07 Recap

Oh boy what a year it’s been huh? I keep a calendar at work, and each day I write down what I did the day before. I guess it’s my way of keeping a journal. Anyways, no one’s going to care at all about this, but I’m going to write about my year, so I can read this in the future and reflect about all the good times I had in ’07. So, in closing, don’t read this then complain that I wasted your time, because I wrote it for myself.

 

January:
I started off this year on my computer making a logo for Shinyfire.com. It was a squid lying on top of an Ipod, which was used to glorify our weekly pod cast. I also did two tiny paintings… one of King Hippo from Nintendo’s Punch Out!, and one of a drunk elephant. One Saturday night, I went over to my pal Gary’s house to play a fine game of Bastard ball, which is two teams each standing on opposite ends of a racquetball court. You get points by nailing the other team with the balls that are thrown at them. I also went to Southside w/ my pal Roadie and Mosley’s ex girlfriend Emily. This turned out to be a pretty awkward evening due to a drunken horny Roadie and Emily wanting nothing at all to do w/ him. I also made a disco dancing zombie in Illustrator which would later be used for a hoodie design. I also made a custom Valentines Day card for the upcoming holiday. I acquired an old painting at a thrift store in a big golden frame, so I painted a big blue guarding angel gangster on it. The painting is currently on display at Pack Rat in Southside Pittsburgh.

 

 February:
The band “The Mikeys” contacted me to do a T Shirt and Sticker design for them, so I worked on those. I also did a tiny little painting of a boxer with a cityscape behind him. I also did my first public art show at the Creative Treehouse in

Bellevue. The trick was, all the artists had 24 hours to create a piece to be shown in the reception the next day. I painted a blue elephant with a tree growing out of the mouth on its back. The painting is now in

California somewhere in some girl’s house that bought it off myspace. I also discovered an amazing drink, Volcanos, when KP, Tim, Benny, and I went out for a night on the town. Tim was testing out his new beard, which didn’t seem to go over well since he doesn’t have it any more. I also did a painting called “Husky Diver” which was a boy octopus sad over a lady pus. 

March:

I cut out a big monster face with a word bubble saying MattGondek.com to hang at my art shows. I also bought a new slick computer monitor that is all flat, big, and sexy. I picked up a good book called “The Road” by Cormack McCarthy. It tells the story about a boy and his father walking south after the “end of the world”, which you are lead to believe is from some sort of nuclear attack. I did my first T Shirt for someone else this month too. I made it for Captive Clothing, which turned out to kind of suck in the end. I also designed a skate deck that is collecting dust in my bedroom. Since it was getting warmer out, I picked up a grill and had a cookout which was a nice way to relax after my art show at Peter’s Pub in

Oakland. For the show, I did two new pieces.. One was of Ronald McDonald squeezing his nipple milk to feed some crows, and the other was of God calling a bunch of stone statues “EskiSluts”. I also got stickers made! 

April:
My friend Mosley and I organized our first art show this month. Called “Doughnuts and Art”, it was a collection of artists and bands and took place at the Creative Treehouse in Bellview. My band “Doughnuts in November” played there, and I also brought along some new pieces I made for the show. The first was of a confused octopus that some DJ in

California bought. Secondly, I did a piece called Swallows, which is now in

France somewhere. It’s of a little angel baby getting attacked by an alligator. Lastly, I did a doughnut themed piece of monsters and elephants. On 4/20, four of my friends celebrated a birthday, so we all took a limo downtown to Buckheads to celebrate. The night ended w/ me losing my cell phone forever, Sean falling off a giant speaker, and an entire leg of lamb which was bought at at a little gyro shop. We ate the lamb that entire weekend, during the birthday party / Beer Olympics. I also started a now nine foot long drawing called Super Husky World, and began work on a painting of zombies fighting robots fighting dinosaurs for the cover of “A Rein of Haven’s” CD. Lastly, my friends and I all went to Flux, which was a big Artitst event downtown somewhere. Most of it was outside, so it was mega cold. 

May:
In may this blog was started. I also did a shirt for Shipshape clothing of an elephant and did an Illustrator design of a portion of the nine foot drawing. This piece would later become a flier for the creative treehouse. My friends and I also went to a Girl Talk show and danced our faces off.

 

June:
The band “Girl in the Closet” from

Texas commissioned me to create a logo for them. After I finished that, I began painting a drunken tattooed pink hippo on an old table I found in the neighbor’s trash. The table was unique because it had about 100 or so tiny little photos glued on it of different people. I also made an arcade machine printout that for my myspace that people could print out and construct. I had an art show at the

Rex Theatre in Southside which was a pretty good time because I got to show my new piece of a grub tied to an octopus. Debris Magazine contacted me to do a banner for their site, and did a feature on my work, as did the website Lost at E Minor. My band played in Monaca PA at “SuperFriends 5” and crushed it hard. Everyone was real into it and dancing around which was good because their wasn’t a great turnout for the event. KP and I also went downtown to the Pittsburgh Art’s Festival and to another Flux event which took place right in the heart of

Pittsburgh. We had seen a motorcycle get hit by a car that day, which in the end was still pretty crazy to see. No one got hurt. I also went to

Washington DC to all the museums and everything which was cool. 

July:
I seen Transformers in the theatre and got super excited by the amazing visuals. I also bough a new Ipod, and seen the new Harry Potter and Simpsons movie. My buddy Aaron took me to see Interpol downtown too. I didn’t do much art this month. Only to the Southside works to do chalk drawings during their annual artist festival thing.

 

August:
Rob Larson from Destroy/ Destroyer and I got together to do a colab piece called Rampage. It uses his signature style of a cityscape in the background, along w/ the Ninteno Rampage characters I painted in the front. I also painted another monster on a aerosol can, which caused allot more problems than it was worth with my friend. A great movie, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres came out on DVD and was a great purchase. I did another shirt for Shipshape Clothing as well as a new painting of some roses. The local paper ran an interview of me talking about Mosley and I’s event, Doughnuts and Art 2.0 which happened this month. The lead singer of Doughnuts in November was also in the interview. I also bought a new car, and ’07 Hyundai Elantra.

 

September:
Like every resident of

Pittsburgh at some point in the summer, I went to

Kennywood Park and later on, a Pirates Game. I was commissioned by Phoenix Entertainment to design a custom pair of Air Force Ones, and commissioned by a clothing company called With Open Eyes to design two shirts. I also went to the Improv at the waterfront for the first time ever, and to the Penguins Open House. When my Birthday rolled around, we took a Limo downtown and almost got in a fight with a racist DJ. We also had a party at my house, and a cookout and wiffleball game the next day. I did a painting of a crying face called “A young Good Looking American” and went to my friends art show, Conceived Bully”, at the Digging Pit. 

October:
The band “The Devil Wears Prada” commissioned me to do two shirt designs for them. I also did another pair of custom slip on shoes for a kid in

Jersey named John.  My pal Sean and I went to Sonics and ate like kings since

Pittsburgh finally got one. I hastily got the tater tots as my side, but secretly wished I had gotten the fries. KP and I went to our pal Wamsley’s house to do a photo shoot for a piece he was working on. It involved me dressed like a killer clown and I had KP tied up about to do some killin’ on her. Our friend had a Halloween party, and in the afternoon that day we all went to watch Saw 4, which is now a Halloween tradition. Fresh Clothing commissioned me to do a shirt for them, and I also did a mural at “Your Moms” store in

Bellevue. (Yes I know I’m spelling it different each time)  

November:
Wamley’s photo piece of KP and I was entered into the Halloween art show at the Creative Treehouse. My band also played the event and I had some artwork on display as well. KP and I won the pumpkin carving contest and were rewarded handsomely w/ some candy, a free pizza, and a gift certificate for a fancy restaurant. The band “The Announced” commissioned me to do a shirt design for them. A friend of mine commissioned me to do a painting for his wife for Christmas. I also took some time for myself and did a painting of some badgers hanging out in a rose garden in the clouds. I also made a limited edition book called Husky Diver to give away with art purchases from my site. Lastly, I was contacted to include a piece in a “Vice’s” show in

San Francisco. My biggest vice is my bad mouth, so I painted and submitted a piece, called “Smartmouth that’s deece”. The show started today, the 2nd.  

December:
I once again went to

Washington DC for the weekend with KP. My roommates started talk about making a clothing company called “I Shirt Myself”, which I did two designs for. I also created a logo for Chest Laser, Mosleys new online store which should be out early this year. I also did two different paintings of a purple bird, which I’ve named Morgan Freeman. He is currently having a comic drawn of him by yours truly. Lastly, I bought myself some new toys. An Ipod Touch and a new TV.

4 Responses to “07 Recap”


  1. 1 Gary Yukon Jan 2nd, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    2008 needs more Bastard ball

  2. 2 matt Jan 2nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    everything needs more bastard ball

  3. 3 Mary Jan 16th, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    I found your blog by accident but am glad I did

  4. 4 Daniel Jan 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    I couldn’t understand some parts of this article cap at echoflip.com, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

Leave a Reply




Add to Technorati Favorites

WidgetBucks

Pittsburgh Bloggers