Julian Callos

A couple months ago I was interviewed by AMMO, an independent illustration magazine, for their second issue. It's out now, and you can purchase the issue here: http://www.ammomagazine.co.uk/shop/issue2.html. I haven't gotten my copy yet, but from what I've seen there's a lot of awesome art from a bunch of really cool artists. Here's a sneak peek of the cover (by Nick Deakin) and my interview, which also features a selection of my work:



Thanks to Dave Hughes at AMMO for the feature!

Here's my piece for "The Devil Made Me Do It," a show at WWA Gallery in Culver City.



Detail:



"Mine"
Ink and acrylic on paper mounted on wood
18" x 24"

Since the theme of the show is pretty dark, I went dark as well, stylistically and thematically. The piece depicts the consequences of one man's greed and envy. (It's kind of hard to notice at first, but in the dead man's hand is a diamond).
I've always wanted to do a piece with coal miners and canaries. For those who don't know, canaries were used by coal miners as a sort of early detection system for harmful gases...it's not just some weird desire of mine to arbitrarily combine the two! Anyway, I like the juxtaposition of something as delicate and beautiful as a canary with something so rugged and worn-down as a miner.

The show opens Friday, February 12th and the reception is from 7-10pm. Hope you can make it!

The LA Vida section of the latest LA Weekly features another one of my "LA-LA Land" illustrations. First, sketches:



The first idea was two late-night party-goers enjoying some street food while still a little buzzed. The second was a bunch of palm trees decorated with Christmas lights (I thought the illustration would be printed the week of Christmas). Last but not least is the chosen idea.



Final:



"Red Queen"
Ink and acrylic on paper
12.5" x 7.5"

[ADs: Jason Jones and Darrick Rainey]

I wanted it to look like (and poke fun at) the escort ads you can find in the back of LA Weekly and other free weeklies. I'm glad they let me do it, because I liked the idea and had a feeling it would be really fun to work on (it was!). You can pick up the issue now, if you're so inclined...

Happy new year, everybody! This is a painting I did today. It isn't really for anything in particular (I mostly just wanted to make something), but I may be putting it into one of the upcoming group shows that I'll be a part of. Stay tuned.





"Space"
Ink, acrylic, and colored pencil on paper mounted on wood
11.5" x 11.5"

I was recently interviewed by Ragnar Freyr of createmake.com. You can check it out here: http://www.createmake.com/?p=964

A print version of Createmake is coming up in the future, so the interview will be in that as well.

Thanks Ragnar!

The LOST show at Gallery 1988 tonight was amazing...lots of really awesome work! Plus I was really happy to discover that my piece sold! If you didn't get a chance to drop by the gallery tonight, the show will be up until Christmas Eve. Also, congrats to friends and fellow Otis illustrators Danielle Buerli and Luke Berliner for selling their pieces as well!

Here's my piece for the show in its frame (sorry the picture's a bit blurry):



Over at Gallery 1988 San Francisco is the Paper Pushers show, which opened last week. My piece, "Adrift," is still up for sale if you are interested. You can view it and the rest of the show here: http://g1988pp09.blogspot.com/

Finally, The Ark Project Book is out and for sale. You can purchase it here: http://idnworld.com/books/?id=ark
I received my copy not too long ago and was blown away by all the wonderful work inside! I'm really glad to have been a part of this project, so thanks to DGPH for inviting me!

I was invited to be part of the LOST Underground Art Project, a show at Gallery 1988 L.A. celebrating LOST. It's probably my favorite tv show, so I was really excited when I was asked to participate.

Here's my piece:



"No Man Is an Island"
Ink and acrylic on paper
10.75" across

This piece is in the same vein as the last painting I did, but it features one of my favorite characters on the show, Ben Linus, as well as some other references to LOST.
When I get a picture of it in its awesome octagonal frame that I found I'll post it here.

The opening is on Tuesday, December 15th from 7 - 10pm. Hope you can make it to the show! If you're a fan of LOST, you'll definitely want to check it out!

This is the painting I did for this year's "Paper Pushers" show at Gallery 1988 San Francisco. After a terrible case of artist's block, I'm finally happy with the outcome.



"Adrift"
Ink, acrylic, and gouache on paper
11" x 17"

This is probably one of the most personal works I've done, but I managed to keep it open to interpretation as well as in the same vein as my previous work.
It will be for sale at the "Paper Pushers" show, which opens Friday, December 11th (opening reception will run from 7 - 10pm). Hope you can make it if you're in the area!

Here are my pieces for "Power in Numbers 4" at Gallery Nucleus. Each piece in the show is 5"x7" and priced at $100, with a portion of the night's sales going to the American Red Cross.

I've been feeling listless and frustrated lately, not to mention I've had a major case of artist's block, so these pieces are an expression of that. I decided to do something simple so as not to stress myself out. I think they lack some of the subtlety and complexity of a lot of my other work, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless:


"oh"


"okay"


"FINE"


"sigh"


The listless series
Each: Ink on paper mounted on wood
5" x 7"
[Note: The faces on black are drawn with shiny silver ink]

The opening reception is December 12th, from 7 - 10pm. Hope you can make it, show some support, and maybe even purchase a piece.

Here's the piece I did for the show at Black Maria called "Skip the Mall," which opens this Saturday, November 21st at 7:00pm.



"Le Ballon Rouge"
Mixed media on paper, mounted on wood
11" x 14"

It's inspired by the old French short film "Le Ballon Rouge" ("The Red Balloon").

Below is the latest illustration for my "LA-LA Land" column in the upcoming issue of LA Weekly. But first...sketches:


The first idea was chosen again...it's odd that it always seems to work that way. Anyway, just in case anyone was wondering, the second idea was a commuter tangled up in a map of bus lines, the third is a group of actors in costume waiting for the bus to Hollywood, and the last is a pigeon in a mandala of an international selection of food.


This is the final sketch for the chosen idea: a bunch of Angelenos who are slaves to technology. Everybody's constantly in contact with someone but, you know...not. Simple.

And here's the final piece (cropped):



"Contact"
Ink and acrylic on paper
13" x 9"
[ADs: Jason Jones and Darrick Rainey]

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. It was nice to really limit my color palette this time around. This illustration should be appearing in the issue coming out Thursday, so pick one up if you can!

I recently answered some questions for Jonathan Cooper over at pejhy.com. Find out a little more about what inspires me and how I work by going here: http://pejhy.com/2009/11/01/interview-with-julian-callos/

Thanks Jonathan!

I was interviewed by Jason Behrends of orangealert.net and am currently their artist of the week. The interview gives some insight into my work process and the thinking behind some of my more thematic pieces.
Check it out here: http://www.orangealert.net/callos

I'm featured on the cover of the 5th issue of 22 Zine, an independently-produced online/print magazine by Adam Beneke. Inside is a short interview and a few pages of my work. Thanks Adam!

You have the choice of purchasing a printed copy, downloading a pdf, or viewing it online:
http://mag.twenty2wo.com/

Here are two new pieces, both of which will be in shows this coming Saturday:



"Out-of-Body Experience"
Mixed media on paper, mounted on panel
8" x 10"

The theme of the show this piece is in is "voyage," so I wanted to illustrate a mental journey/mind trip. This piece looks much better in person, since I used silver ink for the standing figure... You can really see the shine in person. Anyway, it will be for sale at the "Voyage" group show at Liliya China Bistro, featuring Otis students, alumni, and teachers – including Cecil Kim, who owns the restaurant. Thanks for having us, Cecil!




"Deep"
Mixed media on paper, mounted on cradled board
12" x 12" x 2"

Deep space meets deep sea! Sexy. This piece will be part of the final The Kids Are Alright show, which takes place at LeBasse Projects. It's been an amazing tour, and I'm so glad I was a part of it. Big thanks to Beau of LeBasse Projects for setting it up and inviting me to be a part of it!

Hope you can make it to one or the other show...or both!

Here's the piece I did for DGPH's Ark Project, which is going to be released soon:



"Treading Water"
Ink and acrylic on paper
10" x 10"

My animal is the carabao, a type of water buffalo from the Philippines. You can find out more about the project here: http://www.thearkproject.com.ar/index.htm

The latest issue of LA Weekly is out today and features another illustration for my column "LA-LA Land," in the LA Vida section.
Here's the process and the final:

Thumbnail #1 was chosen, but they suggested I illustrate the photographers instead of having winged cameras...I guess it was too weird, or that it would distract from the main point of the illustration.


Here's the sketch with the photographers.


And here's the final sketch.

Last but not least, the final illustration, cropped and slightly rotated:



"Queen of Hearts"
Ink and acrylic on paper
12.5" x 7.5"
[AD: Darrick Rainey, Asst. AD: Jason Jones]

I wanted to comment on the ubiquity of the paparazzi in the lives of celebrities and how the Hollywood celebrity culture is such that even the most mundane activities attract the attention of hungry voyeurs. Oh my!

Hey guys! I've got prints of "What Develops" and "Death, or a Murder of Crows" for sale through inprnt.com!

http://www.inprnt.com/profile/2058/



"What Develops"



"Death, or a Murder of Crows"

They are both open-ended giclée prints on 100% cotton rag paper using archival inks. Available in 13" x 19", 18" x 24", and 24" x 36".

Here are my pieces for Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto, the next stop on The Kids Are Alright tour:



"Deep Thoughts"
Ink and acrylic on paper (mounted on cradled board)
16" x 16"



"Sink or Swim"
Ink, acrylic, and colored pencil on paper (mounted on cradled board)
16" x 16"

The show runs from August 14th - September 6th.

Here's my first illustration for LA Weekly, for the week of July 24th-29th, in the LA Vida section. The brief was simple enough: create an image inspired by Los Angeles. I immediately thought of palm trees, traffic, food, Hollywood, and the beach. After the first idea was chosen, it developed into a sort of Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired piece...but instead of Wonderland, Alice is immersed in the equally odd la-la land that is Los Angeles.






"Alice in LA-LA Land"
Ink and acrylic on paper
12.5" x 7.5"

[AD: Darrick Rainey, Asst. AD: Jason Jones]

I'll be a semi-regular contributor to the LA Vida section of LA Weekly. My "visual column" is called LA-LA Land, and with it I'll be exploring the strange and eccentric aspects of Los Angeles that make the city so unique. Look out for it!

This is my piece for this year's Crazy 4 Cult show at Gallery 1988. It's inspired by Rocky Horror Picture show.



"Sweets for the Sweet"
Ink and acrylic on paper mounted on cradled board
16" x 20"

Detail:


Crazy 4 Cult 3D opens Thursday, July 16th and closes August 8th. The opening reception is from 7pm-11pm. Hope you can make it! It's gonna be a huge show!

Here are my pieces for Black Maria Gallery, the next stop on The Kids Are Alright tour:



"Beat Up"
Ink on paper mounted on board
16" x 20"



"Beat Down"
Ink on paper mounted on board
16" x 20"

The opening reception is on Saturday, July 18th from 7:00pm - 10:30pm.

The online preview of Friday's "Battle Royal" show over at Gallery 1988 SF is up now:
http://1988br.blogspot.com/

...but I'm gonna wait to see all the work in person. Hope to see you there!

Here's my piece that was sold at the Graphics & Boards show at A Bitchin' Space gallery in Sacramento:


"Kick/Flip"
Ink and colored pencil on a skateboard deck

I've got a couple prints up for sale!



The first is "Fall of the Forest King," an 8" x 8" signed and numbered print in a limited edition of 10. Get 'em while they're hot over at a paper tiger: http://www.apapertiger.com/jucafaoffoki.html



Second is "Class Dismissed," a "Battle Royale"-inspired piece from last year's Crazy 4 Cult show at Gallery 1988. The print will be available at this year's Crazy 4 Cult 3D in July, so keep a look out for it!