Collaborators

Artist in Residence

We're proud to say that Scott McCormic is our current Artist-in-Residence. 

He has already designed several record covers for the band, including the cover for the national release of BEAUTIFUL EMPTY, the band's new EP, SIDE3, as well as the cover for band's first single "Wide Open World".  He is currently working on a series of art pieces inspired by the band's music.  Those art pieces will manifest in a variety of forms, ways and places... you'll see.

Scott McCormick
ARTIST STATEMENT
Weltschmertz - physical reality will never match the creative vision of the mind.

I make art because I have to. If I were a numbers man, I’d have to be an accountant. If I were a businessman, I’d have to abandon all manners of ethical choice. But, I’m a creative man. So I have to view the world as a malleable entity. I think John and I are the same loving hands teetering on the brink of insanity: We easily can skew our vision to fit the words that want to come out of our mouths. We can twist the reality that surrounds us to make sense of our own perceptions. We inspire each other. We can surpass concepts of what we think people want to see or hear, and create together an art form that people genuinely have no choice but to be a part of. The true creative being lies in the confidence that art is bullshit. There is only us being us. And, there is art that resides dormant in everyone…John and I just let it out. And I’m proud of that.

ABOUT SCOTT McCORMICK
Scott embodies a strange, wide and very deep set of talents.  He's a writer, singer, musician, raconteur, graphic designer, photographer, and fellow whiskey swiller of the finest proportions.  He's also a great friend.  You should hear the song he wrote about Christmas... it will break your craggy old heart.  I think I owe him $20.  ~ John C.

The Common Box Project

Alicia is an incredible artist, gallery owner (Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, CO at 910 Santa Fe), fellow scheme hatcher and friend. She pulled together the most amazing collection of assemblage art The Common Box Project. Check it out at www.commonboxproject.blogspot.com. One more thing, you should talk to her sometime about what a "book" is. It'll expand your brain.

The Common Box Project

Take 65 artists from across the country, 65 simple wooden boxes, and the nuts and bolts of a new record by an indie songwriter and then mix it all together in a beautiful collaboration called the Common Box Project. Here's the basic idea:

1. John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light have a new record.
2. Alicia Bailey is an artist and gallery owner (Abecedarian Gallery) whose recent assemblage box art inspired them both with an idea...
3. A mixed media collaboration with artists of all types to create 65 unique pieces of assemblage box art that are inspired and/or informed by the new record.
4. A call is going out to artists from across the region (and country) to see who is interested in joining in this collaborative box art project.
5. 65 boxes have been crafted by artist/woodworker Nicolas Willert. Each box has been designed to hold a copy of the new CD (a secret place in the back of the box). 6. Each artist who is chosen to participate in the Common Box Project will be shipped a raw box and an artist kit containing materials related to the new John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light record intended to inspire/inform the artwork (audio, lyrics, images, stories, etc).
7. Each artist will then ship their completed assemblage box art piece to Abecedarian Gallery by late June. Each box will also hold a copy of the new record.
8. The Common Box Project listening party for the new record will be held Saturday, July 18, 7-10pm. Artists, fans, friends and press will all be invited.
9. Proceeds of each piece are split evenly between the gallery, the artist and the band.
10. Cool, huh???

COMMON BOX PROJECT

Like most artists, I have been making art since I was a child. Bless my parents for putting most of it on the refrigerator. At university, I took my first painting class. From the moment I laid oil paint into panel, I fell in love with the medium’s visual and material sensuality. Recently, I re-learned the childhood pleasure of artistic play and began drawing again, then making collages, then tiptoeing into prints, artist books. . .I cannot stop. Too, I’ve discovered the joys of collaborating, of blending and communicating and creating with a partner. I cannot stop that, either; it’s a thread that weaves too well into my solitary work.

Beautiful Empty Short Film Conspiracy