Fionn McCabe

This guy

2012-02-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

Buggers

2012-02-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

Untitled (not the first time)

2012-02-06T08:27:00.001-08:00

Hairy face

2012-02-02T00:28:00.001-08:00

Awkward...

2012-01-28T10:28:00.001-08:00

Tasmania

2012-01-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

I don't often post about my travels on this blog (not that I have another blog, just that... you know what I mean!) but a few weeks back I was in Tasmania for a few days and it is a pretty cool place.

We (my lady and I) flew into Launceston and immediately went for a long walk along the harbor before finding a proper trail to take a crack at. The whole country seems set up specifically for hikes, camping and picnics in stunning surroundings. If you hate nature and fresh air, or love concrete, you would hate Tasmania.

01: Gorge in Launceston, a 30 minute walk along this little river that ended in a valley with a lake, picnic tables, a public swimming pool and two peacocks. Strange to see a public swimming pool 30 feet from a big natural lake at the base of a small waterfall. At least, strange to see a free one.

02: That afternoon we went to the King Solomon Caves and had our picture taken. All our photos are pretty bad because of the low lighting. The guide took this one. I asked for our money back because my face was blurry. No, I didn’t because I am not a jerk. I look better a little blurry anyway.

The next morning we headed over to Cradle mountain which is about three hours west of Launceston. On the way we stopped at a place called “Devil’s Gullet”.

03: Awesome tree fungus all over everything! There were tons of dead trees in certain areas, either from drought or flooding, but many of them were covered in this furry green moss.

04: “Devil’s Gullet” was basically a 15 minute walk to the edge of a cliff that overlooks a valley and some rocky mountains. When we got there it was completely clear with a spectacular view and then about a minute and a half later we couldn’t see anything at all through the fog (actual fog, not LA “fog”).

05: My wife Keppie. Happy about the fog. Little did she know that she was covered in extremely large aggressive mosquitos. Luckily they didn’t go for the face, just for the legs, through the jeans. Directly after this photo was taken I looked down at her legs and her jeans looked furry. Seriously. Thats how many mosquitos were on her.

06: After running around flailing our arms and slapping at our legs to get the mosquitos off we returned to the edge of the cliff a few more times. It was really stunning. We just couldn’t stand in one place for more that about seven seconds at a time.

07: On the walk back to the car (the car that, we later learned, had somehow filled with freaking mosquitos) I snapped a few photos of the landscape in the fog. We saw many many wallabies as we walked. Also, the sky in Tasmania is crazy. Lots of these photos look a little blown out, not because we are poor photographers (I swear it!... really...) but because the light was so strange. It was so bright, even when it was raining. Something to do with how far south it is. And how there is no ozone layer directly above Tasmania. No joke.

Cradle Mountain is the Northern tip of a massive state park. About a third of the state is state park and another solid chunk (which is a standard Australian measurement...) is protected land.

08: We decided to go for a walk around Dove Lake before we sorted out where we were staying. We took a shuttle into the park and as soon as we got dropped off it started raining pretty hard. I was grumpy at first because I didn’t have my raincoat and so was soaking wet. The worst part was actually not being able to see through my glasses in the rain and having them fog up all the time (I am pretty new to wearing glasses). Such a pain in the ass!

09: Keppie had her raincoat and her perfect 20/20 vision and was all about “powering through”.

10: When we finally got back, soaking wet and cold as hell the rain instantly cleared. We checked into our room and saw all sorts of wildlife out the window. This is a wombat. Probably the cutest creature of all time, just begging for a cuddle. Its really frustrating that this photo is so unimpressive. This thing was only about 10 feet from us.

11: Wallaby. I ate one of these for dinner our first night. They taste even cuter than they look. I gave each piece of my wallaby steak a little hig before I ate it.

12: Echidna, australia’s porcupine. We saw this on a little trail called “Enchanted walk” outside where we ate dinner.

13: This is a picture of some of the seriously enchanted shit from the walk... Soooo fucking enchanted!

The third day we drove to Strahan. There were tons of other enchanted walks we wanted to go on in Cradle Mountain but time was short and it was pouring rain. Strahan is a logging town about three hours southwest of where we were. It has a rich full history of prison labor, murder and drinking. A very pretty port town.

14: This beach was really windy, the waves broke in rows of six or seven and when the tide was out the beach must be a massive. The water was freezing though, coming in from the pole.

16: Through the woods to a little water fall. We got wet again in a flash downpour on the way back. I did a great, "Actually I don't think thats rain honey, I think thats just a few drops coming off the trees."... Right before we were completely soaked. After that I didn’t go anywhere without my raincoat.

The next day we took a boat ride up the Gordon River in the rainforest. It was cold and wet again, but very pretty. We sat with some really (unintentionally) funny women on the boat. They had brought their dogs, which I guess wouldn’t have been a problem except that dogs are not allowed in national parks, ie one third of Tasmania/the reason people go to tasmania in the first place. Luckily one of the women told us that she “didn’t see the point of walks anyway”. Another amazing thing about these ladies is that we couldn't decide if they were mother and daughter or partners... which is a really wonderful ambiguity. We asked them clever questions to try to figure it out but we never did.

18: Out in the bay in Strahan.

19: The Gordon River heading into the rainforest (which also had some really enchanting shit in it).

That afternoon we headed to Hobart, which is the largest city in Tasmania but quite small by US standards. It took the rest of the day to get there, following tiny winding roads through mountains and rainforest in the rain which turned the two hours trip into something like six.

The next day we went to the MONA, which was probably the coolest museum I’ve ever been to, though we took no pictures (it was underground! What do you want from me!.. jeez). They had a massive Wim Delvoye exhibit (yes we saw the poo machines), they had a few great Anselm Kiefer pieces, Erwin Worm's "Fat Car" (which I have always wanted to see) and lots of other fun stuff.

The rest of our time was spent driving around to different areas like Port Arthur and Freycinet.

20: Port Arthur was all about Australia’s shady criminal past, or rather, reformatory past. This was in Eaglehawks Neck on the way back from Port Arthur. Notice the awesome rainbow. And the awesome name... Eaglehawks Neck.

21: Freycinet was just about the prettiest place I have ever been but we only had about two hours there as it was our last day. Not bad though. This is from a hill overlooking Wineglass Bay... boring!

22: Ugh...just another silly beach somewhere.

Well, thats pretty much all we did.

Lazy.

Ugh...

2012-01-27T09:17:00.001-08:00

Ugly face!

2012-01-19T11:33:00.001-08:00

can't help myself

2012-01-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

Sean McCabe

2011-12-22T21:44:00.001-08:00

My brother Sean is working on a series of drawings and just posted a few new ones... that are totally awesome. You can check out his blog... right here!

You can also see a few other things at Copacetic LTD.

Hollywood

2011-12-20T20:19:00.001-08:00

How the old man became wise and then died

2011-12-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

A few early character sketches for my first story.

Villains for sale!

2011-12-14T09:44:00.001-08:00

There are still drawings of villains available for purchase at the Aviary Gallery! Shipping is no problem and they make great gifts for the holidays!... that was pretty shameless but there are some good ones left. I posted images of the drawings (as opposed to the 2 tone blue silk screen images) on facebook here.

If you are interested in one you can email me (fionnmccabe@gmail.com) or the gallery at info@aviarygallery.com.

2 uncharacteristic pictures of... me!

2011-12-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

That is, 2 uncharacteristic pictures of me... poorly copying sean phillips. I just finished reading his latest book with Ed Brubaker, "The last of the Innocent", and it was totally amazing!

I have been preparing for my first foray into comics, writing and refining scripts and thumbnails and trying on different styles. Just generally practicing and trying to get as many mistakes out of the way as possible before I buckle down. So keep that in mind! These are just practice!

These are uncharacteristic, not because I don't usually draw myself (because I do), but because in one I am really violent and in the other it looks like I can grow facial hair.

Bearded Villain Tees now available online!

2011-12-11T18:47:00.001-08:00

To purchase one click riiiiiight....HERE!

Ugly Ducklings

2011-12-11T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today and tomorrow!

2011-12-09T11:33:00.001-08:00

Socio Network opens tonight at the Alternative Cafe in Seaside CA! If you find yourself in the area certainly check it out.

Also, I was invited by my pals in the band Echorev to show some work at Dear Raymer House tomorrow night. I will have some new work up and it will be up for one night only so be sure and stop by if you can. There will live music by Echorev (which should not be missed) as well as a few DJs.

It runs from eight to eleven and there is a five dollar donation at the door to support the musicians. Do it!

Socio Network

2011-12-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

I am in a show (Socio Network) at the Alternative Cafe in Seaside CA that opens this friday. If you have not been there and find yourself in Seaside I recommend you go. It's a great place, this amazing creative hub, they make films, have live music, workshops etc... It's pretty dope.

Also I have work in the show so... that is something too.

I know you haven't seen this piece (or the other two in the show) in person!

Cactus Man!

2011-12-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Grand opening tonight!

2011-12-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Boss Tweed

Blackwolf from Wizards

Chad Kroeger from Nickleback

Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood

Drexl the Pimp from True Romance

Eugene from Hackers

General Zod from Superman

Herkermer Homolka from Congo

John Nolan!

Leonardo Leonardo from Clerks

Osama Bin Ladin

Porter Rockwell

The Man in Black from Lost

Vincent Price from... pretty much anything?

Beard Show in Boston tomorrow!!!

2011-11-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow many (if not all 80!) Bearded Villains will be up at the Aviary Gallery in Jamaica Plain. The Beard Show reception is from 6pm to 9pm Thursday the 1st of December and features over 20 artists. It should be really fun and there are some incredibly talented people in the show. Go. To. It.

The Villains will be for sale for $30 a piece (unframed) and some of them have already sold so if there is one you want let me know so I can reserve it for you. They make great Christmas and Hanukkah presents!

Emulsion Apparel has also printed a limited edition t-shirt of a selection of 36 villains that will debut at the opening tomorrow. If you can't make it to the opening but still want one contact me or Emulsion.

Villains!

2011-11-29T12:45:00.000-08:00

Sabertooth from Xmen

The Wolfman from The Wolfman

Villains!

2011-11-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

Ted Bundy

Scar from the Lion King

Villains!

2011-11-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

Krampus

Jules from Pulp Fiction

Van Pelt from Jumanji

Villains!

2011-11-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Edward Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Sloan from Wanted

Curt Klump... for breaking my heart with his handsome face.

Villains!

2011-11-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

Mugatu from Zoolander

Dick Dastardly from many Hanna-Barbera Productions

The Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

Villains!

2011-11-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean with his tentacle beard

Ghengis Khan

A possessed Ood from Doctor Who... with his weird vagina tentacle beard?

Stromboli from Pinocchio

Villains!

2011-11-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

Benedict from The Last Action Hero

Ben Bernanke

Tessai, the first demon from Ninja Scroll (kind of a stone beard!...)

Villains!

2011-11-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson), MMA fighter

Robot Santa Claus from Futurama

Villains!

2011-11-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

Captain Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean

(Another) Captain Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean

Captain Hook from Peter Pan

Villains!

2011-11-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

Boris from Bullwinkle

Camilo Cienfuegos

Prince John from Disney's Robin Hood

Sho Nuff

Villains!

2011-11-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

Louis Cyphre from Angel Heart

Sir Hugo Drax from Moonraker

The Master from (the old) Doctor Who

Villains!

2011-11-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

Captain Nemo

Jack Torrance from The Shining

Villains!

2011-11-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

Ted Kaczynski, "The Unabomber"

Klingon from Star Trek

Villains!

2011-11-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

Chef Louis from The Little Mermaid

Dr. Reinhardt from The Black Hole

Villains!

2011-11-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

John Travolta... in Battlefield Earth

Maestro Hulk

Villains!

2011-11-14T06:33:00.000-08:00

Dennis Miller... the "comedian"

Yellowbeard

Villains!

2011-11-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

Professor Norton Nimnul from the Rescue Rangers

Blackbeard the pirate

Villains!

2011-11-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Ice King from Adventure Time

Evil Spock from Star Trek

Anton LaVey

Hans Gruber from Die Hard

Villains!

2011-11-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Walter Peck, the EPA inspector from Ghost Busters

King Haggard from The Last Unicorn

Villains!

2011-11-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Saruman from Lord of the Rings

The Monkey Man from Indiana Jones

Villains!

2011-11-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Jafar from Aladdin

Jafar - Genie from Aladdin

Villains!

2011-11-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Charles Manson

Stringer Bell from The Wire

Villains!

2011-11-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China

Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon

A collection of bearded villains!

2011-11-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Who are your favorite bearded villains?

Do you know of any amazing sinister bearded individuals? In a collaboration with Emulsion Apparel, I will be drawing your suggestions for the remainder of the month. At the end of that time the best villains will be collected and printed on a limited edition t-shirt.

I will be posting new drawings every day this month here and on facebook here.

El Guapo from The Three Amigos

Bluto from Popeye

Grigori Rasputin from... Russia

George Lucas post Return of the Jedi

The Six Fingered Man from The Princess Bride

Who would you like to see?... and should I title them or or would you rather guess?

2011-10-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Some Graphic shots

2011-10-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Realized I had not posted the left bit of this diptych. Both pieces are collaborations with Sri. Expect many more of these in the future. His work is unfairly good and I plan to continue to try and keep up.

Thanks to everyone who came out the show! CUAC is so dope and I met (and re-met) so many fantastic people.

Graphic... and Are We Having Fun Yet?

2011-10-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Graphic opens today at Central Utah Art Center! When we got to the space for install yesterday I previewed the show a little. I got to see Erin Reilly's work in person for the first time since college. So dope! Also, "Are We Having Fun Yet" opens at CUAC tonight too, featuring the work of Fay Ku. Also really dope. You can check out her work here.

If you find yourself in Utah today (or knew it all along) the opening is from 7-10pm. For mor info you can go to the CUAC website here.

Show tomorrow at CUAC!!!!

2011-10-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

Monday

2011-10-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night about laying strands of flesh over a clay form to build a bust of myself. It was disgusting and I don't plan to make that dream a reality today. It is far too sunny outside.

Graphic: Exhibit A: Fionn McCabe and Sri Whipple, and Exhibit B: Erin Riley

2011-10-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

Excited for the upcoming show, "Graphic" in Utah!

Exhibition Dates: October 14 – November 15

The Central Utah Art Center presents graphic— two pocket exhibitions curated by former GARFO Art Center curator Cara Despain. The exhibitions are linked by a common visual language executed via different formal modes and materials, and situate the graphic within contemporary art; setting it apart from the illustrative and commercial and pushing it past the linear narrative.

exhibit a: Fionn McCabe and Sri Whipple—Los Angeles-based artist Fionn McCabe and Salt Lake City artist Sri Whipple share several common influences and formal sensibilities concerning the language of graphic novels, but also depart from it in content and execution. The exhibition will show collaborative mixed media works, in addition to pieces created individually, that intersect, combine, dissect and even subvert this language, and also mark the differences between the two artists.

exhibit b: Erin Riley—Culling images from sources such as Google and Facebook Philidelphia-based artist Erin Riley makes permanent a facet of contemporary culture, and points to a loose narrative as told by the Internet. The tapestries use an old medium to address very contemporary issues, and subdue the explicit by simplifying the images into more graphic forms.

If you don't know Erin's work, which is dope, you can check it out here.

Come see it! Here's another sneak preview...

Collaboration with Sri Whipple

2011-09-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

The first of a number of collaborative drawings with artist Sri Whipple. I posted some of his work months back (here) if you want a look. The two of us have been invited to show together at the Central Utah Art Center this October.

More to come! The show is on the 14th, I'll post all the details when I have em.

A bit too much...

2011-09-16T21:31:00.001-07:00

Coming of age stories of distraction and survival.

2011-09-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a bit of Joseph Campbell over the past week, and although I don't agree with everything he says he certainly has me thinking. He has some really interesting ideas regarding numbers in cycles of renewal and consciousness. I feel like once we hit an age in which we start to reflect on our life experiences we stop experiencing the world as fully. I distract myself from my life with ideas all the time.

Echorev t-shirts!!!

2011-09-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've been working with the band Echorev for a few months now and they start their east coast tour and release their debut album Find North this coming thursday at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.
Also available at the show will be some t-shirts I designed. If you want one you have to go to one of their shows! Or contact them... For more info check out www.echorev.com

This is Jorn in one of the shirts!... He plays drums in the band.

Christa Henderson

2011-09-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Christa recently asked me to make a poster for her new album. She is currently in the process of recording it after a successful Kickstarter.

You can check out some of her music here

Hurricane vacation

2011-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a trip to the East Coast and hanging out in a Hurricane with my family.

But now thats all over... Back to beautiful sunny Los Angeles...

Awesome.

2011-08-16T20:06:00.001-07:00

200

2011-08-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

Its coming!

2011-08-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

Super excited about a series of stories I've been working (off and) on for over a year now. A few of the stories started out here on my blog but many others are brand spankin' new. More about this soon!

Echorev - Find North

2011-07-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of drawing and designing the album art for Echorev's Find North. The album is not quite out in the world yet but its coming and its really good. I know, trust me, working with a band has its perks!

More on Echorev soon but if you haven't already, check them out here.

Animals are the best.

2011-07-27T00:44:00.001-07:00

Music on the moon

2011-07-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Sweating in LA

2011-07-19T21:30:00.001-07:00

Back home at last and back to work. Big things on the horizon!... some to be revealed in the near future.

In the meantime, interesting projects and sunny weather.

Good to be back in the studio.

Ritual reception

2011-07-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who came out yesterday in the 1000 degree heat. Such a nice (sweaty) evening with good beer and great people.

The show will be up until the end of August so if you didn't make it to the opening or you want to go back at some point you still have some time.

Just realized I was wearing the same shirt w/ glasses combo for the last 2 weeks (see Brutal Pyramid reception)... whoops.

Really fun night.

Show in Brooklyn tonight! 6pm-9pm!

2011-07-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

Causey Contemporary

Prickly wriggly fingers

2011-07-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

New piece for the Ritual show in Brooklyn! The opening is this Tuesday (July 12th). Come out and say hello!

For more show info click here or riiiiiiight here.

Brutal Pyramid opening

2011-07-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

Great turnout yesterday at the Aviary gallery. So nice to see so many familiar faces. Good people are the best.

Oh man...

Getting things all framed up

2011-06-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Spent the evening working with my friend Dan building frames in Boston. I'm glad I have friends who will help me with this stuff after they've worked all day on other things...

A few more to finish up tomorrow but we made some progress today.
Hell yeah.

Prepping for shows...

2011-06-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

...things are getting crowded!

Upcoming shows in NYC, Boston and LA!

2011-06-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

I have some shows coming up in Brooklyn, Boston and LA this July.

-Thursday, July 7th, Brutal Pyramid opens at the Aviary gallery in Jamaica Plain MA (48 south street). The show was curated by Dan Szymanowski and includes about 10 different artists.

-Tuesday July 12th, Ritual opens at the Causey Contemporary in Brooklyn NY (92 Wythe Avenue from 6pm to 9pm). This show is a group exhibition by the art collective Honeycomb, to which I belong. It will include roughly 25 artists from all over the world.

-Saturday July 16th I will have a piece up in the artist curated shows called Chain Letter at Samson Projects in Boston and the Shoshana Wayne Gallery in LA. There are nine Chain Letter shows that will be opening simultaneously around the world that same day.

Mark up your calendar!

Now back to work...

Nice and quiet.

2011-06-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

New projects!

2011-06-08T17:33:00.001-07:00

Flightless Buttress on June 18th

2011-06-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

These are so fun to draw, and Flightless Buttress is so dope.

Echorev

2011-06-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Echorev is a band I am working with out in here in LA. They just put up a website with a few tracks on it. Check them out (here)!

Arthur Henderson

2011-05-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

My man Arthur has a new website! Check it out! His work is great.
Here is a taste...

www.arthurhenderson.com

...yes...

2011-05-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

"My Love For You."

2011-05-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Meighan at "My love for you..." posted about the process of creating "Another electric nap". If you don't know her blog you are missing out, she is constantly interviewing artists, doing studio visits and generally posting items of interest. Worth a look for sure.

Here is a taste of what appears on "My love for you."... about me!

"I start sketching in pencil and map out a few things to get myself started, then go right in with ink. I generally mix some color into the ink so that, when watered down, I can play warm and cool tones off one-another to give the drawing a little more depth."

"Once I have the majority of the drawing done I block parts out and silkscreen dot patterns into the piece which pops certain elements out, push others back and add a little textural variation."

"The last step is always to get a little sloppy, "ruin it" a little bit in an attempt to imbue the work with some energy. I use large crappy brushs that I can't control as well to make more gestural lines and marks. I decided to add a little bit of airbrush too. Things weren't looking desperate enough but airbrush can fix that real quick."

There is more at "My love for you." Check it out here!

Another electric nap

2011-05-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

This piece was up on the wall of my studio "almost finished" for about a week and a half. It drove me a little crazy. Conceptually this piece is really a continuation of the last ("Untitled") and as it developed it took on a similar composition too. Strange how that happens.

I am excited about the new machines and have already started a companion piece to this one that will include some more of them. Hell yeah big robots.

Oh yeah, and I put up some detail shots on my website under the work section.

The back of my new drawing.

2011-05-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

I just finished silk screening into a new piece (hopefully it will be done today!) and found these drawings on the back as I was putting it back on the studio wall. I drew these a few months back and decided they were no good because they didn't feel like they were doing anything new and, as a result, felt disingenuous.

Progress

2011-05-20T10:35:00.001-07:00

Girl Scouts!!!!

2011-05-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday afternoon taking photos of a troupe of Girl Scouts. It was super fun and quite a change of pace from my usual solitary work in the studio. Kids are the greatest.

Monkey Rock LA!

2011-05-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

I will have a bunch of work up at Monkey Rock LA this coming thursday. If you are in LA or know anyone in LA or want to drive to LA please stop by. There will be live music, djs, a food truck and good company from 8:00pm on.

More info here.

Featured in Bliss Magazine!

2011-05-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

Really excited to be featured alongside KRK Ryden, Judith Supine and... Devo! Crazy.
Beautiful and flattering profile by artist/writer Cara Despain. If you don't know her work, well, fix that here. you won't regret it.

If you want to check out the rest of this months Bliss click... here!

And if you want to read about me just scroll down a bit.

Working from a self-described notion of ‘magical thinking’, Fionn McCabe’s illustrative, sprawling, graphic drawings denote a larger undertone: mythos. Mythos of American culture, desperation, the fantastic, and the collisions thereof. Informed by the practices of printmaking, painting, drawing, and the occasional sculpture, McCabe’s work is reactionary—he responds to his own life and experiences, and the lives of those around him by weaving an ongoing narrative loose enough to change constantly, but consistent enough to have repeating themes, characters, and identifiable elements that resonate through familiar struggles. Part of the familiarities are his contemporary and art-historical influences, and references to pop culture. Though much of his work can appear jubilant or humorous, his graphic novel-style ink drawings often also carry a darker gestalt. Like two sides of a classic comic book character, his works are at once elegant and surreal, and frightening; psychologically somehow true to life. Internal struggles—a sense of personal failure, mistrust, deflated expectations, social pressures and anxieties—are crouched just beneath the tense surfaces that, while playful, are also often costumes for a painful interior.

Technically, his adroit handling of line and material is made evident is his usually large-scale pieces. Accented with ink washes, printed elements, and the occasional (as of late) color swath. Much like the conceptual part of his practice, the drawings are a largely intuitive give and take process—the lines of unsuccessful attempts show like a furrowed brow and sometimes become an element that alludes to failure, or triumph. His prolific art making embraces both.

Often working in collaboration with other artists (the Oh Nancy art collective that he co-founded being his most significant) the Bostonian, recently relocated to Los Angeles, mails drawings back and forth to collaborators across the country. An extension of his own narrative and technical explorations, these collaborative works are also successful, and reveal his ability to riff off of and respond to the practice of others. McCabe has shown extensively on the east coast, and in various cities throughout the US. He will be showing at Causey Contemporary in Brooklyn, NY in July.

-Cara Despain, Bliss Magazine, May 2011

"Untitled"

2011-04-28T13:48:00.001-07:00

I kind of wanted to call this piece "The son of dad" or "The son of parents" but decided against both because they are misleading. This piece is not about my parents. I was thinking mostly of how popular graffiti is and the overwhelming "Art in the streets" show I saw at MOCA when I drew this. I suppose "The son of parents" might work, maybe. I dunno.

"Untitled" it is... for now.

Head

2011-04-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

Oh my god, I can't stop.

2011-04-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Haha, I have been doing other things too I swear! But just to tide you over...

More detectives...

2011-04-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Old HB makes a great subject

2011-03-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Got home and spent the last working hour of my day drawing Humphrey Bogart. They don't all look like him and you don't get to see all of em, but these are the least terrible. Tonight I plan to enjoy The Big Sleep in honor of my self indulgence. I mean the movie, not that I'm going to die after this post.

New Flightless Buttress album!

2011-03-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of drawing the album cover for the Flightless Buttress album, Balances. It comes out on April first and you can get it online through their website HERE. This is their debut album and it promises to be amazing.

This is the original drawing that had a statue as well. I really like the statues face but it didn't work as a whole.

Flightless Buttress have also printed up some t-shirts featuring some of my work for their release party this Friday in Chinatown (Boston). If you are interested in purchasing one or attending the party, both of which would indicate that you are indeed a sane human being, you will find an address and contact info HERE.

A drawing in Tel Aviv

2011-03-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

On my last day in Israel I had a few hours free at my wife's Aunt and Uncles place (my...Aunt and Uncle once removed?) in Tel Aviv. They had a beautiful apartment that overlooked a park. My own apartment doesn't have a porch but I took advantage of theirs.

William Kentridge

2011-03-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I drew this on the plane coming back from Israel yesterday. We had gone to the Jerusalem Museum and seen an exhibition of William Kentridge's work that was really amazing. One piece in particular, from the film "Monument", really struck me and I couldn't help playing with the composition a little. I can't wait to make a big one.

This is the Kentridge drawing I was thinking of.

I like his better.

A final glimpse at vacation, while on vacation.

2011-03-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

Still stuck on vacation

2011-03-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Having just moved to LA, nice weather in the winter is still a real novelty. In the future I will long for cold I'm sure. Until then, I get to wear my jacket and freeze only in my imagination. Or on paper. Or if I went into a walk in freezer, that would work too.

Vacation in color! Who would want it any other way?

2011-03-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Alopecia video 1

2011-03-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

I turned the first part of the Alopecia story into a short video. I hope you watch it and I hope you like it. Part two is coming, it just takes time! Relax! Watch this video... relax...

A small skeleton

2011-03-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

Flightless Buttress at the Burren

2011-02-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

What's For Lunch Yo!

2011-02-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

Artist Courtney Moy has a new blog! Courtney's work is really fun and she's obsessed with food. She combines silkscreen and other print media with quirky realist (is that a thing?) painting. Lots of color and underneath the delight her work brings there are some seedy and depressing truths. Check out her blog by clicking HERE!!!!! If you are not convinced by my awesome writeup, let this wet your appetite.

"Evacuation Day (to all my homies who live in Suffolk County!)"

"Fourth of July"

"New Years"

Unsolicited - Beautiful Decay

2011-02-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

This is the third installment of an ongoing silkscreen poster project. This one is a four color. If you are not familiar with Beautiful Decay, click here.