DRAW-OFF BALLS OUT

Man I hope someone brings us some snacks...



The Draw Off
March 8 : Noon to midnight
Competition has always been an intrinsic part of the art world. Whether it is between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti battling for the commission for the doors of the Florence Cathedral Baptistery or Picasso and Braque duking it out to see who could “father” the cubist movement first, the element of contest has created some of the greatest artistic works of our time.
Heeding this competitive tradition, eleven Atlanta artists will simultaneously create new works on the walls of Eyedrum during a twelve hour period. The artists will work side by side using mediums only restricted by that which can be attached to the wall. Combining elements of fine art and performance will create a spontaneous and collaborative climate for the artists to work within. The collaborative element will be between both the artists sharing a work environment and the audience that will be watching and experiencing the drawing process.

Participating artists:
Maxwell Sebastian
Mandie Turner Mitchell
TINDEL-MICHI
George and Silas Long
Jesse Cregar and Sarah Emerson
Lydia Walls
Leuwam Tesfai and Meghan McNeer
Mario Schambon

Closing Day : April 19

Facts of Destruction

TindelMichi Monster Sized Numbers

Trucks: Usually 11 feet tall and about 12 feet wide, a monster truck must weigh a minimum of 9,000 pounds, with some monster trucks weighing as much as 12,000 pounds. The less the body weighs, the more strength and weight can be put into the frame and engine without sacrificing speed and maneuverability. Average cost: $150,000.

Engines: Custom-built, supercharged and methanol-injected, a monster truck engine burns up to 2.5 gallons of methanol per run (approximately 250 feet). The size of the motor is limited to 575 cubic feet, according to United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA) regulations. The average monster truck team will go through five engines in one year. Average cost per engine: $35,000.

Body: Made of fiberglass, a monster truck body is custom designed. A fiberglass company generally owns the mold to the design. Average initial cost: $50,000. Average cost of remakes: $3,000.

Tires: Manufactured by Goodyear and Firestone, monster truck tires must be 66 inches high and 43 inches wide. The average monster truck team will go through eight tires in one year. Tires are customized and hand cut to accommodate track conditions. Cutting one tire takes approximately 50 hours. Average cost: $2,600 each.

Shocks: Most monster trucks run with nitrogen gas shocks. Some trucks run with one shock per tire, while others run with as many as two per tire. The complete shock package includes a coil-over-shock kit and spring. Average cost: $1,250 each.

Paint: A monster truck must be painted to cover the rough fiberglass body. Airbrushing logos and specialized artwork add to the cost. Average cost: $3,500.

Race Team Budget: A monster truck team incurs a number of expenses throughout the year from repairs and maintenance on a monster truck and the hauler to fuel, racing uniforms, lodging and food. Average cost per year: $250,000.

Crushed Cars: Steel body full-size cars are the vehicles typically crushed during a monster truck event. Cars, as well as vans, buses, motor homes, airplanes and ambulances, are attained from local junkyards and returned after each event. Average number of cars crushed per year: 3,000.

TindelMichi : Priceless

A Grey Box and The Honor System

So I made the long drive home to My Alabama.

From Atlanta that’s 4.5 to 5 hours to my parents door step.
I awake the next morning and decide to go treasure hunting. I want to explore, flea markets, roadside stands, and mom pop stores for possible materials for future installs and found object projects.

I plan and calculated my adventure. I will take Florence blvd or highway72 east to Huntsville.Thats about 80 miles of adventure and plenty of daylight. The plan was simple, find treasure and to photo document the trips images for inspiration. I'm developing a new aesthetic called FlorPop.Florence Pop.Im not sure what it is yet, just an idea right now. I think I want to hick up Andy Warhol’s great idea and sell it to NYC intellectuals too. Then do the Whitney Biennial on this Southern ticket and develop my factory called The Farm or The Coop or something. Anyway, I really want to find treasure and have fun searching. Relax.

First stop a flea market, about 15miles into my trip. I go in. It’s the usual junk, but at a knife booth a gray haired hicky man says "I got switch blahdes far 8 duhllars". I score some throwing stars. They were .50cents each. I'm cool with that, so I continue on.
I stop to photograph signs, abandon farm houses, creeks, lakes, trees, and fields.

As my journey continues I speed past Isoms Orchard. It’s been there forever, they have good Apple cider. Out of the corner of my eye I see a huge huge cage of... My eyes see them, my brain fires, nerves tingle, I process the shapes and in 2 seconds my mouth says GOURDS!!!! I put on brakes and whipped it around. From the highway I could see rows and rows of gourds in various shapes and stages of drying. Excited, doing a pirates dance for finding booty I get out of the car. Reading the sign posted that say..."We are tired and have gone into the house to rest. Gourds on the yard are 3 dollars, everything under the shed is as marked, pick what you like and pay the gray box. No shopping after dark. Thanks."

Weird I thought to myself. I got out and I picked my treasures. Waiting for someone to come help me or say "Hey, what'r you hunting." I wondered around the shed, made noise, tried to look suspicious anything to make someone come out, but they never did. The Grey box was taunting me. The honor system I said to myself, Wow who does that. I fumble around some more in hopes to get that person to come out.Im really trying hard, because I don’t want to be tempted with taking more than I pay for. They never came. I budget 7 gourds at $3bucks ea. is 21beans.I reach into my wallet for the money and decide to write them a note.” I am an artist in Atlanta and will be using your gourds in my work. I was going to order some from the internet. Not now. I will take back the gourds as small pieces of My Alabama. Thanks for being here, MICHI. I felt good by the whole situation. First, the find and the absent customer service rep.Then the faith that you will do the right thing.They really are doing this.

I wrap 21 dollars in that note and drop it in the grey box. Thinking wow, I could take all of these gourds, but I didn’t. I cant.Why not? Who trust a customer like that? I couldn’t figure it out. I continued on to Huntsville to more flea markets. I buy a new John Deere belt buckle green and yellow with gold plated trim. The gray haired gent eyeballed me the whole time as if I was going to pull a David Copper field on his merch.Strange I was thinking. The buckle is FRESH, but not as cool as the gourds and the customer service I call The Grey Box Honor System.It is something to ponder.

Dear Natalie

Often times kids can express themselves in ways we as adults have forgotten.Kids are brillant its no question.They hold nothing back and statements are to the point.This is what I want for my Artist statement and what I want for my work.Things to be just as direct and honest minus the sugar coated statement.DearNatalie, is a letter that was found crumbled in the hall and is now new source of inspiration.

Paella

Paella (IPA: [paean]) is a rice dish, it is traditionally eaten on Sundays. The name paella is the word for "frying pan" in Valencian (from Latin patella).
Paella is usually garnished with vegetables and meat or seafood. The three main ingredients are rice, saffron, and olive oil.

Now you got the wik wiki Wikipedia version, now read my story.

In the South we are know for our little sayings or quotes and aphorisms.
I heard one recently that spoke of smarts, Give me 100$ and I will give you a teaspoon of fresh GA. Red clay.Anyways,there is one that goes, This is so good ,It make you wanna smack yo mama. Well, I just got back from Alabama and my mama ain't too happy about her face.

SSAR.Scott did it again.Paella this past Sunday. He and Mario. Two different styles of cooking. Collab. Make it work. Sunday feast. Attended by the pastors and family.Somehow this has something to do with art and artist being artist.

Ingredients
Lobsters
Octopus
Calamari
Fish
Shrimp
Rice
Peas
And a bunch of other stuff
I am forgetting cause
It was so much in there.

Mario grilled chorizo w/Lime. This was a new look for chorizo and my taste buds. Scott is the man. He brought out the music and Thump. We tipped. Waited for the Skillet to do its thing. Just as the sun made its down, Paella!!!20 mins later full belly, pot belly. Sleepy.To go plate. I headed down 400 passed my loft on to Alabama to slap my moms face. Scott and Mario you got me in trouble on this one. Now she gone slap mine when she reads this.

Diesel High too Mod and Ultra Cool.

Nothing to do with art TM or anything really....I didn’t even spell check whatever...

So I get an email from Karen West PR.Come out to the High Museum blah blah blah fashion FREE DRINKS!!! So last night I go to the High for the Diesel Fashion show social event of the evening. I dressed really swanky cause I knew the crowd, my easydosa t-shirt, jeans, addias, my vintage corning glasses and my fat gold rope chain.FRESH!!!They weren’t ready for that.

Stepped in line and stepping right out feels good and important. Karen hands me a wrist band and I jump the rope and go into the High saying good bye to the peasants who have to wait in line in my minds best British accent...I know people, as if I would have to wait! The though of such. Then the hip hop hits me in the face and snaps me back to my real me.

I’m from the country but when in certain social circles they go kiss kiss on both cheeks, so me too all the while thinking, I got two more cheek you can kiss. Ha!!! Joke to self nobody’s laughing but me.Thats what they do. Getting back to what I do my voice orders a Jack and Coke. I down it and get another while making small talk to ex cheerleaders now playing corporate sweethearts while asking what do you do. I think, Are you looking for my millions? What is it that I don’t do is the question and glare into her eyes to say Yes, I am that confident Mod and Ultra Cool.JC please, I leave he in bewilderment probably asking herself was he joking or an Ahole or does he do alot.

Now I feel the warm fuzz of the THUMP and I notice all the pancake make up blond hair beauty queens from frat parties past.I chuckle thing I used to date chicks like you.Well I thought, I guess they go to these events to be popular in adult life.I always wondered who where all those people in the back of Jezebel and Peach magazines.They seem to always be partying with the beautiful people and ATL short list of celebs.I guess I have finally made it, but my bills are due. A few more thumps and warmer feelings, I feel loose but not too loose, this is not the crowd for country boy jokes. I chill acting ultra mod and cool. I don’t even own an I pod but who knows that there, back to my cool.

Jermaine Dupri is a tiny man.Ceelo Green the Soul Machine is a big dude but short, both are nice and we pose for a pic. Maybe they think I'm ultra mod and cool. Maybe they know I’m an artist, do they collect? Maybe I will be in the back of Jezebel posed up next to some white blonde pie faced chick with nice "teeth" and some one in the grocery line will be like who are these people or why is Michi posed up with some pie faced blond chick with nice "teeth”. Anyway I pose for more pics with Caleb Gauge and a few of the scensters of the scene that move and shake all the while acting MOD and ULTRA COOL!!!

Artist staments

As many may know I really dont like the paper work of being an artist.Can you paint? YES!!! So,today I was asked to right an artist statement of why TM was innovative...this what i said?

TindelMichi are two artist working together to create an aesthetic that uniquely represents the South. Our work is a direct reflection of growing up in a newer urbanized and a less racially sensitive south than our parents. We use painting as our platform to combine various influences and methods from different disciplines and melded them into our own techniques. Skills that include one time use hand cut stenciling, font and character development as well as a history of symbolic elements that continue to show up in our work. We gather influence not only from the region, but from our families’ oral traditions. Inspired by two different racial experiences growing up in the south; TindelMichi celebrate the same southern culture. We have combined our southern vernaculars to develope cryptic phrases and languages. These messages or words are indications of the humor and charm that is undoubtedly Southern and incomparably TindelMichi.