Friday, December 9, 2011

INNER VIEW




Sunday, December 11th from 8am - 10am 
Robert Pasternak interview on Sacred Space with George Rideout
 
     On the 28th of November my friend George and I conducted an informal interview in my studio space. George has conducted hundreds of interviews through the years on his Sacred Space show and they have all been done live at the UMFM studio. This interview is the first of his interviews where the interviewee is in their 'sacred space'. We talked about the nature of an artist's insight, happenstance and the colors used to bring the bridge of thought to life. I can't wait to hear it myself.
     This interview will be made available as a podcast at a later date.


Friday, November 4, 2011

MONA LISA ART MEAL


1697 Corydon Ave.
Winnipeg
November 6 - December 5

Mona Lisa Ristaurante Italiano this year presents the work of Peter Dumans and myself. Last year I was showing work with Luther Pokrant and the three of us used to show together at the Conservatory at Assiniboine Park here in Winnipeg some years back.

I have been showing  new works and old at this restaurant off and on since 1985. It's a great atmosphere and they have fantastic food.  Enjoy! 

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Branching Off .... and ON

***NAK'S UNIVERSAL BRANCHING BLOGS

This News Blog was getting into areas and topics that were not really news, so I decide to start a whole NAK universe of Web Blogs related to... my work, thoughts, and interests of course! Who cares about other things going on in the world when you can have Joy and Happiness right here!




***NEW FILM MAY OR MAY NOT BE SPECTACULAR
BELIEVE IT OR NOT and SEE IT OR NOT
November 2 at the Gas Station Theatre  7:PM

I have a new film at the One Take Super-8 Event held in Winnipeg every year at WNDX film Festival. October 29 - November 2 
"This year I threw away the camera to make my film. Who knows if it will turn out. I've never done anything like it before. I'll see it for the first time along with everyone else." 
 
Uptown Article Online here



***JUPITER ALIGNS WITH La Luz de JESUS Gallery in LOS ANGELES
OPENS OCTOBER 7th

My painting Jupiter is in a Group show celebrating 25 years of this Los Angeles Institution and It's hist Billy Shire. I am very happy to be showing with an incredible roster of artists that includes none other than folks like Matt Groeming, Mark Ryden, The Clayton Brothers, Robert Williams, Mary Fleener, Frank Kozik, Gary Panter, Victor Moscosso, and the lost goes on.  

La Luz de Jesus 25

Billy Shire celebrates 25 years with huge group show & book

Part 1 opens October 7 & 8, 8–11 PM

Part 2 opens November 4 & 5, 8–11 PM

To celebrate 25 years of groundbreaking art shows, Billy Shire presents his biggest event ever: La Luz de Jesus 25, a major retrospective exhibition and companion book. The show, offering work by more than 260 artists who have exhibited at the gallery over the years, is so extensive that Shire has split it into two parts, each with two opening nights: part 1 opens October 7 and 8, and part 2 opens November 4 and 5. The  list of participating artists is a veritable Who’s Who of art world luminaries. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see all these artists together in one show.

View the complete list of artists here. 

View the artist roster for each month here.

The book, La Luz de Jesus 25: The Little Gallery That Could, features images of all the art in the show, a personal anecdote about Shire and the gallery written by each artist, essays by La Luz gallery directors and a foreword by Shire. The book is more than a simple record of the show. Taken together, the images and essays present a history of La Luz de Jesus through the eyes of the artists whose careers are intertwined with Shire and his gallery.

Jupiter - 2011 - 18 x 22 in. - acrylic on canvas

About La Luz de Jesus

Billy Shire opened La Luz de Jesus in 1986 to showcase the work of underground and folk artists largely ignored or dismissed by the legitimate art world. The first permanent gallery space to exhibit alternative art, La Luz quickly became famous as much for its splashy, raucous monthly opening parties as for the often outrageous and confrontational art on its walls. When choosing artists, Shire challenged received notions of “good taste” and “high art” and rejected the arbitrary but long-cherished distinction between commercial and fine art, embracing illustration, underground art, outsider art, animation, and comics, both underground and mainstream. As a result, many artists hugely successful today credit Shire with having launched their careers, and he is widely acknowledged as a seminal figure in contemporary art movements such as Lowbrow and Pop Surrealism.





***FOUNTAIN of YOUTH FOUND in COSM

Yes, it is right here in the pages of COSM the Journal of Visionary Culture. It must be true! I have a new work, or rather thought/teaching in this new issue #7. This Magazine is published through the leadership and insight of one of our foremost visionaries, Alex Grey.






***CART EXHIBIT in Baltimore at CURRENT SPACE is extended to October 21st
Here are links for reviews in the Baltimore Sun & and a new arts review blog based out of Baltimore
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-ae-arts-story-0805-20110804,0,1807348.story
http://whatweekly.com/2011/07/13/6873/





***ARTWORK at Gallery LACOSSE 
For those that love my Concrete Expressionism work, well they are now available at Gallery Lacosse at 169 Lilac Street, Winnipeg.

Night Watchman - oil pastel on paper - 7 x 10 in.

Monday, August 22, 2011

From Jungle to Jungle


1981, acrylic on illustration board, 20 x 30 inches, (top part is cut off)

Another 30 Year post for your retro pleasure. This is my 5th painting. ( you can see the first four in my May 2011 post ) As my first four paintings were done while finishing high school, this painting was done in a summer limbo period before an unknown future of not going back to school and not having a job. One can see some obvious influences such as a Frazetta, Whelan or Boris setting and the use of a Kull or Krull figure from a comic magazine Bizarre Adventures #26. I thought at the time I had quite an original idea with the juxtaposition of the two different worlds, a theme that would be prevalent in many future work. Wait a sec, It already has been prevelant in my previous three paintings. Funny. I remember feeling really at home painting the buildings without any reference, but I was stumped by how to paint the vegetation. To this day I still really like this one, though I cringe a little bit for the swipes of reference. Hey, I was only 17. I am amazed that I kept track of how long it took me to paint the different parts of the painting and how long I spent on preliminary drawings etc. In total, 63 hours.    

Friday, August 19, 2011

C.A.R.T in Baltimore Sun


Here is an article in the Baltimore Sun about the C.A.R.T exhibit currently on at Current Space Gallery in Baltimore. .....and they used one of my pictures for the article!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

TABLE SPACE




Every day I have a billion things to do....or is it that I have a billion things to do and I just do as much of it as I can every day? Anyway, I was reading the morning paper and I came across this image (bottom) which somehow grabbed me and made me look and look. The squares, the color, the divisions...I saw beautiful geometric form, and thought I needed to explore this and create a piece of art. 

Normally I would have torn out the image and kept it on my desk and put it on my list of things to do. Then eventually it may have turned out to be not so important to do as I have so many other apparently important things to get done. And Like a dream that was relevant and fantastic when you first woke up, eventually fades into nothing as you go through your day.  But this time, I said, "Look Robert, you know it's not going to take you long to do it in Illustrator, so just do it now! Besides, you've been procrastinating on your real work all week now anyways, so here's your spot." That's what I said.  And this is what turned out. (above) I was pretty excited about it. Hope you like it too.



  

Robert Venosa Visionary


January 21, 1936 - August 9, 2011


It was with a saddened heart to learn of the passing of one of the true greatest visionary artists of this time, Robert Venosa. 

Just as I was being turned on as a surrealist artist, Robert Venosa had already accomplished an incredible journey of the soul and mind. He was one of the few figurative artists that I was seeing in a magazine called Omni. Venosa along with Henricott, Helnwein, Fuchs and Dali, really made a switch in my mind in viewing our body placement in the metaphysical world. Robert has and will always be a beacon light post on my journey of enlightenment.

  

REAL POLLICKS




My friend Ken Gregory has been working on some candy projects lately and since he was in the process, he offered to help me out in making some real POLLICKS lollipops. He had already made a mold for the base white candy part, so all we had to do now was make up 4 separate batches of candy. WOW I was amazed at how simple it was to dribble on the hard candy and how quickly they looked just like my fake Pollicks. These edible masterpieces will not be available anytime soon for the consumable masses, but check out my painted Pollicks Lollipops available now. They come with an old-school popsicle-styled silk-screened wrapper. Nakfactorium!

 

Friday, July 22, 2011

OUTDOORSTALLATION



For this weekends Brandon Folk, Music and Art Festival, I set up a little display of cosmic proportions on the festival grounds amongst the trees. My first time really doing something like this.  It shows the a scaled down version of the exact scale between the sizes of the Moon, Earth and sun along with the correct distance that they would be from each other. 

I wish it could be more hands on, but that would have been I bit too delicate in this environment.  I do have available, a simple model kit that I manufacture, that contains this delicate orbital structure. It's an excellent educational device. 
  



Friday, July 8, 2011

Shopping C.A.R.T.


Tomorrow is the opening of an enormous group show I am happy to be part of at Current Space Gallery in Baltimore Maryland. At least 70 artist's interpretations of products and packaging in this store set-up 'art of commerce' ( or is it the groceries of art ) show called C.A.R.T.. The show continues to September 4th.

I am very happy to be part of this show as I get to display more of my art novelty items and it also gives me the impetus to create more! Not that I don't create on my own but I just seem to do even more. I seem to be only one of two Canadians participating, the other being Emily Comeau from Montreal.

I have 13 items in the show, with varying quantities of each. Some of the other items include:

-Top Secret Message
-Picture Cigarettes
-Loose Leaf Doodle Pages
-Post Surreal boxes
-Oxygen Capsules
-Admit It tickets
-Sgt.Smokes

Most of my items are not so much food related at a lot of the other work I've seen so far. It's all AMAZING! Some clever and talented folks out there.
   

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

WIDE OPEN SPACES


30 YEARS OF PAINTING!

Wide Open Spaces May 1981, 24" x 26", acrylic on canvas

This month 30 years ago I was just finishing up High School at West Kildonan Collegiate when I painted the above work. Nobody at school ever really saw my work nor did I ever really show it. In my last half of grade 12 I only had half a day of school. I suppose I spent some of that free time doing art at home or at the Forum Art Institute. No sooner than I finished the painting a dentist by the name of Dr. Sidney Fleisher bought it for 150 bucks. He had lent me a set of teeth for reference after not being able to find an illustrative brochure with a perfect set for me to draw upon. So he said when I had the painting done and upon returning the teeth he wanted to see it. He had a hundred paintings up in his practice making it an alright place to get dental work done.

So now I will show you the three paintings that came before Wide Open Spaces.


Communicative Travel November 1980, 20" x 20", acrylic on paper canvas

This is my first painting I did while my brother and I enrolled in painting classes at the Forum Art Institute under the tutelage of Nickola Bejelejac in the old CPR Station building. What a place that was! Everyone was was twice our age or older. Some were really old by our perspective and have been painting there for years. But boy could some of these folks paint. And there were all sorts too from smooth surrealism by Dan Gregg (one of my favorites) or the rich impasto scenes or the organic flows from a syringe needle by Vicki McBain.  This wasn't really a place to learn to paint as much as it was a place to hang out to paint. I learnt by watching everyone. Yes the instructor had lessons if you wanted or cared, or you just went on your own pace and Nick was there to question and guide you to a finished work. You could not sign a piece until he said so. That's funny.

This first painting was made from a first assignment which my brother and I both thought was pretty cool. It consisted of drawing a series of four squares then adding various lines in each one to divide the space. We then chose our favorite, put it aside, then added more lines to the remaining three squares. Then once again choosing our favorite and putting it aside and continuing to add more lines in the two left and so on until you were left with four drawings you liked. Then you colored them going through this same method of pleasing elimination. So by the end you had four colored drawings that you liked. But now, you had to choose one and do a painting of it. 

But how do you paint? Nobody showed us. You had to figure it out for yourself. If this first painting was going to be a jumping in the deep end learning experience, then I though if I was going to learn something I would give myself a challenge and try to think about the various ways that I could possibly do shading with acrylic paint. Earlier on when I was working with grahite, it was really important for me to know how to shade to give objects a 3 dimensional quality, so I wanted to learn to do this with paint. In this one painting I tried three different blending styles. Wet on wet, thinning with water and dry brushing. I liked dry brushing the most and is the method I would mostly use in years to come.
   

Metal Stones December 1980, 24" x 36" acrylic on canvas

This is my second painting finished just before my 17th birthday. I still really like it! I had been interested in science fiction, fantasy, surrealism and architecture so I guess it kind of got all rolled into this one. I saw a picture of the ruined buildings in a National Geographic magazine and it really sparked the idea. From old to new and having the juxtaposition of the architectures.
 

Hope For One April 1981, 20" x 30", acrylic on illustration board

This is my third painting. I was really quite a loner in school and pretty quiet to. Though my friend Sam was always around and tried to crack my multiple shells I pretty much kept to myself and my thoughts. It was always the end for me in many ways and I suppose this painting illustrates this inner feeling of isolation and of being trapped and held onto, of being at the end of my rope or at the end of the world. I suppose that if I was going to be stuck here, there was still hope for my spirit. "Your spirit shall set you free." One of the first artists that I loved and felt a connection to was Roger Dean of Yes album cover art fame. I had his first book called Views and I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. There is some of him in the rocks and land.   




Four For The Day


This week for 7 days I will be posting STUFF for Arden Hill's project Four For The Day which he has posted on Wordpress. This project gets people to post a collection of four things every day for one week. It started January 1st and will end December 31st. I have Day#179 - Day#185. I had so many options of things around my studio that it was a tough ride in deciding. The model rocket ships I have here was one of the hopefulls that did not make it. Maybe if I had a better photo?
At any rate for anyone interested in this project, please check it out, and if anyone is interested in participating then e-mail Arden. if you know of anyone else that likes stuff feel free to pass the call for submissions onto them and have them email their interest to ardenhill@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

SHIFT into PLASTIC PAPER


ANIMATION FESTIVAL TIME at the Part Theatre. Fabulous films and related events including my little FLIP BOOK Exhibit SHIFT. yee haw!   PLASTIC PAPER



Monday, April 25, 2011

PRAIRIE SCENE WINNIPEG

If you happen to be in Ottawa in the next couple weeks be sure to check out the multitude of artistic activities that will make up Prairie Scene in 2011. My film 412222 will be projected during the opening kick-off festivities along with other Winnipeg films brought together by Monica Lowe from the Winnipeg Film Group.  But that is not all!

I am also part of a huge Winnipeg artistical tour-de-force exhibit curated by Noam Gonick and Plug In ICA  called Winter Kept Us Warm .This show will then travel to Paris France for an opening in June at la Maison Rouge, Foundation Antoine de Galbert, then down to the International Museum of Modern Art in Sete, France for a run there from November to May 2012. I will be showing two older phallus drawings and 5 old and new wooden phallus carvings.  


Thursday, April 21, 2011

TRADE MARX


Art for the People

A Rare Collection of Authentic Archival Soviet Propaganda accompanied by the
Pop Surrealist work of Robert Pasternak

There will be a huge salvaged collection of Soviet WWII - Cold War era 
.....
prints
posters
photographs
16mm/35mm film

****FOR SALE*****
A museum/university quality collection direct from Moscow via the defunct Soviet-Canadian Friendship Society. 

Formally, 
the pairing between Pasternak and the collection emphasizes a consideration
of the era's design aesthetic, advertising sensibilities and printmaking techniques.

While the juxtaposition of the mixed media, presented in a contemporary Post Collapse
era provides a surreal celebration of a bygone Fantasy and Ideal "Reality" that maybe
never really "Existed".


ROBERT PASTERNAK
Is a Winnipeg-based, multi-disciplinary pop surrealist who moves seamlessly from
metaphysical paintings and science-fiction illustration to hand-processed film, collage
with found materials, to imaginative product-design. From High-Sci-Fi to Low-Scrounge
comix, Pasternak has exhibited his work extensively in his 27-year art practice, and Nak’s
illustrations have graced album covers, science fiction magazines, and literary book jackets.
His exhibits are always different in that they usually highlight one of the multitude of areas of
visionary visual work that he is continually juggling and adding to. Nak has exhibited at
La Luz De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles as well as The Irvine Fine Arts Center in Irvine
California, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Stanley Milner Public Library, Martha Street
Studio and Ace Art. 



COME BLOW YOUR MIND AT THE OPENING!

The show continues for two weeks.
But LIMITED DAYS ONLY
THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY 12 - 7


Monday, April 4, 2011

Envious portrait of the Ages

     Since my last post I had become nostalgic for the paintings of my youth in the time period of 83 - 85  and found myself viewing my these paintings in my binders and remembering all the ideas that I had that I would still like to produce on canvas. Often times I will have an idea for a whole series of work then paint only one of them and go onto something else. Then in time I might come back to that series. Others will never come back to and they remain as single entities. My goodness I liked color!...... and what is with all the green skin? I do know what's up with the hands. They are all mine and to this day are still prominent in my work.
 


AGES . 1984 . acrylic on canvas . 48 x 86 inches . (self portrait)

 

Hi . 1983 . acrylic on canvas . 34 x 40 inches . (self portrait)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Painting For Sale


TREE OF ENVY  .  $3,000  .  acrylic on canvas  .  24 x 26 inches  .  1985  .   framed

I am looking to sell this painting of mine for the current owner who had originally purchased it in 1985 which is also the year in which it was painted when I had a studio at Forum Art Institute in the old CPR Station building.

When I saw the painting again I was struck by it's size and vibrancy of color. The photo I had been viewing all these years certainly was not as bright and I had become accustomed to the darker image. So it was nice to be shaken out of my mist. Pure bright color was a staple of a lot of my work in the 80's, pretty much all of the rainbow colors in  one painting, but I seemed to have had a kNak to combine and blend them in a way as not to be garish I was told once. 

When I took a photo in B & W I was surprised at the melding of the foreground tree with the background sky and this combined with the shapes in the sky was like a memory of seeing nature on magic mushrooms. So no need to take it when you've got the painting.

Ring or e-mail me if your interested. (shipping included)   nak@mts.net   or   204.956.7675  
  

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Twists & Surreal Turns

Here are a couple newest 'works' I guess you can say. I don't know what I am going to do with the HeyPal one which I thought of only yesterday on the way to the studio. Maybe do a screen print for it or make a magazine-like ad with some copy that I've already come up with or just send it out there.

As with a lot of my ideas, something just clicks in my head. I wouldn't really say that it's like a Light Bulb over my head but rather more like a Thousand Russian Ghosts spinning the world in order to screw in a light bulb inside my head. There is often a surreal twist that goes astray after just seeing something. The ADMIT IT ticket idea was no different. Just working at my desk which just happened to have an Admit One ticket on it (which was probably there for weeks) when suddenly....Bang! I heard the noise of that light bulb crashing on the floor. Maybe I was guilty of something at the time or perhaps it's just a state of mind. Solid state? I think I'm still operating on the old tubes.

These tickets I'm just manufacturing myself in various sizes (the 12 inch ones are pretty cool) with slight design variations. From printing, cutting and perforating, I'm doing it all at the Nakfactorium. I have a 40 inch long strip of three tickets which is pretty enjoyable to see. Each ticket of course has a different number. 






  

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

New Music Festival Kick-Off


Once again my Film 412222 will be shown here in Winnipeg with an original live score by the eXperimental Improv Ensemble. This time at the kick-off performance of the New Music Festival held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. This is pretty much a repeat outdoor gig from Nuit Blanche held last September, which was very Fantastic. It was a great image and sound performance. But for this event there are also many other performances happening. Check it out!




Kick-Off: Tangle
Friday, January 28, 2011 • 8:00 p.m.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

Groundswell New Music returns to celebrate our 20th anniversary of New Music Festival. Come see and hear Winnipeg’s own Experimental Improv Ensemble in an exciting work that combines cinema, lights, and sound. Be dazzled by the incredible sound installations created by Daryn Bond. Hear wonderful new works by Winnipeg composers Diana McIntosh, Gordon Fitzell and Jim Hiscott. As well, witness the creation of a new work by visual artist John Funk. Curated by Diana McIntosh and Gordon Fitzell of GroundSwell.

Artists:

eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE); Gordon Fitzell, director Diana McIntosh, voice, piano, percussion Allen Harrington, saxophone Laura Loewen, piano Victoria Sparks, percussion Meredith Johnson, bass Bede Hanley, oboe Herbert Enns, video Gordon Fitzell, electronics Katharine Bruce, real-time visual art John Funk, real-time visual art Daryn Bond, media installation

Program

XIE (CAN): Live soundtracks – Part 1 (see below) Diana McIntosh/Allen Harrington (CAN): Improv Duo Daryn Bond (CAN): Area Clear Gordon Fitzell (CAN): Metropolis Diana McIntosh (CAN): Sampling the Communication Parameters in the Ambience of Structural Phrasing and Dynamics in Contemporary Music Jim Hiscott (CAN): Tangle Diana McIntosh (CAN): …and 8:30 in Newfoundland XIE (CAN):  Live soundtracks – Part 2 (see below)

Live soundtracks to local experimental films: 412222 (2007) by Robert Pasternak, Sitka (2009) by Olga Zikrata, Going going gone (2008) by Carole O’Brien, Chroma-dance (2007) by James Pomeroy, Malaguena (2004) by Coral Aiken, The Great Divide (2008) by Bryan Besant