Exodus

Seeing the final phase of these pieces: final resin casts, the LED lighting location, additional airbrush detail, sanding, engineering hardware to attach the steel rod to a base.

Flying and hovering and strange night lights all part of the story of Exodus. Freedom is the theme of the Exodus and wings provide a unique freedom. I often have dreams of flying or hovering outside my body. Freedom is a spiritual feeling and is associated with light. 

The cast resin pieces become a lens diffusing LED light through the wing and surrounding area. It’s a soothing light, a light you might see in the distance of the desert wilderness. Exodus is a story of a flight to freedom through a desert wilderness. The journey is illuminated at times with a column of fire or clouds for the masses to follow during the day and during the night. A journey in the desert at night avoids the heat of the desert day and the stars of the night illuminate the desert floor.

New pieces-Cast Resin Wings: 34″-38″ wingspans. LED light-wood and resin bases. Series of 12 available this fall. More at: Online Gallery Website 

The Encounter

In my dream, I am alone in an ocean desert. The moonless sky helps shield the pitch black sky protecting it from celestial lights. The sound of silence is deafening. I am lost, helpless and desperate for a sign. Hope becomes fear as the wilderness becomes unrecognizable and my faith is my only assurance until the Encounter.

“The Encounter I” is the working title of this mixed media piece. The cast resin molded wings are cast with phosphorescent coloring-aqua-sky blue and green. The wings are airbrushed with pearlescent lacquers and additional clear resin cast is cast on top.  

I like the idea of the mixed media pieces hanging on a wall with the LED lighting illuminating the work. I love how you can apply a “fade” on the lights as the LED lights cycles through an array of colors. One of my personal favorites is the yellow-orange colorization.

This particular suite of work is entitled “Strangers in a Strange Land”. We all experience the unknown in our daily walk of life, some through a death experience or in a meditative state. When we are lost, we seek the familiar and in our desperation, we cry out for a sign. This the first in the series of these sculptures. The each wing is 17″ and it the photo above, the wings are verticle emulating that angelic being that becomes a light we follow.

http://www.stor-ybox.com  @anObliqartist

“The Rent is Too Damn High”

Many in the know…knew. It was inevitable that not all the restaurants opening on the 7th Street restaurant corridor could survive. Frankly, I thought there were several other eateries on 7th that would close shop before The Herb Box on 7th. I read the reviews on Yelp to help gather insight from customers and it was not pretty. The quality of food may not be the issue but rather the type or lack of service took its toll according to the reviews. I am reminded that it is called a “Hospitality” business. In the eat or be eaten business you have to be on the lookout for all predators.

Yes…its a different business model. No, your sales don’t support the rents the developer “needs”. Infill sites are becoming a rare find and demand is high, and some building costs have increased 33% in a short time. How you determine rent all begins with the cost of real estate and properties along our prominent arterials with strong visibility and parking can be costly. The Colony is a good example. The developer paid a market price to purchase the property. The success of The Yard started the stampede on 7th street. He took on the task to redeveloped the project and committed to his internal return on investment scenario. He went to market with a creative vision to reposition the property. I think he did a great job with the project. Demand for space was high and phase I leased up very quickly with local contemporary restaurant offerings and no chains. As most good developers know, the restaurant industry is highly competitive and the risk is greater in this retail category. But with high risk can come high reward and the Colony filled up quite quickly with local known names and concepts weighing the risk with entrepreneurial spirit before signing long-term leases. Many (not in the know) blame the “greedy” developer for charging high rents and that is how we get to the “rent is too damn high” syndrome and the only reason the restaurant failed.

From what I experienced and what I read, service at the Herb Box (or the lack of) contributed to it’s demise. Competition played its part, culling the herd of those with empty seats along the foodie corridor. They will surely find a replacement tenant (bet you 10 to 1 it’s a restaurant), another “local restaurant” willing to ply Phoenix’s 7th St food corridor.