Pork Chop & Squindo

Don't you just love scheduling business trips to overlap with awesome gallery openings? Last weekend, I attended the opening of Squindo and Pork Chop's two man show at Art N Soul Gallery in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The gallery doubles as a giant tattoo parlor—a perfect location for two artists that spend most of their days slinging ink through tattoo machines.

Last Friday, I spent six hours chatting with Sunny Buick as she worked on my Tiki tattoo. I swear, she is the most innovative tattooist out there, and I love the fact that she can easily translate her canvas artwork onto skin. I've always wanted to interview her while she's tattooing me, but the pain usually leaves me just babbling or quiet. That said, she has the gentlest hands in the industry and getting tattooed by her is definitely a positive experience.

After a quick stint at Electric Tattoo at the Jersey Shore,  Sunny said she is heading back to Paris to open her own private shop. Might be worth the trip to France.

 Here are a few shots from the session and the final piece (for now).

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes chatting with Mark Dean Veca about the new artwork he created for his solo show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Veca was a staple of the New York art scene until he packed up his family and headed West last year, so it was a pleasure to sit down with him and catch up on what he's been up to.
 
I apologize in advance about the sound. The batteries in my mic went dead as we were taping and I had to use the onboard mic which was overpowered by the general chaos going on around us. 
 
Music by Love Cinema Vol. 6

A few weeks back, my good friend Nicole asked me to shoot some photos of her for a Mad Men contest that AMC was running to promote the new season. At the time, I had never seen an episode, but I was aware that the series took place in the early '60s and everyone on the show is dolled up in swank outfits. I thought it would be cool to do a spoof on the name and have mad women (or in this case, murderous housewives) instead of mad men.

Yes, I now realize that the show is called Mad Men because its about ad execs on Madison Avenue and not angry husband, but I must plead ignorance. Anyway, I got Nicole and her very understanding fiance Jared to work with me on a series a shots that subtly show Nicole's (evil) intentions.

The biggest problem was eliminating enough modern crap from my office to make the scene period specific and believable. Sure, I have an awesome Eames chair, but I also have piles of books for Dummies hidden in that book case. I also couldn't shoot wide because the iMac would come into the shot. To get Nicole's expression I took a mirror out of the hallway and stuck it where I usually hang a painting. Why anyone would hang a mirror above a chair is beyond me, but it really worked to bring out her devious looks.