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After a phenomenal Art of Jazz Tour on the East Coast and Mid-West with the Birdland All-Stars featuring Tommy Igoe, the Art of Jazz live performance experience mixing art and music came to the West Coast! On July 14, 2018, I painted on stage with the Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy at the Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University, Stanford, California. This show was part of the Stanford Jazz Festival 2018.

Jeremy, you’re as much a jazz artist as we are. Visually representing what we do sonically.
– Tommy Igoe

Performing on the Art of jazz Tour with the Birdland All-Stars in Kutztown, Pennsylvania

Here is the description from the Stanford Jazz Festival web site:

Tommy Igoe and the Art of Jazz

An exciting big band event — with a twist!

Here’s the artwork I created on stage at this concert:

Acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 36″ x 36″

Acrylic ink and oil stick on Arches cold press 140 lb fine art paper, 22″ x 30″ – seen here with winning bidder

Acrylic ink and oil stick on Arches cold press 140 lb fine art paper, 22″ x 30″

Acrylic ink and oil stick on Arches cold press 140 lb fine art paper, 22″ x 30″

Acrylic ink and oil stick on Arches cold press 140 lb fine art paper, 22″ x 30″

iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate app (replay shown in video above)

From the concert description:
The powerhouse Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy is all about excitement. This mighty 15-piece band unites players from Tower of Power, the Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan, and unleashes them on brilliantly arranged charts. In this innovative show, Tommy is adding another artist to the roster — this time a visual artist, the painter Jeremy Sutton. Tommy and Jeremy will play off each other, with Jeremy painting what the music makes him feel — which you’ll be able to watch via an on-stage projection — and Tommy calling tunes based on how Jeremy’s paintings make him feel. And the resulting art will be available for purchase after the show! Tommy himself is the long-time leader of New York’s thrilling Birdland band and a Broadway drum guru — he wrote the drum book and shared conducting chores for Broadway’s The Lion King — and he reinvented his big band for his new SF musical home. Like the Buddy Rich juggernaut of the ’60s, TIGC channels your favorites — songs by Joe Zawinul, Joshua Redman, Arturo Sandoval, and Snarky Puppy — through a superstar brass line-up that manages to be scarily precise and wildly anarchic all at once. Only a studio and stage heavyweight like Tommy could wrangle the monsters assembled here.

Personnel:
Tommy Igoe, drums
Drew Zingg, guitar (Steely Dan)
Jeremy Sutton, visual artist

Location: Virgin Atlantic Activation at the Café ArtScience, Boston

Brief: To create live event iPad paintings of three activities in London that influencer Eugénie (Instagram handle @FeralCreature) will make when flying from the USA to London with the new Virgin America Economy Delight class of travel.

Solution: I worked in digital media, using the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app. My art was projected in realtime on a large screen for all to enjoy throughout the evening. I was one of three artists, each working in different media with a different influencer and portraying a different class of the new Virgin Atlantic Economy Services (their byline: “Be Choosy”). I discussed the three activities with Eugénie ahead of the event and developed composition ideas in creative collaboration with her. She then sat for three different live portraits that I painted at the event, each posed to suit the particular activity (holding a tea cup for high tea at Cake Boy, looking through opera glasses for the London Eye and wind blown hair for the Thames Rockets).

Previous work with Virgin Atlantic: drawing digital portrait of Sir Richard Branson on board the Virgin Atlantic Inaugural flight into San Francisco and portraits of guests at the Virgin Atlantic 10th Anniversary Party in London.

Sketches made at the dedication of Tony Bennett Way, Pen on paper, 6″ x 4″

On Saturday, June 2nd, the “Tony Bennett Way” street sign was unveiled by Tony Bennett himself amid a celebratory block party outside the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, the same venue that Bennett first publicly performed “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. The video below shows Angie Major and myself (invited by Laurie Gordon) dancing to the Cosmo Alleycats as part of the celebration.

And here are some photos from the event:

…and I can never resist throwing in a little bit of break dancing for good measure!

Shahasp on Paper 2018

29.5″ x 41.5″, pencil, graphite, pastel, crayon, watercolor and acrylic ink on Arches 300 lb cold-press watercolor paper

The drawing you see documented on this page is the second “slow project” I have worked on with Shahasp. The first was a painting on canvas that you can see by clicking here. In both cases I wanted to work on a traditional media portrait slowly over time, in contrast to most of my very fast digital work. Shahasp sits for this portrait roughly once a week for about two hours. The only boundary condition I set myself is that every mark I make during the entire process is made from direct observation while my model is sitting in front of me.

Sitting #9 (Final), September 4th, 2018

Sitting #6, July 12th, 2018

Sitting #5, July 4th, 2018

Sitting #4, June 28th, 2018

Sitting #3, May 24th, 2018

Sitting #2, May 17th, 2018

Sitting #1, May 10th, 2018

Jaron Lanier, Jeremy Sutton, 2018, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate 4

This combination of sketch and notes was created using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app from direct observation of Jaron Lanier, author of newly published Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality, virtual reality pioneer and innovator, computer philosopher and scientist, visual artist, composer and musician, while he gave an inspiring talk at Kepler’s Bookstore, Menlo Park.

Here is a brush stroke by brush stroke replay of the creative process:

You can get a flavor of the talk from these two videos of different appearances by Lanier:

Playing ancient instrument (Lanier also played this instrument at the beginning of the talk in Kepler’s)

TED Talk

Painting the Scene at the Davis Estates, Calistoga, Napa Valley, Jeremy Sutton, 2018, diptych, 72″ x 30″, acrylic, ink and oil stick on canvas

This diptych comprises two 36 x 30 canvases, the first painted during a reception on the beautiful deck of the Davis Estates, and the second painted while guests enjoyed a sumptuous dinner in the barn looking out over the most magnificent vista of vineyards, accompanied by the music of the Eclecta Trio. Each painting was created from a blank canvas as guests enjoyed watching the process from beginning to end. Each painting captured the atmosphere and together they are a very special unique momento of the special event for the client.

The Reception

Here is a video that shows this painting being created:

The Dinner

Here is a video that shows this painting being created:

Satjiv Chahil, Jeremy Sutton, 2018, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate 4

This sketch was created using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app from direct observation of Satjiv Chahil, an innovator and marketing pioneer who has helped leading Silicon Valley firms commercialize technologies that have changed the world, while he gave a keynote presentation, The Past, Present and Future of Art in Silicon Valley, in conversation with Kari Lincks Coomans at the If So, What? art, design and technology fair/festival at the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.

Here is a brush stroke by brush stroke replay of the creative process (with the musical accompaniment of Lionel Hampton’s “Flying Home”):

This portrait is one of the very first artworks to which I added an Augmented Reality (AR) component! To experience the Augmented Reality overlay of the time-lapse replay video you will need to download the HP reveal app. For more detailed instructions please click here for instructions.

Drew Bennett, Jeremy Sutton, 2018, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate 4

This sketch was created using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app from direct observation of Drew Bennett, Founder and Director of the Facebook Artist in Residence Program, while he was giving a presentation, Designing Authentic Intersections between Art and Community , at the If So, What? art, design and technology fair/festival at the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco. As you can see, this artwork, in additional to being a portrait sketch, is also my notes on the fascinating and inspiring things Drew was saying. He shared his background and his own art and then led into talking about the wonderful artists he has brought into Facebook, showing examples of their work and discussing their process, how participation in the program effected the artists, and how their art interacts with, impacts and reflects the architecture, employees and company.

Here is a brush stroke by brush stroke replay of the creative process (with the musical accompaniment of The Commodore’s “Brick House”):

The common theme across my art – whether painting on canvas, iPad or in VR – is taking risk and improvising in the moment. You can see me doing that on the dance floor, or should I say on the grand staircase of the San Francisco City Hall Rotunda, when I breakdanced at a 50s – present day dance event called the Daybreaker!

This iPad sketch/notes was drawn (using iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Procreate app) at Kepler’s Bookstore, Menlo Park, as WIRED Platforms Editor Peter Rubin, in conversation with Second Life founder and High Fidelity co-founder Philip Rosedale, discussed Rubin’s latest book, Future Presence: How Virtual Reality Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life. As you can tell from my notes, which almost overtook the sketch, it was an absolutely fascinating discussion! They ranged from an overview of the history of VR to discussing the technical, social, creative, ethical and societal implications of this revolutionary new world of immersive virtual experiences. Very stimulating!

Here’s the time-lapse replay video:

They pointed out that there is a directness of contact in VR as you face and look at each other and see each other’s movement, gestures and mannerisms, a facet of the presence and embodiment quality of a VR experience, that is different and more powerful, than anything experienced before.

While I’ve been experimenting and exploring creating art within the VR world (using Oculus Rift and Tilt Brush – see “Gustavo” – a VR Portrait), after listening to this conversation I am all the more excited about the social possibilities of VR for performance, education, collaborative creativity and the social sharing of VR art, technique and process.