I’m still riffing on the ideas that opened up when creating the SFMOMA Window Gallery installation. How to synthesize painting with silkscreen printing? What about a rock image makes a great painting? How can the processes of silkscreen printing, especially the layering effects, be brought off as a painting?

I brought some elements of the Window installation painting, “Saint Everyone,” to my new painting, “Heathen Child.” I’m working from a rock poster palette and from rock poster imagery. The Ginderman poster was the basis for the imagery of “Heathen Child,” but I wanted to take this in a new direction with materials and technique.

I used my circle patterns and carefully silkscreened a wide selection of patterns in different sizes in heavy metallic blue silver with green tinting on very delicate japanese printing paper. I was sure this would make a wonderful color for the background of the painting, layer nicely and become embedded in the surface of the canvas.

I laid a thick layer of cadmium red for the figure and flowers. This was modeled – shaded and highlighted – with many glazes of fluorescent red and orange to build up the surface and form. I brushed in shadows of cadmium and knocked those back with subsequent glaze layers of fluorescent. I needed the final edge color to be intense enough to eye-fry when the blue line was brushed on at the end. But wanted the shadow effects to translate in the finished art.

The lava forms were built up with fluorescent push-pull with cadmium, but the difference there was to build up a highlighted finish with pearl lustre. There is an pearlescent finish on the lava forms.

After the red areas were treated I put the background. Each circle was carefully cut out and then puzzled right to the edge of the red figure. I used gloss gel medium for under the paper surface and liquid gloss medium brushed over the paper surface.

Cobalt and permanent green for the foliage over the layered paper at the foreground.

Then when the brush and stars aligned – I finished the figure with blue eye-fry paint – first-stroke best stroke style – breathing deeply and making gestural strokes until it was finished with a very nice worked-in brush.

Like “Saint Everyone” – “Heathen Child” is a painting exploring direct religious experience in a psychedelic key of fluorescent, and perhaps a little more pagan or pantheistic in scope. Here’s some details (click to see larger):

Heathen Child, 2011

Acrylic and applique on canvas

24 x 26

______________________

Heathen Child is available through Varnish Fine Art Gallery, 16 Jesse Street, San Francisco.

I’m really happy to see Jen Rogers and Kerri Stephens have brought Varnish Fine Art back to life and have such cool new digs for shows!

Varnish Fine Art Relaunch Part I

September 24 – through – November 5, 2011

group show with: Chris Mars, Robert Williams, Jennybird Alcantara, Laurie Lipton, Isabel Samaris, Scott Musgrove, Annie Owens, Craig LaRotonda, Nathan Spoor, Chuck Sperry, Kevin Peterson, Beth Bojarski, Edith Lebeau, Aunia Kahn, Ciou, Robert Bowen, Sri Zeno Whipple, Winston Smith, Kevin Evans, Dylan Sisson, Skot Olsen

Friday, May 6th from 6:00pm — 9:00pm

This is a high-octane art exhibit intended to generate feelings of pas­sion and love for all mankind thru the medium of the printers’ ink. Revolutionary, thought provoking, highly flammable and very spicy, we will feed your mind with images intended to change the world thru the magic created when art and taco’s collide.

North Bay Artist and Printmaker Lawrence ‘El’ Colacion in collabo­ration with friends:

Jon-Paul Bail,
Jesus Barraza,
Melanie Cervantes,
Ron Donovan,
Xico Gonzalez,
Don Rock,
Winston Smith,
Julio Soriano, &
Chuck Sperry have created images on paper in response to war on planet earth.

Local Tiki Tycoon Jose Mendez will have his hand crafted Jivaro style shrunken heads on dis play for some skin crawling excitement.

Napa Chef Frank Hernandez will be slappin’ together some of the best taco’s this side of Juarez you’ll ever eat.

Live Musica by Sean Allan & The Mean Time Playboys!

Exercise your freedom to invite all your friends!!

Location:
Wildcat Loft
1210 First Street, Napa, CA

Winston Smith’s class was not only informative, but extremely fun! Vale played straight man while Winston brought the house down with his quick wit, sharing his many years making some of San Francisco’s most inventive, challenging and subversive art. Winston shared so much cool art and so many hilarious stories during this class. Winston has a non-stop creative genius. Be sure to check out his books at Last Gasp. Lawrence Colacion snapped these pictures while the class progressed. Thanks to Winston and Vale for making this an historic occasion, enlightening The Free university Art School, and showing that true art can be purposeful and fun at the same time.

The first five week course offering for The Free University Art School was completed last Sunday, April 3, 2011, with Jon-Paul Bail’s presentation of a personal history of Oakland Street Art. Fitting perfectly into the Free University Art School’s step-by-step art of the street approach, the sweep and course arch of the four presentations:

1. Chris Shaw and I present Rock Art, and demonstrate printing techniques.

2. Blek le Rat – speaks to three decades of street art, defines the state of the art both high brow and low brow, and produces a stencil painting live.

3. Winston Smith – discusses his life and art, with me and Vale of RE/Search Magazine as moderator. Winston explored the long San Francisco tradition of DYI and punk art.

4. Jon-Paul Bail’s story of Oakland and San Francisco street art from 1980′s to present. I moderated and Ron Donovan printed JP’s street piece.

Jon-Paul culminates his class – and the Free U Art School first five weeks – by leading our class down Valencia Street in the Mission of San Francisco to make art on the street. We pasted Winston Smith’s Nuclear Scream, a reaction to the Japanese nuclear disaster.

Thanks everyone who came to learn, who came to teach, and for keeping the dream alive.

The Free University of San Francisco aims to make the highest level of education available, completely free, to any individual who wants it, regardless of color, creed, age, gender, nationality, religion or immigration status—a university free of money, taught for free. The only requirement for membership is a desire to teach and/or a desire to learn.

Winston Smith, Free University Art School Event

Sunday, March 27, 2011 – 2PM to 4PM

Viracocha

998 Valencia Street (at 21st Street)

San Francisco, CA

__________________________________________________

Course Description:

The Free University Art School is very proud to present Winston Smith, world famous punk artist. Winston Smith will speak about his life, his work, and share his insurgent punk collage art with the class. The second half of the class will be a collage workshop with Winston providing some cut-ups and clippings from his image library – the class is invited to make their own collaborative creation.

Come early / limited room!

Bio:

Winston Smith (born May 27, 1952) is an artist who primarily uses the medium of collage. He is probably best known for the artwork he has produced for the American punk rock group  Dead Kennedys.

Smith is particularly known for his collaborations with Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles for whom he has done numerous covers, inserts, advertisements, flyers, and logos. He is responsible for the famous Alternative Tentacles logo as well as the well-known Dead Kennedys logo and six of their record covers. One of his compositions, “God Told Me To Skin You Alive” was used as the cover of  Green Day’s album “Insomniac.”

His name is a reference to the character of the same name in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four. Smith left the U.S. in 1969 to study art in Italy and, struck by the profound social changes that had occurred during his absence from the U.S., adopted the name after returning to America in 1976.

In Italy, Smith attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence studying classical Renaissance Art and later won a scholarship to study Cinema at the International University of Art (Florence & Rome). For a few years he traveled throughout Italy, roadie-ing for well-known Italian jazz band Perigeo. Over the last 30 years, Winston has had numerous one-man shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, London, Antwerp, Berlin and Rome.

His work has been included in numerous books chronicling the punk rock era as well as having his work included in art text books plus several book covers, such as Greg Palast’s best-sellers “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” and “Armed Madhouse”. In addition, Winston has designed over 50 record covers including covers and insert art for Jello Biafra, Burning Brides, George Carlin and Ben Harper.