylic on canvascollection of Phil Nelson
This is a new piece from live painting at disCu̴lTu̴re 1 at Truck SF. It was broadcast in realtime on SWEATSHOP.tv, and the VJ at the club pulled down the stream and mixed it into his visuals. It’s acrylic on board, and I just zoned out and worked off the cuff and tried not to bog myself down with anything but instinct and aesthetics. This painting doesn’t push my boundaries in any way, shape or form. It is exactly what I wanted at that precise moment in time. Oddly, those are the pieces that people seem to respond to.
Let me tell you about the club, because I’m pretty chuffed about it. disCu̴lTu̴re is a new, monthly event hosted by Jordan K. DJs were spinning [from the flyer] “witch house, drag, no-fi, next step, minimal and ghost drone” as I writhed away in a draped unitard in front of my easel and jabbed away at this thing. The board was about 36 x 24”, and was originally intended to be a piece of interior decor: it had a print of a leopard on the front. This is the verso, masonite, sanded a bit and splashed with gesso. I got it from Goodwill that afternoon.
An attendee with smart glasses came up to me in the throbbing dark and said, “This [event] reminds me of New York!” and I thanked him, because San Francisco needs a little suavity injected into its blubber now and then. If our debut was any indication, this is my new favorite event in San Francisco.
At the end of the night, just as I finished, a man approached and asked if I was willing to sell this piece. I thought about it, and he told me he didn’t know where this painting was going until I put the cityscape into the background: “Then I knew: this is about the city. It’s all the city has to offer.”
I’m not sure what he meant—whether it was the boy in the foreground or the overall bleakness or the sopping rain or the dearth of color—but I think he knew what he was talking about, so I sold it to him on the spot.
If you’re in the Bay Area, come to disCu̴lTu̴re next month. Here’s the Facebook invite: http://on.fb.me/iXosZJ
// disCulTure // with powwowW + Bobby Peru // JUNE 18 // 9PM
SAT JUNE 18 at TRUCK SF:
// disCulTure //
with the debut live performance of
powwowW (Tundra Dubs / Phantasma Disques)
http://soundcloud.com/powwowwand DJs
BOBBY PERU (Fool’s Paradise DJs / Booze Wazi / thizz.face.disco)
http://soundcloud.com/mike-m-1
Sortilega (disCulTure)
http://styleovercontent.tumblr.com/
RΛiN (Haunted Cassette Tapes / Pale Noir / Grimm Soundsystem)
http://soundcloud.com/rainnairlive streaming painting by E.G. Gauger [that’s me!]
http://www.toxoplasm.org/drag, minimal, spectral pop, no-step, ghoul bass, wherehaus
9pm // $2 after 11pm // 21+
TRUCK SF // Folsom & 15th
disCu̴lTu̴re [Tumblr]
Truck SF [Homepage]
Jordan K [Tumblr]
New painting up for grabs.
(via SWEATSHOP.tv — Rockstar)