inkurge

Reduction

2012-02-26T22:27:00.001-08:00

I have been working toward moving away from the square format .

Heart

2012-02-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

This is a Heart I mead for the Jinxed annual HeArt show.

my work at jinxed

2012-01-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

"trident"
"slayer"
you can by my orginal inks and prints at jinxed 1050 North Hancock Street Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 978-5469

cloud series

2012-01-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

new Work

2011-12-19T18:18:00.001-08:00

art Show

2011-11-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from an art show I participated in opened yesterday, it was at Little Berlin, here in Philly. The show was entitled "The Western Lands." It was a "post apocalyptic" vibe, the aftermath of cardboard cities.

head 2

2011-08-07T08:58:00.001-07:00

Empire of the Sun

2011-07-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

New Work "Put me together"

2011-07-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

"Wheelchair"

2011-06-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

My work has been going thru a variety of changes, including size. Now there 30"x40" or larger. I think I'm going thru this phase of maybe maturing a bit. Just a tiny bit.

Head 1

2011-06-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

recent art

2011-05-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Returner cd project

2011-04-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

New Work

2011-04-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

"Lords of Low"

2011-02-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

EVE

2011-02-14T20:01:00.001-08:00

"Zeus"

2011-01-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

looser

2011-01-03T19:44:00.001-08:00

I have been drawing in PAFA's cast hall, which is a place in the Old Academy building where they have casts of classical statues. It's from those very casts that the students used to, and still learn human figure. I've been using them for, of course, loosening up a bit.

2011-01-02T17:04:00.001-08:00

Originally I wanted to make like 10 Remus', but this may be the last one since I feel like they have already evolved into what I am currently working on, which is much looser.

Eat

2010-12-20T07:13:00.000-08:00

Check out Gigantic Sequins

2010-12-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

Got my work published in the latest Gigantic Sequins journal. If you're interested in really good poetry you can pick one up at: www.giganticmagazine.wordpress.com

Remus VII

2010-11-28T07:59:00.001-08:00

new art "industry"

2010-11-23T17:00:00.001-08:00

new napkin art 10

2010-11-15T14:32:00.001-08:00

new ink "River House"

2010-11-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

Remus 6

2010-10-22T10:03:00.001-07:00

new work

2010-09-22T18:03:00.001-07:00

New ink "WestHouse"

2010-07-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

This is the first in an upcoming group of inks. What inspired this series is night-time driving through suburbia of NJ that we would pass on our way to Conn. The industrial parks and the corporate pavilions. I find those places very strange. I always imagined they are self-enclosed worlds filled with strangeness and strange rituals. Or that there is some sort of alien task force, building some machine. Truly I was also inspired by the "laziness" of suburbia. Somehow, I find all that connecting to a slow degenerative collapse of our civilization.

New ink "Slayer"

2010-06-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

drawing at work

2010-06-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

My friend recently introduced me to the "Exquisite Corpse" game. Where you fold the paper into 3 parts, then each of 3 people draws on a portion of the paper with out knowing what the others have drawn. In this case I kinda played the game alone. It's not as much fun but I still think there's some artistic potential to it.

new drawing's

2010-05-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

ink studies for suburbs

2010-05-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Deity House

Night House

contemplation House

Western House

These are studies for some inks I'm working out now. I've been obsessed with recess lighting for some time. I was kinda imagining that this is one part of the city, the suburbs, then eventually I want to come up with the center part, and then the outskirts.

wallpaper

2010-04-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

I made some wallpaper. So just point and click and set this as your background. I made it in 2 sizes, so let me know if their bright enough, they may be too dark for some screens.

new ink Remus V "The Twins"

2010-03-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

new ink "Triumvirate"

2010-02-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

Just finished this one, I packed it with a bit of symbolism. And for once I'd like to describe what some of the stuff means, at least for me personally. From the Left- the tree: represents ascendancy, the Skyscraper: represents civilization, knowledge, and the Female: represents reproduction, fertility. On the guy on the right, the "H+" arm band stands for Transhumanism. I see the 3 as symbolizing the most important ideals in my world and I guess in the real one as well.

new ink "Audience with God Emperor"

2010-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

I made this image for one of my all time favorite books-God Emperor of Dune. Of course I interepreted the original scene from the book - which is the audience with the Emperor in the city of Onn- my way.

Holiday prices on remaining prints

2009-12-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

Now $50 for SheLord Prints and $15 for Byss art Print, you can get them at my website

http://www.fourstrokestudio.com/

new ink "The Dead"

2009-12-04T13:21:00.001-08:00

New Ink "Hatchery"

2009-10-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is a followup to an ink I did about 2 years ago. The difference between this and the older one is that the other ink was done more free-handed, in terms of the faces. While in this one, I used four initial faces and traced those, copying them over and over again. Most of the time coming in and retouching the transfer anyway, beginning from the right side of the ink. Which is kind of interesting, the process made me think of "ascendancy" and genetics. I've decided that for the next one I'm going to pick the "best" face and just use it throughout the entire ink. I think that would possibly be for the better, since I'm not quite that happy with this result.

new drawing

2009-10-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

I did this drawing while in a hospital, I just got out yesterday. It helped keep my mind off my medical problems.

new ink "Remus 4 the Coordinator"

2009-07-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

new inks " Remus III " & fatigue

2009-06-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

I just go back from a week in Warsaw, which was a real breath of fresh air. I got a chance to pick up a new edition of -which is exquisite by the way- "God Emperor of Dune", my favorite book of all time. I also bought an awesome compilation of Moebius and a few more European comics, such as "Thorgal".
For some time now, I have been suffering from a sort of fatigue when it comes to art-making. Of course I solider on, however some of the symptoms are reminiscent of those described by Luke on occasions. Ironically, I feel I have to push harder than ever. After all, I have been at this for 10 years. What comes to mind is the song by Blue Oyster Cult "Veterans of the Psychic Wars". The week of not drawing in Europe definitely did me some good, I hope. But the - I hope statement- is the sort of paranoia I have.

new ink "Congregation"

2009-06-07T10:43:00.001-07:00

Art Show announcement

2009-05-28T14:16:00.001-07:00

8 preliminary drawings for "The Twelve Caesars"

2009-05-28T11:13:00.001-07:00

Julius Caesar

Augustus

Tiberius

Caligula

Claudius

Nero

Galba

Vitellius

I started working on these in January, I'm obviously missing 4 more, they happen to be the later Caesars that are definitely not as iconic as the first bunch. Maybe it was just the time of the year, but I felt really bent out of shape (which lasted 3 mos). Listening to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Joy Division on vinyl didn't help. "The Twelve Caesars" by Suetonius is a really great book on ancient Rome, full of a lot of dark crazy shit. It was, also, in these preliminary drawings that I started drawing the human figure more as I do now. They were actually drawn, except for Augustus, in the order of the book. I think Caesar and Caligula being the first ones. Augustus was actually the last. I wanted them to in some way embody what I perceived, at the time, as human nature and it's relation to power, and maybe I still do. As I'm posting this I'm getting excited about the whole thing again. I'll probably try to finish up the other four drawings by the end of summer. After that I was planning to pick the top 3 and make them better.

"She Lord" prints now available

2009-05-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

It's a series of 8 digital prints on archival paper 18"x22" (almost original size)
done by Silacone Gallery.

They're going for $95 plus shipping.
If you like to purchase one, you can get it at www.fourstrokestudio.com/prints

new inks " Remus I & II "

2009-05-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

In some ways, for me, the "Remus" pieces are trying to combine some of the drawings that I have done recently with my ink orthodoxy. I chose the name "Remus" for this series because Remus and Romulus in my mind represent Romulus being human and Remus being something else- a sort of alternative if you will. I'm kinda excited to see where this will go in the future. For now, these two are just baby steps.

"Man from Byss" prints available

2009-05-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

I got to pick up four prints of one of my inks from Flip Switch Studios, in Connecticut. First off, I was really excited about the fact that Tru Shar wanted to take time from his busy schedule to make these four hand-made prints. They are definitely one of a kind, done in the old school method. Tru is an amazing artist so I was really honored by that. Anyway, so here they are people, for the pleasure of your ownership.

new ink ''four"

2009-04-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

new ink " Trident "

2009-04-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

update

2009-04-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I just got off an 11hr shift at work. These are 2, of many, drawings I did at work. Talking about being brain-dead at the end of this experience- which is my job. Also, I updated and refreshed my website www.FourStrokeStudio.com and added an addition of a print store. I should have some more work coming up soon.

some drawings

2009-02-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

union

spell to preserve against attack by she who is in the water

god maker

man from byss

2009-02-04T09:58:00.001-08:00

Baths II

2009-01-03T09:14:00.001-08:00

Quickies II

2008-12-06T10:19:00.001-08:00

quickies from life class

2008-11-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

ink studies & sketch's from "inos"

2008-11-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

new ink "Opening of the Mouth"

2008-10-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

new ink "transporter"

2008-09-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

new ink "societly hill youth"

2008-09-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

Two new skectches from the Inos sketchbook

2008-09-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

The top small sketch for God Emperor of Dune was based on a description of a audience that took place in the underground fortress in the city Onn. The composition of the sketch was inspired by Japanese prints that quite often use the birds-eye-view perspective and my own experience in the ancient palace in Kyoto. I decided to minimize the size of Leto II in the sketch and make him a part of the environment. The God Emperor is particularly hard to illustrate, it's hard not to make him look like a turd with a head. Artists have shown Leto II in a variety of ways, my addition was to fully incorporate him into the royal carriage, as called in the book.

Lastly, I gave him a mask, I thought it would cater to the idea of ceremony and divine status.

The sketch below is a study for another ink called "The Lovers."

new ink " Fighters"

2008-08-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm back; done moving into the new house. I'm happy to say this is my first ink that I've done in the new place.
In my fictional world that I've been working on, "The Fighters" are in the enforcers of the will of the "Six Virtues" (the high priests). The lightning bolt insignia on their chest was not only inspired by Neitzche's superman but actually Captain Marvel, in DC's Kingdom Come. I derived the name from the movie Dune by David Lynch. In the film there is a seen where a woman (a Fremen) gives birth to a baby and he is deemed a "fighter" by the man delivering him. I found that to be fascinating, since it reminded me so much of a more insect-like society, where you're born to a purpose.

studies for Ink's from the "inos" sketchbook

2008-07-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

new ink "Empress"

2008-07-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

new ink "Pilgrimage"

2008-06-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, I still have three inks to go, and that should conclude this series- that I sorta started in '05 with "She Lord" ink. Also, me and my wife just got a house, we'll be moving in Aug. 12. I'll finally have my studio/room all to myself. Which is great. On top of that I have a show coming up in a couple months and I just got the frames for the artwork. Stuff looks really great framed. That was a sigh of relief. Having said that I think I'll need a little bit more than coffee to keep me going in the weeks to come.

Face Dancer

2008-06-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

This ink was originally inspired by the "Face Dancer" from the Dune series. As I worked, the ink took on it's own direction. I was trying to express it a little bit differently then, let's say, the Hollywood vision would be. Having said that, I feel like I want to make more of these and improve on them.

The six" Virtues"

2008-06-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

New Quickies

2008-05-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

I did these very quickly with a bamboo stick and a Japanese brush. Maybe it's the beautiful spring weather, but I have been having a hard time working on long-term projects. Just the idea of working on something for so long drives me insane. Anyway there's some pieces coming up that, when finished, should be pretty cool-or maybe not.

new ink "5508"

2008-05-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ink "04308"

2008-05-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Napkin art "Syndrome"

2008-04-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Random photos from Japan

2008-04-20T11:50:00.001-07:00

Napkin Art from the Japanese trip

2008-04-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Japan, and god knows it's a whole world in itself. The floating world is a strange, amazing, alien place. I'm still suffering from a profound case of jet-lag, I managed to assemble some of the napkin art that I drew in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Okinawa. The trip was intense and at times exhausting, but always full of adventure. It looks like we have about 2000 pictures to look through between all of us. Anywho, when I get my shit together I'll post some stuff from the trip.

bang bang sketch "Gunman"

2008-03-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Last year I was a witness to 2 gun fights, one in which a person was killed. That happened in my neighborhood, right on my doorstep. The fighting was over drugs and territory. I sketched the idea for an ink piece, but really it was to get that shit out of my head- and on to paper.
P.S. I'm going on a 2 week excursion to Japan, so I won't be posting anything for awhile.

New ink small size

2008-03-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Two watercolor pics

2008-03-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with watercolor pencils. Lately, I have this desire for immediacy in my work. There's also the issue of color ; it may be making a come back - who knows.

5 films I recommend:

1. Films of Kenneth Anger II

2. Fur- imaginary portrait of Dian Arbus

3.The Astronaut's wife

4.Sunshine

5.Titus

New ink - The Augusti

2008-03-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

Latest quickies from the live drawing sessions

2008-03-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sketch for Argus

2008-03-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

This is the latest of my sketches on Argus. The idea of a man covered in eyes appealed to me very much since for the past year I've been a bit of a schizo. (World getting to me and all and having had too much of everything.) Also, the symbol on the building in the background has a double meaning for me. On one hand it represents Neptune, the person, which stands for the state of comatose or schizophrenia- a state of total confusion; or the planet that represents the subconscious or depression and neurosis. Basically bringing on mental illness. Secondly, it's a tip of the hat to a comic series that I grew up on in Europe called Thorgal written by Rosinski and VanHamme. Specifically the series, The City of the Lost god. In the comic the lost god- Ogotai- takes on a Mayan-like tribe and creates a civilization based on the horror of sacrifices and the idea of eventually taking over the world. Ogotai, himself, is a survivor of an alien mission to Earth that went horribly wrong. These beings were actually humans that had left Earth much earlier. I think the concept of the comics were based on the writings of Erich von Daniken.
The other Thorgal issues that deal with Ogotai (translated from Polish-edition)
-Land of Qa
-The Eyes of Tanatloc
-The City of the Lost god

New Ink's Harlequin - Overlord - Argus

2008-02-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

Also, in the cool news, I became a new contributor to the blog EatenbyDucks there's a bunch of great artists on there as well- so have a look.

Sketch for Athena

2008-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

The idea for the Athena visual is very similar to the Aristocrat drawing, they do reside in the same universe. Also, I added 2 new links: one is Greek Mythology - georgous examples of art on Greek vases, and two is the Death Metal Band -The Returner - it's their MySpace page.

Study for new ink "Society Hill"

2008-01-31T11:47:00.000-08:00

In the final piece I am planning to elongate the figures more .
Also 4 things I recommend.
1. book- The best of Roald Dahl
2. cd- Vangelis "Antartica"
3. DvD- Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor"
4. Art- Christine Sefolosha

New Ink "The Mayan Skull"

2008-01-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this ink on and off for a while now- and it's finally done. It's based on a dream I had , months ago. The man in my dream called the skull "The Mayan Skull."

Sun

2008-01-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

For sometime now I have been fascinated by the cults of the Sun, and the fact that almost all utopian societies represented themselves with the solar symbol.

lost study for Caesars Palace 06

2008-01-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

The New Napkin Art Series (Spaniard)

2008-01-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe I have indeed reached a new low for myself. But in a slow time at my job, what else am I gonna do? Besides maybe I'll bounce back, who knows?

In other news, I've been told that the art that I made for the band Returner is gonna be coming out soon- first on their web site, then on tee-shirts. I guess we'll see how that's gonna turn out. Returner is, by the way, is a really great death-metal band. For any fan of the genre- a must.

small ink "1408" & notes from "Utopia now baby"

2008-01-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

A civilized man, in some aspects, is a weaker man. Maybe I should rephrase it as a "good" civilized man. Any culture/civilization creates two types of men. One that plays by the rules, and the other that the rules do not apply. The latter is the representation and the first sign of the eventual collapse. The good, civilized man does not like confrontation. He relies on the system, and by it's very structure, he becomes dependant on it for support. One could say that an overly civilized being is as incapable of survival as the most primitive and ignorant man. Any culture has to be constantly improved and not premitted to exist in a self-made reality (or not aware of the outside world) of it's version of the world.

Last sketches from life class 07

2007-12-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

I have to say it was an absolute pleasure to sketch this model. You may say, dear blogger, that these sketches are done in a Schiele fashion. But by god, the model! was built as if Schiele made her, himself. This is probably the last posting this year. I'll have some new stuff in '08.

I wish everybody a happy holidays.

napkin art 121207

2007-12-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

new Ink "12607"

2007-12-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

Wallpaper Special (SheLord)

2007-11-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

Originally this wallpaper was available on SpookyArt.com.
The website was a hub for artists that primarily catered to the darker genre of art. SpookyArt officially shut down a couple weeks ago. Anyway I'm taking this opportunity to share one of my favorite inks, in wallpaper format. I hope you guys enjoy it. It'll be up for a couple days. When you click on the image it'll come up in it's wallpaper size. Then just click 'set as background'. If it fits your screen.

Nogi ink 05

2007-11-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

drawing's from 3x5 sketchbook's

2007-11-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

Separation

2007-11-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

The past is here again,

with each step I take.

Is it here to stay?

Or like an old photograph,

is it going to fade away?

In yellows and grays

this perhaps, is the last show

of the old days.

Things to remember.

Things to forget.

All this brought on by the walk

and the rain.

Ink 05 ''walker"

2007-11-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Nov2 Napkin Drowings

2007-11-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

Drawings from work

2007-11-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

If I have a moment I like to draw on my job. And a moment is really as mnuch time as I have- between the customers and all.

I highly recommend the movie CONTROL, about the late singer of Joy Division.

102107

2007-10-25T14:08:00.001-07:00

Sketch for Three Singers

2007-10-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

The idea for this piece came when I was at a concert. I was observing the main singer, he was at a particular angle to me (similar to that in the sketch). I realized that the singer's body became like a tool. The mouth, the neck, then the rib cage with part of the stomach- in short- an instrument that makes beautiful sounds. That sort if is it, in a nut shell.
Also, I have to confess that I've been down and out again. I've been going to a live-model drawing session every week to keep myself sharp. Since I do spend majority of my life behind a popcorn stand. But lately, even after this, I come out kinda depressed.

101107

2007-10-12T20:37:00.000-07:00