Holiday Drawing Commissions

I’m also grateful for all of you. Thank you.

Now, an announcement:

15-min. sketch of Shu Qi in The Assassin.

For the second holiday season in a row, I’m open for drawing commissions! New this time: I also have existing art—both from my represented artists and from myself (rare, I know!)—available for purchase!

You can:

1) Request custom drawings of anything you want! (For example, Robin Rios asked me to create a cartoon of her sculptures interacting, and this was the result.) $18 cartoon, $36 combination cartoon & realistic, and $63 realistic.

2) (New this year!) Buy any of my available* sketches from my Scribble Sunday series. *(The ones I exhibited at LEXICON have been sold, and the childhood art I’ve shared isn’t for sale.) The Good Dog and Summertime Sadness are $45, Of Dragons and Hero are $54, Ghostbuster is $81, Mood is $99, and each sketch in the Gossamer series is $198.

3) (New this year!) Buy art from the artists I represent! Check out the tags for Chicago painter Sheila Arora and Hong Kong photographer Valentina Loffredo, and look through their portfolios here and here, respectively.

For one and two, 30% of proceeds will be donated to the ACLU, Amnesty International, and NRDC. Fight beside me, and own some neat art while you’re at it!

Another quick sketch of Shu Qi in The Assassin.

(The rates are an explanation, of sorts, for this silly status.)

What Comes Next: An Interview with Edra Soto

All right. I think I’m finally done mourning (which was Step 1 in my call to action in the previous post), helped in part by seeing The Cool Kids live with friends and being introduced by one of said friends with “She’s like Michael Jordan, but more efficient because she’s compact,” and now it’s time to work: I had the honor of interviewing Edra Soto for Sixty Inches From Center (thank you, Sixty, for referring to me and Edra as two of your favorite people) and CONNECT Hyde Park! Cross-posted from SIFC:

Edra Soto. Photo by Daniel Hojnacki.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Edra Soto is a Chicago-based artist, educator, curator, and gallery director of an outdoor project space called The Franklin. I’d looked up to her for a while and from afar, and a couple months ago we both happened to be invited to speak on an artist panel (where I finally met her in person and gushed over her like the fangirl I am). The panel was called “What Matters,” and when the main topic was brought up, she discussed her dedication to local artist communities and helping them outside of a more conventional gallery system.

But who is Edra, as an artist, herself? In anticipation of CONNECT, where she’ll be showing some of her own artwork, I had the honor of interviewing her; read our conversation below to find out.

Jenny Lam: How did you first become interested in art?

When all other lights go out

It’s hard, but I’m trying my best to remind myself of my favorite quote (which I was asked for in this interview I did over the summer, part of a series that is now more important than ever):

It’s preceded by Frodo putting to words how I’ve been feeling: “I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Gandalf responds, “So do I, and all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.”

Mourn. Then: Organize. Mobilize. Fight. For me (a POC, a child of immigrants, a Millennial, and a woman), for all marginalized groups (I see you, I love you, and you matter), and for the future of our country and the world. This is only the beginning.

--

(Here’s what you can do. Also, I loved the protests here in Chicago and in other major cities throughout the nation Wednesday night. This and this are on Saturday. [Update: There’s also a mass march against Trump and racism on Saturday the 19th and a protest in Millennium Park the following day.] Feel free to leave a comment with anything else you’ve come across, or if you just need to talk. I’m here.)

Fly the // Art Flag

Had a meeting with one of the nicest and most visionary artists I know (also my birthday twin), and he told me that I “inspire” him and am the “voice of kindness,” one that “deserves to be loud.” Being kind is underrated, so my soul is blushing. (Get excited for an ambitious project by Nathan “Bam” Stanton—who participated in my interactive exhibition I CAN DO THAT—in 2017!)

Vote! (What I did after the above.)

(And before said meeting, my new favorite author, Ken Liu—everyone go read The Paper Menagerie short story collection [and cry in public] please—replied to me on Twitter. Yesterday was a good day.)

Hope you had a happy Halloween! (Mine included your weekly dose of silliness. And here’s something that came out over Halloweekend that all artists / art history buffs / art lovers should check out: The music video for Jane Zhang’s “Dust My Shoulders Off.” Those visuals!) Now that another month has begun, I have a new post on Time Out Chicago: 9 art gallery exhibitions to see in November.

And if you haven’t watched it yet, a video that includes my two-minute presentation at 20x2Chi is in the previous post.

I love you, Chicago.*

*[Edit: And an update…]