for Jay Bennett, the Ashes of American Flags

The Ashes of American Flags, series of 4

8 x 8 inches, acrylic on canvas

SOLD

Jay Bennett the multi talented instrumentalist who played with Wilco on their three finest albums passed away this week at the age of forty five, this man was an incredibly talented musician and is responsible for what I consider the "Wilco sound" although some may dispute that. He left the band, just after the filming of "I am trying to break your heart (documentary on the recording of, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel) and was involved in a law suit regarding his royalties from the album. Normally the death of a "celebrity" doesn't affect me, but in this case, his talent and his young age really moved me.

Ashes Of American Flags lyrics
by Wilco

The cash machine is blue and green
For a bundle of twenties and a small service fee
I could spend three dollars and sixty-three cents...On Diet Coca-Cola and unlit cigarettes
I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck
How hot and sorrowful, the machine begs for luck
All my lies are always wishesI know I would die if I could come back new
We want a good life with a nose for things
the fresh wind and bright sky to endure my suffering
I'm a hole without a key if I break my tongue
Oh, speaking of tomorrow, how will it ever come?
All my lies are always wishes I know I would die if I could come back new
I'm down on my hands and knees every time I hear a doorbell ring
I shake like a toothache every time I hear myself sing
All my lies are only wishes,I know I would die if I could come back new
I would like to salutethe ashes of American flags
And all the fallen leavesfilling up shopping bags

here's a link to the video with great guitar work by Nels Kline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka9Mqgx-5VA

RIP Jay Bennett

A.S.Hahn

Come to the Press Club, Saturday May 30th to hang on the patio from 6-8 pm.

fire.

Top, "Youngest Daughter of the Human Torch"

12 x 12 inches, acrylic on canvas

$120.00

at the Press Club

Lyrics to "There's A Man In There" by Lester Bangs

I'd originally intended to do this piece for the series "Silver" at the Cameron House (see tag) but had conceived of the figure being a man. As the months wore on of doing the work I just didn't get around to it and had some issues with the "Shock" aspect of painting a man on fire. I decided to give it a go for the Press Club, I believe it turned out to be quite successful. This is one of those pieces like "Last of the Snake Killing Girls (see "Silver") or "Jerusalem (see paintings) that I love but no one will ever buy. I never hang my own work in my home, but this is one of those rare pieces that I would.

A.S Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

As seen from the front

I Cannot Tell A Lie (Lady with an Axe series)

12 x 12 inches, acrylic on canvas

$120.00

Our Lady of the Blackbirds

16 x 16 inches, acrylic on canvas

$160.00

at the Press Club, 850 Dundas West.

These could be placed in the "Silver" series very easily, both use similar subject matter to two of the pieces from the series, both of which were very popular for different reasons. The Lady with an Axe pieces had a visceral/power response from viewers, while "Woman with Crows" was seen as more majestic.

This may sound silly, but after situating my subjects on empty beaches and fields I've started moving them in from the coast and away from the prairies into forests full of trees, the above is the first of these explorations.

Though in poor focus (mostly deliberate) the figure's intense eyes focus on something that is not too far away from the reach of her axe, I thought the title said it all.

With the second piece I was trying to capture a feeling of motion in the birds, that they are exploding in flight around her, also, I want to make an effort with the next few pieces to keep the work loose, I don't want things to look too worked over and refined and just want to "daub" the painting on in "pellets" of colour to give it a more mosaic/motion/shadow feeling.

A.S.Hahn

When the Man Comes Around, Images of Death in my work

When the Man Comes Around

unsure of actual size, approx 4 x 14 inches

acrylic on canvas, reclaimed wood frame

SOLD

at the Press Club, 850 Dundas West.

Similarly to the "Field Hand" image (See post below) I wanted to create another image that placed one of the "flying hats" onto a subjects head. I painted the man in black walking away from the viewer and then was stuck as to what it meant, what it meant to me specifically. As luck would have it I was playing music in my studio - which I rarely ever do - and the Johnny Cash song came on. I added some small children's "V" birds to the image and there it was, a towering image of Death striding the land. The Cash song is about the Second Coming, but I just don't have it in me to paint Revelations - maybe next week.

There was never an official video made for the song, but here's a You Tube, it's also used incredibly well in the remake of Dawn of the Dead as the intro music for news reports detailing the Zombie plague.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRwebUK6Ko4

A.S.Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Pieces of a Larger Man

Field Hand with Raised Fist

Untitled (the Head of My Lover)

16 x 16 inches, acrylic on canvas

$160.00 each

at the Press Club, 850 Dundas West (between Euclid and Manning) until the 3 rd of June

These two images have been rolling around in my head for ages, they find their inspiration from an illustration that Gary Kelley did (at least) six years ago about the fall of Communism in Time Magazine, a toppled figure of Lenin was being carried by caricatured Communist workers, of the style usually found in Asian Propaganda posters. I've had the image pasted into a sketchbook for years, but never did anything with it.

When I was working on the "Flight" (commission) I was trying to adapt the image (through my own style) into an image of Margaret Thatcher as the client is Irish and had that anti Thatcher stance that I love so well, from my love of 2000 AD comics. Nothing came of those attempts, it felt one step removed from my own experience and I just can't fake that kind of thing in my work. As these two very different images suggest I started to find my own way to use the concept for my own work, the first "Field Hand" has a weight to it, that mostly comes from my love of the some what cheeky title. It almost coincides narratively with the images of flying hats that I've rendered several times in different formats (see. Lost Houses tab and the Press Club pieces). Connecting the hat of the Field Hand, I enjoy the "raised fist" pun quite a bit.

The second piece was going to be a companion (possibly a diptych) of another female worker carrying the head or another fist, I felt the content didn't make as much sense, visually as the field hand did. Instead I focused on the intimate aspect of the pose, with the woman's head affectionately leaned into the head of the statue, that she is hugging the head as she lifts it as opposed to carrying it off to be disposed, the raised and open eyes of the statue also imply an aspect of helplessness that make the piece more vulnerable than rebellious.

A.S Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Salon Style Hanging, two walls at the Press Club.

What's left of the West wall that is still available, top black bird with blindfold ($40.00), Rotten In Denmark ($160.00) . East wall, "The New Dress" ($300.00), Campfire Dolls Circle ($300.00), Untitled (School Play) ($300.00), "Eisler on the Go" ($120.00). I never took a shot of the the second West Wall, but I think everything on it was sold. I did of course add the hair braids interspersed around the walls, I also brought in "Raised by Plastic Wolves" and "Woman with a City" and the Rooster Rider images from The Pop Goes the Cowboy Show. So go on by the Press Club, you have until the 3 rd of June.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Fearless Nazi Killer, commission

Early days for this, but this is the "background" for a really exciting commission, it will have to be painted in layers due to it's complexity. This is the back two layers, the night sky and flaming German Uboat tower, next will be the central figure and canine companion, then the last "layer" will be the attacking enemies. Stay tuned as it develops, it will be alot of work, but hope to have it finished by the end of next week. Expect something in the style of "pulp adventure" novels/posters, think Indiana Jones as a battling Scotsman.

Hair Braids, Chignons, Ponytails etc.

Top Ponytail, Blonde Braid I, Blonde Braid II, Auburn Braid

each piece, 8 x 8 inches, acrylic on canvas

$40.00 ea

Auburn Bun, acrylic on canvas, reclaimed wood frame

16.5 x 16.5 inches

Blonde Braid, acrylic on canvas, reclaimed wood frame

16.5 x 16.5 inches

both $120.00

Available at the Press Club until the 31rst of May.

madcraftshoppe@live.com

would like to write more, hands recovering from landscaping injury

Hitchcock, the series

Rebecca (SOLD), Psycho $60.00, The Birds (SOLD)

each piece is (approx.) 11 x11 inches with reclaimed frame, acrylic on canvas.

A salute to the women of Hitchcock, Joan Fontaine, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren.

Rotten In Denmark, the series

To Be or Not To Be (SOLD), To Thine Own Self Be True (SOLD), Rotten In Denmark $160.00

each piece acrylic on canvas, reclaimed wood frames (approx.) 14 x 14 inches

at the Press Club until May 31rst

I've been searching high and low for a used copy of Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" after a few weeks I found it for 15.00, and watched/listened to it over and over, here's what came out.

madcraftshoppe@live.com