Sunday, November 23, 2008

AND VOTE FOR ME!!!!


Please, do it. I submitted 5 designs for a contest. Here is one, you should flip it upside down and get the creepy surprise.

www.1800tequila.com (apologies to the straightedge)

Search alphabetically in the user gallery and find my name, Cecilia Granata (You have go move the arrow on the images to see the names). I am around page 11 of the letter C but it keeps going further.
Click on the 5 stars for each piece. You can do it everyday. Thank you.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

vegan treats






Hi. Winter comes on dance steps, Finger-shaped popsicles on the bike lane and a cup of hot coffee in my mind. I know we make good coffee in Italy, but all I want is a HUGE cup of american coffee to hold while I am walking.
There was a contest to design Vegan Treats T-shirts. I won it. I am so proud, can't wait to see the shirts. These are some of the designs that were not chosen. For the final one, you'll have to wait till it gets print it. Then go to the bakery and celebrate with an hydrogenated fabulous feast. Sweet tooth. Coming to new york next, week, so excited I can't hold myself together.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

the things of autumn





update all together so i can bother you more at once.
1- halloween kitties
2-warriors nonsense drawing
3-do it youself- cute drawing
4-last time out illo, about CMJ festival

enjoy

Sunday, September 28, 2008

ciao mostro


my favorite dog. he liked: asparagus, snow and snowballs, the apple's core and skin, bread always, wood sticks -the bigger the better. seriously-, a toy shaped like santa claus -he murdered the shit out of it-, cookies oh yea biscotti (both said in english or in italian), tennis balls, swimming in the sea all summer long but even the coldest winter was fine. Rest in Peace, lovely monster.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

how to compromise with dignity


this was an illustration i did for his week's Time Out New York. They called me up and needed the drawing for later the same day (jetlag being in the way); jewish holidays and modern ways to celebrate. The art director already had the concept planned out. How to skirt by the Jewish holidays without stepping over the line with any of the traditions. They needed a guy in a yarmulke, wearing a tallis, and playing a shofar, rocking it out like a jazz or whatever hip dude.
ok, i say. Except, i almost immediately realize, the shofar is the GODDAMN HORN OF A MURDERED ANIMAL. Oh shit. Since I cannot just draw a GODDAMN HORN OF A MURDERED ANIMAL and let it go, I had to find a solution. Solution being: I copied/pasted the PETA sticker -fake for the animals sake- over the horn.
AND, just to make sure the concept was clear, I gave the guy a patch of the J.A.V. (jewish american vegan).
Job done, everyone is happy and the message is spread.
Quickly drawn from a photo of a friend of mine while he bites his dogs ear. Substituted the dog's face with a vegan shofar. Inked with VERY cheap ink, photographed and colored in photoshop. Im pretty happy with it.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

NO QUESTIONS ASKED



I have no explanation for this.

Monday, September 22, 2008

art science lab hours





More experiments. I have a lot of free time.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

it all goes back to ice cream




brooklyn jewish vegan ice cream IS the best ice cream. one portion substitutes 3 meals and damages your brain forever.

more experiments




Experimenting on small portraits. Paul Watson. Check out Sea Shepherds Conservation Society, all they do rules and we should all be out there. He looks kinda pissed in my drawing. It was not really my intention but I guess it still makes a lot of sense.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

the sweet state of crime


I locked myself in a outdoor house, meditating on good and evil; i feed myself pumpkin to welcome the autumnal romance, i experiment on photoshop with the beauty of criminal features. 
I sketched this tuff lady out, inked it and threw on the computer. I was just playing around with colors, I'll work on it more, maybe think of a background, maybe work on a series of characters.
stay tuned for more and get ready for the new palette spreading outside.

Monday, August 25, 2008

praise seitan


oh i just found a funny and creepy poster that i made last year. it's about seitan. it tastes good, you should try it and love it.
i do not worship satan.

in august I digest bread with sorrow spread

It's been a sour sour summer. I didn't paint or draw anything at all, just busy in a full epistemological review of meanings and life choices.  I hold hands with two ghosts now, I want to be happy and put value in the right places. 
This piece is very old. 
I'll start a new one as soon as I find an apartment with an actual table or at least 15 square inches of crap-free floor. 
Roma is pretty. Talk to you soon. Love.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

july


It's a July Frankenstein Kitty.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

long time no post

hi everyone, finally something new. I've been moving crossoceans, back to the livid streets of Milan, a suitcase of paranoia with me. Experiencing the constant lack of internet of this country, only good at pizza. Two days before leaving I was called by the West Side Spirit, upper west side newspaper, to do their cover. A movie crew is apparently taking over the area, so they wanted something on the line of those fifties movie posters with the giant monster walking over the city.
in the first row there is a bunch of me, the crazy director is my roommate's body pasted over my friend james face. It was quick and fun.
Back to spaghetti, talk to you all at some point.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

my mind stretches i got a sore brain




uhm ok, so the painting with the donut was part of my senior portfolio and was eventually bought from a show in the lower east side. the same couple who bought it commissioned me 3 more paintings same size, same style, same theme. 
For the portfolio we basically had to pick something that we care about and twist it into a cohesive body of work. My body of work was not cohesive at all, it looked more like a bride of frankenstein type of body, but I sort of had a theme: what I cared about was philosophy and food. I decided to work under a title "la pasticceria filosofica" (the philosophical bakery). 
And the Good Intentions painting came. I followed the theme for the other 3 even though at that point I could barely remember what the fuck I meant. I can even remember it less NOW, so I'll just throw some threads.  I am not very articulate when it comes to pretentiousness.
I was going to use some philosophical topics that I am interested in, and explain them through food (first sentence and already we are falling into nonsense) as something that should be a basic need but that in this culture became a mindless habit and a commercial vice.  
For the "good intentions" I threw the concept of Homo Homini Lupus, men is a wolf among other men, the failure in the perspective of an healthy cooperation for a common wealth. A sugar coated treat, the promise of dreams for cheap, but the blades in it (the real price we pay, a planet dying, a humanity wasted in stupidity and demagogy) remind us (or they don't, since we keep swallowing the deadly crumbs) that we are consciously damaging ourselves AND each other. We all have good intentions but we speak well and roll terribly. 
Easy dreams, easy satisfaction, easy rewards, our lives are cheap.
The one with the eyeball-machine was originally inspired by a flyer that someone handed to me. It claimed that god had a wonderful plan for me and it made me quite upset.  Once again, taking what they feed us as sweet and growing an irresponsible optimism over it. Their lies, the soporific pills we swallow under disguise of a luscious soft serve.  God is a mere machine, a  troglodyte  attempt to keep us sleepy and uncritical. The girl's tattoo says -mental disorder global domination-   Keeping people insane through world propaganda. I actually got it tattooed myself hehehe
The next one is based on the concept of absurdity. This used to be a deeper and important concept of existentialism but today it seems to apply on a much more sleazy level. The boredom driving today's life is a byproduct of a culture that owns and produce all sorts of useless crap and find itself not knowing what to do with it. We become absurd as an economic mechanism. How squalid is that? Also, I really wanted to paint my roommate pulling her teeth off, don't ask why, I don't know, but there is something about teeth that I can't resist.  If you look up on a symbols dictionary the meaning of falling teeth it sends you to the term "beheading". There is something about beheading that I can't resist too.
The girl's tattoo translates as "a vexation weights down on me". It's part of a poem called "boredom" by a romantic and pessimistic italian poet, Giacomo Leopardi. 
The last one i think is also about absurdity, grinding shit that doesn't need to be grind but just enjoyed. We make everything harder and much more complicated than what it should actually be,  turning life itself into meaningless. The sticker on the grinder is a quote from Camus. "cette revolte de la chair", "this rebellion of the flesh"   ...his definition of absurdity. I though it made sense if I put it over the grinder,  something supposed to grind flesh. 
Oh, all the tattoos are Disney Characters to underline the lightness and cheapness of this very perverse system that turns down intelligence in favor of ignorance and false happiness.
Uh, I guess I AM articulate in pretentiousness.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

my life is sweet as saccharine


Look, I made an illustration for Post Punk Kitchen. Not that it was commissioned or anything, I just did it and sent it to them. Not that they replied or anything, I just sat in waiting mood, chewing on frustration.  I like it though. Who doesn't like punKakes?  
Drawn on shitty paper, inked, photographed, threw in photoshop for some color. For some reason, I always like better the ink version than the final, colored one. 

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

fiori d'arancio


It's june. Go get married in a graveyard.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

stage dives make me feel more alive

Another Time Out job....they called me up on tuesday night and needed the final by thursday morning. I am getting pretty fast, I sketched it out in couple of hours and colored it the next afternoon. I even had time to go for a walk in the park and for my yoga class! 
The commission was just about NY music shows in the summer, so of course I turned it into a HC manifesto. 
Fun fact,  people really DO stage diving over pool toys in Italy. I think it's annoying most of the times, but the theme was music and summer, so here we go.
Here is a dilemma: I tattooed all the people in the picture (there's also vegan tattoos! And straight edge too, under M. "suggestion"). All the tattoos are actual tattoos that I took from photos on the internet. Some of them are pieces by very good artists and original works of art, so I was struggling over the fairness of what I was doing, by incorporating them in my drawing. 
I don't remember what my thread of thoughts was, but I decided it was ok to do it. Then I thought more about it and changed my mind but it was too late. I think I will not do it again, it's not about copyrights or legal shit but more about respect for other artists original ideas. 
M. suggested that in my free time I start painting a bunch of tattoos and keep them for when they are needed. Good advice.

The papergrain texture in my illustrations is due to the fact that I don't have a scanner so I take photos of the drawing, import it and color it with photoshop. That's the result, I call it a "happy accident".
ok bye.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Friendship and Sisterhood


The most recent illustration I did for Time Out. Sex in public places, I am not too proficient on the topic. I actually freaked out because I never do backgrounds, my subjects are usually lost in a painterly limbo with no definition. I can only draw people. And hairless cats. And parts of people or parts of hairless cats. Oh and things to eat when they are sweet and vegan. Anyway, here it was pretty much all about locations but I still managed to put as little as possible.  So my friend M. from Barcelona, that I missed for about one year, just arrived and they called me for this job. We came up with a plan to get this done as fast as possible because we wanted to spend time together. Plan turns out to be: she gives me all the ideas for the six sex scenes and I draw them at the speed of sound and then we go to Atlas and get cupcakes. Honestly, the longest part in my process is to find an idea. I can spend days mumbling over the perfect sense of something and measuring the golden ratio of a concept. It's because I take everything too seriously. So it was pretty convenient to have someone smarter than me that could come up with the same result in few minutes. Thanks M., what would my life be without you? ; )
On the theme of taking everything too seriously, my other friend L. yesterday suggested me to watch the Tom Cruise video about scientology. That, he said, will teach me how wrong it is to take things too seriously and will explain me that everything is ok BUT being like Tom Cruise. I'll try that. 
Also, new website coming soon, thanks to my marvelous Jaz Harold.

Monday, May 5, 2008

sunny days of decay

So it's May again, already slipping between the fingers in a snap. Here are some May Frankenstein cats, enjoy your spring, while I spend my time spitting in people's eyes.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

TATTOOS


So uhm, I trade paintings for tattoos. Anyone interested? 
EH? EH?

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

the endless monologue






































Here are some small illustrations I did for Time Out New York about a month ago.  It was my 
first commissioned editorial job and I kinda stressed out because I was not used to work fast
and with a deadline that cannot be broke. I sketched them out, inked, photographed (I have NOT a scanner, dammit) threw in photoshop and applied colors (after waking up my roommate 
and her boyfriend at 7am to pose for me). I was a bit nervous because digital coloring is not really my thing and I felt like I hadn't enough confidence with it to feel entirely comfortable. When I paint, I know that I know how to fix something if it goes wrong, while with photoshop I had to experiment, with the pressure of a deadline. It came out nice. These were the two spots illustrations, there was also a full page one that I am not uploading for unknown reasons. 
The story was about the secret identities of new yorkers, sort of a doctor jeckyll and mr. hyde kind of thing....a female lawyer that go-go dances at night, a pot-head doctor and a polite husband with an addiction for sexy massages.
I just finished working this morning on another piece for Time Out, coming out next week. Check it out.  Is there anybody out there anyway? 

Sunday, April 13, 2008

a tribute to the goonies

Hey here is a new piece, realized for WARRIORS SKATEBOARDS; it is currently been printed on decks that will be distributed and sold in a bunch of european countries. 
I had a lot of fun doing that, I have an obsession for skeletons and I can't get over it. I am afraid I am going to be that person that only paints skeletons. 
Oh well, better than being that person that only paints black squares with mysterious meaning of deep value that nobody really gets but they still shake their heads in approval.
Here what you see is what you get. It's a skeleton. He's wearing american apparel underwear. They were probably shoplifted. End of the story.

The "warriors" kids asked me to give him a collar bones tattoo in honor to the goonies, I though it was a brilliant idea.
The puddle on the floor is the logo of the company. 



Friday, April 11, 2008

New York Press

Here is an illustration I recently did for NewYorkPress. I painted it in acrylic, photographed it and sent it. The deadline was tight, couple of days but I managed to get thru without loosing my mind.
I was fueled by a shameful amount of vegan brownies from Vegan Treats. 
It was actually kind of funny because after I sent the first series of sketches, the art director told me that she REALLY liked them but if I could manage to make some changes. Very specifically, she gave me a 7 points list of things to change (the last one was...to add a horse in the background! ahah), that RADICALLY twisted my entire composition, characters and whatsoever, leaving nothing of the original concept. Im not sure what she liked, but she ended up being right...this version works better than the original one. 
It is based on an article written by this folk singer from brooklyn, Mishka Shubaly, about how he successfully half-baked his brain on this new prescription drug that gave him nightmares, weird visions and some sort of reality-shakes...
the descriptions of the experience was beautiful though..

Fuck drugs, keep your eyes open and your mind steady. 

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

B-MOVIES ARE THE REASON


Long time no update.  Today I feel like this, feasting on the corpse of romantic literature and expressionist cinematic. Twist it into a pop nightmare, make it a technicolor wound. 
 I propose a toast, long live chtulhu and may the river run red.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Most likely, a corn syrup tsunami


Acrylic piece. Based on Electrocute's song "sugar buzz".

Chocolate cake lollipop caramel candy drops marshmallow; strawberry wild cherry jelly belly.

The malady of possess, we swallow everything we can reach and then vomit it in cyclopean mountains of garbage.


pop regimes


random old sketch

rats & sugar


Soon it's going to be my birthday. All I can think of is cake and death. Another nail in  the coffin, but I guess it's okay if that implies 6 inches of chocolate-flavored hydrogenated fats. 
old piece, acrylic on wood
the plague the plague, it comes pink and sprinkled 
"Le favole esistono!! Abbasso i guastafavole"

Sunday, March 23, 2008

meat is murder!!!

Also, on the easter note. Don't support the slaughter, you can have a scrumptious easter veggie feast. Let the lambs live, let respect be your drive. There is NOT a single valid reason to support the meat industry. Be kind. EAT BEANS NOT BEINGS!!!!!  
Chocolate is bad too, choose the dark one please.  It does taste better and it is blood and pus free.
Also, you should not celebrate easter to begin with.  

"The Christian resolve to find the world evil and ugly, has made the world evil and ugly"
F. Nietzsche


THEY JUST WON'T STAY DEAD!


So today is easter. The day that, according to the myth, Jesus Christ turned into a zombie and started his long lasting habit of feeding on human brains. Too bad. 
To stay on the theme, here is a ooooold piece, part of a 12 months calendar. It's April but the idea was Easter. Frankenstein bunny-cat and dark chocolate egg, good package I say. 
As usual, it is painted with acrylic and pencil on wood. 
The all series was based on a combination between the visual content derived from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (plus the cinematographic translations of it) and the popular cheesy kittens calendar imagery. The attempt was to mix the typical cliches, month by month, with elements from the novel, in order to make a sensible dialogue between the two. 
I was considering the general virus-like spread quest for cuteness (and the nauseous illusory optimism that follows) adopted by this society to protect a rotting substrate of lies, hypocrisy and fears.  Dangerous attitude, it relies on ignorance and promotes it as a comfortable lifestyle.


Saturday, March 22, 2008

dance today


-"to hear something new is hard and painful to the ear. We hear the music of foreigners badly" I make the sounds that you can't understand-this is my critique! this is my subversion! this is my revolution! I make the sounds that you can't understand. My fingers, my voice slide into every orifice. You (I) own these words. This is friendship. That's what friends are for. I am Nietzsche!-
Orchid
Hand drawn, inked, scanned and colored in with photoshop. I also made a silkscreen version that sucks. 

Friday, March 21, 2008

For the sake of intelligence


GO VEGAN. 
Here is a recent work. I am honestly not too happy with it, I feel it's too simple of a composition, and probably even of a concept, just all there, in your face. No brain gymnastic is required, it just goes as far as you see it.  Oh well, sometimes all you need is the taste of a  fist-broken mouth.  And to thank Germs, "we must bleed"
I've been recently dealing with ideas that consider a craving for collapse as the only healthy attitude. 
To indulge over the perspectives of a sick civilization's decline, to pray for the event that will reverse the course of misdemeanors; to resist the claims of a culture that defines itself as humanity without the basis to afford it. 
we are fucked up.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

HEY HEY

"beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time"

"guns AND peanut butter"