Creative Monster

CHALLENGES

Posts in DIY
Jamón Carving Stand

In mid-February, I traded a good friend of mine an empty parking space at my home in Barcelona for a leg of Jamón Iberico Bellota Pata Negra. Of course, this meant that I needed a carving stand in order to properly enjoy this glorious pillar of food porn.

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The Wash

Once upon a summertime in Berlin, I found a very large canvas on the side of the road, tagged with graffiti. It was still in good shape, so I placed it on the pedal of my bike, took it home, gesso’d and reinforced it. I wasn’t really sure what, but decided I’d paint something on it… eventually. Then, three years and 2000 kilometers later, I finally did.

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L'INGORDIGIA

Wandering through a random ancient alleyway in Florence in 2015, I discovered a very large piece of street art. After five years, I finally uncovered the original artist(s) and collaborated with them to digitize this black and white paste-up and turn it into a massive chenille back-patch.

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The Creative Monster: A Memoir (Preparation)

For almost twenty years, I have been compiling thoughts, entries, doodles, photos, art, conversations, stories, dreams, rants, events, travels, anecdotes, advice, observations and commentary about everything in my life. After transcribing more than 1000 pages, I’m now shaping this work into a formative memoir, separated into four (or five?) books.

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WeWork Creator Awards 2018 Application Video: DANKOMADE

I compiled a 90-second video about DANKOMADE as part of a 2018 WeWork Creator Awards application.

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The Bar Cart

This simple structure has since become a revered addition to our living room, and gladly accepts, stores and dispenses almost all of our household hooch.

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The Berlin Wall Costume

A symbol of both oppression and freedom, The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, unifying East and West Berlin. Monuments and memorials draw hundreds of thousands each year to view the remains of this solemn reminder, whose message has become even more important as the Western political atmosphere echoes it's affects. Clever Halloween costume satire was, thus, inevitable. 

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The Monster Easel

One day in May, I decided that I should resume painting. I visited some art shops in Berlin; it seemed to me that all of the models I found were either too flimsy or lacked panache. Thus, I took reference photos and began to plan and construct my own extra large, customized, rolling, adjustable, stable art easel.

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CUSTOM RECLAIMED PIPE & BOARD WARDROBE

'Reclaimed,' 'found,' 'repurposed,' 'recycled,' 'salvaged' or just plain 'stolen,' some of my favourite furnishings have been made with shit I've either found or lifted from various places. It was this scavenger craftsman impulse that lead me to imagine and eventually construct a customized pipe and board open wardrobe. 

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Sloth Costume

I've been entertaining the concept of a man-sized sloth costume for about five years... and, on the best night of 2015, I finally realized it.

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SCHIFFER

Earlier this year, I bought a new bicycle from a man in Kreuzberg over E-bay Kleinanzeigen here in Berlin. A beaten up old men's three-speed German Veteran model, the black frame remained solid, and the 28" diameter wheels and elevated seat suited my own dimensions. It was dirty, dented, and it rattled, but I knew we'd get along. 

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FOOT

...I discovered two anatomical sculptures made from white clay by an Italian medical professor in the early 20th century. Muscular studies, one was a life-sized extended human arm, lacking skin or fascia textures to allow an understanding of the muscle groups and bone structures hidden inside our bodies. The other piece was a slightly enlarged human foot, Roman in style and no less accurate. I wanted to purchase them both of course, but decided otherwise after eyeing the respective price tags... especially as I estimated that I could very likely sculpt these myself.

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Lycanthrope & Jackalope Costumes

This year, after considering various concepts and ideas, Cor and I decided to go as Mythological Taxidermy: Cor as the beloved Jackalope (a jack rabbit with antlers), and me as a Lycanthrope (a shapeshifter; in this case, a sort of werewolf-troll-ogre-man-thing).

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WEDDING OFFICIATE

If any couple ever asks you to marry them, 

DO IT. 

 

Shed whatever stage fright you might have, ignore the paranoia that you'll somehow ruin the day, find your cadence, have a shot, speak clearly and own that shit. It's worth spending the money, taking the time, traveling half way across the world and realizing, because hey -- how many times does that kind of opportunity arise? 

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