UGLY DAISY STUDIO

UGLY DAISY’S ONLY CO LAB BAND

Painting most of my life as a solo artist, I found life is richer with the sharing of ideas, so a visual band was formed. The band, Ugly Daisy Studio, are Minnesota based visual artists, who studied art at the University of Minnesota during the 70s, one of us with MFA in Art, and another with a  BS in Biology Animal Sciences.  I had a national break out presence in the work of raptor biology.  Training raptors and making  appearances on national television guest shows, with an eagle developed my expansive range of subject matter around nature juxtaposition surreal forms in a range of media.

In working acrylic paint, the composition of forms becomes transformative surpassing the subject. Weaving depth, layering planes and directions of motion in the representational subjects ranging from bacteria beads to birds, horses to humans. My intent is to push the intersection of figurative into the primal a add layers of complexity in developing mythical origin stories, such as in the case of “How Spirit Eagle Brought Night Eagle Light”. This is where the Ugly Daisy Studio “Co Labs” are created.  Artists Petra Johnita Lommen, Rick Pirtle as well as guest appearances of Tim Colby along with myself,  produce not just original acrylic paintings but as a “Visual Band” we create mythology. 

Often delving in original stories with the permissions of members in the community, as well as  sense of place themes have been explored by the Ugly Daisy Co Lab. Projects funded by a State Arts Board Grant  in 2018 engaged Students from the  American Indian Youth Enrichment Summer Program in exploring Mni Wiconi and sacred water places in fabrication of an assemblage sculpture and art.  Inspired by the Humans of Minnesota, rich with origin stories from cultures native and immigrant, I seek to create relics of future mythology. 

Archetypes in a  heroic  composition of synesthesia art creating motionless paintings, yet moving compositions. The Artists of Ugly Daisy, working as a studio team become a band, like the Beatles, Peta and I, like Lennon and McCartney painting synchronistic compositions. Like musicians layering complexity into songs, The Ugly Daisy Only Co Lab Band works multi-tracking of themes and layers of composition into paint. This is why we are original.  Working as a band of artists, for art, in these times is unique.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Garrigan

Lommen

COLBY

PIRTLE