A Few New Things

Posted on August 11, 2009 by Nik Dudukovic

This is a bit overdue, I’ve been holed up for the past few weeks finishing some pieces and starting some new ones. I bought a really nice chair too, which makes sitting for long periods of time more bearable and taking breaks less forgivable, so I’ll jam a lot of little things in this entry. Before I forget, my website is up for renewal by October 18th, but for some reason Mediatemple locked me out of my email account 2 months early. So if anyone has sent me an email to nik@pilot5.com, don’t feel hurt if I don’t reply for a while. I just can’t afford to renew the site right this second, but send any info to nik.pilot5@gmail.com if you need to. If it makes anyone feel better, I’m a bit scared of how much junk mail will be waiting for me (it doesn’t sound horrible, but that account is really shitty and doesn’t have any junk filters. I don’t want friggin Heremes scarves or Franck Muller watches or Acai berry boner pills, damn). Also, I will upload a sample portfolio to pilot5.com this week, I just haven’t been online too much lately.

With that said, Moniker Designs in Montreal has included one of my paintings in their Summer/Fall 09 t-shirt line. It’s the piece of the 2 sloths holding hands after fighting with each other (the current splash page on pilot5.com). It’s a limited run of 30 shirts and they’re availabe for sale in their online store:

Moniker T-Shirt

They did a really good job and were nice enough to send me a few samples. I’ll post photos of all this stuff below.

Last Sunday, The Pilot Project launched issue 5 of their pocket book at Mercer Union in Toronto. It’s a literary book of short stories and poetry that is now being published bi-annually I think. Lee and Reuben are really good guys and anyone that is interested in contributing work to the next book should get in touch with them, because they are always really eager to work with new artists. I don’t know if that made sense, but basically each writer is paired up with an artist who illustrates a cover page and an insert for their story, as well as a portrait of the writer. The Pilot Project also publishes small portfolios of artists that they like, as well as a mail-art project that they send out with subscriptions, where they include 4×6 inch lithographs and screenprints of work that they’ve published.

Pilot Project
Pilot Project mail-art

I was commissioned by Circa nightclub to put together an 8×80 foot digital wrap for their main hallway, which should be finished sometime in the fall. It’s kind of sweet because my work will be the first thing that girls in miniskirts see once they’ve been admitted into the venue and are skipping down the hall, holding hands and stuff (which is pretty much the reason that I draw at all). I’ve been working on some more client stuff as well, but I can’t really talk about it right now (because of contract obligations, but mainly because the thought of all the loose ends that still need to be tied up makes me want to smoke even more. I’m already up to 2 cigarettes per break, 10-12 breaks a day).

I’ve been finishing up a few larger sculpture-faces that will be ready in time for the show. Well, they’re actually just die-cut pieces of MDF painted superflat with ink and acrylic. It’s been going well and they have made me realize that I like transcribing elements of the drawings into 3D, and also that I hate white paint. It’s transparent. I don’t get it. That shit never covers anything properly.

Amanda Nedham and I will be working on a collaborative drawing for my show, as well as one for hers in October. Her work is great and can be seen in the current group show at Le Gallery. Nick Di Genova’s butterfly drawing is also in this show and it has to be seen to be believed. Also, my show has been pushed back a bit, as I’m sure some people have noticed (or listenend to me moan about). It was originally going to open in June, then July, then September, and now the date is set for early October. Hopefully there are no more delays with booking and it opens while the grass is still visible.

I’ll be doing a piece for Manifesto’s upcoming show in the fall as well. They threw a really good show at the Burroughes Building last September and it seems like this one will be even bigger and better. Steve Ferrara and Devon Ostrom (and the 300+ Manifesto volunteers) have been busting their butts and everyone should buy them a beer on opening night. There are some really good artists on board, including Adam Hilborn who had a show at the Barbershop Gallery last month. He draws pipes really well.

Tim McCready finished putting together all 250 copies of the Dreamachzine (which is more of a treasure trove of stories and illustrations than just another zine). I’m not exactly sure how many contributors it showcases, but I think it’s at least 100. He invited people to submit stories of recurring dreams they have had, and then found artists to illustrate them. I didn’t get around to grabbing a copy from Tim yet, but I heard it looks amazing, so here’s a link to some small promo pics:

Dreamachzine Cover
Dreamachzine Contents 1
Dreamachzine Contents 2

I met with Daniel Barber this past week to start mock-ups of a short animation we’re working on together. It is an animation of a sculpture that will be in the show, and it will be shown alongside it. We did some motion tests and some renderings yesterday, and they look really really good. I feel like Gepetto, seeing my child come to live and dance before my eyes. We made him dance quite a bit. He’s really good at doing the Harlem shuffle here. I also met with my friend Julian, who’s in a band called Olympian. They’re incredibly good and will be playing a 2-man instrumental set at the show. It’s really good stuff. Just bass and drums. Not drum and bass.

Also, if anyone knows where I could pick up pre-made wooden cones and cylinders, let me know because it would save me a lot of running around. Making them from scratch would be simple, but I don’t have access to a lathe and the idea of walking back into my middle school and using theirs makes my palms cold and clammy.

Naptime.