Good Art for Bad Eggs. Marc Nischan .com presents lowbrow art from the trenches of pop culture.

What's New?

11-9-08


Man, have I been busy! The Peoples' Art Festival at Russel Industrial was great! Tons of bands and art and a great turnout despite the last minute rescheduling. This was the second year for this show, and it keeps getting better. Not your usual "watercolor of a piece of driftwood" type art fair stuff. It's all Detroit artists hawking original art. It's got a very rock 'n' roll vibe. And if you ask me, that's the only kind I need.

On October 29/30 I was in Chicago for the opening of Tura! Tura! Tura! at the Tattoo Factory Gallery. Curated by the one and only Mitch O'Connell, the show that paid homage to Tura Satana who starred in, among other things, the Russ Myers cult classic Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! I stayed with my pals from Detroit, talented artists in their own rights, Shayne Labadie and Brandon Garrison. To continue name-dropping, I hooked up with some more Detroit pals, legendary rock poster artist Mark Arminski, and Detroit fave Audrey Pongracz. I got to meet Tura, and I gave her a print of the piece I had in the show. She was a lot of fun, real laid-back and funny. I even met the legendary Cynthia Plastercaster, and Hannah Aitchison from L.A. Ink. Although I didn't really get to talk to either of them for more than a minute, they were both super nice. Like, in case you were wondering. Well, that's all for now. See you around!

9-13-08

LATE BREAKING NEWS! PEOPLES ART FEST IS RESCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 21ST DUE TO INCOMING BAD WEATHER.

9-12-08

The People's Arts Festival is this Saturday, September 13th, at Russel Industrial Complex in Detroit. There are 3 stages of bands all day, and hundreds of artists. Over a hundred anyway. This is the second year of the Festival, and if last year was any indication, this is going to be a blast. I will have my newest print available this weekend; Caprice.

Also, I have new work in a show at River's Edge Gallery. It opens September 19th and I'll be there along with all the other artists.

I'm really stoked about a show in October in Chicago. It's a tribute show about actress Tura Satana of Faster Pussycat Kill Kill fame. It's curated by Mitch O'Connel and it has an all-star roster. More info on that when I get it. I know it opens Oct. 30. Oh yeah, and if you're in Ypsilanti in the next couple weeks, I have work up at the Screaming Eagle through September.

The Lincolns UK are playing with Run Run Run form LA at The Belmont on October 17th, and I should have an announcement about a legendary Detroit band that I'll be doing some shows with but I don't want to jinx it so I'll wait 'til there are shows booked to talk more about it. That's it for now, see you out in the wild.

3-7-08

I have an opening this Saturday from 7-10 and I'd love to see you all there! It's at Tasi in Royal Oak [map]. The show runs for a month and features paintings, brush and ink work, and prints.

Click on the litlle flyer on the right for more details. Be sure to read the part where they call my paintings "masterful"!

3-3-08

I'm nationwide this weekend as the show Greasers, Ghouls and Gals opens in L.A.'s Meltdown Gallery on the 7th, and my (c)pop satellite show opens in Royal Oak the same day. Add to that Autorama Extreme at Cobo Hall with the Poor Boys, and I'm one busy sucker. I debut the new dashboard in the chevy this year, which probably no one will be able to see from behind the ropes. I'd leave the door open, but then people might hijack all my High Life, and I can't have that. Anyway, here's a sneak peak at the new painting for the Greaser, Ghouls and Gals show titled "Lilly of the Valley." Also in the show is some original poster art for the Koffin Kats.

For the (c)pop satellite show, I have some framed prints, a couple b/w inked pieces, and 4-5 paintings as well. I don't have the flier for that yet, but you know I'll spam it along as soon as I get it!

The Lyre's suite show was fun, and it's always nice see some of my favorite people and meet some new ones. Tim and JR can always bring out the who's who of Detroit's art scene. Jerry Petersen was shooting some pics for Juxtapoz. Here's a picture of me with Mark Dancey at the opening from the Lyre's Suite article on the Jux website. Check it out. And if you don't know Dancey, you have to see illuminado.com.

SXSW is coming up and I'm going to be there the 13th through the 16th, and I'm fully stoked about that. That's all for now. See ya!

2-19-08

Buried In My Chest - art by Marc Nischan - Vintage Mandolin with paintingThis Thursday, February 21st, is the opening of the new Jeff Richards/Tim Caldwell show "The Lyre's Suite" in Detroit's Eastern Market district. The show opens at 7pm at the Butcher's Inn [map] and features work from 36 artists including Detroit legends Niagara and Glenn Barr. Oh, Yeah, and ME! To the right here is a sneak peek at my piece. Live music as well. Hope to see you there!

Also, I released a print of Vero Amore (see post below) for the Dirty Show in a very limited edition of 13. There are a couple left. If you would like one, click here to be taken to a page where you can buy one.

2-8-08

oh, james! drawing of a lurid vixen and 2 octopus-fairies.graphite on vellum
a gorgeous woman with an octopus tattoo across her backHappy Valentine's day, gang. This weekend is the opening of Dirty Show 9. Here's a sneak peak at the pieces I have in the show this year:
Oh, James! - Graphite on Vellum approx 10" x 10"
Vero Amore - Acrylic on panel paarox. 12" x 18" with vintage 50s frame.
For more information on dates, hours, and tickets, see dirtydetroit.com.

Also, I have some prints at the show of past Dirty Show paintings: Ghost Radio - Giclee' print on heavy paper,8" x 10", ed. of 13 ~ $20
Tie One On - Giclee print on heavy paper 11" x 14" ed. of 50 ~ $35

a bathing girl in front of a tiki god listens to a ghost radioa bathing girl in front of a tiki god listens to a ghost radio

1-29-08

Check out my interview video on motorcityblog.net. They came over and shot my humble studio and my car a little while ago. Here's a link: http://motorcityblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/video-marc-nischan-interview.html. They do a pretty good job of posting the cool events happening in and around Detroit on a daily basis, so go and peruse the blog.

February and March are going to be some busy months for me with several openings and conventions happening. I'll post some preview pics when I get a chance. Here's a rundown:

Feb. 8-16 - The Dirty Show (www.dirtydetroit.com) @ Bert's Warehouse in Eastern Market.
I have a couple pieces in the show, and this year I am selling a print from a previous Dirty show piece: Tie One On (see the store for a copy). The Dirty show is a cross between an erotic art show and Mardi Gras. It's a total freak fest, so come out for the art and stay for the spectacle.

Feb. 21st-Mar. 17th - The Lyre's Suite @ The Butcher's Inn, Eastern Market.
All of the pieces in this show are made from old instruments. Tim Caldwell and JR collected a huge pile of old instruments and invited artists to pick one to use for their piece. Sort of like a Dunny show colliding with a condemned music store. 30 or so artists including Glenn Barr, Niagra, Len VonSpeedcult and others.

Mar. 8 Opening - GREASERS GHOULS and GALS @ Meltdown Gallery in L.A.
This is a show to coincide with the release of the comic Motor City (www.motorcitycomic.com) at Meltdown Comics' "Melt Gallery". It's a rockabilly/monster themed show, so I definately had to do it.

Mar. 7-9 - Autorama @ Cobo Hall Detroit
The Poor Boys are putting up our annual display in the basement, so drop in and say "hi" and see what we've done to the cars. I'm making a giant tube of model glue for the display, which is going to be populated with huge props to make the cars look like model cars.

South by Southwest Mar.13-16 - Austin TX
The big one. The ol' sxsw. I'm going to be out and about meeting with some labels and bands, trying to drum up some more business. If you're going to be there, drop me a line!

12-02-07

I've released a new print: Last of the Argonauts (it's the one with the mermaid in the post below). In other news, I made the cover of the Metro Times! Plans for the new year include adding designs to a line of effects pedals (like, for guitars man). I'm stoked. Have a great great great holiday season, ya'lls!

10-17-07

I am pleased to announce that I have a gallery that I will be working with on an ongoing basis: River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte. Beginning with this Friday's (October 19) "Third Friday" shindig, River's Edge will be carrying my paintings, prints, posters, and original poster art. Please join me at River's Edge from 7-10 for art, schmoozing and boozing.

Friday and Saturday Nov. 2nd & 3rd I'll have a table at the Xcape Con (sic) at the Birch Run Expo Center in Birch Run, MI. I'll be wearing pointy Spock ears in an effort to be more approachable. By the way, does anyone know how to say "I don't have the crystals you seek!" in Elven? Email me with that if you would.

November 13th I'll have a table at the Motor City Art Expo at the Emerald Theater in Mt. Clemens. That link will have all the info you need. It's an evening show with a rock 'n' roll slant to it: lots of gig poster, comix, and fantasy art type stuff. Oh, and a bar of course.

There's a new poster on the posters page. This time it's for Gogol Bordello. You have to go check out their singer to see where I'm coming from with the mustaches.

8-27-07

I went to see The Dollyrots when they played a fully awesome set in Ypsi at the Elbow Room (see poster from last post). I gave them some schwag. This week, I spotted Chris Black in one of my Lowbrow shirts.

I just finished a collaboration poster with Bob "Nix" Nixon for the Koffin Kats. That turned out pretty sweet. We have plans to do a few more.

My tour of duty with the Twistin' Tarantulas is drawing to a close. My last gig (?) is this Saturday the 1st at Arts Beats and Eats in Pontiac. It's been fun!

Also, here's a portrait of me shot by Ryan Keberly who's an award winning photoblogger (see snowsuit.net) and staff photographer for the Metro Times in Detroit. I admire him for tarnishing his otherwise stellar portfolio with this photo:

8-6-07

I'm pulling another tour of duty with the Twistin' Tarantulas through July and August (which is almost over, I know... way to stay on top of the updates). Here's a commissioned piece I did recently of Frankenstein and his Bride, and a gig poster for The Dollyrots as well. Plans for September include the Russel Industrial Art fair. More on that when I get details. I also have some leftover Lowbrow Tshirts in Large and Medium that I'm blowing out for 13 dollars shipped (U.S. - others drop an email for a shipping quote). Email me if you want one.



6-19-07

Billetproof was awesome! Other than that, I have some paintings hanging up at the newly opened Detroit Comics on Woodward in Ferndale. They will be up for the remainder of the month.

5-31-07

Summer is upon us and there are tons of things to do. This coming weekend is the one I wait for all year: billetproof! Have a look at billetproof.com. There will be hundreds of traditional Hot Rods and Kustoms there for you to ogle. The Poor Boys will have our cars there, there are 5 bands, burnout contestes, figure-8 racing, a swap meet and more! I designed some new girly "Support Your Local Poor Boys" shirts, and this Saturday, June 2nd, I'll have the original support shirts and also Lowbrow shirts for sale at our booth.

Also on Saturday the 2nd is the Grand Opening of Detroit Comics at 23333 Woodward in Ferndale. Brian and Lori, the owners, asked if I'd hang some art for the month of June, so I have 5 pieces at the store. They're open 7 days a week, so stop in and say hi.

Coming up August 4th is Chopper Show Detroit (www.choppershowdetroit.com). I'll have a few pieces in that show as well. This is one wild show - stunt riders, bands, art, fashion, BBQ - oh, yeah, and choppers! So, put it on your calendar and come down to Corktown for a good time.

5-7-07

The last show was great, thanks to everyone that came out. I'm planning to get the band into the studio this summer to record. I have a couple of new posters and shirts done, and I'm working on a comic with writer Rob Worley. It's kind of a Mad Max meets Escape From New York with aliens and Area 51 conspiracies.

4-15-07

Thanks to everyone that came out to all these events the last month or so. What a great time! I hope to post some new art in the next few days. I haven't gotten it all scanned yet. In other news, The Lincolns UK are calling it quits. Our last gig is this friday at the Painted Lady (the old Lili's 21). For details click here. I'm gonna have an extremely limited edition of the poster (13 total) signed and numbered at the gig. I have 7 of the siren poster as well.

3-5-07

Lookout folks, here it comes... the Quadfecta! That's one more than a trifecta. The weekend of March 9th/10th is going to be a mad race around Detroit for me as I attampt to fulfill my trifecta of obsessions: Cars, Art, and Rock 'n' Roll!

First, I'm going to be part of a show at (c)pop gallery in Detroit. It's a fairly large group show featuring artists from all over, but mostly the Detroit area. This show is going to be juried, and 4 artists will be selected to exhibit at (c)pop in July. The jury is composed of Detroit celebs and art scenesters (Niagra, Camillo Pardo, EWOLF, Liz Copeland, Tom Thewes) but also includes psychobilly legend The Reverend Horton Heat. The opening is Saturday, March 10th from 7pm to ?. Details can be found on the cpop myspace page at www.myspace.com/cpopgallery. One of the 4 artists will be selected by people's choice, so if you're in the area, stop in to (c)pop (4160 Woodward Ave Detroit, MI 48201) and cast a vote for me.

Second, The Lincolns UK are playing the Hamtramck Blowout on Friday March 9th. If you are going to the Blowout this year, slide on down to the Knights of Columbus Hall on Friday night. We hit at 9:00 sharp and we are going to debut a couple of new songs in the set.

Third, the Detroit Autorama is the same weekend at Cobo Hall in Detriot and my club, the Poor Boys, will have 10 cars (mine included) in a club display in the "Autorama Extreme" section (in the lower level). Our club is making all of the trophies for the various awards categories as well. If you haven't seen the trophies, you are really missing something because they are all one of a kind works of art constructed from vintage car parts, tools, and other cool swap meet finds that are then custom pinstriped. As last year's winners of Best Display we will be presenting that award to the new winner this year. My old bandmates from The Twistin' Tarantulas are playing downstairs all weekend as well as local surf legends The Volcanos.

The fourth part of the Quadfecta (I'm on a roll, why stop at three?) is a show the following weekend at The Corktown Tavern down by old Tiger Stadium on Michigan Ave. The show is themed and titled "Rejects" and is being curated by JR (from Atomic Customs) and Tim Caldwell. The show is a one-night-only affair, Saturday, March 17th, St. Patty's Day. It will feature a couple dozen local Detroit underground artists, and the night ought to be quite a spectacle. Hope to see you out and about!

1-19-07

I'm finally getting back to normal after the holiday madness and it's a good thing, too, because I have a lot of things coming up. First, there's the dirty show on Valentine's Day weekend (www.dirtydetroit.com). This show is an absolute must see. Then, March 9th and 10th, I have my dream trifecta of art, cars, and rock. The weekand of March 9th and 10th is Autorama (www.autorama.com)at cobo hall and the poorboys are going to have a display in the "Autorama Extretme" in the basement. Natchurly, I'll have the Heap down there. Then, at the Russel Center on Clay and 75 there's an art show called Rust & Roll (www.myspace.com/rustandroll) that I'll have a piece of art in. Also, the Lincolns UK (myspace.com/thelincolnsukdetroit) are playing at 9:00 sharp at the K of C hall Friday the 9th as part of the Hamtramck Blowout. And if that's not enough, I'm in a show called "Rejects" at the Corktown Tavern (www.corktowntavern.com) on St. Patrick's Day. Perfect, huh?

11-29-06

I just finished off this poster for Electric Frankenstein the other day. That puts me in the proud company of Frank Kozik, Coop, Dirty Donnie, and about 10,000 other guys. It turned out good though. So now I'm going to turn my attention back to painting for a little while and see if I can't get that show painted that I've been threatening to paint for the last year.

11-9-06

Hoo boy, I need to update this site more often. A lot has been going on though. This is going to be a long update. Let's see... we had fun in England, and then a week after we left, there was that big terrorist scare involving US to England flights. That was kinda creepy. The van went bye-bye I'm afraid. It had turned into a yard dog and was starting to encroach on the time and money I needed for the Heap. Lately, I've been working on putting together a sketchbook and a mini-comic to sell at comics shows. You can right-click (Mac-ctrl+click) on the Log Jam Pete image to view the comic as a PDF (choose save linked file...). This is my first foray in to minis and it was lots of fun. If you feel so inclined, drop me a line and tell me how great/lame/but great again it is.

The sketchbook is about 7" square and made up of b/w inks and pages from my sketchbook all deconstructed and rearranged and packed as tight as possible on the page. There are a bunch of new drawings on the black and white illustrations page of this site that are taken from the sketchbook. If you'd like a copy of the comic for yourself, send me a stamped, self-addressed envelope with 2 bucks in it. The sketchbook is bigger, so if you want one, send 5 bucks and I'll get a big enough envelope and mail it to you.

The Lincolns UK are going to be playing at the Belmont on Saturday Nov. 25th. Check the myspace page for details. We're opening up the show for Cowboy Messiah's CD release (for which I did the art!) Actually, click here for a sneak peek. And finally, I got up on gigposters.com. Pretty soon I'll have to cave in and get a myspace page. Not just yet though. See ya!

7-25-06

Oh Jeez, I haven't updated in a while. The summer is flying by! Billetproof was great and I sold a ton of shirts. I started work to notch the frame on the Chevy and prep it for airbags, and The Linclons UK have some upcoming gigs. I finally caved in and set up a myspace page for the band. You can hear some really rough basement recordings there.

I also bought a pile-of-crap van for 300 bucks and tried to bring it back from the dead. It's an '80 Dodge. Not very cool, but it's a fairly clean California van. The 60's Econolines and A-100s that I really want are just out of my price range at the moment. I swapped the engine out for another slant six and still need to do some more work to get it on the road. It's well on its way to becoming a $600 $300 van. :) The wife and I are headed to London England for a week as well. Cheerio!

And here's a gig poster I just did for TLUK...

5-24-06

Well, Billetproof (www.billetproof.com) is fast approaching (Saturday, June 3rd). I have a new T-shirt design that I'll be peddling at the show, along with prints, stickers, and Support Your Local Poor Boys T-shirts and shop shirts. If you only hit one car show this summer, hit this one. See ya there! Oh, yeah, The Lincolns UK are at Detroit Contemporary on Friday, June 9th. Uh, I don't know where this joint is, so no map as of yet. Later!

UPDATE:
The Lincolns UK will be at the CAID (Contemporary Art Institue of Detroit) on June 9th. They are located at 5141 Rosa Parks, Detroit. Here is a link to their website with directions and a map: Link to directions and a map. As far as I know, there are 5 bands, doors are at 8:00, and we go on second to last.

4-25-06

I've got some new art up on the illustration page. T shirt art. Here's a peek.

Other than that, I'm getting geared up for Billetproof, where I'll have a booth again this year. I'm going to create a run of custom painted frames for select prints and sell them at the show and on the site here. T shirts too.

4-5-06

Well, let's see here... I have a gig at Jacoby's Bar [ (313) 962-7067 624 Brush in Detroit. ] on Thursday, the 27th of April. Click here for a map. It's a break-in gig for the new band, tentatively called The Lincolns. There are a couple new pieces up on the illustration pages as well.

3-7-06

This past weekend was Autorama in Detroit and of course The Heap was in the Poor Boys display. Well, we won best display! (Although it wasn't because of my car I assure you...) Here's a link to some pics...

2-9-06

It's that time again: Time for the dirty show! I have a piece in the Dirty Detroit Show this coming Valentine's weekend (9th thru 14th). Part party, part art show, part freak show. If you've never been, you owe it to yourself to go because it's always a blast. Here's a preview for yeh.