rhys bambrick

Hockey Goalie Sticks: Reimagined, Reconfigured.

rhys bambrick — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:24:53 +0000

Koho and Reebok Swords. Found hockey goalie sticks, fabric hockey tape, hockey skate laces, wood, plexiglass, enamel. Case measures 48" high, 36" wide and 6.25" deep.

The idea for the swords was an old one, I had been wanting to do it since I started playing when I was 12 or 13. Whenever I picked up a stick and held it I felt like a warrior and bloodlust would rise in me. My stick was the accessible embodiment of all the swords I ogled at when I visited the Met Museum in NYC– where I would get stuck in the Arms and Armor section, not caring to explore the rest of the building where the artworks were. On a recent trip home from Vassar, I found the old sticks I had used when I played varsity and decided to finally reconfigure them into the forms I had always imagined them taking.

In doing so, I was left with a very interesting result. The sticks had become brand-name weapons, to be used in a modern age of warfare where sports companies like Koho and Reebok would be the sponsors of battle, and death. It seemed like the logical conclusion of a violent, strength-based game in which victory is sought at the cost of the personal health of everyone involved. I’m surprised that gun manufacturing companies don’t print larger, colorful brand boasts all over their products. If they did, the victims and witnesses of the fire-arm’s effectiveness would be able to reflect on the manufacturer’s precision and market dominance. As they lay dying, they would become instant converts, thinking: “Damn, I should’ve been using a Beretta.”

The case is made to mimic plexiglass and plastic hockey boards, the siding is royal blue, the dasher board is yellow and the lid is a rich and vibrant hockey red with clear plexi set inside it. The swords are dangerously fun to play with, and feel great in hand:

Koho Short Sword. 36.25" from tip to base.

Founders Day 2010

rhys bambrick — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:22:57 +0000

Here’s the line-up announcement poster for Founders Day 2010 at Vassar College. The theme of the day is “90′s Nickelodeon” which gave me an opportunity to reproduce my favorite characters in the familiar setting of Ballantine Field, festively celebrating the occasion. I was (am) a huge fan of all these toons (especially John K.’s animation in Ren and Stimpy) and I tried my best to do them justice. Many thanks to Nick Inzucchi for digitizin’ it, cleaning it up and adding the marvelously accurate bright Nick colours.

Founder's Day 2010. May 1.

Consumer Items Reworked, Rebuilt

rhys bambrick — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:18:45 +0000

In two of my recent sculpture projects, I rework and rebuild consumer goods to achieve completely new, fresh American ideas for the fashionable masses. Each work takes a brand with a well established identity and seeks to expand it’s influence even further into the mind of the modern American shopper. First, a new proposal for Chanel. The concept: a designer perfume’s frontier brother. Cashing in on the unique nostalgia Americans feel for our far-removed frontier history, I have followed the commodification of the Wild West aesthetic, (see Bulleit Bourbon, marketing for Levi’s, Deadwood) to a logical end and redesigned the most popular and recognizable French perfume to be more desirable to United States’ market. I imagine it having a musky base scent with tones of pine sap, bison pheromones, leather chaps, stale whiskey, and the wafting smoke of a distant burning Indian village.

Chanel,"Rustique". Wood (oak, pine), pyrography, string. 7.5" tall, 5" wide, 2.25" thick.

Bottle packaged in hand-made pine wood shavings.

Bottle in plywood "Chanel Rustique" packaging. Box measures 13" tall, 9" wide, 5" deep.

Box detail. Pyrography on a/c plywood

Second, an experimental new cigarette-pack design. I’ve attempted to make a perforated, tear-away part of the standard pack a collectible: a “smoker” card, modeled after sports’ trading cards. Once the smoker is finished with their pack, they can tear off the folding top and remove the perforated back panel (redesigned with an biography and image of a unique individual, in this case a veteran to the brand) and keep it for their growing collection. Now that cigarettes can’t come in flavors that appeal to children, this could be a new way to target these future smokers.

template for Cigarette Pack with Tear-Away Smoker Card. 9.75" x 4"

two prototypes, assembled. "Cigarette Pack with Tear-Away Smoker Card". Lazer printing on card, cigarettes, thermal adhesive. 3.5" x 2.75" x .85"

three prototypes, one with card torn away.

“this the range and recent”

rhys bambrick — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:06:20 +0000

So, recently I made some prints for a group show with my Vassar peers (Joseph Redwood-Martinez, Russell Webner, Charlie Warren). The show is called “this the range and recent” and it is up until this Friday. We all made our own work and put it up in the Palmer Gallery in Main Building at Vassar. I set out with the intention of developing my skills in printing so I attempted some large-scale reduction lino-cuts (25″ x 36″). These are the prints I’ve produced:

"Bedroom Window" edition 3/4. Oil-based ink on paper. 36" x 25"

and another edition:

"Bedroom Window" edition 4/4. Oil-based ink on paper. 25" x 36"

My second print is a self-portrait, focusing on my hands. As printmaking is very manual, I wanted to make a self-portrait that was specific to the medium and method of production:

"Self-Portrait" edition 3/7. Oil-based ink on paper. 25" x 36"

There are seven editions of this print and all are slightly different (in color and texture) because I mixed a new ink every time I coated the block. Here are the six editions I showed this week and close-ups of two more editions:

Six of seven "Self-Portrait"'s

"Self-Portrait" edition 2/7. Oil-based ink on paper. 25" x 36"

"Self-Portrait" edition 5/7. Oil-based ink on paper. 25" x 36"

Contact me if you are interested in owning any of these editions.

For the invitations for this show, each artist created a limited-edition run of small prints on 8.5″ x 5″ paper with the show info on the reverse. I made 90 “Diamond”‘s:

"Diamond" edition 79/90. Oil-based in on paper. 7.5" x 5"

All my "Diamonds"

Photos of the show’s opening on February 25, 2010 can be found here.

More Prints (Blue Jays Cap and Vassar at Night)

rhys bambrick — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:15:16 +0000

Two more prints from my first semester printmaking class:

Blue Jays Cap, 12" x 16". reduction lino-cut, ink on paper. (1 of 4)

The Night Sky. 12" x 16". reduction lino-cut, ink on paper. (1 of 4)

Click these images for a larger format.

Panties, Turkish Golds

rhys bambrick — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:49:07 +0000

So, I’m doing a series of prints for my printmaking final. They explore delicate textures and the complex patterning of common objects. Sweater Print was the first, Panty Print and Turkish Gold Print are the second and third:

Panty Print. 12" x 16". linocut, ink on paper.

three panty prints

and,

Turkish Gold Print. 12" x 16". lino-cut ink on paper.

three prints

There are two more prints to come as well.

Sweater Print

rhys bambrick — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:07:28 +0000

Sweater Print #1 (of 3). 12" x 16". oil on paper, linocut.

three sweater prints

Carn-Evil

rhys bambrick — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:06:11 +0000

Haven’t done a poster in a while. This one’s for DJ Olmec, who’s spinning the Halloween party, Carn-Evil, at Vassar:

Carn-Evil, Halloween.

WVKR Tee Design

rhys bambrick — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:16:28 +0000

Look for these on campus come September:

Once they’re printed you’ll be able to find them online at wvkr.org

New Nudes

rhys bambrick — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:17:41 +0000

Some more nudes from the Arthouse Hotel, Sydney:

Shoulders. Conte crayon. 11" x 17"

Side. Conte crayon. 11" x 17"

Seated. Conte crayon. 11" x 17"

Twist. conte crayon. 11" x 17"