Escatologia featured in Catapult Magazine

Escatologia - Jonathan Ramirez / Carlos M Burgos

An epic digital art piece I had the honour of collaborating on with Jonathan Ramirez as part of his series of works titled 'The Mayan Prophecy', has been published in Catapult art magazine issue #15 on pages 102 - 103.

This piece is called Escatologia which is the spanish term for eschatology based on the greek word éskhatos: 'last' and logos: 'study'.

I worked on two pieces with Jonathan and provided a backdrop for his Mayan Warriors. This is an example of some of my digital art which together with Jonathan's digital genius we were able to create this modern vision of Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent and the awakening of an ancient civilization.

Old SKÜLL

Four skulls painted by Swedish artist Larsa Bondén

I wanted to share with you these four awesome skulls painted by Swedish artist Larsa Bondén. These four paintings are part of the collaboration between Larsa and artist Jonathan Ramirez who is based in Dallas, Texas.

The result of this collaboration will be unveiled as part of the exhibition 'Mayan Prophecy' which opens on the 18th May at gallery WAAS, Dallas.

Read more about Mayan Prophecy collaboration HERE

"REJECTED" - An exhibition at A-side B-side Gallery

I'll be showing a piece at the A-side B-side Gallery in London on Thursday May 3rd for a show called 'REJECTED'. A great show exploring art and rejection. (Read the press release below)

I'll be exhibiting alongside Darren MacPherson, Tinsel Edwards and Twinkle Troughton with whom I've been privileged to have shown work with before in Los Angeles, Orange County and at Debut contemporary Gallery, London and at The Fabelist's Imprint Exhibition earlier this year.

The piece I'll be showing is a collaboration with digital artist Jonathan Ramirez that I did last year, one of five pieces we worked on. Jonathan will be having his first major solo show in Texas on the 18th May called 'Mayan Prophecy', where we have collaborated on a further two original pieces of artwork including a collaboration with Swedish artist Larsa Bondén which will be shown at WAAS Gallery.
  

 PRESS RELEASE:

A-side B-side Gallery presents: Rejected

Private View: Thursday May 3^rd 6-9pm

5-9 Amhurst Terrace

Hackney

LONDON E8 2BT

Artists frequently get rejections from shows and competitions; rejection is part of what being an artist is all about. 

Often an exhibition will have a curatorial concept and the work just simply doesn’t fit the theme, in competitions the judges are subjective and essentially select what they like.  Current trends in the art world might make the work more or less desirable not forgetting the provenance of the artist themselves...

‘Rejected’ seeks to celebrate rejection, through a united force of artists getting together to valiantly display their previously rebuffed work.  The exhibition aims to dispose the issue of whether each individual piece is indeed lesser than that of its contemporaries.  Following an open call, every single proposal to the Rejected exhibition was accepted.  Alongside their rejected artwork, each artist will openly display a list of previous rejections from galleries, competitions and art schools. 

Exhibiting artists:

Alexander Heaton | Amber Sinclair-Ray | Ana Schefer | Banu Colak | Barrie J Davies | Carlos Burgos | Caroline Money | Caroline Tobyn | Catherine Magnani | Claire Atkinson Cos Ahmet | Darren Beatty | Darren Macpherson | Dave Anderson | Enver Gursev Francesca Alaimo | Georgie Grace | Gulzor Sultanova | Hitomi Kammai | Holly Revell Ingrid Berthon-Moine | John Bingham | Kelda Hole | Laura Harvey | Linda Schliebitz Lucas Lobo | Marcus Downe | Marianne Shorten | Melanie Ahmed | Melanie Ward Nadeem Chughtai | Nickova Behling | Oliver Lassalle | Paul Matosic | Peter Cabocky Rabia Aqeel | Simon Kennedy | Tinsel Edwards | Twinkle Troughton

Following the hugely successful launch, a Dazed & Confused feature and live radio interview, A-side B-side presents the first of a series of curated shows from its 2012 exhibition programme.  

SHOW DATES:

Private View: 6 - 9pm 3^rd May

Exhibition will run for two weeks, last day Sunday 13^th May

Opening times: Thurs – Sun 12 – 6pm & by appointment

www.facebook.com/AsideBsideGallery

@Aside_Bside_

For further info or images contact: asidebsidegallery@hotmail.com +447792126195 & +44787634029

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)

Published in Carpaccio Magazine, Issue 32

We got our work published!
Early this year you may remember how I collaborated with artist Jonathan Ramirez and together we created five unique and colourful pieces of art. (LINK)

Carpaccio Magazine Issue 32, pages 156, 157.

I'm happy to say that Carpaccio Magazine (Spain) has featured some of Jonathan's new work and also one of our collaboration pieces 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings' which gets a two page spread in the magazine on pages 156 & 157 and Jonathan's amazing new work on pages 152 - 155.


"Carpaccio Magazine is a monthly online & print publication created to promote the work of ‘uncooked’ artists: emerging but very tasty artists. Carpaccio Magazine is published by the independent publishing house Atem Books"


Link to Carpaccio Magazine Issue 32.
http://www.carpacciomagazine.com/issues/2011/carpaccio-magazine-issue-32/

Its an incredible visual magazine with a beautiful lay out of art, illustration and photography. It's an honour to be featured.

Carpaccio Magazine Issue 32, pages 152, 153.

Carpaccio Magazine Issue 32, pages 154, 155.

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

A Meeting Of Worlds Part I

J Ramirez injects his style to my art work, 'Boot Camp'.

Saturday 20th August saw the results of a collaboration by myself and Jonathan Ramirez displayed at Debut Contemporary Gallery, London. Jonathan Ramirez (interviewed here previously) is a digital artist based in Dallas, Texas, and together we have produced five exciting new pieces of art.

In the next few posts I will be telling the story of this special long distance collaboration.

But let's start from the beginning. As some of you may already know, I've been working on a series of drawings inspired by some of my favourite songs or bands and incorporating their lyrics directly in to the art work. Songs by Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Guns N' Roses, Buffalo Springfield and Soundgarden. Making the lyrics form shapes and objects creating a narrative amplified by both the pictoral and written elements. These are images that can carry powerful meanings, messages and emotion.

These are drawn entirely by hand, taking up to a week minimum to design, develop and execute. Using technical drawing pens to be able to incorporate very fine details and text. Not much room for any mistakes and these drawings continue to develop as I progress.

I had always planned on adding colour at a later date to my drawings. As I wanted to keep these black and white versions as they were, I had thought about colouring them digitally as I had done with other pieces in the past.

However, time did not allow me to as I was also creating a series of paintings at the same time.

Busy Painting

Previously i had come across the amazing work of a digital artist called Jonathan Ramirez. He had posted a link to his work on a Facebook page at Juxtapose Magazine. The link was to a piece he called 'Tales of a Scorched Earth'. This got my attention as it reminded me of a song by The Smashing Pumpkins, I looked at more of his work and noticed that most of it was inspired by songs and lyrics, by bands that I also liked or knew. We turned out to both be Smashing Pumpkins fans and so I contacted him to make friends.

(His website: jonathanramirez.webs.com)

Some time passed and I still really wanted to add colour to these drawings. Then a thought occurred to me, it may be interesting to see what would happen if I asked Jonathan to add colour to these pieces. Although his style was different to mine, he understood where this work was coming from as he too was influenced by the same music. I really admired his work and style so I thought that it would be even more interesting if I let him continue to interpret the lyrics and my drawings in his own way, adding his unique style and vision. Fusing our styles and talents. I also thought our collaboration would be interesting from a cultural point of view too, he was from Mexico and I had roots from El Salvador, both from Central America.

I contacted him and asked him if he would be interested in collaborating with me, he said yes and our work together began!

(^_^)

Stay tuned for part II...

Read Part II here

The Dark Realms of Jonathan Ramirez

Jonathan Ramirez

I recently came across the amazing digital art of Jonathan Ramirez, and we are currently collaborating on some pieces together which we will be exhibiting at the Debut Contemporary Gallery, London in August.

So here's a little chat with the man himself about his work.

Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Jonathan Ramirez, 28 years old, been doing digital art for 10 years. I was born in Monterrey Mexico 1983, I moved to the USA when I was 16, now I live in Dallas Texas, but planing to move to a city with more art and music... 

How would you describe your work?

I describe my art work as industrial, dark and Gothic with vintage touches. I dont get inspired much by other artists because I try to stay away from whats new, fashionable or the current scene, all that the 'new' generation is into these days. So I try to stay away from that and get my inspiration on music and lyrics from my favorite bands which are Pink Floyd, The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Radiohead. The Beatles are also my favorite. 

What does being creative mean to you?

Being Creative means being different from others, being in a jar where no one gets in and I cant get out. I cant breathe the same air, i dont taste the same as others, Im just there alone, no space no gravity no light. 

What inspires or motivates you?

Music is what inspires me, also dreams I have and some times just the mood I'm in like when I'm sad or depressed. 

Whats playing on your mp3 at the moment?

Right now im Listening to Pink Floyd “The Wall” full album. I need some depressing music to create a dark feeling on this new art piece.

More from Jonathan Ramirez: jonathanramirez.webs.com/

www.behance.net/jonathanramirez

Prophecy

Tales of Scorched Earth