Please vote for me as NEA Social Justice Activist of the Year

Voting is indeed now over. 
Watch this space for announcement of results...

I have received the extraordinary honor
of being named a finalist for the

NEA Social Justice Activist

of the Year Award

This is a national distinction & I am named one of seven finalists for this privilege.

If so inclined, please go here to learn more~

socialjusticeindeed.blogspot.com

& then vote here por favor~

¡Muchas gracias!

Deep cuts- rarities, outtakes & b-sides

Few weeks back, I shared the A-Sides, a collection of my "top five" works past & present (to inspire the future). Now, as promised (&/or threatened), here I throw down the flipsides to those trax: the lesser-known but sometimes funkier b-sides. 

Most of these cuts are vinyl only...

First up is a really deep cut, way back from my college daze when I did a different weekly strip in all three of the newspapers @ Rutgers. In the alternative paper, "The Medium", I drew my fave, "Fallin' Asleep", a collection of self-important navel-gazin' that one can only get away with in college. Some of 'em actually hold up tho', like this piece right here:

Next track is a funky one indeed. Done fer a comic book website contest I didn't win, I still dig it the most- a mash-up of Marvel & DC; a team-up in an alternate universe's Harlem, wherein two of the comix biggest contributions to the Blaxploitation era do their thang outside the Apollo with electrifyin' results indeed:

Here is a detail from a piece titled "Great Minds Think Alike", another work of charity to support a cause with which my lovely bride was involved: It was an animal rights group that was trying to stop the inhumane & even more sadly unnecessary deer culling in Princeton. The sexiest lawyer ever represented them pro-bono as legal counsel & I contributed this to raise money for their efforts. You can peep the full piece here, but here's that detail I promised lo so many words ago:

Here's la familia Seda-Schreiber hangin' on "Sesame Street" back in the day:

& then my quick sketch in tribute to Mr. Jim Henson upon his passing from felt to dirt:

My lovely bride asked me to include two mas:

First up, this seasonal missive from the year we found out she was with child (hopefully mine, but the blonde hair & blue eyes did indeed make it somewhat suspicious- callin' Maury Povich!). I've laid down holiday ink for the past 30 some odd years & this is not particularly a fave of mine honestly altho' I appreciate the sentiment & I think the drawing expresses it nicely. I do like the stork's Rudolph nose & oh-so-feathery-feathers but I don't think our as-of-then-yet-to-be-born son looks so safe being upside-down & all (& even moreso he looks kinda' larva-esque rather than simply bundled up...)

& my best girl really digs this piece, Moose & Goose (a romance), & the story goes a lil' somethin' like this:

So I am quite often asked, both virtually & corporeally, to draw something for someone. Usually I politely demur, citing my current penchant for donating my art to charity or supporting political causes, but the chef in my school's cafeteria came to me in such a sweet & earnest manner, I could not resist slinging some ink his way. He told me a tale of his first anniversary with his lovely bride & how they call each other "moose & goose" & this just tumbled outta' me...

& of course, no post is complete without a lil' Vonnegut...

nuff said.

The A-Sides

"It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, 

Without a strong rhyme to step to..."

So ends the summer of my discontent. 

It's been a rough while indeed, life had its ugly way with me & without goin' into unnecessary (& unpleasant) detail, let's leave it at that & get to the good stuff. 

I have felt not like myself for a hot minute & now I feel finally reinvigorated, rejuvenated & indeed re-inspired (sic?). In light of that, I have decided to kickstart my ass back into the proverbial artistic saddle by postin' my "top five" (with thanks & apologies to Mr. Nick Hornby) favorite pieces I've done thru the years; to clean out the virtual closet as it were to hopefully make room for some new stuff which I will hit y'all up with as soon as the inspiration flows from my inky fingers.

So without further ado & just a bit o' context, 

here are some works past & present to inspire the future...

We begin our archival journey in November 2008, Obama won his first term & my lovely bride danced in Brooklyn to celebrate. "Baby Got Hope" was featured in the wonderful book, "Design For Obama", & is pretty much the impetus for this here website~

Piece 2 (Woo-hoo!), really goin' far in the WayBack Machine, but Satchmo needs no introduction...

A bridge too far:

Kevin needs some context methinks: Part of a much larger installation called "Positivity", a collection of quotes I culled from folks who were HIV positive to allow for hope in a time of seeming hopelessness-

& we end the greatest hits (& misses) with the mackdaddy his own self, "Obama Said Knock You Out": quite a viral sensation, Tweeted out by none other than LL Cool J on election nite & becoming one of the biggest retweets of the evening (what the kids would call "viral"?) as well as in physical poster form traversing its way from New York to Cali & from Mexico to Japan & many points in between... 

Probably my real fave of all, not just 'cause of the hype (don't believe it, man!), but I feel it is truly the most successful piece I've done, artistically, technically, philosophically, politically, & spiritually~

Next episode: 

Deep Cuts: the B-Sides, Rarites & Outtakes, 

then on to the new grooves!

Kenneth Cole sez I'm a Courageous Cat!

Well, this was an unexpected surprise & indeed a delightful way to start my weekend~

Kenneth Cole, beautiful clothing designer & more importantly, strong social activist, just celebrated a few folks whom he thought were making important & special contributions to the field of education in his COURAGEOUS CLASS SPOTLIGHT.

 Proud to say I was one of those he chose to honor

in this extraordinary campaign.

Please do not feel obliged but if so inclined...

COURAGEOUS CLASS SPOTLIGHT:

BACK-TO-SCHOO​L EDITION

I once was blind, but now...

Colorblindness is really a misnomer; it is more akin to color-confused. Whereas your spectrum is quite vast & includes a veritable plethora of color, those of us who are genetically-deficient have a much smaller range & therefore colors get smashed up together, confused with others, & many unseen at all. 

I am colorblind, one of the most severe degrees of such. It is bothersome at times, disappointing at others, but as with any handicap (& I even hesitate to use that word as comparatively it is a non-issue), one learns to adjust & compensate for such. I also like the fact that I “inherited” from my Poppy, my mom’s dad, who left much too early in my life & sharing this genetic trait is at least something by which I can feel closer to him.

But being colorblind does affect me every day- the loss of a beautiful sunset, inability to decipher a traffic lite, seeing lots of green skin on folks I know are not Martians… unsure if I’m wearin’ a pink shirt. Being an artist (albeit one who predominantly works in black & white), an art teacher & just a lover of looking & seeing & really absorbing this wonderfully vibrant world around us makes it even more distressing at times.

This wonderful company EnChroma has changed all that with their incredible &, I dare say, inspiring sunglasses that promise “color for the colorblind”, & y’know what, they actually deliver on said promise in a big way.

Just back from Méjico where I sported these EnChroma Commander CX-14 sunglasses that profess (& do indeed deliver on that promise!) to allow the colorblind to see color. 

These are amazing, wonderful, & truly awe-inspiring & you can see my reaction to wearing them in the video...

(Lo siento for wind noise- tried to fix to no avail. 

Keep watching, it does improve later in video.)

& as an extry bonus, here is some comix I doodled way-back in college about bein’ colorblind… 

Enjoy:

finally apprehended

"Fallin' Asleep" week concludes, very appropriately~

syllabus

More navel-gazing & nakedness (maybe that's what I shoulda' called the strip instead of "Fallin' Asleep")~

big bad wolf

"Fallin' Asleep" week continues with one of my favorites~

touch the sky

& for my next trick, I draw myself nekkid~

the greenest hair

More "Fallin' Asleep" for y'all...
Remember: only dogs see in black & white; color-blindness is a misnomer, it should really be called "color-confused".
Enjoy~

fallin' asleep

Back to work, back to bloggin'...

Whilst in college (Rutgers '92), I really came into my own as an artist. I had transferred from School of Visual Arts in Manhattan & found a real home for my work on the pages of the three major college papers there. I first slung ink at the Rutgers Review with the cult hit "Skullboy" until they censored my work once too often (a story for another time, kids). Fortunately, Ian Jacobs & Heather Alevras (to both of whom I am eternally grateful) wooed me away to "The Medium", the ugly step-child of the school's papers, with the promise of a full page for my doodles &, more importantly, a lot more respect for my work. It was there I really found my proverbial niche. At the same time, due to my ever-increasing & even more inexplicable rising popularity, I was offered some space at the "Targum", the school's stalwart, staid & somewhat stilted paper of record, wherein I tested the boundaries of good taste with a strip called "Creative Juices" (this work I will share as well in the near future).

But it was at the aforementioned "Medium" that I gave my ink-stained heart & soul with the magnum opus called "Fallin' Asleep".

I was allowed full artistic freedom to create this work which allowed me to clear my head of all the insanity & inanity that kept me up all through the the night, at first revolving at around sexual proclivities (my own & others as well) & thankfully evolving into something a little more~ some political, social & environmental musings; some emotional & psychological explorations; some small answers to big questions; & lots & lots of drawings of me naked.

This week, I will share some of my favorites from the approximately 83 some-odd (& some were very odd indeed!) strips that encompassed "Fallin' Asleep" in all its inky glory some almost twenty years past.

This first piece is a good example of the navel-gazing in which I often indulged, one of the very things for which I believe college was created.

I was so much older then...

what's in a name...

"sweetestbaboon" originates from a beat poem written by Brion Gysin, who was a painter & poet as well as very chummy with some guy named Burroughs.
The way it seeped into my brain was on a mixtape (remember those?!) a friend made me that included the poem set to music by Gysin's frequent collaborator & jazz saxophonist, Steve Lacy.
The entire enterprise seemed to scream my name so I adopted it as my online identity as it were, in lieu of the ubiquitous "monkeyboy".
As if I even still had your attention, here's the poem in its entirety, followed by the tune as well.
Enjoy~
I'm a blue baboon
I'm a true baboon
I'm a helluva
Hullabaloo Baboon
And I love a baboon
Who bays at the moon
In the mad month of June
The looniest month of them all
He asked me to spoon
By a moonlit lagoon
and there, very soon,
I fall into a swoon
And I fall! I fall! I fall
'Cause I'm a baboon
A baby baboon
The weakest baboon of them all!
I fall into, a swoon
in the arms of this goon
And there, on a dune
I turn and I give him my all!
My all! My all! My all!
Cause I'm a baboon
You could feed with a spoon
The weakest baboon of them all
I'm a skinny baboon
I'm a mini baboon
Just so tall!
I'm the sleekest baboon
I'm the meekest baboon
But I'm the chic-est baboon
Of then all!All!All!
I'm the cheapest baboon
The deepest baboon
The sweetest baboon of them all!
I'm not uptight
I don't wanna fight
None at all!
I'll take your attack
Lying flat on my back
Or bracing myself
On a wall!
Oh, I'm a baboon
Won't join your platoon
I'm the weakest baboon
Of them all
All!All!All!
I'm a neat baboon
I'm a fleet baboon
Im' the Beat-est baboon
Of them all.~
Brion Gysin 1972.

"All The Art That's Fit to Print"

Something fun indeed today...
The New York Times published an article showcasing readers' portraits of President Obama & "Man Of Hope" was selected to be showcased~

Click on the pic to enjoy the article

& If you've come from the Times article to see my other Obama piece, "Baby Got Hope", click here & enjoy.

me, myself & i...

okay, finally some fresh artwork~
A self-portrait of sorts done just for the blogosphere.
Whereas some folks have a Christ-complex, I seem to have a Dr. Strange one (& I am a strange one indeed!).
Enjoy: