It was a great honor and challenge to be tasked with the commission for Anvil Media’s new lobby painting.  Anvil recently moved into their new building on NE Failing just off MLK.  This LEED certified building has a fresh innovative layout and is chock full of very interesting art; care of Anvil founder Kent Lewis.  The Anvil office is upstairs with Formic Media on the lower level.  Every employee of both companies has been passing through an empty lobby for a few months now and after much thought and careful execution; the lobby is bare no longer.  As my wife is employed by Anvil, I have had the pleasure of getting to know nearly all employees and wanted to  incorporate the personalities and culture of this company with the painting.  I also felt driven to help motivate and inspire this company as my painting will be the first thing greeting them as they arrive, and will say good night to them as they leave.  Needless to say, this was an extremely important piece of art for me.

The concept of this painting was based on a few things.  First, the goal of the piece was to be interesting first and foremost.  I focused on texture and technique to create depth and a unique painting that would jump off the wall.  The holes in the panel aid in this respect as you can see wall through the painting, the shadows created by this effect literally force your eyes to feel the depth of the work from the wall.

Secondly, I used the Anvil logo and color scheme as inspiration for the layout.  Utilizing the same paint the lobby was painted with, I was able to create a painting that has the feeling of being created for this exact space.  The Anvil goggles (in their business logo) represent, to me, this company’s unique vision in helping people navigate the internet as it relates to marketing their business.  I used broken glass with the black and white color scheme to represent the dangers, pitfalls and uncertainty that the internet can pose to the unexperienced.  The orange through the center suggests Anvil knows how to effectively navigate the field and can help their clients use this media and get to the other side successfully.

Highlighting the holes with purple was the brilliant final thought that cannot go un-noticed.  As I was putting the final touches on the piece trying to complete it, I was lacking the final accent that would bring the whole piece together.  My lovely wife suggested and steered me towards the purple (which happens to be my absolute favorite Ironlak paint color)  I had just enough to highlight the holes, and upon doing so, the piece had a resounding finished feel.  Thank you Kim!

Another interesting aspect of this painting was the source of broken glass.  I have spent a good deal of time with the Anvil crew on social outings.  The wine and beer bottles represent some of the fun times that I have spent with these people and lend towards the culture of this group.  The Anvil crew rolls together outside of work.  People that get along as well as these folks do outside of the office are sure to produce a cohesive front inside the company’s doors.  My favorite glass elements in the painting are attributed to the use of a Pendleton bottle that was left at our house when everyone came out to celebrate Kim’s birthday party. Here’s lookin’ at you Mike, we share the same love of Whiskey.

Here is my drab Grass to Urban Structure chair transformation project.

See the first show here…

Here is the new Mirror, I prefer the orientation where the whiter side is up.  I taped off the mirror, painted it, then pulled the tape and scratched paint off to bring the mirror and paint surface together more.  The mirror is cool because it’ll reflect random objects from different angles.  It’s a little difficult to decipher between the painting, mirror and reflection sometimes but I think with his other two paintings it’ll fit right in.

Here are Jim’s other two pieces:

GOLDEN THOUGHTS:

WOOD GRAIN SUNRISE:

Here are some shots of the current show.  See it before September runs out!  John has the abstract square graff style panels, I have the panels with wood grain and the big line work piece by the bathroom.  The chalkboard was done was by some local dudes, a work in progress by so far it looks great!