Where has Rando been?

Do we call it a hiatus? An interregnum? A sabbatical? Or just spending a lot of time actually MAKING art and then sharing it on Instagram and Pinterest instead of my blog? Probably a little bit of all of it.

So, apologies to "all" my loyal readers. I'm quasi-back and in the mix on the blog again.

A couple of things to mention here... 1) If you're out and about for Gallery Stroll in our City of Salt this evening (Friday, October 16th), please stop by the new mid-century modern furniture gallery/showroom downtown called The Study. I'll have several pieces of new steel sculpture work on display (and for sale...), along with many great furniture, design pieces and artwork by others.

Gallery Stroll runs from 6 - 9 pm and The Study is located at 171 E. Broadway in Salt Lake City. It's three doors west of the Green Ant on the same side of Broadway. Check out the photos above and below to see a sampling of my work that will be on display.

Also, please check out my Instagram and Pinterest accounts for more detail on what I've been up to lately.

Hope to see you downtown tonight!

The Evolution of a GIANT M!

Almost done! Let the rusting continue!!

Giant M mockup courtesy of Jim Knight of Knight Design Group

Been working for a few weeks on a GIANT sculptural "M" for the Momentum Bouldering Gym in Lehi. I'm quite excited about this project and I thought it would be fun to document its progress here. Above, you can see the Jim Knight rendering in Photoshop. This is the desired outcome... The M will be 10 feet long, 4 feet tall and 4 feet thick and will be a rusted beauty.

And Jim and I have worked together on signage for the Sandy gym and countertops for Sandy and Millcreek.

I-beams and Walnut ROCK the Governor's Plaza!

All photos from cityhomecollective.com

I was both surprised and delighted when a table base I built for a Josh Wheatley walnut-topped table showed up on the CITYHOME COLLECTIVE website last fall.

Fixtures for the new Patagonia store in SoHo, NYC...

Photo courtesy of Brittany Griffith

I recently worked with Patagonia Ambassador Brittany Griffith (thanks B.A.G.!) to build a series of fixtures for her to install at the Patagonia New York SoHo store. The three pictured here are the most recent ones. The two above are in the front window and the one below graces the elevator tower. We also did three small and two large versions of the same style back in November that hang in front of the stairs. And thanks to Justin Wood for the rope and crate help on those...

I'm pleased with how they came out. Once they're merchandized they should be working tirelessly...

Photo courtesy of Brittany Griffith

Here are some process photos just for fun...

Lost Arrows! Let's get started...

The cutting begins.

Let the calculations begin...

Keep it straight.

Almost ready for primetime...

Eroded Planes & Asymptotic Approach Available at Urban Vintage

Eroded Planes

I've got a couple of new pieces of artwork and a couple of frames for sale right now down at Urban Vintage (see earlier posts for more detail) in the back of The Green Ant downtown.

Eroded Planes and Asymptotic Approach (aka Tau Totem) are the two sculptures available. Check 'em out and say hi to the boys next time you're down that way.

Asymptotic Approach... detail

Original drawing for Asymptotic Approach...

And the two frames I mentioned...

Scala Parallela is SOLD!

A nice surprise was waiting for me when I got home after a fortnight and a half. Josh at Urban Vintage had sold another piece of mine, Scala Parallela. This is one of my recent faves, so I was both happy and sad to see it go. Ironic, eh?

Big thanks to Josh for continuing to provide me with the opportunity to show (and sell) my steel sculpture in his amazing store.

Homage to Nicholas Roerich is still for sale (the smaller piece on the left) as are a couple of other pieces... (FYI, it's more than a dollar...)

Road Trip!

Hurtling north on Highway 550

Well, for any of you that missed me... I'm back! I'm now home from a three-week road trip for Thanksgiving. Twenty days, nearly 4,000 miles, four cities, lots of good friends and family and a TON of art. Just what the doctor ordered...

And yes, as you can see above, the light in New Mexico is NOT over hyped...

More art-related nuggets from the trip soon!

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: