The Last of the Melville Pieces from Dick

“It is not so curious, that so vast a being as the whale should see the world through so small an eye, and hear thunder through an ear which is smaller than a hare’s.”

“There is a certain mathematical symmetry in the sperm whale which the right whale sadly lacks.”

“Just because they were “superior wives” didn’t mean the island’s women were not without normal physical desires.”

Cape Cod Maritime Museum

The Cape Cod Maritime Museum is home to bits of wreckage, bones, schrimshaw, and a workshop where members and volunteers can spend days restoring and creating vessels. For more information, visit http://www.capecodmaritimemuseum.org/.

The ribs from the Sparrow Hawk wreckage look strangely similar to those of the whales these ships hunted.

I'm crushing JFK's head!

The Root of Nantucket's Evil

Taking the ferry from Hyannis, Ma to Nantucket is about a 2.5 hour ride. When you reach the shore of Nantucket, one of your first sites will be the small lighthouse on the edge, quickly followed by the heavily populated port.

Upon entry to the main hall of the museum, you'll find the skeleton of a small sperm whale hanging above a whaling boat used to hunt in the 19th century. This photo does not give a good sense of scale, but these creatures could average the length of 85 feet.

Guess what the think on the far right is for.

An assortment of stabbing tools of the trade.

In reality, Nantucket is a lot smaller that it looks.

More Dick

“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit at thee.”

“…what landsman would have thought that beneath all that silence and placidity, the utmost monster of the seas was writhing and wrenching in agony!”

“Like a mob of young collegians, they are full of fight, fun, and wickedness, tumbling around the world at such a reckless, rollicking rate.”

“I. A fast whale fish belongs to the party fast to it.”

“II. A loose fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it.”

The Dick you missed

“There is one god that is lord over the earth, and one captain that is lord over the Pequod.”

“It was a terrific, most pitiable, and maddening site.”

“Death to the living, long life to the killers. Success tot sailor’s wives, and greasy luck to the whalers.”

“A wild, mystical, sympathetic feeling was in me; Ahab’s quenchless feud seemed mine.”

sold

“If you inventively regard almost any quadruped’s spine, you will be struck with the resemblance of its vertebrae to a strung necklace of dwarfed skulls.”

Dick: The Shirt

The show is over, but there is plenty of dick to put on your chest. Shirts are available in sizes small, medium, large, and x-large.

A Story of Whaling and the United Sates?

http://outofprintmag.com/2011/09/news/art/dick-a-story-of-whaling-and-the-united-sates

Dick:A Story of Whaling and the United States

It wasn’t until the X-Files’ Scully drew the comparison of Mulder’s obsessive nature to Captain Ahab’s pursuit of the white whale, did I feel the need to read Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. With plenty of evenings to kill, I limited myself to two or three chapters per night to insure that I fully absorbed everything in Melville’s story. My evenings with Ahab and Ishmael became an obsession of it’s own as I began to draw parallels between the whaling industry of the 19^th century, the institutionalized slavery of Africans, and the modern day dependence on crude oil.

Moby Dick could be interpreted as America’s quest for dominance over nature, as well as inspiration for Richard Wright’s racial charged Native Son, but the strongest message to one could take away from Melville’s 1851 masterpiece is that Captain Ahab is a dick.

After many months of preparation, the illustrations of Melville's Moby Dick are ready for exhibition at Slingluff Gallery on October 1st, 2011. The Saturday night reception starts at 6pm, and will end at 9pm. Slingluff is located at 11 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19123. For more information about Slingluff and the show visit www.slingluffgallery.com.

Blunder Days Past

A big thanks to Apple Jacks Studio and everyone who came out for the opening of The Blunder Years. If you forgot show up, had something better to do, or just didn't care, but for some reason read this blog anyway, here's what you missed. Shirts and decks are still available. For more information go to www.slapstikskateboards.bigcartel.com.

The Blunder Years

On August 5th, 2011 Apple Jacks Studio will be hosting a Slapstik Skateboards retrospective of the original series of decks released between 2001 to 2006. In addition to the skateboards, original artwork pulled from the sketch pads of that time period will be displayed, along with reissues of 3 decks and 2 shirts. Signed decks will be $50 and shirts are sold in pairs for $30. It should be a lively evening, so bring some friends, something to drink and cash money because art shows don't get put on for nothing. Hope to see you there.

The Centaurs and Mermaids of Michael Hsuing

On The Lithuanian Bear's Revenge Against The Sins

Of Sir Anthony of Tuscany

On A Scene In Which Two Talented Conjoined Men

Perform a Sacred Pose

Centaurs, mermen, and bears. Collecting oddities, "freelancing" when no one is around, and illustration for companies including Dr. Marten's, Dwindle, and others I can't recall at this time. Michael has recently been featured in Against the Grain's Featured Artist at www.hurley.com. But enough about the art. Michael can grow a mustache like nobody's business. It's too late to see the work at Slingluff Gallery, but I figured I should post this anyway.

Kathy's Kountry Kitchen

This might be a bad idea, but for some strange reason I think it's funny enough to make. Expect t-shirts of this real soon for the Slapstik Skateboards retrospective show at Apple Jax Studio in Philadelphia this August.

I'm not a whore!

Out of Context

So, I've got another new project called "Taken Out Of Context." The idea is to record what people say on the street when they believe no one is listening, and illustrate then in a different context. It's easy for me because I wasn't there it was said. The results can end up looking like this. I'm open to submissions, so if you hear anything wrongly funny, please pass it on.

More Fairy Tales And A Box To Put Them In

Mother Goose & Brothers Grimm

I sometimes wish I still had these booklets, but I can only hope they will make a little girl happy for years to come. These are the first editions of ink sketches for the Slapstik Skateboards Dark Ages series from 2009.

Russell Shoemaker- "It's Not Everything"

Russell Shoemaker "Beach" oil and spray paint on canvas

I recently attended an opening at Philadelphia's Slingluff Gallery hosting the works of Russell Shoemaker. Russell's show, entitled "It's Not Everything" successfully fused abstract and figurative oil painting in a way that made as much sense as abstract painting can. Russell spoke of his approach to painting an application of layers upon layers of oil until the desired image is achieved, or until he gets bored. There are points in his work where the flesh appears to be spread on the canvas with a butter knife, helping to compose sections where the figure's skin and clothing wants to fall right off. It could be described as a schizophrenic flashback from Robocop, but what I want to know is where do these girls get their bikinis?

W.T.F. #13

I found this in a sketch pad from August of 2003. It was my first trip to New York and an introduction to Manhattan's World of Coke.

When Bears Can Fly

I didn't realize how many girls I knew were in love with Care Bears until I started talking about this series of paintings called Grizzly Care Bears. This is only the first attempt at making it real, and if you're in Atlanta, you can see it in person for their Sk8 or Die show coming up at Young Blood on May the 7th. I hate to see it leave my home, but I'm sure someone will find it just as funny as I do.