re: the most indian art ever part 1

hello lovers,

recently i was in a couple galleries showing some of my art and they flat out said "that's not indian art," and,"that's not indian enough." hahahahaha.

so i decided to work on some new art and call it the most indian art ever series! all cliches, stereotypes and what have ye are on!

here is part one.

enjoy,

cb.

re: perspective.....

Hello lovers,

i'm contemplating a lot of big decisions in life, getting my teacher certification, pursuing a Master's in Fine Arts, all manner of large decisions.....

the problem i see with pursuing an MFA in the arts, when you're young, as in under 40, is because you become institutionalized and your art weakens and gets more mainstream and palpable, and acceptable to society. you haven't formed a body of work to pull from and you haven't lived enough to even do so. i believe a person needs to live before having authority and influence upon others.

it's all aboot perspective i guess?

anyway. just a thought. haha.

until next time,

cb

re: new mural images!!!!

Hello Lovers,

it's been awhile and i apologize, i've been busy working on a variety of projects and life in general. here are some images from a mural i did with several TREC youth at a building called the "Emerald Centre," here in Kamloops, BC. It's an emergency shelter for men and women and they wanted something positive, with roots, balance, and vibrant and bright.

Legal walls and murals are a strange beast in this town, to get this project off the ground from concept to completion took over three months. the actual work on the mural took 10 days. weird eh?
But at least we did it and it was great fun, and the first time i've ever worked with a crew of all boys, or teenage boys.

so, here are some images for you!!!

cheers,


cb.

re: new video poem for the book "Stone the Crow."

Hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

here's a new video poem called "Tonight," on page 30 in my book "Stone the Crow," published by Kegedonce Press. I hope you enjoy it, it's meant more as a visualizer video, with water from the Thompson river flowing beneath the now gone bridge in Spences Bridge, BC.

I wrote the music a week or so ago and thought it fit the water theme perfect, so here you go, enjoy!

until next time,


Chris Bose.
ps: this is my 17th video poem!

video link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ype_lk1xpRE&index=1&list=PLrLZoyxEG0csuYFVXscOZ8mtjpQyKsjYy

re: new song, and video poem

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

here's a new video poem from my book "Stone the Crow," published by Kegedonce Press in 2009. check it out and support aboriginal literature by going and picking up a copy of the book or ordering it online, you'll love it!!!

enjoy the video and i'll keep them coming!

cheers,


chris bose.

 

video link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=137&v=sPv3A1jMSUw 

re: mountain song......

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i've made another new music video, i'm on a roll, this one features electric guitar and is more ambient and dark, or perhaps it is peppy and upbeat?!

either way, have a listen and feel free to comment or share or whatever, thanks for dropping by,

cheers,


chris bose.

 

video link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h0mrOsxEXM 

re: shut up and play yer guitar

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i was asked to do a "beginner" guitar video, so here's what i came up with, actually it was like ten minutes long and kind of cheesy, so i cut the cheese and shortened the video down to 3:37. haha. cut the cheese. fart jokes never get old.

anyway, i might do some more beginner guitar videos, i get asked to do them now and then and they're fun to do. we'll see what happens.

until next time lovers,

cb

 

the guitar video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hn1QeYqZD8&feature=youtu.be 

re: heading home....

hello friends, fan, foe and lovers,

here's my new song and video, called "heading home," a music video about well, heading home. haha. i spent a lot of time this past summer in spences bridge on the rez, on my mum's side of the family. it was pretty cool to get to know people back home and hang out with my mum, i haven't done that in years. there was a healing element to it i think because i feel pretty good and grounded, and ready for the future and what lies ahead.

so, enjoy and until next time,


chris bose.

re: sunrise

Hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

it's sept 6, 7:10 am and i'm greeting another sunrise, which is a miracle and i'm happy to be alive. it's been a hell of a journey and sometimes a slog, but ultimately it's been pretty damn amazing. i am feeling much healthier and better these days, going to bed early, getting up earlier, photographing and filming some really awesome sunrises. goodbye summer, you evil wretch! hahaha

the song i am listening to as i write this and first thing i heard this morning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Pr6lTVTxs

anyway, the mornings in september are cooler in kamloops, and i love the first signs of fall after a scorching hot desert summer. the sun is evil now, hotter, meaner and burns you up fast than when i was a kid growing up here. i used the air conditioning this year for the first time since 2011 and loved it. i'm getting older, haha, and summers and winters to me are now "meh." i live for spring and fall, and if i could find a place to live where the weather is like that year round, i'd move there. i'd find a reason to move there, wherever that may be.

i think i've been getting down on myself lately because of the sheer exhaustion being on the road for so long, ten years in fact, and it felt like it was without end, and because i succumbed to being the non-stop party machine to cope with being away from my kids all the time that when i came back home, it ultimately resulted in crashing down in the dumps. self-sabotage, depression, anxiety and all matter of maladies can occur when you surrender. grounding yourself can take a long time from such highs of touring and fancy hotels, cars, and traveling by jet from place to place, and all the accomplishments, dreams coming true, where people are happy to see you and fun times never seem to end and then KABOOM!!!! back to the reality of the small town where you come from. haha. smashing down actually, like a wall, oppressive and depressive. haha. and no one cares or understands what you've done or accomplished, or is even happy to see you.      d'oh.

being back home can become very lonely when you're support network is on the road and in cities across the country. coming back home can suck. maybe it's because you represent the freedom, hopes and dreams people lose when they have given up themselves? maybe? possibly? who knows, but i quit telling people years ago what i do on the road anyway, because i learned early on coming home excited from different places and adventures, people quickly tire of hearing of your fun and exploits far away in other cities. plus, they give you that look that says "fuck you, you lucky bastard! i don't want to hear about it!"

 

so, i tend to stay home when i get off the road and end up trying to get more gigs to get away from home and that icky feeling i get when i get home, and only end up isolating myself more when i'm off the road because no one seems to give a shit when i do show up anyways, hahaha. ah cruel world. and isolating yourself is generally not a good thing to do, so don't do it. and don't drink, that's not going to help you through the hard times, trust me on that one. hahaha. create a support network at home that's happy to see you and enjoys being around you, and not just because you're buying the drinks hahaha! do something healthy, productive and fun. believe me, you won't regret it, because doing what i've done only leads to madness.

but, i'm finally feeling grounded and feeling good about myself and life for the first time in a long time. i go to sleep sober, sometimes bored as hell, and wake up feeling refreshed and happy, almost at peace really. i'm trying to take each day as it comes and trying to recharge my batteries and reconstitute my health and my resolve. being an artist, musician, author, filmmaker or anything creative, there's an awful lot of pressure to constantly come up with something new and fresh and to keep ahead of the pack and stay relevant. people will take and take and take from you and give nothing back in return, except maybe empty promises, vague lies and shallow vows. for the first time in ten years i'm saying no to gigs, trying to stay home and make things happen in my community more than ever. it ain't easy. arts education is critical, because sure, on the road in places where there is that infrastructure already laid down, it's too easy, you show up, do your gig, get the smiles and applause and after the after party you wake up and then leave on another jet to the next sunny day.

in small towns, and back at home, there often isn't the infrastructure and people don't give a shit and think the arts are a waste of time and that's a challenge.

staying home has been good for me, extremely challenging to pay the bills and put food on the table, but worth it. i'm feeling good about life am starting to figure out the next steps creatively and in my life i need to take and not worrying about what anyone else thinks. keep your hope alive my friends, foe and until next time lovers,


chris bose.

re: acoustic guitar time........

hello friends, family, foe and lovers,

it's been awhile, i think i'm going through some inner turmoil, aka, midlife crisis. haha. i've spent the past ten years on the road, and lost more than i gained. it's not worth it to me anymore. i need to seriously re-evaluate my life goals. the future isn't lost, it's just sort out of focus, hahaha. don't get me wrong, i had my share of good times on the road, more than bad, but still, at the end of the day you have to weigh whether or not it was worth it. i'm contemplating life and accomplishments right now and sorting out what my next steps are in life.

hopefully all is going according to plan for you,


all the beast,


cb
ps: new video i made one morning this week, just to let you know i'm alive and kicking!!!

re: new poems

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

here is a new poem, i've begun working on a new series of writing that i may or may not publish some time down the road as a book. we'll see what happens. it is funnier poetry i think, mainly because i feel better and at peace with things in my life. or trying to at least, understand things in life and cosmos and to just let them be instead of trying to control them or be frustrated by them.

anyhow, here's a new poem for your consideration:

The party is over:

It hurts where I used to play

I’ve become invisible

To women of a variety

Of ages

As I let myself go

Here and there

Spilling out of my shirt

And sides

My orgasm sounds have become

My pissing sounds

Whereas a few years ago

I was enjoying the field

Now I enjoy watching

Marathon episodes

Of new comedies or

Action thriller series

I no longer think

About relationships

Or maybe “this one will work”

Or anything like that

I don’t want to share my time

With anyone anymore

Time is precious

I don’t want to learn to deal

with idiosyncrasies

Or live with anyone

Or listen to their bullshit

Or neurosis

No I’m content to putter

About my home

Make art

Play guitar

And parent my children

As I prepare

To enter the third quarter of my life

I’m cool with it.

re: new digital works............

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i'm watching season 2 of the HBO series "Deadwood," and it's pretty damn good. i picked up season 2 for $8 at value village and the 3rd Herman Treasury by Jim Unger, which is hilarious for $2. finally a decent score there. I love Ian McShanes character "Al Swearingen," because i'm a lot like that, haha.

I made some new digital art, first one in a long time, and i'm happy with it. but i'll be pushing the boundaries a lot more, but i had to go on familiar territory until i get my skills back up.

check it out,

all is well lovers,

see you soon,

cb

re: time and painting.

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

hope all is well, as usual i've been busy doing workshops and work on new art and stuff, even started writing some new poems which i'll include post haste. 

been painting up my mum's house, she has been letting me paint what i want. 

check it out.

 

i used mainly acrylic house paint, which took longer, but it's a big improvement as i reckon the last time the house had a coat a paint was 20 years ago or longer. i used 3 in brushes and rollers for most of it. i used 2 cans of black acrylic aerosol for the black outlines of the octopus creature and the sparrow type bird as well i used aerosol. the rest i used a couple gallons of outdoor acrylic. it's non-toxic and easy to clean up. anyway, this is what i did for a couple weeks recently, still lots more to do. these paintings took time, the octopus took about 8 hours and i had to start painting at 6 am to beat the heat. aerosol is faster, but more expensive. i can of it is about $8 to $10 while a gallon of acrylic latex can be had for free or as cheap as $5 and covers a lot more wall. well, there you have it.....

until next time,

cb

 

the ride regenerator........

All things to all people....

flashes between the fire

re: upcoming art exhibition in Kelowna!!!

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i've got an exhibition coming up very soon, as in tomorrow is the opening night, haha. if you're in the Kelowna, BC area, do come say hello and meet myself and other artists from the Arbour Collective Marvin Strange and Kast. We'll be around for chit chat and i'll be playing guitar as well as doing a brief artist talk. it'll be controversial apparently but not as bad as the last show i had at Alternator Centre, where i had 2 death threats for my Jesus Coyote show and there were plain clothes officers there just in case.

in the meantime,

i'll included the text for the curatorial statement:

God save the Underworld:

Is a place most people never see, it represents art created on the fringes of society by artists that are on the edges of outsider art. It is art created for people who may never have or will step in a gallery or museum or pick up a book about contemporary or traditional art. It is art without boundaries because the artists never cared or bothered to learn about them, and are freely creating art for an outside and underworld. Street art is often vilified and tied to tagging and vandalism, but the artists of the underworld have moved beyond mere words and are creating socially relevant art. They wrestle with injustice, alienation, poverty, missing aboriginal women and men and other social issues that afflict our society, moving beyond ego and “getting up,” as the slang goes to a graffiti artist only concerned with getting their name and ego known.

http://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/Kelowna/15/05/27/Graffiti_Art_in_Kelowna_Bringing_Up_Controversial_Topics

This is art made far from the eyes of a society that no longer seems to care about anything that doesn’t affect them personally, it is art made in dangerous places under dangerous situations because it is misunderstood and criminalized. It is lumped in with vandalism even though it’s created underground and on abandoned and crumbling buildings and infrastructure. The simple act of painting and making art is a dangerous business for the artists of the underworld, broken glass, needles and people on the fringes who are homeless or addicted are often near where they must go to make art. Sometimes they are friendly and sometimes they are hostile to the artists, but it’s a risk they are compelled to face to create the art they need. Perhaps it's a need we carry over the thousands and thousands of years since people have been painting in caves dating back 30,000 years or more. An urge to leave our mark, tell our story and to be remembered, perhaps this is what drives the artists of the underworld.

re: another day another dollar.....

hello friends, family and lovers,

i've got an art exhibition opening this friday at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art in Kelowna, BC. it features myself, KAST and Marvin Strange, and it's basically an Arbour Collective show. the days have been sunny and i've been feeling pretty damn lately, better and not bitter i like to say. i'm not sure what it is, clarity, relaxing, a little exercise, and being around good people? either one is working and i'm feeling good. which is a little scary. haha. 

anyway, come check out the show if you're in Kelowna or anywhere near and come say hi!

cheers,

cb

my old truck, a 79 ford F250

total gas pig.

before

after

kamloops, bc on

a decent day.

riverside park, kamloops, bc

south thompson river

kamloops, bc.

dope graff

more dope graff

on the road again,

at least closer to home.

dope graff outside

the penticton art gallery

more dope graff

the two as one

leaving penticton, bc.

kamloops, bc on a beautiful, hot day.

pre-show preview

of the show at the alternator

centre for contemporary art,

kelowna, bc

you bet!!!

re: tempus fugit....

hello lovers, friends, fans and foe,

wow, time flies, it's been quite sometime since i've posted anything, again, just wow, i hadn't realized it until i checked. this morning i woke up around 5 am and felt a real calm, a clarity i hadn't felt in some time. i think i've been going through a lot of horrible truths lately, or over the past few years. i'm smack dab in the middle of mid-life, 45 years old and it's been tough. locally i feel long in the tooth, younger bands feel i'm too old to jam with and older bands want to jam out classic tinged rock and so on. i feel some local people are resentful of my so called "success," as an artist, author, musician and filmmaker. i think in some ways, i too was resentful, because i felt so much more was being lost than gained. haha, life is a definite head trip.

i think i've been depressed off and on the past few years, probably starting back in 2010 when i really hit the road hard touring and working my ass off. everything i had been working towards for many, many years was finally coming to fruition and no one seemed to care. haha. oh well, i laboured through it,  put my head down and charged forward, slogging through it, the highs and the lows, and everything in between. being away from my kids for long periods of time is and will always be tough, friends come and go, life moves on and people live and people die.

i've been transitioning from road life to home life more and more and it's so challenging, you miss the road, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people, the performances and the stages and so on. you can try really hard to remember things, and tell yourself, "i'll never forget this moment, this rush, the stage, the galleries, the walls you've painted on, the people you're hanging out with, the food you're eating, the smells, the streets, the faces and places," but eventually you do. haha. oh well, just gotta get out and try to get it all back again i guess?

then trying to find a way to make a living matching what you do on the road is next to impossible. you start to get gigs around town and people call you "art star," or "rock star," and accuse you of using your accomplishments or whatever to get gigs. which in some ways is true, it does get you gigs, but you worked hard for them in the first place. haha. then, there is the excesses of the road, they can become a burden as well, out on the road it's a lot of hard living and good times, people expect it and want it, so when you get off the road switching gears is a head trip. but it's necessary otherwise you'll burn out hard and partying and the lifestyle can kill you or destroy you and your creativity. a catch 22. haha. all to just live out your dreams, the many prices you pay for them and so on.

i guess it's all about really trying to find and maintain balance and sanity, eating healthy, working hard and being creative, pushing your boundaries. success is regional, there are definite advantages to living in larger urban centres where there is infrastructure for musicians, artists, authors and filmmakers. when you're out in the rural or rest of canada, it's a pretty tough slog. gear is expensive and hard to come by, printing out art and art supplies are expensive and i usually have to farm it out and do stuff online, venues and affordable, safe rehearsal space are next to impossible to get and so on.

so what am i really saying? i'm not sure, just sharing some truths and experiences i guess, i've had a lot more so called "success," than i ever thought would happen, but i still hunger for more. but time isn't always on a person's side, so i'd go for it while young, and if i didn't have the responsibilities i have now as an adult, life would be different. a lot of people helped me get to where i am today and i am so thankful to them, you know who you are, and i have also burned some bridges along the way, and that's life, we all make mistakes, the trick is not to repeat yourself on them. you gotta keep on moving forward.

last year, i also really started to feel my years of life on the road on my body, i started physically falling apart last year on the road, tooth problems last year in montreal and prince albert, saskatchewan, knee problems, sight problems and so on, there's still more to do, but i'm trying to learn from my mistakes and trying not to make the same ones repetitively. life is definitely short, when i was turning 30 i never, ever thought i'd be still in Kamloops, BC.

i thought i'd be famous by now, haha, silly me, living in montreal, or toronto or new york or paris or los angeles. and i've been to all those places, many times over the past 20 years, and have had a lot of fun and adventures chasing after my dreams, so i guess i'll close this post on a positive note, saying i feel pretty good today, better and not bitter, something i haven't felt in a while i think and i am indeed very, very grateful for the crazy ride it's been so far.......

in the meantime, check out some new art adventures i've been on and keep on keeping on everyone, it all gets better and better,

cheers,


chris bose.
ps: i'm still broke. haha. buy some art.