Marisa Portolese

This spring I met Montreal based photographer Marisa Portolese. I'm a big fan of her work and so she recently mailed me a portfolio of her work. Vive Montréal!

Off Tuesdays

I recently had to buy a suit for my upcoming wedding and ended up not only with a new outfit, but also with this awesome business card. Ike was a pretty amazing salesman and not only that, he works hard too.

Band of Brothers

Brian and Matt post hot tub, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

OOPS!

Getting Screwed by Congress

I got a letter from the government the other day. I opened up and read it, and said they were . . .

Sad Little Bird

Last week, my friend Isra told me about a strange scene that she had encountered on her way to work. Coming upon a dead bird on the sidewalk, someone had decided to place a flower as a memorial. Very nice gesture, I tracked it down in order to make this picture.

Bull Crap!

The other night I was listening to the Bulls game while driving home from teaching. I got so pissed when they started to blow the game that I started to bang on my steering wheel. Bull Crap!

Holy Poetry!!!!!

Come one come all . . . Next saturday, my good friend Daniel Johnson will be giving a poetry reading at Harold Washington Library. The show should be really exciting: Daniel's poetry will be accompanied with found film footage that I helped him edit and an upright bass performance by musical extraordinaire, Joel Wanek. Samples will be broadcast on NPR this coming friday.
Saturday, April 29th
Harold Washington Library (400 South State Street)
Video Theater (basement)
12:00 Noon

D-76 Bomb

Two days a week I teach back to back photography courses at Loyola University here in Chicago. Tuesday morning I woke up sick as a dog and yet I showed up to work on time. I arrived at the darkroom only to find that we had run out of D-76 film developer. Perhaps I was groggy from my cold, but after mixing 10 gallons of D-76 stock solution, I lost my grip on the container that I was holding and proceeded to dump the entire 10 gallons all over myself. Needless to say, I feel slightly sicker today. The strangest thing about the whole fiasco was that the developer dried on my sweatshirt in the exact shape of a heart. Robin says I look like a mix between a Care Bear and a Garbage Pail Kid. You can't win them all . . .

Nuge Wuz Here (2006)

I hate it when morons park in front of my building!

The Best Graffiti

I think that this might be the best graffiti I've seen in quite some time.

2 Years & Counting . . .

Last night Robin and I celebrated the second anniversary of our first date. Here we are getting ready to go out to dinner, doesn't she have beautiful eyes?

Preparation for the Big Show

This first, I'll be premiering "The Car Project" at Peter Miller Gallery here in Chicago. There is so much to do to get ready and I couldn't of done any of it without my good friend Josh Dunn. Josh is a contractor/carpenter/ all around manly man and he helped me with the sculptural portion of my upcoming exhibition. Josh is currently renovating an old spring factory up on Wood and Damen and he constructed a frame for my car cover out of piping and joint, I feel really lucky to have such talented friends. One thing that's so cool about the old spring factory is the remnants of the old inhabitants of the space.

The Times They Are A Changin'

Early morning snaps of the currency exchange that recently closed on the corner of our street, now where are we going to go to get our laundry quarters???

The Morning After

Robin and I live around the corner from an Irish bar called Emmits Pub. Every year, a bizarre ritual occurs right around March 17th: a line forms around the block consisting of folks eager to drink in Saint Patty's Day at an "authentic" Irish bar. The next day we always find lots of stupid green hats scattered about the pavement.

Julie Doucet

A Snowy View of the City

One of the best things about our trip to Montreal was the people that we met. In addition to the people at Dazibao who are all incredibly warm and friendly, we were also fortunate enough to meet new friends and amazing artists, Jun Yang and Jerome Fortin. After a delicious dinner of Greek food and conversation, Robin and I grabbed some drinks with Jun, Jerome and Anne Marie (Interim Assistant to the Director at the gallery). After a few beers, Jerome and Anne Marie drove us to the top of a mountain overlooking the city. Here is the view obstructed by snow.

Unlimited ID

Thursday night was the opening at Dazibou and the show looked fantastic. I exhibited my book "Dream Job" in a new format (Click Here To View) and really loved the way it turned out. This was my first International show and I felt honored to be in the company of the other artists in the show. The people at Dazibou are amazing and they have an exciting agenda/publishing house. After the show we all went out to dinner and later on for drinks with Jun, Jerome and Anne Marie.

The Good Life

Once we arrived in Montreal, Robin and I caught a cab to our hotel, La Residence du Voyageur. You know you've found a sweet hotel when they leave a towel swan on your bed.

TRANQUILITY

Wednesday morning, Robin and I left early to catch our flight to Montreal. When we got to the airport, we came across this guy, passed out on the floor with a tattoo that read tranquility.

Molester Van

Last monday night, I drove over to BlackPoint Editions to finish up some printing for an upcoming show at Peter Miller Gallery here in Chicago. On our way out of the building, Walker (the owner) and I noticed a sweet sticker on the side of a van that was parked next to my black honda.

Mr. Mom on Crack

Here we have an innocent picture of my cousin Mike with his daughter Izzie. Mike recently took some time off from work to be with his newborn daughter; however, there is a darker side to this story:
a) Mike's a lunatic
b) He's a rabid, season ticket holding, riot inciting Mets fan
c) He spends his days dragging his daughter from nerdfest to nerdfest, exposing his daughter to the likes of Keith Hernandez, Jay and Silent Bob. In the words of my dead grandmother: Oye Vey!!!

SAFE IN SAN FRANCISCO

Last night I received an email and a photo from the long lost Jon Zuckerman. Our mothers met in lamaze class back in 1975 and we grew up together as kids. Every year, our families would watch the Super Bowl together and I guess we were both feeling a bit nostalgic. Jon recently moved to San Francisco which is where he made this photograph. It's the sign at a Safeway Supermarket with some blown out lights as seen from the window of a passing car.

WE THE PEOPLE

To celebrate GW's State of the Union, My dear friends Daniel and Alycia have officially launched their website: We The People United. I love the project, love the site and urge anyone who stumbles upon this blog to check them out.
Word

I DECIDED TO SHAVE MY BEARD OFF

Homage to Brian Ulrich

For the past five days, Robin and I have been celebrating the holidays at her Mother's house in Urbana, Illinois. This morning we took off back to Chicago, stopping to get some gas before getting onto the highway.
minutes later . . .
When I went into the gas-mart to get some coffee, I came across this monstrosity. Santa rides a horse??? I immediately thought of Brian Ulrich, went back out to the car to grab my camera and returned to the shop to snap this photo.

Christmas Party 2005

This past saturday night, Robin and I had our annual "Two Jews & A Christmas Tree" party. This year we had a good turnout, the eggnog was delish, and those latkes . . . oh those latkes!!!

How Many Artists Does It Take to Fill a Photo Booth?

Five

BLOODBATH

At work this morning, I stumbled upon an old negative that I had misplaced last year. It actually belongs to my friend Luke, I had helped him to photograph a project a few years back in Grant Park. Luke had built a large, foam fountain of blood that we lugged around and photographed with Luke dressed as a metal faced grim reaper. I never quite understood the project but I love the pictures that came out of it.

Not Yo Mama's Bowling!

Tonight the Museum of Contemporary Photography had their annual Christmas Party at the Fireside Bowl, an old standard of the Chicago punk rock scene. There was no punk rock tonight however, just a heck of a lot of top notch bowling. Who knew that artists could be so athletic???

My New Blog

I have just started a new blog specifically for the Garbage Can Project. Please stop by for a visit at http://garbagecanproject.blogspot.com/. I will be uploading a photograph every day showing the status of my garbage cans as well as any other information about the project. All other info about my daily ramblings will continue to be posted here.

The New Project

Today I began working on my next big project. Robin and I live in a first floor apartment on Grand Avenue and at least once a week we have one of our garbage cans stolen. Every month they vanish and I'm left to call the City of Chicago to ask for more. We've had as many as 5 cans disappear in a week and I've even caught a guy stealing one before. Anyhow, my newest project will be a chronicling of my garbage cans filled with surveillance video and garbage can tracking devices. I'm still working out the details but for now, I'm going to take a photo of our cans each morning to track the neighborhood garbage can thieving community. This morning, December 10th 2005, we had two garbage cans in front of our apartment.

Feeling Crotchety

Your Luck Is About to Change

Two weeks ago, I drove to Minneapolis with Brian and Greg for an opening reception at the Minnesota Center for Photography. Brian and I were in the show and Greg came along for emotional support. The show was curated by Joan Rothfuss, curator at The Walker Art Center and we were all very excited when God sent us this message via interstate billboard during our drive through Wisconsin.

WILLIAM BRADLEY

Recently I have embarked upon a new kind of a project, a collaboration with my friend Daniel Johnson. Daniel's a poet here in Chicago and we are constructing a multi media piece using his poems accompanied with a video montage of found footage from the home movies of William Bradley. The home movies were purchased by Daniel's friend at an estate sale and are really quite amazing to watch. When we googled the name William Bradley, we got this ugly mug; however, some of the footage can be viewed by clicking here. Daniel will be reading his poems in conjunction with this footage next Wednesday night at 5:30 at the Hokin Theater, Columbia College (here in Chicago).