Group Art Show Pending

I've been working diligently on a few things that I'm going to post on here soon but before I forget:

A co-worker and fellow comic book artist I know is putting on an art show next month I'll be involved in. I'll post more details as soon as I can.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I'm still obsessed with Florence...

Firenze Nightscape, Acrylic and Aerosol on Canvas, 24"x36", 2010

Propeller Show

Well, the Obscured Metropolis show went well and I want to thank everyone who came to see it. Here are some pictures from the opening and a link my painting's featured on on the Propeller website.

My girlfriend made all my frames from scratch and I couldn't be happier with them. That was definitely the best I had ever seen my work presented.

I'm also happy to say that I sold one of the three pieces I was showing.

Impossible Promises

In other news, it was too ambitious for me to say I'd be done my uncle's commission by the end of the month-mainly because my new apartment hasn't worked out and I have to move again October 1st. If you're thinking of moving to Kensington Market or near it I would seriously advise against it.

Art Trip

On a more positive note I took a bus to New York with the Mrs. for a few days to get some inspiration.

We saw most of the big galleries/museums and we also saw the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art which had stuff by a lot big names; I hope the place expands one day because right now there's no space between any of the works nor is there between the floor and the ceiling.

This is by my current favourite painter: Alice Neel.

Installation shot from the Moma

I can fully embrace all of her work. She's great.

Even though I've been a nomad for the last while and haven't had room to paint I've managed to keep up some momentum with my comic. I'm a hair away from finishing the first issue. It will be about 15 pages.

Obscured Metropolis Date Change

The curator has contacted us to tell us that the last day of the show is now Saturday July 17th rather than Sunday July 18th. The opening is still on Thursday July 15th.

Obscured Metropolis

Hey friends,

I ended up getting into the show I submitted to at Propeller Gallery. I really did. I'll be showing a couple Florence drawings and the Italian Nightscape painting I just finished. Here's the flyer. I'll be at the opening in palatial regalia.

Commission for my Uncle

I've been working on a commission for my uncle for close to a year now. I want to finish it so I can focus on my own work exclusively.
Dear blog,
I hereby promise you that I will complete this painting by the end of July.

Completion

I managed to finish the Italian nightscape last night and I just dropped it off to be photographed. I'm planning to submit it (and two other works if I can get them done) to a call for submissions on June 14. If I get into the show, I'll post the info. Otherwise, let's forget this ever happened.

More Current Concerns

So far this blog has been documenting things that happened years prior to any of the posts; this time I wanted to mention things I'm currently working on/doing. As it stands I work full-time at an art supplies store in dowtown Toronto. After work I paint in my third-floor-bedroom in a house I share with my mother.

Italian Nightscape

I'm painting a 24" x 36" painting based on a photo I took. The photo was taken in Florence at dusk, on the South side of the Arno. Something about it summarizes my experience there in a way I can't put into words. OMG! I guess that's why I'm trying to paint it!
That goes for most of what I do. In crude terms, I'm trying to "render the emotional and psychological content a certain image suggests to me." -Tim Comrie

Short Film

I'm also working on a short film with two of my friends in which I play the protagonist. It's hard to find days when we're all available but we've finished the script (well, Nat did) and started filming and I'm excited about the long and terrible road ahead.

EP

I recorded the fourth track of an EP I'm working on that should provide proof that I am in fact a unique and industrious rapper with a broad vocabulary. I can't say when it will be done but it's getting there. I want to put on at least one more song but I'm not happy with the beat I've been performing it over.

Comic Book

When I got back from Florence my friend lent me some comics by Joe Matt. For those of you who don't know Joe Matt, he's a Philadelphia-born comic artist who spent several years living and producing autobiographical comics in Montreal and Toronto for an independent publisher called Drawn and Quarterly. I can't overstate how honest his comics are. No don't make me.

I loved them so much that I immediately got back into comics and started my own.

A page from his last book:


Another Canadian comic that got me excited was Pope Hats by Ethan Rilly from Montreal; his line walks...the line...between controlled and expressive like a lily opening for a rock-hard shaft.

http://www.popehats.ca/

Right now my comic's in the vein of Woody Allen, Garry Shandling, Joe Matt, R. Crumb and Harvey Pekar in that I'm speaking frankly to the (")camera(") about my issues in a delightful, charming way. I think other influences and approaches will surface as I get more into it.

Bjork's Retirement from Acting

Some recent painting sales have reminded me that other people see value in what I'm doing and that it makes sense for me to keep painting my main focus. It's what I'm best at and I would like to one day have savings.

Ideal Work

There were times when I was out of work for extended periods of time during the past year. I did a lot of modest commercial art and commissions for modest pay to stay afloat but I learned that I need a regular job to stay focused on my dream one. Ideally I'd like to be able to work part-time at a standard job and work on my paintings the rest of the time but I'm nowhere near that option right now. The important thing is to not treat dreams like dreams, I think.

Florence

I actually did very little painting my first year back at OCAD after my two-year hiatus; I focused on finishing my liberal studies and doing Integrated Media electives.

LATER:

The most involved I've ever been in my painting was when I decided to apply for OCAD's Florence Program; I think it was the best move I've ever made. I was accepted into the program and found myself living in Italy for my Thesis year.

When I first got there making art was the furthest thing from my mind--I was too overwhelmed by what I saw. I'm not a good enough writer to describe what it was like to land in a place like Florence so I'm not going to try.
Anyway, I'd never been so inspired as in that strange and beautiful place and I was ecstatic with how it affected my content and aesthetic.


I also did a performance and a video and I'll post these either here or on the website I'm working on. Godspeed.

An Interview I Did About My Music in 2008

A Sad Clown Who Raps: An Interview with Harlequin
by Lawrence Breavman

This past Saturday I got a chance to sit down with up-and-coming Toronto-rapper/spoken word artist Harlequin. Harlequin, born Tim Comrie has been rapping for eight years. It is not easy to guess that the mild-mannered twenty-five-year-old is an aspiring rapper (he confesses that the usual response to divulgence of this information is "incredulous laughter") but the man is serious about his chosen audio strain and apparently has great plans to fill what he says is a gap between the potency of the music’s aesthetic and the potency of its content.

S: So where does the name Harlequin come from?

H: I thought of it when I was watching Batman: the Animated Series, inspired by the sexiness and neatness of Joker’s sidekick Harley Quinn. Since then I’ve thought of other reasons. I also very much enjoy Picasso’s paintings of harlequins and the feelings of isolation that are conveyed in them. The idea of a sad performer is one I identify with as you have probably guessed from my music.

S: So it has nothing to do with Harlequin Romance novels?

H: I hate to disappoint people but I’m proud to.

S: So you’re a sad performer?

H: I’d say I’m more melancholy than what is typically presented in the mainstream—and more shy. I really identify with Morrissey in interviews when he talks about how hard it was to imagine himself doing rock when everyone he saw doing it was so aggressive and extraverted.

S: So how does a shy, sad, middle-class white kid get into hip hop?

H: It’s hard to say when it started. In terms of just listenership, I was in and out of love with it until halfway through high school when some “heads” I worked with rekindled my interest permanently-as well as a friend, Sean, who’s enthusiasm for the genre was infectious. In terms of beginning to do it myself, that happened when my friend Tom got some functional recording equipment when we were 17. He was showing it to me and my friend Nick when Nick insisted Tom make a beat we could record to. A few beers and an hour later we had recorded 5 o’clock in the Ghetto, a ridiculous song mixing gangster rap clichés with scenes from Akira.

S: So that was it for you?

H: Yes.

S: Is this music available to the public?

H: There’s some funny, creative stuff on there but the sound quality is such that we probably couldn’t sell it with a clear conscience.

S: Did you guys have a name?

H: Yeah. Oakwood Rangers. We all went to Oakwood Collegiate for high school and Oakwood Rangers was the name of a funny movie we made about us as our school’s nonsensically violent, power-hungry security guards.

S: Are your friends still rapping?

H: Tom’s more into production and playing instruments which he is very good at-he had by far the most musical knowledge between the three of us. Nick will only do it in an airtight environment after drinks.

S: Why do you think it was so compelling for you in particular?

H: I love words and I’ve always written-I’ve always wanted to describe what I’m witnessing within and without in any way I could and sometimes words are the best tool.

S: So why not write novels or diary entries-why rap?

H: The short answer is that rapping is fun. I do write prose and straight poetry but I love music and haven’t been good at any instrument I’ve tried.
To strip away all that’s unnecessary from a hip-hop song is a prospect that continues to energize me. There’s your rhythm, the rhythm behind you, and the content you choose to deliver. In fact you could even do away with at least two of those elements and it’s still hip-hop to me.
Lately what motivates me is a lack of honesty in most of what I listen to. Art that I like is uncensored, free expression of what depresses, enlightens, cracks you up, etc. I want to make songs void of any posturing or concern for consequential stigmas and this can get scary. Lately I’m really upset by the homophobia seemingly intrinsic to the genre and I’m attempting to poke fun at it in my songs. But people giving me pounds for rapping might just want to pound my face in if they knew my true feelings about homosexuality-that it’s fine!

S: What do you get out of music? What are your goals?

H: Again, like most artists I notice a lack-a gap I’d like to fill. Certain artists hint at the unexplored areas of the genre and that inspires me to go to those places, aesthetically and lyrically. I think the art form is pretty powerful on its own—Run DMC is enough to move me-strictly by their style and delivery-so why not try to tap into that energy and into Morrissey’s writing sense simultaneously? That’s what I aim for and I know it’s asking a lot of myself but that’s the way I am. I want to rhyme with the dynamics of Rakim and the depth of Leonard Cohen. That is my goal.•

Lawrence Breavman

●Be sure to check out Harlequin’s music at www.myspace.com/harlequintherapper

Website Coming Soon

I've started work on a website with a friend of mine (Jacob Karsemeyer). www.timcomrie.com