NOT MY CHEETO zine

                   

NOT MY CHEETO

2021, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", 40 pages

now available for $25ea.

 

Purchase through paypal: paypal.me/trgratkowski

(include address)

A personal accounting of 2020...

Where do I begin? Well, 2020 sucked!

As a matter of fact so did 2019, but here we are at the beginning of 2021 and things appear a little better.

It is with this moment of reprieve from a very long and unproductive period in my creative and personal life

that I’ve decided to look back at those things that I could consider productive and positive.

For me, that’s a simple accounting of achievements.

In 2020... I, under unusual circumstances for me, made some art.

COVID-QUILT:

I started the  “Covid-Quilt” project, something to focus on and distract me from the world outside of my temporary doors. Without a studio and moving around a lot I decided to do something simple and less involved than my usual collages. I started to make drawings (aka: doodles) on 4-½”x4-½” paper about the random things that held my attention for that moment. The goal, as I began this when Los Angeles was ordered to stay at home and quarantine, was to create one every day until there was a cure/ vaccine. Since this project began I’ve decided I will continue until I receive my 2nd of the two shots required for the vaccine. To the day of writing this I have completed 311 so far. They can be viewed individually on my instagram page @tmgratkowskidraws. When the drawings are finished I will combine them into one very large “quilt” to represent the entirety of my quarantine focus.

During quarantine, a lot of artists struggled to figure out how they would survive and for that matter how the world we existed in would operate. I’m not sure if I made any grand alternative choices, but somehow I was able to get some attention with some press- this definitely made me feel appreciated even though the normal channels of shows had been put on pause.

PRESS:

"Isolation Row: Artists Alone" by Bondo Wyszpolski,  Easy Reader (cover story/ image), April 16, 2020

I was also the cover story artist for this publication- great honor!

“What Is a Drawing? Part Eight”  Vasari21 by Ann Landi, Apr 19, 2020 

"How Artists Are Nurturing Their Creativity Under Lockdown", KCET by Sharon Mizota, July 16, 2020

“NOT NORMAL: Art in the Age of Trump”,  Catalogue by Karen Gutfruend, (p 2, 87, 112, 120, 127, 148, 153)

“NOT NORMAL: ART IN THE AGE OF TRUMP” LA Weekly, by SHANA NYS DAMBROT, NOVEMBER 3, 2020

“not normal – art in the age of trump” book review from The Jealous Curator, November 2020

“Meet Tm Gratkowski" - Visual Artist, ShoutOutLA, October 5, 2020

“A View From the Easel During Times of Quarantine” Hyperallergic by Hrag Vartanian Nov 26, 2020

ZINE:

One thing I attempted to do during this quarantine period was focus on a couple projects I was unable to get done,

this was harder than I imagined and I struggled for most of this year to get any one of them done.

I am happy to say that a zine of collages I created to criticize and comment on the current administration

was finally finished on January 13, 2021. I put it on this list because it has lingered for so long - it's hard to say

when it was started had anything to do with when it was completed.

The zine is called “NOT MY CHEETO” and it's finally done.

    

COLLAGE:

A slow and secret project of 52 black collages. These collages each represent the 52 weeks of 2020 and

will be presented as one single piece titled “2020”. It will probably spend most of 2021 framing them and figure out

the tiled presentation. (stay tuned)

   

So that's my list of accomplishments for 2020. Absent are all the details of the day to day life challenges, but when I create a simple list like this it makes me see what has been accomplished and that 2020 wasn't a complete loss. As for 2021… it’s time to find the energy and the way to get back to the usual productivity levels I am most accustomed to. Thank you to everyone who helped facilitate all of this. It's nice knowing we are not alone and your help does not go unnoticed. Thank you!

Oh... and I did a lot of street art posts too ;)