re: too much horror business........

Hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

todays image was brought to you by satan! hahaha. kidding. but another in way, it was, haha, so what i mean is there are two different versions of the same one. i like the second one more. 

and, last night i picked up "Too Much Horror Business," the book by Kirk Hammett of Metallica fame and his horror movie collection of toys and posters. How cool is that? Mr. Hammett is one of, if not my all time favourite lead guitarist in metal. He's inspired generations and probably thousands, if not tens of thousands of kids to pick up the guitar and try to change their lives by becoming a musician, or at least a decent guitarist! haha. 

thanks to his success in Metallica, he was able to indulge in his passion for the business of Horror, and what a collection it is!! this book is hard bound and beautifully done, showcasing not just one man's obsession, but through his collecting, he's actually saved 90 years of posters, props and toys! he talks about the stone lithography process they used to do for the posters way back in the day. he knows about archiving props, books, scripts and posters and the care they need to be appreciated. he is no different from any other art collector, it's just his fascination is in the macabre. there is nothing wrong with that in my books. haha. 

plus there are three great interviews throughout the book, where he talks about growing up in the 1960's and 70's in San Francisco and the Haight Ashbury scene, how it affected popular culture as well as his parents and family. heady times to be there for sure. it's fun to read about personal accounts from back then. as for myself, I grew up in the 1970's on the run with my under age mother, living in hotels, abusive stepfathers and redneck towns across western Canada. not even close to San Francisco, but, i did watch a lot of television during those rocky times and saw a lot of horror movies, many of which are listed in this book. thankfully he doesn't wax poetic or attempt to "intellectualize" his collection, he just simply states this was something he wanted to share and do instead of it sitting in a storage box somewhere. i'd love to see this show tour!!

anyway, it's a great read and the artwork in the posters, props and toys are inspiring, since i'm already on a bit of a strange, macabre scary trip this year in my artwork. i've spent so much time, effort and energy in "serious" artwork and films, that it's really nice to take a break and do something fun creatively and not have to be soooooo serious all the time with my art. because we all know serious people can be a bit of "bring down." haha. that ain't me. so check out the book and enjoy 90 years of horror business!!!!!

nice guitar!

looks like it was done by Mark Ryden!

Now that's a book launch!!

awesome mask collection!!!

until next time lovers,

cb.

re: marvin strange......

hello winners, sinners, lovers and leavers,

i bring you another collaborative image i worked on in conjunction with marvin strange. the man is a brilliant artist and can make monsters, machines, demons and angels.

we will be participating in an exhibition this summer at the Arnica Artist Run Centre in Kamloops, BC.

keep you posted.

until next time lovers,

cb

re: the martyr.......

hello winners and sinners, lovers and leavers,

hope all is well in your world. i'm doing fine in mine. i bring you the martyr.

throughout history there have been innumerable martyrs. for a cause. for politics. for a system. for love.

i'm really stoked on this series of cards that i've started by pure fluke accident. it's been great fun again to make art. and i'm working on a series of limited edition vinyl toys that will be coming out soon. each one, a one of a kind work of art.

keep you posted!

until next time lovers,


cb

re: marvin strange.....

hello friends, fans, foe, lovers, leavers, winners and sinners,

above is a collaborative artwork. the skull is a photograph from fellow kamloops artist Marvin Strange. we have an exhibition together this year at the Arnica Artist Run Centre. he has a very, very cool website. it's the kind of website i actually wanted, but when i first saw, i wasn't jealous, i was impressed and felt no ill will towards this strange man. as you go through the website, change the channels and click on the image to make them larger. i know it seems like common sense, but we do live in a world where common sense is regarded as pure genius.

click on the link to go to his website: http://marvinstrange.com/

a screenshot of his website.

do check out his website and read his strange story and buy some of his art. it's from another world. literally. he even can make you custom game controllers. his work is both sculpture and machine. a post-apocalyptic hybrid demon bringer, this guy is is definitely strange. help adjust your own reality and check out his work. 

stay tuned for some more collaborative images, if you are interested in purchasing any images, email me  and i'll send you the info for the wire transfers to my swiss bank account in zurich. you will then receive instructions on where you may receive your artwork. passwords, safe words and directions.

until next time lovers,

cb

re: Lilith 2.0

hello friends, foe, lovers, leavers, sinners and winners,

i bring you Lilith. it seems, every artist does something with this lovely lady.

go online and find out why she's so inspiring.

until next time lovers,

cb

re: cards and cards baby......

Hello winners, sinners, lovers and leavers,

one more card for you.

making these cards, i've noticed a definite increase in weird, paranormal activity in my apartment. lights turn on or off, things go bump in the night, my laptop will open when i close it, or close when i open it, stuff like that.....meh. maybe i'm imagining it.

on another note, i've been trying to listen to the last Baroness album, "Yellow and Green," and i can't get into it. it just sounds like they're trying so hard to sell out while maintaining integrity. i mean, the last Motorhead album is way better, in fact, the last decade of Motorhead albums are kick ass, but of course, they didn't get put into people's top albums of 2012? why? hype. trends. clique. and hipsters make lists. haha. kidding. also, i'm not a fan of music in any sort of major key, or chords. bring on the dark chords from the dark lords........haha.

my film "Jesus Coyote TeeVee," which no one gets the allusion of "Teepee" with "Teevee" for fcuks sakes, but anyway, that film will be screening in Victoria this weekend as part of some big doohoo, so find out where by checking posters or contacting the museum of anthropology or whatever it is and go check it oooooot!!!!


all the bets,


cb

re: beelzebub.......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

a lovely image to get you excited.

enjoy.

cb

re: the beast......

hallo friends, fans, foe, lovers, leavers, sinners and winners,

some more new art for you. i think this tarot card thing will work out. interestingly, when i was working on this particular piece, my cousin was over for a visit, and during a break, we both saw a pair of sunglasses move on my table. we were chatting about something and my shades moved in between us about 45 degrees by themselves. he said "someone is here right now!" and looked spooked. he's a big guy and i could see he was spooked. i told him that shit happens all the time. haha. 

within 15 minutes he left. spooked.

anyway, i've been living here almost three years and all is well. hope things are well in your world, until next time lovers,

cb

ps: i'm posting different images between here and my facebook page "chris bose artist" because i can. and i want to keep people intrigued. or whatever clever word i should be using. 

re: this is my dedication......

hello fiends, fans, foe, lovers, haters, winners and sinners,

hope your journey through this strange life is boding well for you. it's 5:30 in the morning and i've been up for about half an hour. hitting my second cup of coffee and listening to the "Cancer Bats." you know it's going to be a good day when you wake up and want strong java and heavy metal. haha.

anyways, all my life i've been pushing buttons, pushing people too far, pushing life too far, and pushing boundaries further and further. it's done me right. not all the time, but the positive far outweigh the negative, so onward and upward. must keep making art and music and writing and new films. i've come to the conclusion that not all people are made for this particular road i'm on and i shouldn't be so damn enthusiastic to try to get them on it. trailblazing ain't easy.

the road beckons and sometimes as much as i hate being away, when i'm home too long i start to get a little crazy. haha. you miss home when you're gone and you miss the road when you're home. it's some weird malady that has no cure. perhaps this is the bug, the gene, the crave that drove humanity to expand it's boundaries and knowledge. usually i'm not back on the road until march sometime, but i've got a few gigs already lined up so i'm going to hit it. in this business, you don't make money sitting around at home. hustle up baby. 

This is a sign from the road, you know you think you've made it when you're teaching what you love to do and it's being accepted by mainstream society. haha! 

Looking North close to my house, here in Kamloops, BC. 

Looking South, and across town from my place.

I've been through a lot in my life, and survive hell, heaven and everything in between, day in and day out. finally making peace with a lot of things and moving on, life is short and precious and i need to get a lot done. 

Nice shot eh?

Oh, and i met this smoking hot chick. 

Well lovers, until next time, dig in and enjoy! The road beckons and i'm gonna hit it! 

cheers,

cb

re: new art new card new inspiration.....

hello lovers, sinners, winners, losers and lickers,

hope all is well in your world. i'm reinvigorated. i'm alive. i feel good. 

there is something liberating in creating art in such a small space, 3 x 5 inches, instead of the massive panoramas i've been working on the past few years. it is really exciting and fun for me to create new work and it's a great start to the new year. 

stay tuned, i'll keep posting stuff every day.

all the beasts,

cb

re: golden tanks

hello sinners, winners, losers and lovers,

i hope you enjoy the new look of my blog. i suddenly realized it's been the same for years and years, which was kind of stale. so, tonight, i sat down and spent some time working on it. i think it looks a little more lively don't you?

anyways, i've been quite busy making new art and booking gigs for this year.

tonight's masterpiece was created listening to two very different songs, first the "Cancer Bats" opening song from their album "Birthing the Giant," is a track called "Golden Tanks." i have no idea what it means, but i just got the vinyl of that album and have been enjoying it immensely.

and the track i've been listening to over and over

and over again is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30h918HhybM

then, on the other side of the tracks

i've been listening to this song a lot today

by opeth, a track from their album

"Watershed."

the  song is called "Coil," and although this

particular video sucks, it's live.

i once lived in sweden.

it's hard to imagine now. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJvUbcC79A

anyway, these are two songs i listened

to a lot today as i worked on art

and spent time with my son. 

it was a great day.

adios.

cb.

re: too much horror business...

Hell-o, friends, fans, foe, lovers and leavers,

it's 2 a.m. and i cannot sleep. i think i fell asleep quite early, say around 10:30, and whenever that happens, i usually wake up and start doing art. 

anyway, back to the card set i'm working on. it wasn't planned. but they are card shaped and will be more or less about the macabre, the occult influences, and just plain weird. hahaha. 

i'll figure out what to do with them in a bit. but here's three variations on a theme i worked on the past few days for one such card.

dig the creative process. i really wanted to use the gothic, vampire/zombie girl in one. plus the cat's eye, long an omen and they say the cat is one of the animals that inhabits the spirit world and the present one. a guardian perhaps? 

well, here you go.

until next time lovers,

cb

re: card tricks.....

Greetings, 

friends, foe, family, winners, sinners, lovers and leavers,

i've decided to embark on a quest, to create and complete a deck 

of cards, occult based, for the hell of it. 

ever since i was a child, i remember being fascinated by all the vintage

memorabilia at one of my aunt's house. her and her husband, blair, were 

definitely strange, and their house was filled with strange books, antiques

old circus posters, old magic posters and books and one of those old

pedal pianos that you loaded with these perforated scrolls and worked the pedals

and it would play whatever song was loaded on the scroll. 

i would spend hours snooping through and reading books, hiding in the cool basement

while the scorching sun baked away everyone outside, and i knew where the hiding

spots were. harry houdini was the first magician i read about, and it went on 

from there. 

so, a lifelong journey into the art world started perhaps back then? who knows?

all i can say is i feel blessed or cursed to be on this path and perhaps a bit of both?

as leonard cohen once said, "it is a path both infinitely wide and without direction."

well said.

on another note, i'm enjoying a sober course of life more than i could have expected

and my productivity is going through the roof. i could attribute this newfound zeal

for creativity and life because i've finally got some decent music gear that i can play

decent guitars, decently loud through damn decent amplifiers. it's very cathartic. as well,

i'm playing guitar at least 2 hours a day, on top of everything else it takes to build an empire.

it feels shockingly good to wake up quite early in the morning and seize the day by the throat.

and start working on art immediately, coffee cycles, my communication cycles with people,

galleries, friends, and so forth. booking gigs, looking for new things online. being reinvigorated

and inspired. this seems to be an auspicious and suspiciously good start to a new year that ends

with the numbers 13. lucky 13 perhaps?

anyways, enjoy the first of a series of cards i'll be working on for the foreseeable future.

until next time lovers,

cb

re: and done, this piece. haha.

hello winners, sinners, lovers and beautiful losers,

this piece is done. for now. i've kind of lost the plot on it. there's some energy around art and working on something. if you don't see it through, the magic gets lost. maybe that's why i have embraced digital art so much. for a decade, more than a decade i was a frustrated artist. i would paint in oils, watercolours, pastels, acrylic, i mean, you name it. i worked with it for years.

i mean, i've been making art since high school, and that was a long damn time ago. but then in 2008, i started messing around with photoshop. i had a mentor who had showed me how to use final cut studio, and so with those same skills, i began to messily sort out photoshop and begin rudimentary digital artworks. of course, my main inspiration has been ground breaking comic artist, novelist, and filmmaker Dave McKean. his work was transcendental. it was trippy. it was surreal. it was awesomely weird. of the hundreds of works i've done, only some, very few are barely even worthy of comparison to his works.

there are barriers i need to break through psychologically to get to that level, and i haven't yet, because of some restraints in my own psyche. anyway, enjoy this piece and i hope it gives you a preview into my creative process. thanks for coming, i promise more art and more crazy art hopefully.

cheers,


cb

re: many directions.

hello winners, sinners, lovers and leavers,

art is so strange, the piece above is slowly being created, and is taking different turns every time i open and begin working on it. i've actually done a few other pieces in the meantime. my original purpose was to a show a step-by-step version of my creative process and it's weird and stilted. you kind of lose the vibe when you do that, and basically have to start fresh every time. i might sneak and finish it and the slowly reveal it. we'll see how it goes.

until next time lovers,


cb

re: please stand by.......close by.......

hello winners, sinners, losers and lovers,

i'm exhausted. today was back to back workshops, first with young kids, then after 3 hours of that, i had to go across town to do a workshop with teenagers. in graffiti no less. then, getting home and cleaning up my house. which was a mess from last night, when my cousin showed up for some birthday celebrations. it was fun. but i had to clean up the kitchen and stuff.

anyway, stay tuned, i'm going to have a nap and get back to work, finishing that piece i started a few days ago.

thanks for coming!!

cb

re: before and after......

greetings friends, foe, sinners, winners, losers and lovers,

below are 2 images, pre and post photoshop. it is an amazing toolbox. i love it and learn something all the time working with it. i took these images on a cold winter walk, after starting to get cabin fever. it's easy for me to lose days, working inside, probably the same for everyone. 

something has changed, i'm feeling better and am getting more and more productive. as though i've internally made peace with something. anyway, i'll keep on keepin' on and hope you do too!

cheers,

cb

 

re: living dead girl.....

hello lovers, leavers, winners and sinners,

it's so strange and interesting a piece of art can change. when i started this piece, i had a definite idea of what i wanted, now i'm not so sure. we'll see what happens.

until next time, stay dangerous,


cb

re: new idea......

hello sinners, winners, lovers and leavers,

i'm going to try an experiment, in that i'll post one image a day for the next week or so, that demonstrates the development of one of my images/artwork.

this is step one.

cheers,


cb

re: the onondaga madonna......

hello winners, sinners, lovers and leavers,

given what's going on in NDN country, the Idle No More phenomenon, and the seething undertow of rage, i thought i'd let this image resurface. people have been asking me, "why aren't i doing more for the cause." which kind of pisses me off. i've been doing protest art and writing for nearly 20 years. why should i jump on a bandwagon? Besides, i always tell people, being born native is being born an activist, because, as i've said before, you have to justify yourself and your people to white people every day the rest of your life.

back in the 1970's, canada was so racist, that i would get beaten up every day, in every school i ever went to, by racist little shits. and not one or two kids, it would be a group of kids beating me up every single day. saying shit like, "You dirty indian, go back to your rez, you stinking indian, you stupid indian, you think you can go to school like us? Where's your chief now? hahahah!!!" and all sorts of other evil, racist slurs i heard every single day growing up. it all stopped in 1979, when we moved from the prairies to vancouver, british columbia. but the prairies were fucking racist and still are today. i was in regina, saskatchewan last year, and to me, it felt like kamloops in the 1980's. i still get treated shitty today. i'll go shopping, and the white people in front of me will get chatted to, asked lots of questions, and then when it's my turn, nothing. strictly business. so fuck you canada.

and in some ways, i wonder if it all started with duncan campbell scott. he was a racist piece of garbage and the deputy superintendent of indian affairs from 1913 to 1932. everything he did that time was to exterminate us. he wrote the "onondaga madonna" and put into law, the residential school system,  and strangely, was considered one of canada confederate poets. sometimes i wonder if they meant that in a southern kind of way! haha.

anyway, read the letter above, it's only one of thousands of memos he wrote that basically created institutional racism. canada, once they knew our traplines, what to hunt, what could grow, and how to survive without our help in opening up this vast country, basically threw us to the gutter. creating "round the fort" indians and the mentality of the handout. nothing has changed since, except we're getting educated and worldly. something that was repressed for over a century. imagine beating and verbally abusing someone for over a century and expecting them to function normally in society. and not only beating them up for that length of time, but telling everyone who watched, that we deserved it, and that they should either help, or get back and not get involved.

then create laws that enshrine these values and create land prisons where we can't leave or own anything of value, or sell anything of value until the early 1960's. and take away all the children for a century and put them through cultural meat grinders that strip them away of language, culture, dignity and family, then shove them back to the street upon graduation and expect them to act civil and integrate normally into society. imagine that happening to your children and your family for a century and then expect everything to be fine.

imagine being a child of two parents who went through that nightmare called the residential school, and probably being conceived in one, because your mother got kicked out at the age of 16 for being pregnant with you. imagine growing up a life on the run, seeing nothing but alcoholism and brutal violence and physical and mental abuse the first ten years of your life and then being told to try to act normal and to smile and say nothing is wrong, it's alright, the rest of your adult life. imagine becoming a parent and struggling to overcome so many negative things in your life and to be a good dad, even though you never had one, and have little parent skills but doing the best you can and struggling to learn as fast as your children. imagine that. now, can you imagine why so many other natives are pissed off in canada and are finally uniting?

can you?

cb

re: oopsy!

hello lovers, winners, sinners, and so on,

i forgot to post yesterday damnit!

it was a hectic day. i meant to post, but worked hard, went to bed early, and woke up in the middle of the night, and here you go. i'll do posts today!

all the bets,


cb

re: alternate titles.

hello winners, sinners, losers and lovers,

just thought i'd show you an alternate version of the "Idle No More" image i made as a creative contribution to the phenomenon.

it is amazing the power of text. look at the one with the Duncan Campbell Scott text and the Jacques Cartier text. Such a difference!!!

which is why i went with the DC Scott one. the impact is brutal.

until next time lovers,


cb

re: one more.......

hello friends, fans, sinners, winners, lovers and leavers,

i've decided to do one more image for the whole "Idle No More" phenomenon. it's of Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent for Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932. Everything that man did during those years affects Native and Non-Native people in Canada. He practically invented institutional racism, the Residential School system and Apartheid. Nice. So much for Canada's neutral history.

Anyway, i'd rant more against him but i have to get ready for the day, all the beast to you.


CB

re: idle no more........indeed.........

hello winners, sinners, lovers, leavers and the like,

so, after a couple weeks of watching this whole "Idle No More" phenomenon, many friends were asking me why i was sitting on my hands and not vocalizing or doing anything. Well, I've actually been protesting my whole life, starting in elementary school and getting into fights because i was the only native kid in a public elementary school in small towns in the prairies. I remember it getting so bad that one day I brought my hockey stick to school and nearly took a kids out because I couldn't take anymore of the beatings. It wasn't just one kid fighting me, it was 7 or 9 kids stomping on me. Yelling racial slurs, "Go back to your reservation, you dirty Indian!" It was horrible growing up there, in the prairies, no one was my friend, and I spent a lot of time alone at home. My mom was quite young and still partying and there was much violence and racism growing up. I have seen many horrible things in my lifetime.

But, let me remind you this was elementary school in the 1970's. I was only 7 years old, maybe 8 at most.

I've often told people being born Native in Canada is being born an activist, because from the day you are born until the day you die, you will be justifying your very existence to people every day. SO, after mulling things over for a couple weeks, I finally realized this "Idle No More" movement is bigger than Chief Spence, it is starting to really represent over a hundred years of injustice, abuse, racism, ignorance and poverty and lies hidden from the rest of Canada finally coming to the surface in a big way.

Here is my creative response to it, and feel free to share:

and another note, 

below is my last self-published book

"Dime Store Indians & Other Tales."

I published it in 1999

and sold a few hundred copies.

It is 68 pages of brutal, vitriolic poetry

about current state

of being an Aboriginal person

in this country.

And finally, check this video out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlkuRCXdu5A

yeah New Brunswick, what are you doing

with that $8 billion huh? 

haha! awesome!

So, there you have it. My thoughts and opinion on the Idle No More movement.

adios,

CB