Ketch Wehr

Big Things A-Cooking

2012-01-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

These are a few pages of sketches for the next show I'm hatching out of my brain right now. I've been really overloaded with commission jobs and planning a European art show tour, so I haven't had a minute to get details on this out yet.
I am currently discussing shows in Milan and Berlin and am still looking for any other galleries or spaces to show in while in Europe from Feb. 29th - June 13th.
I'm making a large body of sketches like these to work from for my next mirrored installation. 2012 is a great year for physicality, evisceration, and finally making it into the University of Penn Veterinary School's anatomy lab!
Know any spaces in Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Belgium, and much of Eastern Europe that would be a good fit?

Contact me at ketchwehr @ gmail dot com.

Re:Occupation Show at Green Line Powelton

2011-11-16T13:58:00.001-05:00

Check out the link above to hear about the group show I am curating at the Green Line Cafe - Powelton Village!

It's a collection of work from Philadelphia and New York-based artists considering the meaning of Occupation (politically, socially, economically, and how we make a living).
Below are images of work I have hanging in the show - the totems hanging above the mirror work are by the amazing Corina Dross.

Mirror Work

2011-11-08T13:54:00.000-05:00

Here are a few images of the recent mirror work that I have been doing.

This is my new direction and I plan to be doing larger scale murals from mosaiced mirror paintings for the next shows I put out in the coming year.

I stumbled upon this variety of work while doing a commission piece with a local business owner who wanted bees painted on these hexagonal mirrors and I became completely obsessed with them. The paint is Liquitex Acrylic Glossies, a glass acrylic, and it was tricky to handle at first but once I got accustomed to it I really couldn't stop.

Upcoming Group Show : Autumn Spell

2011-10-18T16:30:00.000-04:00

I'm getting back in the saddle again as I just returned from my wedding and am making this 3 tile piece for the group show, Autumn Spell, that Paul Romano is curating at Gallery 309.

Here is a shot of it in progress - it is completed now, and to simplify my life and any buyers, I am crafting a handy mounting system for the piece so that it is more of a painting, less installation work now.

Check out the Part Time Studios Gallery Store!

2011-08-10T13:39:00.000-04:00

You can see a full photo roster of our show at the Part Time Studios (and buy some of the pieces if you want) at the link above!

SHOW'S OVER FOLKS, OR: IT BEGINS

2011-08-09T21:17:00.001-04:00

Today I started painting the custom tables to go in the Green Line Cafe's coffee kiosk inside the University of Pennsylvania.
Below are a few snapshots of them in progress - I was asked to do a very limited predetermined palette for each and to keep shapes almost stencil-like, so this is what I came up with:

NEW NORMAL RECEPTION

2011-08-06T19:52:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all who made it out to the New Normal reception last night! Attendance was amazing and all feedback was really appreciated. Pictures from the actual event and more of the install are forthcoming.

NEW NORMAL FEATURED ON THE ARTBLOG

2011-08-03T17:03:00.001-04:00

The Philly ArtBlog has featured New Normal on their Monthly Picks page!
Check it out!

Today I Saw a Few Amazing Things

2011-08-01T14:17:00.001-04:00

One was the blog of Lisa Hanawalt, which my friend Cassie J. Sneider linked on her amazing blog. If you haven't read Cassie's zines / essays / book, you should, she is brilliant and hilarious and keeps my creative mind buzzing with her brain fruits.
Anyway, this Lisa character also posted a collection of links including this one, "Secrets Shared," by Keri Smith. All of these links, they are worth clicking.

Strange Scan

2011-07-31T19:15:00.000-04:00

Out of curiosity, I tried scanning one of the smaller mirror pieces for the New Normal show that goes up on Wednesday. Though the mirror is yellow, it scans black.

Now I am daunted with the task of hanging the mirrors without making them a permanent fixture and without showing too much hardware. I think I may have just cracked the case, however.

Now all I need is a lot of lathe, epoxy, and a new audiobook.

Progress Shot

2011-07-27T23:14:00.000-04:00

Just a view of my desk of a few tiles of the mural piece that will be my half of the New Normal show.

It's all on mirrors, I don't know if I can explain this often enough, I have gotten a few responses of "What am I looking at??" - you're seeing opaque paint and reflection.

It will all piece together to produce a massive mural out of mirrors that will be comprised of individual pieces (some of which will be for sale).

Check back soon I'll be posting way more sneak previews and I'm getting very excited about the things happening here.

More Sketches for New Normal Rolling Out

2011-07-25T14:15:00.003-04:00

Bring em out / Bring em out

I really want to fit this little chick on one 8" tile but it may have to be a set of 4 since I want to fit in a lot of detail. I'll see which works better!

SKETCHES FOR PAINTINGS

2011-07-22T10:16:00.002-04:00

These are a few details of tiles I am currently painting for the New Normal show.

I've got 12 days until this show hangs and it's starting to get really exciting - a lot of work thinking out coming of age in a recession and assessing your life's expectations.

In a similar vein, I've been listening to the Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin, while I paint all of these mirror tiles.

It's cathartic to take in a harsh coming of age story right now. The protagonists grow up not in a whimsical or sugarcoated way, but through blood and bitterness and pulling out inner strength.

It makes it a bit hard to reread so many books that meant so much to me as a kid like those by Roald Dahl and Madeleine L'Engle. Even though their books were and are so powerful, they are more hopeful than feels reasonable to be these days.

On that note, I probably shouldn't have kids.

NEW NORMAL SNEAK PEEK

2011-07-21T18:34:00.002-04:00

These are a few tiles out of the mirrored mural I am working on now for the New Normal show at the Part Time Studio.
Painting with Liquitex Glossies paints started out as a difficulty at first, but now I am having a lot of fun with the thinkness and necessary building up of layers on the glass before it appears opaque.
It's a shame that it is so difficult to take photographs of this work, so I guess you will just have to see it in Fishtown on First Friday!

Cucumber sandwiches will be served.

UPCOMING SHOW : NEW NORMAL

2011-07-15T13:59:00.002-04:00

More information will be following very soon, but just to mark your calendars, this new body of work from Bonnie Brenda Scott and me will be showing at the Part Time Studios in Fishtown.

First Friday - August 5th - from 6 - 10pm, you can see all the insane things that spilled out of our heads.

STARTING UP

2011-07-14T08:52:00.002-04:00

After doing a lot of glass painting for a commissioned project, I realized that my interest in and planning around working in three dimensions could be accomplished through mirrors.

I am currently working out this piece for my upcoming show with Bonnie Brenda Scott at the Part Time Studios. This paint is hard to work with at times, it's Liquitex Glossies (good name, guys), but every time something chips off or lifts up I realize that it needed to be pulled up anyway and work with it.

More updates to follow of difficult to photograph things - this is a detail shot on gold tinted 7" hexagonal mirrors.

The show will most likely be an entire wall of individual tiles that produce a pretty massive mural.

WORK FEATURED IN UPCOMING ARTS FESTIVAL

2011-06-18T16:40:00.003-04:00

This event is billed as from August 4 - 7th, but actually I'll have my work featured at the arts event at New Mariposa Space on June 24th from 9pm - 1am (49th and Baltimore). This happens in addition to a raging queer dance party, so don't miss it!

COMMISSION WREN DRAWING

2011-06-16T01:20:00.003-04:00

This is a custom drawing I did for a client today - a pen and ink Carolina Wren with a tiara.

Of course.

GOT A LEEWAY GRANT!

2011-06-09T14:39:00.001-04:00

Click on the image above to see the information on my new project that I am now able to undertake thanks to the generosity of the 2011 Leeway Art and Social Change award!
This is definitely going to make a whole lot of interviewing and crazy experimental printmaking possible and I am so excited to get started.

PROOFS FOR PAINTINGS

2011-06-08T14:55:00.003-04:00

These are the initial sketches I have done for some tabletops I am painting for a coffee kiosk at the Penn Veterinary School. The paintings are expected to have a very limited palette, so they will likely be some of the most basic looking paintings I have made.

CUSTOM FLYER FOR DES ARK, LOVERS...

2011-05-06T18:27:00.003-04:00

I just finished this proof for the two color screenprint that I will be doing of this flier. It's for this awesome show which has a few bands I've loved for a long while and a few I'm excited to see for the first time.

Toren Falck and Jesse Riggins are going to mastermind the printing process here, but it will be printed on brown craft paper sheets with two colors. I'm still deciding what do to with that, maybe white and green - I was forgetting that I wouldn't have the white of the page to work with... maybe powder pink and green to overlap to make a dark for lines.

We'll talk it out and you'll see the product soon!

More from the B2 Show!

2011-04-13T12:27:00.000-04:00

This piece above is the new work that I'm starting now that the show is framed, hung, labeled, and thankfully being managed by B2. It's smaller, about 5 inches by 8 if that, on a gallery board block, in gouache. There is another piece at the show with it that also is executed in this vein, and more are on the way right now.

Bound

2011-04-10T12:31:00.001-04:00

One More For the Road

2011-04-07T11:53:00.011-04:00

Also from the Bristling and Bound show - don't forget to come down to B2 in South Philly on Saturday, 6 p.m. to 8!

There will be amazing refreshments and all the weird things I've been mulling over and scribbling in to the late hours and early mornings.

On a personal note, this:

is who was on my lap the whole time I made this. She is my new outer space caterpillar, Ruby!

This hairy little frog will also be in attendance.

Eels Eels Everywhere

2011-04-06T18:40:00.001-04:00

You know, just some red thread-wrapped mucus muscles and green hair trails. Undersea.

Ongoing Show Prep

2011-04-06T16:52:00.000-04:00

This Bristling and Bound show is less than 3 days away, and the opening, 4. I'm really excited about getting this thing done, I just made a lot of kind of big changes in my life the past 20 days or so, and
watching all this work culminate in something I feel proud of is fitting and a great reward.

There is so much layering happening right now, it's hard to scan this work and post it because every day there are minute but significant changes to the pieces. What I've shown on here already is out of date. This is not a cheap ploy to get folks to come to the show, but if it works like that, I'm cool with it.

Mark Yr Calendars!

2011-03-31T17:23:00.002-04:00

Show Peeks

2011-03-28T18:44:00.000-04:00

Everything is getting fine tuned now, and I don't want to just show it while it's 10 minutes from baked, so this is a jerkface tease of a show preview. Mostly it's just zeroing in on my favorite corners of a few pieces, I'm excited to see it look polished and framed, assuming my frames arrive in time. I know I've thrown plenty of red thread into this stuff, now I just need to round it out with some more mucus trails and piles of fur.

I am also test-driving an installation idea - just checking that my materials won't do any wall damage by sticking some substances to my studio wall paint and waiting it out. If I can pull this off, it will really tie things together. No pun intended.

Show Preview

2011-03-24T17:58:00.001-04:00

I've been working on this show all month and realized that I didn't take the time to update at all. This is me fixing that.

I don't want to give it all up before the show, so this is just a couple parts of pieces. I'm trying to get into the thick of my brain and really work on the content I've hesitated to do for a while now. A lot of weird sinewy mucus bands and fur trails and red string everywhere.

I've been stoked about the gouache I've been working with, its opacity is amazing. It's Holbein Acryla Gouache, and I've completely destroyed all of my little hair grain painting liner brushes just thickening up these pages with fur.

Show on its way...

2011-03-13T11:20:00.000-04:00

I'm working away at this show for next month at B2 in South Philly!

Friendart for a Wolf Fan

2011-03-02T11:21:00.002-05:00

Maybe just to prove that wolves will always be resonant (no not really), some friends requested that I illustrate this sentiment to a very lupine friend on her 40th birthday.

Once I had finished skating the edge of respectable fantasy art, I couldn't really see people signing it as a card, so I mounted it on some Aquarelle Arches to function as a signature and sentiment border.

Getting Older, Growing Wolf Fur.

2011-02-16T22:02:00.004-05:00

As I start out in new directions, I find myself getting back to the fur faced motifs of 2 years ago. I'm excited about adding layers of gouache over ink, and spent some solid time mulling this over while at museums in New York this past weekend.

Sometimes I wonder if it's so wrong that I will always love artists that will never stop being popular.

Not even an unappreciated in his time, John Singer Sargent shouldn't appeal to my otherwise underdog-oriented interests and social scene, but he gets me every time.

That being said, I'm making this insane nonsense and I love it.

This is just part of an experiment, so I figured I'd call it a flyer for Cat Vet, my friends' awesome band, to take the heat off and just have a lot of fun.

Here's lookin at you, Lionel.

Come to this Show Tomorrow!

2011-02-09T10:18:00.002-05:00

I'm in it, amazing artists we all know (or don't) and love are in it, it's gonna be well worth the minor trek.

Queer Anthems Flash on its Way

2011-02-06T00:52:00.003-05:00

This is part of a sheet of tattoo flash I'm working on right now.
It's pretty much destroying any hesitation I had on filling my body up with ill-planned impulse ink.
Once the sheet is done, plz get them so it keeps me from having all of them. Immediately.

Top Secret Project. You didn't even see this.

2011-01-07T15:33:00.003-05:00

This is a secret project I am working on with a crew of folks. You don't know what it is. They don't know what it is. But you will! AND SOON!

Don't touch that dial.

Wooden Shoe, here's lookin at you!

2010-12-30T21:49:00.001-05:00

This is my initial sketch for the shirt I'm making for the Wooden Shoe Anarchist Book Store in South Philly. I've had a lot of fun over the years working with the Shoe as a sort of volunteer artist or consultant, but this shirt has definitely taken some serious time and consideration. And maybe a lot of epic fantasy metal.

I'm excited to get feedback from a few friends and then plow through with the final image - I'm thinking some sort of stylized explosion to make it a massive blaze of a graphic that consumes most of the chest of the shirt.

Thoughts?

xxo

Ketch

Tattoo for Someone Else

2010-12-30T16:16:00.001-05:00

After concluding that I can't spend any more time drawing ink for other folks, since it took up all my time this year and meant I had no solo shows all of 2010, I agreed to do one last custom piece since it's so dear to my heart.

This werewolf is going to be a gnarly thigh piece and I have to say, I am one hair away from getting it myself....

Early Happy Holidays

2010-12-08T18:21:00.001-05:00

I made this Star Wars / Rudolph / D.A.T.D. mashup print for sale at the Punk Rock Flea Market this weekend at Starlight Ballroom.

Get yrs (and some other insane things that crawled out of me in the past week) this Saturday!

Upcoming Show - Rare Sanctuary!

2010-12-01T20:08:00.001-05:00

Toolkit Pages Done!

2010-11-27T16:56:00.002-05:00

This is the sneak preview of the cover of my month in 2011's Toolkit Planner.

First Plate

2010-11-16T17:39:00.004-05:00

Nest Prelim

2010-11-16T17:21:00.004-05:00

Sketch work for plate paintings for upcoming show in December at Naked Chocolate.

Private Mural Finished

2010-10-30T15:46:00.011-04:00

This was a really enjoyable project for a private client. The piece drew
from family childhood stories and folk tales to bring out this specific
Indian jungle scene.
The entire project totaled approximately 56 hours including sketching
time and included butterflies and birds on the ceiling (not pictured).
All in all, it was an awesome job to do, hopefully more to follow!

FurFace Portraits

2010-10-19T18:34:00.005-04:00

This is the first portrait of many under the new name of my hobby job,
FurFace Pet Portraits. You can e-mail me about portrait work at:
furfaceart@gmail.com.

Comic Halfway Done!

2010-09-14T12:44:00.004-04:00

Thanks to many friends for the surgery advice, the comic and presurgery
zine of queersay and anxious preparation is chugging along!

Stowaway Has Landed!

2010-09-06T14:07:00.003-04:00

I illustrated this amazing and super fun game over the past year and now it's for sale!
You should buy it, really, because it's easy enough to teach but complicated enough that it never gets boring. It's a card game, so you can take it with you when you fly to Australia or Japan and miss me.

Comic on its way

2010-08-24T16:18:00.001-04:00

Scared of Surgery

2010-07-27T15:55:00.002-04:00

Taking another step in a medical transition is more stressful than expected.
How do you work so hard to get something, and then realize when it finally arrives that it's walking into a building to be opened up?

Finished in the Dark of the Dungeon

2010-07-23T15:33:00.001-04:00

More gouache creatures on the way!

Lion-Tailed Macaque with Horns in Triplicate.

2010-07-21T15:57:00.001-04:00

Loving the dungeon!

Starting Tattoo Flash

2010-07-20T12:38:00.000-04:00

Some anti-jealousy flash I started up /// the beginning of my first flash sheet. Yes!

exorcist folks

2010-06-30T15:33:00.002-04:00

Batface detail

2010-06-29T16:38:00.001-04:00

Study for Batface

2010-06-29T15:27:00.001-04:00

Mail Art #1

2010-05-04T23:04:00.001-04:00

This is my first piece I'm sending out for Mail Art by Art Clash.

Barred Owl, Book Keeps Going!

2010-05-01T17:11:00.001-04:00

Book Beginning

2010-05-01T15:16:00.002-04:00

This is the first installment of a series I'll be doing for a small print book of local birds with easily remembered calls.

Goldfinch and Aardwolf

2010-04-26T15:30:00.003-04:00

It was my job to do this and that's nice.

So i'm doing this thing that i like a lot....

2010-04-26T15:23:00.003-04:00

and it's called making design shit for my commitment ceremony with my gayface sweetie! GLITTER CANNON, can you not arrive sooner??

MiniMammoth

2010-04-14T11:46:00.001-04:00

First in a Series of Mini Megafauna

It's in my eyes

2010-03-21T12:19:00.002-04:00

This is a gouache study of a great horned owl with its eyes plucked out.

2010-03-18T18:27:00.001-04:00

Where I'm Headed

Fetal Possum Study

2010-03-13T13:18:00.001-05:00

More pirates sneak peek...

2010-01-31T17:34:00.003-05:00

Pirate Game Illustrations DONE

2010-01-30T15:51:00.004-05:00

After over a year of toil and fun, I've completed the full set of pirate illustrations for the STOWAWAY game, a strategic card game my cousin Jonathan Curley developed.

Stay tuned for more information on this amazing game, I'm really excited to have my own deck.

Pet Portrait Thyme

2010-01-15T17:43:00.002-05:00

FUN SIZE SNICKERS - I'll Swallow Yr Soul!

2010-01-08T16:25:00.000-05:00

Tis the Season for Pet Portraits

2009-12-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

2009-11-18T23:04:00.001-05:00

Monstrous Dependence Preview

2009-11-18T20:07:00.006-05:00

Lucy Portrait

2009-11-06T17:51:00.001-05:00

Limited Edition Prints Available from Anthro. Show

2009-09-30T15:33:00.021-04:00

2009-09-30T14:08:00.001-04:00

You're Not So Bad

2009-09-30T02:38:00.000-04:00

Detail, listening to the Smiths.

2009-09-12T20:50:00.003-04:00

New Direction

2009-09-10T13:19:00.002-04:00

]

Queer Femme Kitten Illustration for Dave End Poster

2009-09-04T22:01:00.001-04:00

Making some new furry detritus

2009-08-23T17:01:00.002-04:00

Figuring out what I'm doing right now.
Just got space in 1026!

Outskirts Highlights

2009-08-23T16:55:00.011-04:00

Outskirts Show

2009-08-23T16:47:00.003-04:00

This is the remaining work from my most recent solo show at Benna's in South Philly.
Show is entirely ballpoint pen drawings of animals that are commodified by quantity - either animals made precious and collectible by scarcity or made expendable and consumable by excess.

For Those to Come

2009-08-11T17:52:00.002-04:00

Group show this Friday at Benna's to benefit the American Bird Conservancy - it's going to knock yr socks off, so be there.

Bear Pair

2009-08-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

Simple line work for Q's memorial tattoo.

Paola's Mural

2009-08-03T12:51:00.003-04:00

Some images I just dug up on my computer of the mural I did in photographer Paola Ferrario's home. These are just a handful of the predatory animals she, as a hunter, wanted immortalized on her walls. It was a phenomenal summer that could not be beat.

Outskirts Show at Benna's - One Week Left!

2009-08-03T09:38:00.001-04:00

Hope 1

2009-06-15T10:48:00.001-04:00

This is a dog friend named Hope - her caregiver commissioned a portrait of her noble noggin.

New Show - Reception May 10th

2009-05-04T16:56:00.001-04:00

An exhibition of Wehr’s most recent work, the show is a collection of highly detailed ballpoint animal illustrations and prints. Anthropomorphism considers the relationship between humans and non-human animals. Wehr examines the identities, worth and whims humans can press upon animals, as well as the similarly problematic, though potentially well-intentioned, identities the artist himself attaches to all manner of animalia.

Tia - Green Line Show Preview

2009-04-27T23:16:00.003-04:00

Show Alert!

2009-04-26T18:20:00.001-04:00

This is an old friend I drew today for my upcoming show at the Green Line Locust on May 6th.
The reception is TBD.

Zena

2009-04-24T09:41:00.001-04:00

An illustration for a friend's dogwalking flyer - a portrait of our friend Zena.

Pirate Project - Ongoing

2009-04-20T16:37:00.003-04:00

These are a few illustrations for the pirate game my cousin, Jonathan, invented.

Some Lions

2009-04-15T21:39:00.003-04:00

Porcupine

2009-04-15T21:39:00.001-04:00

Pig

2009-03-12T13:57:00.001-04:00

New Work to Hang at the White Dog

I had hoped to illustrate every animal on their menu from studies on their farms, but the new management made a number of changes and the local farms were unable to have visitors.
Hm.

Prey Show Highlights

2009-02-03T17:50:00.007-05:00

Hog

Moose

Larger Lamb Painting Sketch

Hen (Bellina)

Goose

Lady Elk

Bison

Fawn

2009-02-03T17:28:00.000-05:00

Studio 34 Art Show

2008-12-31T18:10:00.002-05:00

Solo Show On the Horizon

2008-12-22T23:30:00.003-05:00

My first solo show is coming up at Studio 34 in West Philly this January.
Go to Studio 34 for more information: www.studio34yoga.com
The writeup goes like this:
"In his current exhibition, Ketch Wehr considers the human disjunct from the animal world through an examination of human's lack of familiarity with the hunted. Considering the animals that many non-hunting humans know intimately by taste and skewed appearance but not origin, Prey gives these animals a new visibility. To present the challenge of simply identifying our diet, animals are depicted in intimate detail or removed simplification."

Show Poster

2008-11-13T10:01:00.001-05:00

Sketchbook

2008-10-28T21:02:00.000-04:00

Wolves for Paola's Mural

Monkey Eating Eagle (no joke, that is what they are called)

Predators

Calf and Secretary Bird

Mountain Goat and Fosco the Dog

Sketchbook, On and On.

2008-10-28T20:45:00.002-04:00

For my trophy series, ongoing.

Carolanne's tattoo.

I was in a waiting room for a long time.

Austen and Amy in their garden, summer 2008.

Blue Cohosh tattoo for Alex H.

Lamb for Studio 34 show.

In which I give a friend a piggyback ride.

Sketch for OneShot mural.