I Was Unconditionally Intoxicated With The Grotesqueness Of It All

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 9, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 07 (postcard)

A Befuddled And Dismayed Youth Was Struck By A Blistering Truck Near The 128 Interchange

Major steps taken this evening. I finished painting the small bunnies in enamel white and afixed the 192 marshmellow peeps to the surface. I'm going to have to let it dry overnight and then the next step will be to set it ablaze at some point in the future.

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I finished recoating 3 of my 'Adds' works with a fresh coat of enamel white and I did a bit of further editing-out on 2 of them. These are pieces that were concieved and developed back in 2002 and even though I pulled them for the show as is, I decided that they really needed a bit of freshening up. I'm really happy with they way they turned out with the new enamel.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 8, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 06 (postcard)

In A Night Fluttered Frenzy She Swayed My Pockets Arid

Busy evening. Took both nonpareil logo works out into the backyard and finished the treatment to their edges and proceeded to apply numerous coats of clear spray-paint. I have a sinking feeling that I might go through a few cans of it until I'm satisfied with the strength it adds to the works. Hmm... maybe if I had used Krylon instead of the cheaper brand — money-money-money. I was lucky enough to have just the right amount of nonpareils to wrap up each of the works. I knew it would be close, but didn't bother to order any further supplies over the weekend. I did however order another 6lbs of Carnival Mix Jimmies for the Jimmie Jacket I'm gonna produce to wear at the show. Last week I purchased a used cream colored sportcoat at the Goodwill — $5.89. Now you can't beat a deal like that. I'm gonna paint the entire surface of the jacket with a thin coat of gesso and follow that up with a coat of gloss latex white. Then the entire jacket is going to get covered in Carnival Mix Jimmies. I'm just not so sure what I want to do with the jackets buttons just yet. But this is one of those projects thats gonna get pushed to the end of the deadline. If I don't have it for the show, that's alright. But if I do, it'll be something that I leave on disply after the opening party. Just another item to add to the list things to do, so I have things to exhibit, so I have things to sell.
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Also last evening I fine-tune cut the face board for 'Ace Rac' and nailed it to the squared-out framework I had earlier built. I then brought it indoors and began to lay centerfolds all about it, in an attempt to disern the composition. And I've decided for a number of reasons to turn the work on its horizontal v. its vertical as I had previously employeed. It's gonna look so much better this way. There are still several decisions to be reached before I proceed further though.
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I wrapped up the facts labels for the backs of 80% of the Dounts last night so I'll print those sometime tomorrow. I was also able to draw out my 5 jumping rabbits to the large burned peeps work. I'm going to finish them in enamel white - but as outlines. I think that if I us the white as a fill, it's going to harshly dominate the composition beyond my liking. I think the subtleness of these rabbits will work much better after the multicolored peeps are applied and burned. It will pop enough without large white voids. I'll let the fire do the work of detailing the piece for me yet again. Chance and interuption will dictate the final outcome.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 7, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 05 (postcard)

She Gave Me One Of Those Unorthodox Grins Buttressed By A Bruised Licorice Chin

So yeah donuts over here... donuts over there... and jimmies and nonpareils all over the first floor of my home. I've come to the realization that there is not stoping them. They will go where ever they want, at any time and they will get into everything. So lately, I've had to resort to busting out the shop-vac at least three times a night in order to keep my floor as particle free as possible. All that said, theres a huge amount of preped 5" x 5" box frames neatly layed out throughout my studio. I still have a hell of a lot more to build out but at least at this point in the game I can say I have a good 4 dozen built out and ready for their final phase.
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I'm in the process of developing the backing materials for each of these works. I've been painstakingly tracking down all of the nutritional fact/ingredients for each type of donut. It's amazing what you 'can't' find out there on the web these days. I'm actually going to have to call Krispy Kreme to get the ingredients in their Original Glaze donut. They don't list any real information about any of their wares on their web site. Ohh well... After I've collected all this information I'm plugging all this info into B/W labels I've designed to look just like the ones you see on the back of food now-a-days. They are gonna look really polished with these tags on them.

Drunkin' Eyes Over Drunkin' Skys Will Never Hide My Drunkin' Sighs

This will be a weekend of little pleasure and massive amounts of donuts. I've become amazed at how long it truely takes to produce one of these buggers... but it's all about quality right.
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Went to the big orange Home Depot with Kanka today. Bought myself a large sheet of plywood that I needed to front the new large piece for the Sweet Tooth show, 'Ace Rac'. And since the big orange didn't have any damn twine in from of their store to use for strapin' down materials (not even flags) we had to buy a damn spool of it inside. Bastards... after that we headed over to Lowes and Kanka purchased 2 huge pieces of lumber for a project he's working on. You should have seen my car with this massive stuff on it. Everything got home fine, except that we got stuck in the middle of a sever thunder shower on the way back to the studio. Ohh well... it's only water I guess.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 5, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 04 (postcard)

Beginning With One, Move Three Steps To You Right And Then Shake It All About

One week gone... one more to go. Spending a majority of this evening wrapping up the nonpareil logo works, but I'm also hoping that I'll be able to get two coats of primer on the 3 dozen new donuts I need to get rolling. Not much more today... just keeping busy and avoiding distractions. We've got deadlines people.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 4, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 03 (postcard)

It Just Won't Give Up, Because It Wants To See My Head In A Bag Drifting In The Ocean

Still at it with the nonpareil logo works. I need to have these finished before the weekend hits if I'm going to stay on target. So tonight I'm working on the white portion of the Krispy Kreme logo. I have to get the face-side done on this tonight. The edges will be easier to deal with tomorrow on both nonpareil works. The two works will be finished before saturday rolls round.

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I'm waiting on a shipment of donuts from Buffalo... some cherry ones'. We'll see if they show anytime soon.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 3, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 02 (postcard)

We Will Not Win The Battle Of Values At Levels

Wrapping up things with the face-side of the Dunkin' Donuts nonpareil logo. The white is much easier to apply because our base structure and outlines are already laid in from our application of the colored nonpareils. I'm using a thick coat of polycrylic in small sections before I lay the nonpareils onto the surface. Once the entire surface has been covered, the work will recieve several thin coats of clear spraypaint to help seal the work and prevent the nonpareils from dropping off.
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Glory be... the ants have arrived. Just as I had hoped, things beyond my control are happening to the drawings I've left outside. Ants are collecting the sugar nonpareils and the sugar water left from the night befores rain. I have a feeling that they might be gone by tomorrow. I'll leave the pieces alone for a few days but I might try and bring my little friends back at some point so I can seal them under a coat of clear spraypaint... or maybe I'll do that after I apply the other hand-drawn applications to the works.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 2, 2006
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BARKER - Barkerville 01 (postcard)

Do You Worry About The Care Your Loved Ones Are Recieving

Dumping off the excess nonpareils. Resorted to doing this outside after I found that when done indoors you end up with a floor littered with the damn'd things. Of course you say... ohh whatever. It's Shark Week!
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Preparing a set of 6 drawings for the show. First, 6 sheets of white 80lb cardstock are staked into the ground. Next a liberal amount of red nonpareils are applied to the depressed areas. Then nature takes over — rain. I'll leave these outside for a week before I begin to work on them further. Interested to see what happens to them.

If I Fail After This Day, I'll Be Pleased To Say It Was 'My' Failure

Working to be able to work. That's the price of freedom. Or as Orson Welles put it, "My contradiction in myself."
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10:13 am - And in a quiet room, a letter changed hands - the deed now done. Beginning today, I lay the Wellian contradiction at my own feet.
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11:15 pm - Working on the nonpareil logo paintings in front of the TV tonight.... it's Shark Week for god's sake!

Yaw, Pitch & Role

Spent the morning working on the nonpareil logo works and then cut out for the afternon to help out some friends. Then it was back at the nonpareil works again. Tommorrow I'm going to continue work on them, as well as attempt to prime as many of the new Donut frames as I can. I also need to order more balsa wood and more sprinkles/nonpareil... it never ends. You can never have too many supplies... but of course when you're having to watch your wallet... too many can be a bad thing.
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TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS BI'ATCH

I've Got All Kinds Of Bait, But No Hook Yet

Studio killed the radio star... another busy day in the studio. Rocking out the Donut base frames with some help from Kanka & Blackmon. Lots of donuts in boxes all over the studio. Looks like there might be 6 dozen kinds, plus a few varients here and there. And these are the inexpensive works... the big stuff is coming along nicely. The purple peeps are all wrapped up and I've continued working on the large sprinkled logo works. They should be wrapped up middle of next week. I want to get another dozen donuts shipped to me from Dickies Donuts up in Buffalo. They make the best 'cherry' donut on the planet. We'll see if that happens... if so thats another dozen to add onto the list. As well as another large nonpareil logo work, making 3 in all.

Let's Block Out The Sun And Bronze Our Pale Frames

Last night I made a lot of progress in the show front. I built out a total of 36 new 'Donut' base frames and I have enough balsa left that I could easily create another 3 dozen of them if I wanted. Currently I have 54 'Donut' works and I could end up with 90 of them when all is said and finished. That would bring the total amount of works for this show to around 130 pieces. Frightening... I'm very interested in the idea of having that many 'Donut' works though. That would be 7.5 dozen donuts... that's a lot. But they would look realy good all wrapped in their own packaging and such. Just like a product in a store. So we'll see where we go from here. It's going to be another busy evening. Need to pick up more alcohol... maybe even a few assistants again. Hmmmm....
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Also last night I began to apply the nonpariels to one of the 2 large icon works for the show. I still need to rig something together to catch all of the excess nonpariels. I'll figure that out this evening. The frameworks for the 2 'Adds' that I'll be showing go underway last night as well. The flat underpainting for the large Peeps work got finished up too.
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Did a little donut shopping during my lunch break today and picked up a dozen fresh KK's 'Chocolate Glaze w/ Patriotic Mix Sprinkles'. And then I got 4 'Chocolate Glaze w/ Rainbox Mix Nonpariels' and the 1 'White Glaze w/ Rainbox Mix Nonpariels'. Good stuff...

There's A Cracking Noise In The Air And I Want To Call It Seventh Heaven

What if it was a show of only Donuts.... What then?

I Got Me So Down, I Got Myself A Pound

JIMMIE OVERLOAD


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So the Jimmies got here today and I plan to finish up at least 19 Donuts this evening. Lots of trial and error ahead. Lots a dippin' ahead. The balsa wood should arrive tommorrow. So i'll be able to get with some more Donut frames.
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It's time to make the Donuts.

Perfectly For Years The Struggle Of All Fears

Nonpareils are in full effect. Bitting on the freshy laid 'test pattern' for two of the large works at Sweet Tooth
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Checkin' whos' got the goods-enough to become a 'Stripper'.
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The studio at around 10:15 this evening.
The Music By Two At The Time:
SPACE IS THE PLACE...
SPACE IS GONNA DO ME GOOD...
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So tonight is another studio night. Progress is evident throughout. Leeps and bounds on this eve. So progress report: There are currently 3 large works for the show and 1 mega work.. (welll it's justb that much more bigger.) This evening I built out the three large works box frames and primed them. There is a large Peep work in these three and with it, I began to paint its four color scheme - YELLOW>PINK>BLUE>PURPLE. The other 2 large works have been primed and are ready to have their frame edges treated. That should be fun... not sure how to go about it yet.
On the 'Donut' front, I took a few major leeps this evening into linking the actual donuts used with their real history via/v. the artists work cluttering his studio. It's hard to explain, but basiclly 4 of the real donuts vare related to their set of 4 - 5"x5" frames that they are being mounted to. The four box frames were originally designed as pedestals for a work owned by Newman from the 'Media Mail' series from 2000-2001. But they never made the final cut and were thrown from the work. They have a new life... they have a nice 'Donut-Glaze-Meets-Pollack' feel. The donuts are a set of 2 dozen that was purchased years ago by Newman and other Atlanta locals on Sunday morning. Perfect fit. The work will attempt to be sold as one... but we'll see.
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
JULY 25, 2006
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BARKER - Strip Tease 01 (stuffed envelope)

Let's Go To Dinner Where We Can Drink Our Dinner Together Again

Building the framework of the large work for Sweet Tooth. It's called 'ACE-RAC' and measures 42" x 70" (106.7 x 177.8 cm).

Trust Your Instincts And Then Steal

Various types of donuts waiting to be turned into 'Donuts'. And more to come after these.

This Boy's Bad News... But At Least He Makes The News

10 'Nip'L'Nip Bisects' ready to go out the door. The first of many products being produced in the studio for Sweet Tooth.

Stick A Fork, A Knife And A Spoon In Him... He's Done, Done, Done

Today I’m developing the labels that will go on the backs of all the work for the show. I have a heck of a lot of them to create though.
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The title for the show has been chosen
Retroconsumerism I: Sweet Tooth
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I’m still working out concepts for the invite card and poster... but I have some pretty darn clever ideas running through my head right now. I’ll probably brain-storm some more this evening with Kanka.
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Last night I accomplished a ton of work and even decided to add another set of pieces into the mix. So where to begin. The ‘Nik-L-Nip Bisects’ are pretty much finished. I cleaned them and added brown paper to their backings. All that is left to do now, is affix the wall hanging brackets, add the labels to the back and sign them. So there’s at least 10 finished pieces. I completed building 18 ‘Donut’ frames, but I needed to order more balsa to complete the 3 dozen (36) total works I want for the show. There are going to be a set of 2 dozen that are chocolate glazed with rainbow Jimmies and then the other dozen will be 4 sets of 3. Each a little different than the others. I was able to build out the frames in record time last night because I decided that it was probably in my best interest to use my power saw to cut some of my wood instead of cutting them by hand with an X-acto blade (not the most efficient method, but that’s the way I always did it in the past). Needless to say the power tool usage was a ‘smart’ move. I still have to putty and sand the frames and then prime them. This weekend I will conduct tests on using Jimmies on the edges instead of hand painting them. I’m still planing on hand painting the dozen that are varied, but they are gonna cost you more at the show. Time is money...
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I resurrected the first ever set of ‘Peeps Bisects’ that I did 3 years ago. There are 10 in all and they are all purple. Each has faded in different strange ways. I abandoned these pieces back then because of the fading, but also because I coated them with Polyurethane instead of the Polycrylic I used in the batch I created this year for the ‘My Peeps’ show. I was just never fond of how they turned yellow because of the polyurethane... it’s actually the same process the Nik-L-Nips went thru (but I still completed those). I think the other reason they were abandoned was because the polyurethane never set correctly and there were drips and globs throughout each work. The building of these works is a process in itself as Kanka would tell you (he assisted me on the last set - 3rd attempt). I didn’t get the technique right until I was on that 3rd attempt at trying to coat those darn marshmallow rabbits. Everything has to be done at once - dipping, straining, placing. If you let any time go over or under you end up with shredded peeps or peeps too saturated in poly that leave puddles. So to rescue these pieces I’m doing a few new things to them. First, I’m pin-striping the frames in purple and white and then the fun begins. This weekend, probably Saturday night, I’m going to burn each one of them and then re-coat the entire structure in polyacrylic. They should turn out bad-as-hell. I imagine them looking like mini car wrecks. All the mistakes currently in them will melt away into a perfectly unique set of paintings. I’m very excited about doing this to them, as it’s something I had envisioned a year or so back. I even labeled the box that they’ve been housed in with big black letters 'BURN THESE'. But of course I’m not burning them to destroy them like I’ve done other works. This time the fire and smoke will be my paintbrush and patina. It’s gonna be really cool.
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But now on to another topic related to the show. I have this idea that the pieces need to really feel like store bought products. So much so that I’m considering shrink wrapping each work and affixing a price label to them. Almost like they were wrapped Twinkies in a convenient store or something. I just think this would look beautiful. And considering that I’m looking to have almost 100 pieces at this show (well in the 80’s possibly). I think that if each work was built in this fashion it would bond them together even more. Even setting them up on old grocery store racks... I mean this could just be the coolest looking thing ever. Of course, when I do ‘Retroconsumerism II: Fluoride’ next year, it’s going to have to be bigger than life. Maybe for that one I’ll rent out a real store... or even a dentist office... hmmmm.
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Gonna be a busy evening ahead of me.