"DADARHEA" at O.H.W.O.W in Miami

If you're in Miami on Friday, August 13 come check out a wild opening of a group show I'm in at O.H.W.O.W.
Opening reception Friday, August 13, 2010 8pm.



DADARHEA August 13 - August 31, 2010 3100 NW 7 Avenue / Miami / Florida / 33127


Welcome to DADARHEA. An idea born from an absurd dream involving pee filled supersoakers and deep fried laptops. It's a dadaist pizzeria. It's idea-rhea. It's the video art equivalent to fantasy island - where Devin Flynn is the Mr. Roarke to Jim Drain's tattoo. Dadarhea is freeform video workshop with a group of guest artists who pride themselves on confounding their audiences, allowing them to employ animation, live action video (on location and greenscreen), musical performance, or any and all improvised & questionable behavior. Through the month of July, a residency at OHWOW (MIAMI) and at Bec Stupak's Honeygun Labs (NYC) will take place in order to experiment with the possiblity of total video saturation. The finished video will premiere on August 13th with an accompanying installation comprised of any and all emphemera related to the project. Dadarhea-ists include: Devin Flynn, Jim Drain, Naomi Fisher, Ara Peterson, Joe Grillo, Takeshi Murata, Francine Speigel, Melissa Brown, Marie Lorenz, Todd James, Brian Belott, Jessie Gold, Michael Williams, Erin Krause, Alvaro Ilizarbe, Jen Stark, Friends With You, Billy Grant, Laura Grant, Alison Kuo, Eric Fensler...and more!

MIAMI TIME Pirate Radio Show

This past Monday night from 7-9pm, our friend Gio asked us to host our own call in pirate-style radio session for her show "Miami Time" on WVUM (the local UM station).  Alvaro Ilizarbe (FREEGUMS) and I invited callers to call in live as they told us about their dogs, girl problems, how to squeeze owls, and read bible scriptures. All while we played songs from Ethiopia, to Miami Bass, to outer space! It was a wild and crazy time! Listen to the whole show here:.

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Check out Gio's website Miami Time & the WVUM website.

Jen Stark & Rory Macarthur: Opening May 14

My work will be in a 2-person show on May 14, 2010 in Miami at Carol Jazzar's. It should be an amazing show, so if you're in Miami, come out! Jen Stark & Rory Macarthur: Opening Friday, May 14 from 7-11 pm at Carol Jazzar's. JenStark

Carol Jazzar is pleased to present JEN STARK / RORY MACARTHUR, a two person exhibition of new three-dimensional work.

Miami based Jen Stark’s vibrant oeuvre of the last few years comes full circle here with works that pay homage to her own prolific trajectory. A recessed paper hole in the wall reminiscent of a seminal early work sets the tone for a reflective collection of characteristically mystifying sculptures. Complex gradients and intricate, mingling lattices of color and geometry push the envelope of the artist’s own expectations and explode the ocular sense. A freestanding zig-zag form that invites viewers to encompass it, beguiled by its illusionistic surface further enforces the 360 degree quality to this offering.

Rory MacArthur's series is an ambitious investigation into what the artist perceives as the limitless possibilities of non-representational painting. Borne of voluminous, fastidious preparatory drawings, many of which are realized as final works, these candied beauties, all pink, green and melted, exemplify a thoroughness of approach that is important to emphasize in light of their effortless appearances. From an elaborate but direct process involving the repeated carving, sanding and sealing of multiple layers of Styrofoam, the painting, applied to its labor intensive substrata with both roller and air, enamels its topographic playground like a seductive skin, undermining and underlining the inherent physicality.

With shared concerns, exhaustive methodologies and a penchant to produce catalysts for a kind of spiritual reverie through meditation and psychedelic awe, these artists and their occasionally overwhelming creations seem to tease magic from thin air, making work that floats and pulsates as if supplied by an unseen force. Each piece exacting a kind of visual dance with illusionistic qualities of surface and paint, our privilege is not so much to witness, as it is to participate.

158 NW 91st Street  •  Miami, Florida  33150  •  P 305 490 6906

Tote Bag

I designed these tote bags especially for an art show in Bangkok, Thailand called "FREESIZE". Made from durable white Thai canvas, each bag is screen-printed and sewn by hand. Created with 7 screens, and printed on both sides of bag. Now available in the SHOP section:

totey1 totey2

"FREESIZE" video by Op Sudasna

Here is a video of the "FREESIZE" Bangkok show by Op Sudasna. It shows the space, interviews with the artists, and the opening. He edited down hours and hours of film into this great piece! Take a look:

FREE SIZE - Bangkok, Thailand

I will be in a group show near Bangkok, Thailand (Bang Khun Thian) March 13. Let your friends know! To produce the exhibition FREE SIZE artists Jen Stark, Juan Angel Chavez, P7, and Alvaro ‘Freegums’ Ilizarbe, will work for one week in the Sinudom Silk Screen factory creating works of art.

By bringing these contemporary artists into a global manufacturing hub, the realms of production and creation will exist in a simultaneous space, transforming this modest factory into an active generator of creative capital. “free size” encourages viewers to see industrial spaces as incubators for creative thought and social evolution.

Exhibition is presented by APEXart – New York City, NY

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Pre-Party INFO (March 11th) Exhibition INFO (March 13th)

The exhibition will be located at:                              Show runs:  March 13 - April 17th, 2010 Sinudom Silk Screen Factory                                   Opening Reception: March 13th 2-6PM 35/21 Moo 1, Sakaegnam Road                               Participating artists will be in attendance. Samaedam, Bang Khun Thian

March 13 there will be a free shuttle bus from Bangkok to Bang Khun Thain (a close smaller town where the opening will take place)

Miami Master Mind Award Winner

I just found out I won a Miami New Times Master Mind Award out of 4 lucky Miamians! The other winners were: Susan Lee Chun, Borscht Film Festival, and Little Stage Theater. Here is an article they wrote before announcing the winners: Picture 24

This is the second in a series of articles profiling the seven finalists for the New Times MasterMind Awards, which will be presented to four local artists during Artopia at the Freedom Tower February 11. A great Cuban percussionist was once asked why he shook a maraca over and over again for a recording when he could simply do it once and loop the sound. Because, he answered, it sounds different every time. That reminds us of the obsessive, time-consuming process that artist Jen Stark uses to create the seemingly infinite patterns on paper that have drawn the attention of the local art world.

Instead of plotting the works on a computer, the native Miamian takes colorful paper, cuts it, and glues the pieces together. The result are multicolored works that replicate infinity and echo the patterns found in nature.

Why paper? "The fact that it's so common and universal," Stark says. "People see it on a daily basis."

And why the obsessive patterns? According to Stark, they were inspired by the anatomical cross sections pictured in the medical textbooks her sister, a doctor, brought home.

It takes Stark a couple of weeks to create one small work: "It's pretty crazy," she says. "It's meditative."

Stark, who also makes animated films using paper she moves just a hair before clicking each frame, discovered the promise of paper while studying abroad in France. After graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006, she decided to return home, where she was an alum of New World.

"I like what was happening to the Miami art scene," she says. "I decided to come back. I felt I always had art contacts in Maimi. I felt Miami was more promising."

To makes ends meet, Stark worked for Anthropologie, a hip, high-end clothing chain, where she created "art walls" based on patterns. She also cleaned artwork for a luxury hotel before going out on her own. "I wanted to do my own thing," she says.

She been selling her works to local collectors, and many of her pieces are part of the West Collection in Pennsylvania.

To view Stark's work, visit jenstark.com

Plasmascopic

Here is a new commissioned piece I just finished:

Plasmascopic-loresPlasmascopic / 36" x 19" x 3" / colored paper on wood / 2009