Timothy C. Ely's New Show, THE IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPE, is a MUST SEE!

Ironically (and astutely), it was Tim himself who suggested that I show ONLY my work and process on this blog. I have largely taken his excellent advice to heart recently. That's why you'll see much less about making art in general, other artists, favorite things from the interwebs, etc.

BUT... since Tim is a great friend and mentor to me and an artist of astonishing depth and vision, I simply HAD to break my new-ish rule and put this up! This show features some of his best non-book work (in my not-so-humble opinion) and you can own a small slice of Tim's brilliant mind for a very good price. Strike while the iron's hot!

I'm about 11 days late in getting this posted, but I hope you'll check the show out in person or online (see link below or jump in your car, plane, seacopter, etc.).

Art Spirit Gallery — Timothy C. Ely in Coeur d'Alene, ID...

The work is on display through November 2, 2014 so there's still time.

Everything in this show is quintessential Ely, which in my book (pun intended) adds up to a magical, captivating, compelling, encrusted, patinated, multi-dimensional, mesmerizing and amazing ride.

Your mileage may vary—but I doubt it!

Working on Some New Fixtures for a Store in SoHo...

Here's a teaser... More when I can share it... ;-)

Bifurcation III is SOLD!

Apparently, Bifurcation III is now living a life of being a sculptural addition in a condo show model downtown. I'm still trying to get a photo of it in situ and I'll post that here when I do. The shot above is it pre-sale in the window at Urban Vintage...

And I have a couple of small new pieces available for purchase at Urban Vintage (behind the Green Ant) in downtown SLC. There are also a few Hypercubes and another piece for sale as well, along with tons of cool stuff that Josh has on hand. Check it out!

And no, they're not a dollar. I had taken the shot earlier and put the bill in for scale.

The piece on the left is called Homage to Nicholas Roerich and the one on the right is Scala Parallela. Both are mild steel.

And the Hypercubes look something like this...

Shingu Redux

I thought it might be informative to really see the level of "transformation" that has taken place, so I placed my relatively pristine copy (on the left, eh?) next to the weathered copy. As someone I used to know was fond of saying… the difference is "material."

SHINGU!

For several months now, I've been running an ongoing experiment/art project with my good buddy Gary. The story of the origins of how we got to this point in the Shingu Strategy is long, funny and worth telling, but I'll save that for another time.

What I'll mention now is that I had sent a book about the Japanese sculptor Shingu to Gary to let the elements in Hawaii work their magic. He left it outside in the wet environs of Kauai for many weeks and then sent it to me in Salt Lake City. It was in pretty hammered shape by the time I got it but I took it to the next level.

I don't normally "alter" books but… as I said, this is a spare copy and the back story demanded something be done…

Above, you can see it as it was upon arrival from Hawaii to SLC a few months ago (March of this year), still in it's wrapper from Gary and covered in spring snow.

Once I unwrapped it, I could see that it was slightly moldy, water-logged and a bit worse for wear, but mostly intact and still colorful:

 

 


Let's just say it needed some help. Hydrochloric acid always moves things along nicely:

Not to mention a months-long soak in rusty water and acid in my driveway:

After all of this, plus some quality time on my picnic table on my back deck, we are starting to see some interesting results for sure. Not sure what's next for our buddy Shingu, or how I'll ultimately use it, but… just like in French cooking, nothing will go to waste!

Here is a cool shot of the state of the cover:

And the state of the the few spreads that aren't currently stuck together:

Golden Rectangle with Spiral...

I recently built a small golden rectangle piece that is kind of fun. Not sure if it's finished yet or whether it will maybe be incorporated into another project down the road… Above you can see where I'm cutting pieces of pre-curved steel to fit into each of the internal golden rectangles. Below is the finished (or not?) piece.

And here's a rust on paper deal I did with it before adding the spiral. Nice overlay shadow being cast by the open dodecahedron outside my shop:

Butchgate™… Like Watergate but COMPLETELY Different!

Finished a gate for my buddy Butch Adams recently. Mostly his design with some input from me and then we worked together to finish it. Came out pretty well (IMNSHO) and looks really good in place at his place.

By the way, if you need a VERY experienced and talented photographer for anything, Butch is your man! You can find out more about his photography work HERE.