WILLIAM BASSO "HEAVY ALIENS" AT DARK ART EMPORIUM

My new piece “Desiccated Bird” (mixed media on panel, 10x8”) is available to purchase right now as part of the current group show “HEAVY ALIENS”, curated by artist Buddy Nestor at Dark Art Emporium in Long Beach, CA.

To explain my process here: I basically began with a very rough assemblage study put together in Adobe Photoshop, which was a combination of pencil drawing and some photos that I'd taken, some of which are filed away for years before being utilized...these were just small bits and pieces of old sculptures I’d done....skulls and bone forms. I began working out this loose skeletal effigy figure but felt that the head needed something...a kind of mask. The shoulder suggested a wing form and this gave me the idea to rough out a bird-like skull shape. I layered this over the sketch and felt that I now had something tangible to work with. I love using Photoshop in this way because all kinds of exciting accidents happen and these lead to more ideas. It’s a wonderful sketching tool. This rough study was printed out faintly on paper and formed the basis of my final painting. I mounted the study to an Ampersand panel and coated it with a couple layers of matte medium to give the surface a bit of tooth so I could draw and paint over it. Pretty simple stuff...it was now my under-drawing. I added some collage of glued cut paper shapes giving the piece more of a dimensional, tactile quality, before refining and finalizing the drawing in pencil. The mixed media piece was finished in acrylics and more pencil, finally getting a couple coats of acrylic satin varnish.
If you’re interested in purchasing this piece, please go to:
https://shop.darkartemporium.com/collections/heavy-aliens

Also showing at DAE is the show "CULTURE JUNKY" featuring new work by Jeremy Cross