Life Piles - Letterpress Progress

I visited my friend Keegan at his print studio the other day to sit in on the printing of the first of my letterpress editions. I have never had prints made in this way before and it was really fun watching the progress. I am getting 3 letterpress prints made in total, 50 of each. The set will be called the Life Piles series. The orange blobs in the photos below are actually the plates for 2 of the drawings.. the third one is on the press getting inked..

I think i'll delay the launch of my new site by a couple days, while I wait to get all these. Then I'll launch when I have fun new prints to offer!

New Website launching soon!

T minus 5... days or so and counting... Until a brand spanking new version of Zenvironments.com drops.. and with it, an all new Zachjohnsen.com as well! Super excited over here.. just putting the finishing touches on both and waiting for a new set of prints to arrive before I launch.. Keep it tuned!

Work in progress

Been working on a new series of drawings for the art show in my studio later this month. I always love breaking out the big brushes to start out with.. Here, my studio mate Danny holds the weapon of mass destruction..

Open Studios!

I am organizing an open studios event at the North Coast Seed building in which my studio resides. It is slated for Sat. Oct. 24th. During the open studios event, I'll also be throwing an art show and party in my own studio. I'll be showing a new series of work as well as an installation and there will also be work by fellow artists Eatcho, Nick Olmstead, Keegan Onefoot and others. I think it will also serve as a Zenvironments website release party as my new website will be off the ground by then! Hopefully, there will be some performance and projections as well. More details to be announced..

Drawerins

Been doing a load of drawing it seems these days.. mostly for a variety of projects yet to be officially announced and/or launched.. Thought it would be fun to post some of the rough stuff in the meantime..

Interview with White Hot Magazine

I was interviewed recently in White Hot Magazine and it's now up and online for people to read.. Check it out online here.
Thanks Kevin!

More info at www.whitehotmagazine.com

Wind River Range

I spent the last week in Wyoming's Wind River Range doing some backpacking with my friend and partner in Tank Theory, Andrew Silverman. I flew from Portland to Salt Lake City where Andrew intercepted me on his trip across the country. We headed immediately into the beauty and solitude that is the Wind River Range.. to hike, to camp, and to spend some time away from civilization.. Man, it's trips like these that straighten out the crookedest of kinks..

You can check out all the images from my trip here.

Life Piles - Preview

I have been working on a new series of drawings that will end up as a print set.. this time as letterpress prints. They are going to be rad! I have never personally had my work printed in this way, so i'm excited for the results. Check out a sneak peak of the final layer of drawing on these.. Hopefully, these will be dropping in the next month, so stay tuned.

BFFs

My good friends Marion and Jen from NY visited for a week and we done went out and got tattoos! Been waiting for an excuse to get this one.. New Hampsha for Damnsha!

Life Lump

A quick sketch I banged out when hangin with my man Eatcho the other day. He curated a show at the Life Gallery here in Portland.. on the theme of back to school.. and who didn't doodle on shit when going to school? Guess, that never really ended for me.. and the Life Lump is the result.

Jitters

I recently created some new graphite work for the premiere release of Contains Caffeine Magazine, an Australian based world coffee drinkers magazine. The first issue, with my artwork on the inside and outside covers, will be released later this year.

I don't want to show the actual artwork before they actually hit newstands, so i created a layered illustration of the 4 pieces I created. Loving the jittery, nervous quality of the overlay..

The Citrus Report

My man Evan La Ruffa contacted me recently for an interview over at Upper Playgrounds, The Citrus Report, a forum for up and coming art and culture. Well it's now up! Meant to post this about a week ago, but due to circumstances was unable to do so. In any event, check it out now!

Zach Johnsen at the Citrus Report

Spectrippin

Have been going bonkers with color for some reason over the last couple weeks. I'm working towards something with this.. not sure exactly what, but I'm really having fun with it.

The Bewildered Flash

Sorry for the lack of posts these days... been traveling this summer and have had little time to sit down and blog about any of it... especially the art side of things. I think It's time I actually post about the art I've been getting into..

That being said, I'll start with something that's already over.. Comicon! I was involved in a group show for Subtext Gallery that held it's debut during Comicon week last month. I was asked to create a piece based on.. you guessed it.. comic book characters! With very little time and a ton of ideas, I decided the Flash, a true friend from the past, would be my focus.

This was my first attempt.. the Flash deflated... uhh, kinda hated it.



Then I went off on this one.. the Flash unmasked.. totally in the opposite direction, but more where my mind is headed these days...


So it was this piece that I ended up shipping on out to Subtext for the "Meanwhile.. In the Halls of Justice" Show.

Tank Theory July 09

A little late on this one.. but wanted to alert yall to some new tshirts available at www.tanktheory.com. We are finally releasing some of the summer Artist Society tees, and they are wicked! Check out J-Pop by Daniel St. George, Fab 5 Freddy by Kenyon B, Crow House by Lupo Avanti and Razor Burn by Nick Olmsted..

gotta love these..
visit www.tanktheory.com to check them out!