These are the two latest paintings. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. The colors really pop out of the canvas. The first one is yet nameless. The second one is titled "Brash.'

I hope you all like this. I am going to be looking for some shows in the near future. As always, paintings for sale,
peace.
Jonathan

grand schemes

Well I've finished up the two or three summer exhibits this year. Now I'm in the studio painting without any pressure. It is a little harder to do and a lot slower. Doing lots of looking and thinking about things.
In my thoughts, I discovered a grand idea. Something big. Real big.

I want to do a mural. Here in Boone, we are surrounded by culture and community. The Downtown Boone Development Association and the Watuaga Arts Council have done well with getting people excited about art with art crawls and sculpture installations in downtown. They have claimed and shown how public art is important to a striving community. But, all they have are sculptures. A lot of which are owned by ASU or part of the Rosen Sculpture competition. We need some color in this town. We need giant painted walls. Murals. Brighten up this old timey downtown. Be as big and as bold as we think we are.

So I've done a sketch. Rhododendrons in bloom plastered like urban graffiti across the blue ridge mountains. Rhodos, being the local flower/bush/tree, was the perfect subject matter. I imagine this huge. Larger than life.

So here it is. The sketch. Now we just gotta find some money for supplies and a big wall downtown that someone will let me work with.

14th annual NthDependence day

These two new works are for the Nth Gallery this Friday the 1st of July. Its our annual Fundraiser. Come out and show your support for the Boone Art community.

Also this Friday I will be exhibiting 6 old paintings and 7 new paintings at the Jone's House Community Center in Boone. The exhibit is up all month and the reception is Friday from 630pm-8pm. Hope to see you there. I'll post some pictures of the work after the reception.

Also I have work in Blackcat, and Char. If you count these restaurants, this week I'm showing in 4 places in downtown Boone. Woooweeeee.

An Eric Franklin Production: Styles

An Eric Franklin Production: Styles is finally complete and on the walls of the Nth Gallery. It has been a lot of work and I hope the show is a huge success.

The show features 7 Styles. Tiger Style, Ghost Style, Murder Style, Crane Style, Claw Style, Thunder Style, and Flip Style. Each style is a different manifestation of Ryan and I's collaboration efforts. The process of collaboration is pretty exciting. It really adds a dynamic to the work when two people feed off of what each other are doing and find a plane to discuss and really hone in on each other's vision. However, it is also full of scheduling, waiting, dividing up work, very late nights and earlier mornings.

The inspiration for the exhibit comes from our actual styles of painting and how they relate (or not relate). Ryan's gridwork takes its visual form from urban maps. Layering up blocks on top of blocks on top of streets on top of corners. It takes on the visual clutter that is our urban areas. My abstract forms are painted with a process very similar to graffiti. Starting with loose composition of one or two bright colors, I then go in and accentuate the edges, and lines, with very dark contrast to give the composition a 3 dimensional form. The bright colors that come in later serve as highlights and really make the paintings look like an abstract form of graffiti layered on top and sometimes behind the gridwork of urban maps.

Speaking of the urban-ness. The show has taken on a sort of urban culture motif. Ryan and I have been mused by Hip Hop music and culture. The collaboration process relates a lot to this. Most hip hop and rap music is built on collaboration. Look up your favorite rap album. Chances are at least half, if not all, of the tracks are "____ Feat. ____" with this track produced by this guy and this one by that guy. Many different styles of hip hop and rap music are birthed from this. Just as we have created several styles.



I guess thats about all I can say. I hope to see the whole world at the show. This is a painting exhibit you don't want to miss.

One Love,
Jonathan. (half of the eric franklin production)

Eric Franklin Production: progress.

An Eric Franklin Production: Spottie Styles