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Sideways (A Prayer for the Saved) – Ongoing evolution/Laura Visvydas & Joel Smith
This song began one evening while Joel and I were listening to different sounds and beats on his production equipment to fit a song I had written several years ago. After trial and error we put together the rhythm (drums/bass) and realized it was becoming it’s own piece. The bass line is taken from chords of the old piece, but the entire sound and character of this one no longer sounds even remotely like what I had written prior.
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Assemblage and Artifacts/Edward Kienholz
The work of Edward Kienholz is brash. Assembled from the detritus of society and given implications of unease with the establishment. His materials were mostly scavenged from sidewalks and thrift stores and assembled in a hyper-realistic fashion that is eerily haunting. His powerful imagery is so environmental and present that it ...
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The Hunter | DAN MAY
Dan May’s work is soft. Truly, that’s the best word I can use to describe it. His fanciful depictions feel painted in thin layers to give the final image a glow, a technique called sfumato, which Leonard DaVinci often used. I don’t know that May actually uses this technique, but ...
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‘art’ VS. ‘Art’
a couple days (months?) ago, caleb ross was giving us his thoughts on what constitutes art and Art (notice the capital ‘A’). in short, he relays that ‘art,’ while it may be personally relevant, adds more to one’s decor than to global conscience. and, ‘Art’ inherits “proper noundom” (caleb’s words) ...
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From Symbol to Image
At long last, I am breaking my silence and attempting to overcome the writing inferiority complex that has plagued me since the founding of the artjerk website. It is not for lack of ideas, arguments, or opinions that before this day I have not shared my perceptions, but rather a ...
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The artist’s vice | Ramrod cigar
What struck me was just how aesthetically conflicted this stick of a cigar seemed. It’s ugly. But still it’s a cigar (re: it has an inherent beauty). It’s like Demi Moore’s kid, Rumer. The second surprise: this thing smells bathed in bourbon. Drunk uncle style lacquered in vaporous, hot bourbon. But truly, Ramrod had me at “ugly.” I’m a sucker for the outsider.
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Self Portrait As An Old Man/Josh Keyes
Josh Keyes has been featured in numerous publications as of late and is definitely one of the more prodigious and identifiable artists of the recent years. I admire both his technical skill and draftsmanship. The style here is almost illustration, but with more vibrance and depth. The iconography used in the ...
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Two Birds | KRISTIN FOUQUET
The classy female profile directly opposite the disheveled raven imply more than it literally states
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cover of Perforated Heart | JASON HEUER
Perforated Heart, with it’s recessed perforations, is as close as a cover design can get before it transcends the 2D format. And when that happens, we get legitimate book art objects
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Joel Smith/ “It Is Acceptable To Sit Here …X”
Poetry doesn’t seem to be as popular as it used to be. Today if it isn’t coupled with music, it isn’t even accessible. As a result I have developed a formula. Well, we’ll call it that. It might actually be more accurate to describe it as a haphazard-habit. The “formula” ...
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Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis | SCOTT ALLEN
the abstracted elements of Waits’s forehead, his lanky frame, his seemingly physical dependence on the microphone, and his wardrobe all lend glorious credibility to Allen’s rendition.
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Lungs for Readers | ARTJERK.NET
It is my hope that the fake Lungs for Readers program (and this site, obviously) helps to facilitate audience connection in a way that is both increasingly necessary, and always a fucking blast for all parties involved.
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Lady Bathory | JOSHUA HOFFINE
Much of what disturbs about these images is the very real, very tactile presentation.