Nicholas Nyland at SOIL

{Nicholas Nyland, Garland, 2009, Acrylic on paper, grommets, rope, Dimensions variable}

I really love these weird creations of Nicholas Nyland‘s that are hanging/drooping/slouching in the back room of SOIL this month. I’m not sure if it’s Painting as an awkward teenager or Painting as a sometimes incontinent yet cheerful elderly person. Not really funny, but endearing and slightly embarrassing. One of the objects is like this big tongue perched on the wall– part painting, part sculpture. Another (Garland, above) might want to sway gracefully like a Calder mobile, but its parts get in the way.

Me + You + December

I usually put stuff about my own work on my other blog, but right now there are several things happening that I’d like to invite you to.

Right NOW – December 11th:

The ownership of my piñata is up for grabs for Strangercrombie.

December 11th:

Matt Offenbacher and Margie Livingston have invited me and about 30 other painters to talk for five minutes each at The Henry about paintings we love right now. It’s a “Seattle Painters Mini-Symposium” because “painting is awesome, interesting, central to contemporary art discourse, and we’re doing it here in Seattle.” Let’s talk about Painting!

{left to right, top to bottom; some of the participating painters: Margie Livingston, Joey Veltkamp, Ken Kelly, Kimberly Trowbridge, Nicholas Nyland, Matt Offenbacher, Eric Elliott, Susanna Bluhm, Robert Hardgrave}

December 12th:

I’m opening my studio in Georgetown during the Georgetown Art Attack. Come see my new paintings and have some cookies!