Eskimos and egg rolls

RAN #14

2011-12-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I had the privilege of creating the cover image of a local Nagoya magazine called RAN.
This was to be their art issue so I could do most anything that I wanted.
I always enjoyed the dichotomy that exists in Japan between the very old and the most modern. I wanted my piece have that same push and pull. So I looked for inspiration in the art of Japan’s past with the work of Katsushika Hokusai and the future with Shibuya fashion. And this is what I came up with.

What if Hokusai fell in love with a girl from Shibuya?

The talented Beth Musni was kind to model for me.
Check out her fashion blog here http://www.everyroadarunway.com/

Aftershock: Artists Respond to Disaster in Japan

2011-12-18T12:25:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I made my first trip to Japan to work for the summer as a camp counselor. On the long bus ride from our hotel to the camp site I made many new acquaintances but there was one person in particular that I gravitated toward. A California native with a lust for life and a nerd dictionary for a brain, named Adam Passion. I spent most of that bus ride talking and bonding with Adam over any number of things that we were both passionate about… and that continued into the rest of the summer. And then the following summer when we did another camp in Japan (where he connected with his wife Ami )… etc.
When the events of 311 happened, Adam took two of those things we were both passionate about (Japan and comics) and created Aftershock. A love letter in comic form to the land that had give him a beautiful family and home that was now in desperate need of some love.

Illustration by Skye Ogden

With Aftershock I feel Adam has found a way to continue those great conversations we had (adding several other creative voices) with more than just words.

I could not be more proud to have participated in such a great project with so many other talented people. My only regret is that I didn’t have enough time to contribute more.

You can purchase the book online or at the following stores:
Chicago Comics
Chicago, IL
Forbidden Planet
NYC
Jim Hanley's Universe
NYC
Traders of Babylon
Hoboken, NJ
Fantastic Comics
Berkeley, CA
Maverick Cards & Comics
Kettering, OH

All of the proceeds of this book go toward helping the survivors of 311.

This is the official blog http://networkedblogs.com/rAgBV

The Japan Times did some write ups about the book
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fb20111218a3.html
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20111206zg.html

Thanks Adam.

2011-12-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

A few photos from the 4th Childhood Revisited show.

2011-08-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ramel Hill

Brandy

Chris Dix

Finally a little write up about the show.

http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2011/08/childhood-revisited-puts-nostalgia-on-displaychildhood-revisited-puts-nostalgia-on-display/

2011-04-22T06:05:00.001-07:00

2011-04-21T14:28:00.001-07:00

2011-04-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

2011-04-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

Show preview

2011-04-10T18:32:00.001-07:00

Solo Show

2011-03-21T12:25:00.001-07:00

Ridiculous Continued

2011-02-01T20:15:00.001-08:00

Third Coast Digest did a little interview with me and previewed the show. It can be found at this link (http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2011/01/ridiculous-art-a-qa-with-chad-edwards/).

Fucking Ridiculous

2011-01-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

Fashion Illustration

2010-10-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

For the fashion themed issue of 4 pm Magazine (cover image by T.H. Taylor) I had the opportunity to do a two page fashion illustration spread.

Though I love fashion, there are really only two things that I know about it.

1) It is always changing.

2) I'm always late to the party.

So it was a huge blessing to have the very talented Michelle Williamson as my stylist.

You can check out her blog at http://wastedwardrobe.blogspot.com/

Thank you to Alicia and Valencia for being such great models.

Guerilla/Tunnel art show

2010-08-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

4pm

2010-07-28T18:46:00.001-07:00

I did another illustration for the "Rants" section of the latest issue of 4pm magazine. The article was all about preconceived notions people might have about Milwaukee (beer, cheese, and fat people).

Guerilla art show part 3

2010-07-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

We are doing the Guerilla art show again on July 23rd for gallery night in the pedestrian tunnel under the Amtrack tracks that connects the dead ends of Seeboth between 1st and 2nd. I will once again be doing shitty portraits of people for the low, low price of $5. Come drink, listen to music, and enjoy the art.

Always make sure the cap is on tight...

2010-07-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Childhood Revisited 3 Show Photos

2010-06-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

This year I spent most of my time talking and drinking with people instead of trying to document everything. As a result, the photos from this years show are a bit weak and don’t really capture the awesome that was Childhood Revisited 3.

Thank you to everyone that came and all of the hard working artists. I can’t wait for part 4.

What's wrong with your face?!?!

2010-06-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

Drunken Kite Flying Society!!!

2010-06-20T13:48:00.001-07:00

View-Master

2010-06-15T20:42:00.001-07:00

In the Shadow of the Giant.

2010-06-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I had a photo shoot with the legendary Giant Mendez (I assume the giant portion of her name has more to do with how she lives then her actual size because I found her to be rather smallish, bite sized even) to get reference images for my Veiw-Master piece I’m doing for the Childhood Revisited show.

Her friends were kind enough to let us use one of the unoccupied spaces in the former tannery they have converted into art studios or “Hidden Fortress of the Arts” as I like to think of it as.

I don’t know how to put this into words how I felt… In this old forgotten building, in a hidden corner of a city that no one really looks to for inspiration, brilliant people are creating, and that just make my little heart smile. It makes me not want to move away from Milwaukee (though I’m still going to).

Giant Mendez was a joy to work with and the shoot went splendidly.

Quick sketches done with ball point pen on scratch paper.

Less then a week away...

2010-06-04T01:09:00.000-07:00

The Little Friends of Printmaking interview.

2010-06-02T05:53:00.001-07:00

Here is the interview I did with the Little Friends for the latest issue of 4pm magazine. Read, enjoy, and buy some art from them.

日本

2010-06-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

These were my girls.

If I ever have a family I want it to be as awesome as this one.

The greatest drink mix of our time.

All of the comics are by Adam Passion. Check them out at http://sundogscomix.blogspot.com/.

Checking out the results (see below) of our print club session.

Adam trying to psych-out the other team in beer pong.

Yes, that is a drunk girl cutting her clothing off at the bar.

Lingerie vending machine.

The finest love pillow one could buy.

There is still a place in the world where Zima is consumed.

花見

Everyone was tired after a day of drinking and flower watching.

I was a Gundam pilot for a day.

There is a strange option that allows you to "westernize" your eyes in some print club machines. I didn't know that I selected that option until we got back the pictures and saw that we had cartoon eyes.

回転寿司!!!

4PM: Movers and Shakers

2010-02-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the release party for the newest issue of 4PM magazine. I did two illustrations for this particular issue.

This was done using ink, acrylic, and oil on wood with addition digital painting

This image was done for the rants section. The article is all about people trying to live the "American dream" and how people strive to be normal/average. I went with a paint by numbers look to highlight what little imagination these people live their lives with. While I don't agree with everything the article says (I'm all for people wanting a family and a big ass flat screen TV) I do agree with the general message. Don't just fall in line and settle. Try to do something more.

Los Tunnel Banditos

2010-01-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

A few days ago my cousin called and asked if I wanted to explore a big tunnel in a park near his apartment. I did not hesitate to say yes.

For the first few feet we saw the usual well articulated and masterfully rendered graffiti one would expect to find in a tunnel. If I never see Metallica spray painted again I will be okay with the world.

At what felt like the half way point we reached a fork. We either had to climb up into one of the smaller tunnels or turn back around. We opted to continue.

Proceeding through the smaller tunnel took its toll on our backs.

Eventually we reached a point where the tunnel narrowed further and we would have to crawl in the water to explore further. So it was with an Alice in Wonderland shrinking hallway feeling and a pain in our back that we decided to make our way back.

If I learned anything from this adventure, it’s that there is no Nazi gold to be found in this particular West Allis tunnel.

The end of 09

2010-01-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

2009 was… a very memorable year.

I think that the biggest and most important lesson I learned this year was how to fail. Looking back, at some point in my artistic development I stopped taking as many risks. Mainly out of a fear of failure. This fear has been the biggest obstacle in my progression as an artist (and a person). This last year I took on many projects that had a high probability of failure. Some of them resulted in unforeseen success. The rest were just successful failures.

It’s taken me a while but I finally feel like I am at a point where I ‘m ready to fail.

Here is an example. Over the spring I purchased a mole skin sketch book. These sketch books have been used and praised by several artists that I admire (sort of the Mac of sketch books, all the cool kids use it). The problem is I hate it. The paper has no tooth and it feels like drawing on a glossy envelope that can’t take getting wet or hold ink. Instead going back to the sketch books that I’m comfortable I challenged myself to use it. I went even further out of my comfort range by drawing everything in pen. That way I couldn’t erase. I would have to live with every line, every mistake.

Below are the first few pages of my mistakes. After that are some random pictures from 2009.

I can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for me.

Two heads

2009-12-13T11:40:00.001-08:00

This is one of two new pieces I did for the propaganda show. I'm not totally happy with the other. I'll post it after I do a little more work on it.

Pointless Propaganda show pictures

2009-12-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to everyone that came out to the show. I know I say that every show but I mean it this time more than ever. It’s one thing to brave a little snow to come out but when it’s so cold it hurts to be outside, that is just going above and beyond. I would also like to thanks Moct for once again providing a home for our art and Hotpop for sponsoring the show.

There may have a been a smaller crowd do to the extreme weather but the level of fun had was on par with the rest of my shows.

Theses two ladies are the first people I saw when I walked into Moct. I can't think of a better way to start a show.

DJ Dori’s music selection was amazing!

The elusive Mr. Dix.

This is one of my favorites from the show. Art by Chris Dix.

Tim and the invisible cheese burger.

Rob Hickey (the one with the camera) and his mustaches stole the show.

By the end of the show everyone got a little mustache crazy.

Even the art got mustached. Yeah, it's a verb now.

Art for the Masses.

2009-11-15T09:58:00.000-08:00

Asian Portrait #3957-B

2009-11-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Made In Milwaukee pt 3

2009-11-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

The music, art, fashion, people, costumes, etc... it was all unbelievably good. I wish every show went like this one did. I would have snapped more pictures but I was too busy living it to document it.

Untitled

2009-11-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Made In Milwaukee pt2

2009-10-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended the MIM meet and greet were everyone got to check out the space and figures things out before the big show. Turner hall is such a unique space with so much personality. I have wanted to do a show there for years... I can't believe I have the chance now.

Made In Milwaukee.

2009-10-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have three shows in three months and each one will be very different from the other. This is a poster for the first of the three.

Art show in the tunnel.

2009-09-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures Brad snapped for me of the 2^nd art show we did in the tunnel. Angela organized this one so I just had to show up, hang my stuff, and draw some portraits. I think that the rain deterred a few people and we almost got shut down by the cops once or twice but the show was a great deal of fun. I can’t wait until next year to do another one.

4PM

2009-08-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

The newest issue of 4pm magazine just came out in Milwaukee this Friday. Inside you will find my bio/short interview and the first of many one page comics that I will be doing for the magazine.

Gorilla (Guerilla) Art Show Pictures

2009-07-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

I tried to do something different with this art show and it worked… for the most part. The generator that I got from a friend didn’t work and people had to illuminate the art with cell phones until the tunnel lights turned on, but it all came together in the end. Elatia played some awesome music, drinks where had, and I drew a bunch of shitty portraits of people for a buck a piece.

Thank you to all that came. Extra super thanks to Tanya and Angela. I could not have done this without you two.

2nd Childhood Revisited Art Show Pictures

2009-05-18T08:12:00.001-07:00

Thank you to all the artists and everyone that made it out to the show. I had an amazing night.

Check out Steve's website for more pictures of the show. http://www.cardboardcostumes.com/

Code Name: Wheels

2009-05-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is the other piece that I did for the show. I did a few more pieces but this was the only one that I thought was ready to be shown.

When I was younger, I always enjoyed the paintings of the character on the toy box. They would always be striking some dynamic pose with this explosion in the background. I thought it would be funny to have a lazy, drunk, and crippled (not necessarily crippled from war but more from extreme laziness and alcoholism) hero that is the opposite of all the drama that the toy package art tries to create.

Not everyone can be the perfect hero.

The book is done!

2009-05-14T13:14:00.001-07:00

It weighs in at about 48 pages and is 9X6. It looks like an over sized game manual. We printed 25 and will be selling them for $20 at the show tonight. I’m pretty happy with the end product but there are definitely some things that I would have done differently. Next time.

Free Sample

2009-05-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

The book is at the printer and will be ready for the show this Thursday. Below is a small sample. It's one of three photo pages that will be in the book.

More Childhood Revisited art.

2009-05-07T07:19:00.001-07:00

Book Cover

2009-05-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is the cover painting for the Childhood Revisited book (without text). It was a hard painting to do because I never really liked the game cover (but I loved the hell out of the game). The original (2^nd image) was done in terrible old 70s fantasy style. I imagine that the artist painted the game cover in between paintings of barbarians in space and a Boston tribute band album cover.

I wanted to remix it but I also wanted it to retain that jacked up quality that (for better or for worse) was a part of the original experience. So my version is still jacked up, but more in a cross between street art and mannerism kind of way.

I hope someone enjoys it.

Flier image for 2nd Childhood Revisited show

2009-04-28T12:36:00.001-07:00

The Language

2009-04-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday at 7pm my animation (see below) along with several others will be playing at the Downer Theater as part of the Poetry Everywhere Project.

I'm walking ova here!

2009-04-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

Whilst in NY I spotted one of French street artist Invader’s little invaders, as pointed out by the lovely Miss Laura Lee.

Image of the day

2009-04-02T11:40:00.001-07:00

Jhonen Vasquez (creator of Invader Zim, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, etc) and myself @ Comic Con San Diego many years ago.

Random old photograph of the day

2009-03-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

2009-03-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Childhood Revisited Book

2009-02-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of creating an art book from the Childhood Revisited show that I put together last year. I want the book to be as much fun as the show was so I’m modeling its look after the Street Fighter 2 game for Super Nintendo.

The image above is the work in progress version of the cover.

The second Childhood Revisited show will be happening Thursday May 14^th out at Moct.

2009-01-29T08:42:00.001-08:00

You can now buy the three Pointless Propaganda prints and the Trapped in a Modern World card series at HotPop! I’m excited because this is the first time that my work has been sold at a store. If you haven’t been in HotPop yet, you really should check it out. There is nothing else in Milwaukee quite like it.

www.hotpopshop.com

There are nine different cards in the series.

Gallery Night

2009-01-21T09:17:00.001-08:00

I had a great time this last weekend.

Thank you to everyone that braved the cold!

Figure drawing

2009-01-19T06:09:00.000-08:00

Trapped in a Modern World image 2

2009-01-14T19:15:00.001-08:00

Trapped in a Modern World

2009-01-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

Two shows, one night.

2009-01-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

For this up coming Gallery Night (Friday, January 16^th) I will be showing my work at to different places in the third ward.

I will be out at Design Within Reach (167 N Broadway) first for their “Cheap Thrills 2” show.

I did the show last year and it had a lot of great art for under $100. I’ve made a few new pieces for this show that will be sold dirt cheap.

Here is the line up of artists.

Amy Soczka
Chad Edwards
Erin (fox in the woods) Paisley
James (Jimbot) Demski
Joy Harmon
Kristopher Pollard
Louigee (Strider) Faustino
Matt Cipov
Pamela Anderson
Rob Hickey
Tasha Tatro
The Little Friends of Printmaking

I will be there from 5pm to 9:30 pm

The other show is at Rustico which these two fliers are for. This show will have all new work that focuses on the figure. I didn’t have anything finished in time for the flier so I used an older piece. The other image is a painting of Rikki done by the ever talented Angela Roberts and it will be in the show.

I will be out at Rustico from about 10pm till 2am so come out at have some drinks with me.

The working process

2008-11-24T20:35:00.000-08:00

This is another piece in my Japanese portrait series that I am currently working on.

I really wish I had taken a few more pictures to show the full evolution…

Untitled

2008-11-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

Oil, acrylic, sharpie, pencil, spray paint on a piece of wood

This is a painting that I did for the Girls art show out at Moct. It is the only non digital work of mine that I have had in a show. This piece came together in a very short time and turned out nothing like I had intended it to. It was originally supposed to be the final image in a series of images (three in all) that where meant to be a visual narrative about the emotional development of a person (in this case it would be my model, Amanda) and in turn a bit more abstract. Instead I ended up making a more straight forward figural painting.

I fully intend on revisiting and finishing the series but I still like how this one turned out.

Rikki

2008-11-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

Photo of the day

2008-11-18T11:20:00.001-08:00

This image comes from a series that I did for one of my photo classes when I was a student at MACT.

This is still one of my favorites.

Here is a behind the scenes shot of Ian and Laurel.

kiss

2008-11-08T23:48:00.001-08:00

photo of the day

2008-11-08T21:04:00.000-08:00

sogen

2008-11-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

photos of the day

2008-11-07T08:58:00.001-08:00

Art Show Pictures

2008-10-26T15:42:00.001-07:00

Read a Book!!!

2008-10-23T08:20:00.001-07:00

Kim Jong-ILL

2008-10-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

Condoms

2008-10-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Darkness to you

2008-10-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

A taste of things to come part three

2008-10-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

"Touch"

2008-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

2008-10-15T00:21:00.000-07:00

a taste of things to come part two

2008-10-13T00:28:00.001-07:00

a taste of things to come part one

2008-10-13T00:25:00.000-07:00

Golfing on my roof

2008-10-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T19:19:00.001-07:00

2008-10-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T18:59:00.000-07:00