"In Silence" art print!

This is an art print of the artwork I recently completed for the Thursday/Envy split LP on Temporary Residence records- the prints are 26 inches square and come in 2 colorways, gold metallic and silver metallic. Printed on French Speckletone Cover in editions of 225, the image is a tornado of blackbirds tearing through the midwestern landscape. Available RIGHT NOW in my etsy shop. There will also be a blue variant available as well that I am still working on.

The Renegade Rainout sale!

So, because of good ole Hurrican Ike sending immense amounts of rain through the country directly hitting Chicago for 3 days straight, the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago was a bit of a bust for those like me selling art on paper. I have a huge stack of test prints, misprints and regular 'ol posters that I put out on a $5 table each year and it is like leading lambs to the slaughter. Chicago's loss is your gain- Each tube will have 4-5 prints and posters some of which may include the Godspeed test prints from 2001 which are pretty badass.

You can buy em here.

Just workin'

This week is a busy one. Printing posters for upcoming shows by Robert Pollard's Boston Spaceships (excited to see this show, the record sounds great- has a GBV/Who "Sell-out" vibe to it), Okkervil River, and the first of 3 Black Keys posters (Ryden theater in Nashville, Akron, and London shows). A full plate of posters to add to the already full plate of proper art prints I'm producing. Here's a sneak peek at the Okkervil River Metro poster- this is the finished scratchboard/ink drawing; and as well here is a pic from the Pollard/Boston Spaceships board before I finished.

2 Great Art Shows

I took a break from drawing flying houses and heads of dogs to see one of 2 great art shows opening tonight in Illinois. I'll talk about the one I didn't get to go to first; American Cosmos- Jeff Tady has his first public showing of his collage series opening tonight at St. Ambrose University in Davenport Iowa (Okay, its across the river from Illinois). He will have 10 collages on display along with 20 automatic drawings he's been posting on his drawing blog. I really wish I could have been at this show tonight. Jeff is not only a dear friend, he is one of the true art heroes I've met in this lifetime. His versatility in image making , whether it be in painting, drawing, or collage is truly stunning. These collages are prosaic, funny, and profound. Keep checking his blog as he has made archival print copies of the 10 works which he promises he will have up for sale soon.


The show I did go see earlier this evening was at Tony Fitzpatrick's studio , Big Cat Press, in honor of the late artist Steve Griff. The show was an exhibition of Griff's graphite drawings from the last year of his life and they are truly fantastic. Intense, well rendered and energetic drawings that make me wish I had met the man behind them.



The show was rounded out with excellent work from Julie Murphy and Dmitry Samarov. Julie had some really nice work on display, including these insane little drawings on Manila Folders which looked like some sort of lost archival system tracking the development of mythological monsters with mirth and ball point pen. Great stuff. I met Julie during the book-signing for Beasts!, the collection of creatures edited by Jacob Covey of which we both contributed to. Julie promises to contribute a print to the exhibition of the same name that Jacob is putting together in honor of the 2nd Beasts! volume being published, so I look forward to seeing what she makes for that.

Dmitry Samarov's work is ubiquitous in Chicago- He has shown his paintings at the Rainbo Club, the Artist Project, and in many other numerous settings; His paintings are beautiful and improvisational. His site is a must-read; not only for the great artwork ( I'm a big fan of his ink drawings- kind of an ashcan Pettibone) but the fantastic ramblings. It was a pleasure to meet Dmitry this evening, while corraling Ella, my 3 year old, away from the heaping pile of Oreo cookies on the table.


Thanks again to Tony Fitzpatrick for opening up his studio as an "Artist Incubator", as he put it, Chicago needs more of this- artists putting on their own shows.

Hex Removers Shirt of Awesomeness

Now you can drive all bad luck and voodoo out of your life, house, neigborhood, garage sale, grocery store, auto shop, munitions depot , and yoga studio with this nice new shirt featuring a field of Hex Removers in a lovely split fountain.
Printed on Natural 100% Organic cotton Anvil shirts.

This weeks work

Hunkering down for this week's work- printing up an art print of the cover scratchboard I made for the Thursday/Envy Split (Which comes out today in 3 limited screenprinted colorways, check out Temporary Residence and Thursday's site) That will be available on Friday.

Speaking of the Thursday/Envy split- Here are more pics of the scratchboard art for the gatefold edition- I've had a lot of requests to see it:


And thanks to all who have been snapping up copies of the "Search Party" print; there are still a few copies left in the Etsy shop.


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Screens N Spokes Print

Sam Verrill has organized a great show of prints for the last 2 years called Screens 'n Spokes- Artists donate a run of prints which are sold to help raise money for MS research. In addition Sam and Jess have a bike team to also raise money.

In thier own words: "Screens 'N' Spokes is all about awesome art and a great cause. Gigposters and gearheads unite in our mission to end the devastating effects of Multiple Sclerosis.

All proceeds benefit the National MS Society on behalf of Team Screens 'N' Spokes. Learn more about our bike team and art show at http://screensnspokes.blogspot.com

Thanks for your support!

Jess & Sam "

Here's the print I made for them. It can only be purchased through SNS.

Chicago Ghost Shirt

Available in my Etsy shop

Lion at Rest Shirt

Black on Charcoal shirt (Anvil Organic Cotton) , available in my Etsy shop:

Melvins Brooklyn

Black Keys Brookyn

A new poster for the Black Keys' Brooklyn show at McClarren park Pool!

Available as always in my Etsy Shop

Black Keys poster

The excellent Black Keys commissioned me to make a few posters- here's one from last night's show at the Metro:






available in my Etsy Shop.

Search Party Layer 12

A few more highlight layers to go ....

Prairie Ghost

4 color print on French Tangy Orange Paper. (yes, Tangy Orange) 19 x 26.
available in my Etsy shop.

In Process- Envy/Thursday LP

I was commissioned by Jeremy DeVine and Temporary Residence Records to create the artwork for an upcoming LP/CD Release for Thursday (new Jersey) and Envy (Japan). The art direction is right up my alley...create a tornado of CROWS tearing through the landscape. Uh, yes, where do I sign up? I'm finishing up the gatefold illustration now, here's a few peeks at the cover art process scratchboard illo:

Charlie Parr- Deep Blues Festival

My good friend AmyJo , a terrific designer in Minneapolis put together a series of posters for the Deep Blues Festival this weekend. I took on Charlie Parr.

Color #11

Color #10

Color #9

Metallic gold highlights

Color #8

Color #7

Hard to see but this is a split fountain of two different metallic coppers

Color #6

Color #5

Color #4

Colors #2 and #3

Search Party Progress...

Finally printing this thing. I started the day before Coco was born- lots of pictures to follow this week. Here is the first layer. Split fountain, red-medium yellow. Printing this on 22 x 30 stonehenge.

Limited edition of one

Chloe Marie Coco Grzeca. Born 6/22/08 at 6:01 am. Life is beautiful.

Grant Barnhart Charity Print

My friend Grant Barnhart, a terrifically talented artist, painter, and printmaker has just released a new screenprint called "In The Beginning" Its a tiny edition of 50, with hand painted touches to each print, making each unique. All of the proceeds go to help a friend of Grant's who is battling Cancer. Check it out here.

The Sound at Letterform

Had a nice time on Saturday; Our pals Jen and David at Superkonductor curated a nice show of screenprints from Steve Walters,Kathleen Judge,Delicious,Johnny Sampson, Alana Bailey, Keith Herzik and myself. The show was at Letterform Studios and was a lot of fun. Here's a pic of me and Ella checking out the scene.

Chicago Ghost

"Chicago Ghost"

This is a 4 color screenprint on 19 x 25 Safety Orange French Construction paper. The image is one I've been playing around with over the last year- It came about when I was asked to come up with a poster for a group show last year at a gallery in Chicago. I kept thinking of iconic Chicago/city imagery- Bricks, decay, tires, wood; all wrapped up in a bull emblematic of the Stockyards that closed up decades ago. What better than to make old history into mythology by turning that bull into a cylclops? I used some transparent metallic and white inks on this version and am very happy with the results; referencing the old, yet still something turning into something new.

For sale now in my Etsy Shop.

Black Keys NY

Black Keys DC poster

Final print, 2 colors, 19 x 25. Available in my Etsy shop.

Black Keys Boston Poster

Final print, 4 colors, 18 x 24

Black Keys Boston Line Art

Search Party....

Yep, STILL working on the keyline for this one. Had to put it down for a while due to all the poster work I need to finish. Now I'm ready to wrap up the drawing and start printing. I'll post the final tomorrow and will start posting printing beginning on Monday. I'm thinking this is going to be around 8-10 colors. We'll see how that goes. It usually means its a 12 - 14 color print. I'm going to use Stonehenge again, size will be 22 x 30 inches.

Black Keys DC

Here's the scratchboard drawing for the Black Keys DC poster:

Black keys Europe tour

Here's the scratchboard drawing for the Black Keys Europe poster:



And the final print- 18 x 24 , 4 colors. (Metallic Gold layer is kind of flashing in the photo)\

Explosions in the sky -Chicago Show