Category Archives: Art

Art related projects, drawings, portfolio and for hire

Amazing Strangers, Anthropology, Art, Blog, Union Square

Richy’s Paradise

artist guy
Richy in his appartment

“Richy’s Paradise” was first posted on YouTube a week ago. It was up for about 6 hours, then Richy contacted me and asked that it be taken down. It was a painful call to receive, and just as painful to remove it. I love the video and I feel it’s important for people to see. But I also hated that he was so troubled by it. That’s my responsibility to bear.

Richy is off the grid. He’s not online, on Facebook or anywhere else. He doesn’t even have an email. That combined with him being almost a complete shut in, it shouldn’t have surprised me that he might freak out to all of a sudden have this, my camera inside his home, and some pretty vulnerable moments as well, on YouTube for the world to see.

Today however I talked to him and I’m happy to say I’ve gotten permission to post it.

When I first met him he was bouncing between homelessness and that building’s basement, dumpster diving, living hand to mouth.
The reason he’s able to live where he does is because he’s the superintendent of the building, responsible for all the work necessary to keep a building like that legal and standing. It’s a job he’s worked hard to get. He’s on-call 24-7, which contributes to his anxiety. But that’s also how he’s taught himself the construction, plumbing and electric for the work he does in his own place.

Man in pilot's hat w/chair on shoulder
Richy explaining his blueprints for paradise to people on the steps of Union Square

I’m  thankful he’s willing to let me put this out there as is despite the worries he might have about no longer being so anonymous.

It’s just by chance I got this opportunity to see the inside of his home. A few days before I left the city for good I happened to walk by him there on 13th & 4th. He was sitting on the sidewalk working on some arts & crafts project. I told him I was moving away, so he invited me over to give me one of his maps. In this video you’re witnessing my discovery of him too.

All of the art, music, wood carvings and craftsmanship are 100% Richy’s work. All the songs on the piano are untitled, and written down only in his head.

The full “Christians Meet Their Match” video from 2008 can be seen here.

If you’re interested in contacting Richy he’s asked that you do it through me.

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Amazing Strangers, Art, Freelance, Inna, News, Portfolio, Union Square

Bummer Summer

Art Projects

goth girl art
Portrait of Nicole digitized in Adobe Illustrator

Lately my happiness has been coming from drawing people. Stylish, striking, sexy people. I’ve always had this passion. But lately it just beats all.

Please don’t misunderstand. From the wispy goth rocker Nicole, to the hulking beefcake female bodybuilder Tracy, my range for what I find stylish and sexy spreads oceans. And I just have to do them. I cannot stop myself. I don’t even try.

John Waters said, “Life is nothing if you’re not obsessed.”
That’s what it is.

portrait of muscular punk woman
Portrait of bodybuilder/trainer Tracy Argo digitized in Adobe Illustrator

So when I’m not being hired to draw people, I’m picking them out myself and doing it for fun. I can’t tell you how much I’d like to have project assignments like this coming in, but either way that’s what I’m loving, so more’s on the way.

If you do indeed have the inclination to hire me, I am available. Tell me what you have in mind, your budget, and I bet we can work something out.

Union Square

What I’m not loving at the moment is Union Square. It hasn’t been stylish, striking, and certainly not sexy! It’s hot, and stinky, and nothing’s really happening. Well, besides ball playing.

They’re throwing the football around all the fucking time. The day before yesterday they whacked Tabatha in the back of the head with it, and I flipped! I was so pissed I was yelling at them all calling them all pieces of shit! I’m just sick of the constant ball playing, and hitting people, and everyone else having no problem with being hit! You know. Just sayin’.

I’m not sure what this all means exactly. There’s still no postcard done, and my urge to make it is fizzling out. Could be just the summer heat, but I can’t say for sure. Sure as hell no love to be found there! Things have been changing at the park, and in my head.

Amazing Strangers, Art, Blog, Freelance, News, Portfolio, Union Square

I Have Returned

hot girl with leg tattoo
Sasha from Paterson NJ

Not sure if you noticed, but the site’s been down for a couple weeks. I was having it moved from an old server to a new one by my host so it’d run faster, and it took longer than expected. WAY longer! Nearly 3 weeks for it to be up and running properly again! It was terrible. It killed my online sales, traffic dwindled to nearly nothing, and you can’t imagine how frustrating it is getting emails saying “Do you still sell your magnets? You should start doing that again. They were cool!”

But now it’s back up. And it does seem to be loading faster. Do you agree?

Also,  guess what. I finally got a smart phone! No kidding. Up until last week I’ve had a flip phone. One that my friends and family all made fun of. And whenever someone came up to me at the park accusing me of making money off the homeless, I’d pull it out and say “Paid for by the exploitation of the homeless!”

Anyhow, if I expect to be making videos, taking pictures, drawing pictures and putting them on the web I had to get a new phone. Which also means I can finally get on Instagram! Go see for yourself.

Art

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I like to consider myself an artist. I’m an artist for pleasure, and for hire. There’s been a few pieces I’ve completed recently that I’m quite proud of. One of which is a job I did for IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Tammy Jones.

drawing of muscular female bodybuilder
Portrait of female bodybuilder Tammy Jones IFBB Pro digitized in Adobe Illustrator for promotional use on her site.

A portrait for use of her up coming show. I can’t express loudly enough how these sorts of projects are my favorite kinds of projects.

Christopher Amotharis Bunny censored digitized in Adobe Illustrator
Christopher Amotharis Bunny censored digitized in Adobe Illustrator

Also, I recently drew a portrait of Christopher Amotharis. I’d seen this German death metal kid online posing in some of the most bold & alluring looks imaginable. It’s a beauty I don’t see celebrated enough in this world. So I feel it’s my job to do it. There’s also an uncensored version NSFW as well. You cannot view a fully accurate illustration of Christopher unless you’re willing to go uncensored. Sorry, but it’s true.

drawing of girl art
Portrait of Lola digitized in Adobe Ilustrator

And the same goes for the gorgeous Lola. A piece also to celebrate an under appreciated beauty. Lola with the Universe in her Eyes needs to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. Soon I hope to get enough of these printed and framed to have a show of my own of some sort, somewhere. That’s always been a rarely voiced dream of mine.

Union Square

I plan to have the new postcard out next month. And of course during this time of absence from the internet I’ve busied myself taking lots of photos and videos at the Square. I’ve been enjoying the process of creating this imagery more than ever before. I just love it, and I feel like I’m doing some of my best work lately. Now if only I could figure out how people get rich off it.


Amazing Strangers, Anthropology, Art, Blog, Freelance, News, Products, Store

I am a Man with many Questions & Answers

I’m very happy to present No Your City’s final episode GET TO NO NORMAL BOB! I’m so pleased with how it came out. I’ve been wanting something exactly like this for a while, and I strongly suggest you go see the vast array of No Your City episodes on other characters you may know from Union Square, and others even I’ve never heard of before. I love Nick’s work, and I think you will too.

FAQ

As of late, it seems some of the two most frequently asked questions about me in the comments section under the videos are:
1. How do you make your money?
2. Why don’t you comment under your videos?

How do I make my money?
For quite a while now, going on 13 years I’ve made my money selling Jesus Dressup magnets, and freelance art & design for people online. The Jesus magnets sell in stores around the USA and even in several other countries. I try to come out with a new version annually so as to maintain interest and supply. Sales have been slightly down this year, but they’re still a dependable income for me.

The freelance art comes in second place. I wish I had more jobs and could charge a higher price for the work I do, but it is something I’m good at. And I love to draw, and I’m lucky there are people out there willing to pay for my talent.

And that’s it. The videos do not make money. I have no advertising on them because I hate YouTube ads, and the amount it pays isn’t worth it. $1 for every 1,000 hits or something like that. Don’t quote me. I could be way off. That’s just what I’ve gathered.

I do not have a trust fund, and I am not rich. I have a roof over my head, and I’ve never had a problem putting food on my plate, which is a kind of “rich” to be sure. But I am quickly being priced out of the neighborhoods I move to way too often, and I constantly worry that I’ll be forced to move out of New York City for this very reason.

Why don’t I comment under the videos?
At the rare times when I do want to comment under the videos for some reason YouTube doesn’t let me. I’m not sure exactly why. They’ve made it more complicated than it used to be. I swear to God, when I do try to type in a comment and hit Post, it does nothing but erase the comment and nothing else. I’ve read up a little on it and it’s something to do with me not being a Google+ member or my Chrome settings even though I’m using Safari. Quite frankly, I’m happy it won’t let me post comments. I’ve found that other people are quick to answer for me sooner or later, and it also allows me to ignore the comments and just do what I like to do. Shoot and post videos instead.

Which is exactly what I’ve been doing lately! Lots of videos, and even more that I just need to find the time to edit. There’s been a whole lot of drama at the park, and the summer’s barely even kicked off!

And Finally, here’s a collection of the photos I’ve taken since last we met.