Mayan Prophecy Collaboration

'Mayan Prophecy' is the title of digital artist Jonathan Ramirez's big show opening in May at the WAAS Gallery in Dallas, Texas. He'll be showing a new collection of work and among them are some collaboration pieces which myself and Swedish based artist Larsa Bonden have been working on with Jonathan.

I've been working digitally this time, with my trusty Wacom pen and tablet.

It's great to be working with Jonathan Ramirez again as we've already collaborated on five pieces of art back in August 2011, which were exhibited at Debut Contemporary Gallery in Notting Hill, London. It's also great to be part of his Mayan Prophecy with another artist I admire, Larsa Bonden who I featured here on my blog in February.

(Previous 2011 collaboration with J. Ramirez)

(Interview with Larsa Bonden)

(Interview with Jonathan Ramirez)

Pop-Up show - Art for £99

Acrylic On MDF Board & Varnished
W127mm X H178mm X D12mm

Today I finished a small painting that will be part of a Pop-Up Shop fundraiser. A number of artists have created original postcard sized pieces on wood to be sold for £99 each and will be generously and professionally framed by our sponsor One Stop Frames. The money is being raised to help cover work shipping and travel costs for the artists selected to exhibit at The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) in California, later this month. I will be one of those exhibiting in this 'London Calling' show in the USA.

RSVP on Facebook here

I won't be able to attend this pop-up show as on the same weekend I will be in Barcelona, Spain, exhibiting at Gaudi's Casa Batllo. However please come and see all the fantastic postcard sized works and get your hands on a bargain as most are worth over double the price!

The Pop-Up Shop will take place for one weekend only (10th-11th December) at Debut Contemporary gallery on Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill.

Our other fundraising platforms:

Indiegogo

Online shop

London Calling at California's OCCCA

London art continues to make an impression across the pond, this time at California's Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts. Following on from the success of the London Art Box at Flag Stop in L.A. back in September, I have been one of those selected to exhibit in the collective show entitled: 'LONDON CALLING' from December 21st 2011 to January 12th 2012.

London Calling at the OCCCA

The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art showcases emerging British artists represented by the London Gallery,Debut Contemporary, located in Notting Hill. 

Their roster of artists reads like a who’s who of the young, UK art scene, including Rosie Emerson, Tahnee Lonsdale, and Agnetha Sjogren. Works by these and other collectible artists will be available for sale at OCCCA. 

The founders of Debut Contemporary are husband and wife duo, Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight, named by the British press as, “one of UK’s most powerful couples in art and fashion.”


Perhaps the most exciting thing about this collective is that in our climate of limited art funding, the artists have taken it upon themselves to promote and raise the profile of the London Art scene overseas. They are working collaboratively to come up with creative solutions, opposing the diminution of diversity in art, and extending the reach of UK arts: Fundraising to get as many of the talented artists to LA as possible, to be true ambassadors of the London art scene. They are empowering themselves to create their own opportunities. Find out more on their fundraising platform and Etsy art shop.

List of London Calling exhibiting Artists:

Abigail Box, Agnetha Sjogren, Azadeh Fatehrad, Beth Nicholas, Carlos Martyn Burgos, Chantal Powell, Darren MacPherson, Katerina Stavrou, Katerina James, Kimi Wylde, Henry Wood, Joe Cruz, Lloyd Durling,Lyndsay Martin, Masa Suzuki, Nicola Anthony, Rachel Noble, Rosie Emerson, Robert West, Senghye Yang, Silvia Krupinska, Sylvia Morgado, Sun Ae Kim, Tinsel Edwards, Tahnee Lonsdale, Twinkle Troughton, Victoria Heald,Vikram Kushwah

London Art makes a splash in LA

FLAG STOP at Torrance’s South Bay Lexus dealership

Some of my work has been showing in Los Angeles the past few days in the London Art Box  - “a London ‘micro-gallery’ in which 13 of London’s most exciting and ambitious emerging artists have been invited to prepare a special exhibition for the landmark LA event, FLAG STOP”. Featuring the works of more than 100 of the nation’s top artists and curators. 

Tim Gratkowski, came up with the idea of using large white PODS® containers as micro galleries 

“FLAG STOP is dedicated to presenting the best curated examples of what, why, and how art is relevant today,” said Tim Gratkowski a Los Angeles-based contemporary artist. “The PODS® containers are perfect self-contained portable art galleries that allow us to showcase ground breaking contemporary art in a very unusual setting outside of mainstream art venues.” 

Three of the 13 artists, Nicola Anthony, Abigail Box and Kimi Wylde, flew over to help curate the work and to represent the group of Debut Contemporary artists. Here is a little video of Nicola introducing the London Art Box:

The Flagstop event has recieved mentions in LA Weekly, Easy ReaderNews, Art Weekly, LA's Business News and a number of other art magazines in California with news that we have now been invited to exhibit at  OCCCA museum in Orange County this December.

LA is overwhelmingly positive about London Art Box, and we have already been introduced to the key figures here who are also very excited about our work, the space, and the concept –  Tim Gratkowski – FLAG STOP DIRECTOR, curator Howard Fox, artist Bob Zoell, Joella March influential art figure and curator at OCCCA, the curators of Torrance Art Museum, Peter Frank art critic, the distinguished Bernard Fallon from the FLAG STOP board, and LA Journalist Bondo Wyszpolski. 

Artists part of London Art Box are: Vikram Kushwah • Chantal Powell • Tinsel Edwards • Nicola Anthony • Sylvia Morgado • Kimi Wylde • Abigail Box • Darren MacPherson • Katrina James • Robert West • Carlos Martyn Burgos • Azadeh Fatehrad • Twinkle Troughton

Journalists turn up to snap the LAB 

My Peep Hole box: "UGLY"

(^_^)

London In Los Angeles

On September 2nd a brand new alternative art event will be opening in LA. FLAG STOP!


Many high profile LA based curators and art industry types are taking part in the event including Lily Siegel who is a Curatorial Assistant at 'The Museum of Contemporary Art', Los Angeles and Howard Fox who is Emeritus Curator of Contemporary Art, 'Los Angeles County Museum of Art' amongst others.

Also participating in this event is London Art Box (LAB), a London ‘micro-gallery’ in which UK artists have been invited to prepare a special exhibition for this landmark LA art event, FLAG STOP. Showcasing  artists from London’s Debut Contemporary. 


As part of the Debut Contemporary collective I was selected with 11 other artists to represent the UK at this exhibition. The exhibition is being held on the grounds of a Lexus showroom. On the choice of this setting for the exhibition Flag Stop says:

"FLAG STOP’s mission is to present new and emerging contemporary art to a larger audience outside the mainstream art venues. FLAG STOP is searching for alternative venues in which to present the best curated examples of what, why, and how art is becoming relevant today. Each “STOP” will feature art which has been curated with some of the best examples of contemporary art, brought to you by some of the top professional, emerging curators and artists from Southern California."

Other artists taking part in this event are Vikram Kushwah • Chantal Powell • Tinsel Edwards • Nicola Anthony • Sylvia Morgado • Kimi Wylde • Abigail Box • Darren MacPherson • Katrina James • Robert West • Carlos Martyn Burgos • Azadeh Fatehrad

My work will be there as well as a few artists from Debut heading across the pond to make the presence of the art work and our gallery space known to everyone as ambassadors during the three days it is on.

This will be my US debut, so I'm very excited. I'll be showing three pieces, 'For What It's Worth', and two of my peep hole boxes 'Ugly' and 'Loss'.

For What It's Worth (2011)

A Peaceful Game Of Chess

Thanks to all those that participated on Saturday 20th August at the 'World Within Worlds' event, where people got all artistic and helped create a work of art live in the gallery window at Debut Contemporary based on my design.

Each were given a section to draw and this was then pieced together to form a bigger picture. The result?
A riot policeman and a hoodie having a nice game of chess, in response to the recent London riots. Created by the people, for the people...

Here are the individual sections lovingly made by those that participated. In the space of a few minutes they became artists, were discovered and then had their work displayed in a posh gallery in Notting Hill!

Paul. B

Raquel. B

Audrey

C. M. B

Claudia. P

Duncan. C

C. M. B

C. M. B

Rob. M

Stephanie. O

C. M. B

Kevin. N

Ninman

C. M. B

Gabriela. P

Johanna. S

Sandra. O

Sean

Sylvia. M

Tiffani. A

Robert. V

Lucia

Sandra. O

A Meeting of Worlds Part III

These are the five pieces of art Carlos M Burgos and Jonathan Ramirez created. Combining the traditional hand drawn with the digital. Created via long distance in London and Dallas. Combining two artistic visions. Art has no boundaries.

These pieces were shown for the first time on Saturday 20th August at the debut Contemporary Gallery in London, England. Together with three new pieces by Carlos M Burgos and three pieces by Jonathan Ramirez, showing their work as individuals alongside their collaboration pieces. The exhibition was called 'World Within Worlds'. 

A total of five pieces of work were created, each of which are available as a limited edition Giclee print of five. Printed on high quality 100% cotton museum grade Canson Aquarelle paper.

Read part I here

Read part II here

November Rain - 2011 - 71x51cm

One - 2011- 71x55cm

For What It's Worth - 2011- 71x54cm

Bullet With Butterfly Wings - 2011- 71x54cm

Boot Camp - 2011 - 51x75cm

A Meeting of Worlds Part II

Detail from 'For What It's Worth' by C M Burgos & J Ramirez

Let's continue with the story behind the recent collaboration between myself and digital artist Jonathan Ramirez. Having approached Jonathan with the idea of him adding colour and continuing to develop my ink drawings, he said yes and our work began.


We communicated mainly by Facebook and email. He was in Dallas and I was in London, so time differences were a big factor, getting to know when we were free to discuss things etc.


I scanned the drawings and sent him the files by email. I had decided I was going to trust his artistic vision and as a first time experiment was not going to say much about what to do, I wanted the piece to develop naturally. I would just tell him what I had in mind when making the drawing. I left my art work in his hands as to what he was going to do with them, the only thing I mentioned was the importance of the lyrics remaining visible. I was excited and nervous at the same time as this was my first collaboration with another artist.


Jonathan worked very hard on the drawings I sent him. It was now his turn to use his digital brushes and palette.  

J Ramirez and his artistic tools

Jonathan:

"What i did on the drawings was use textures, also I'm into using colors but in a dark way, lots of vintage effects, make them creepy.  I used Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Illustrator CS5  plus an Adesso CTZ12A Cybertablet 10x6" Widescreen Ultra Slim Graphics Tablet".

"I painted some by hand others by using tools like brushes and effects. Im a big fan of the 'Image Vibrance' tool, it brings life to my art, I use a high saturation on most of my artwork".

  

When collaborating with another artist it's strange seeing the results as you know and recognize your own art work but it's somewhat different now. It's interesting seeing how both styles fit and can complement each other creating a completely different image. Jonathan would send me each piece as soon as he finished it, I would take a couple of days looking at it, taking it in and getting used to this new style. We were both very pleased with our work and the results.

This was really my first collaboration, but i believe you have to respect each others work, methods and where its coming from. We had very different methods of working, Jonathan works digitally and I take a traditional approach, our styles differ. But I felt there were things we connected on. I think you have to have a plan of action, how will the work take shape, in what order etc. In our case I had created hand drawn art work and I decided I trusted in his artistic vision and gave him the freedom to then re-interpret the drawing his own way. Our common ground was our love for the same kind of music, so we were drawing inspiration from the same sources.

Jonathan: "Trust in the art of the artist you are collaborating with, Just think you are doing a collaboration where both artists enjoy each others art work. Never think of selling  for a client or making it big into mainstream".

I had been a bit worried about the distance thing, but Jonathan is a great guy, sincere in everything he does. I trust his abilities and that to me is rare. Where you can trust and share your own artistic visions with another artist. We didnt talk much about what we were going to do, over thinking things, we just poured ourselves into our art.

Jonathan: "This is my first collaboration with an artist, and I'm glad it was Carlos, you have to believe in someone or something to be part of it, and Carlos believed in my talent and art, I think I enjoyed the fact that we are both far away. I mean collaborations don't have to be in the same room at the same time, in the same city under the same sky. We try to bring art together no matter what part of the world you are in, it all becomes one".

We created five pieces of work, each of which are available as a limited edition Giclee print of five. Printed on high quality 100% cotton museum grade Canson Aquarelle paper.

Approx print size: 710 x 550mm


Next I'll be showing you the full set of work. You can also see it here: Full Set


(^_^)


Read Part I of this post here