The Amazing Service Of U.S. Postal

I'm amazed. The Postal Service (and I'm not talking about the indie rock band, whose website happens to be extremely annoying) amazes me. On close inspection of the above photo you can see that this mailing tube was stamped for delivery on February 5, 2008. You might also notice the lovely "air mail" stamp. And if you're super observant and have any experience at shipping anything outside of these great united states of ours than you'll have surely noticed the bar code of the "customs form". If you're sitting there wondering what's so gosh damned amazing about shipping overseas you'd be on the right track because that's not what amazes me. What does amaze me is that this mailing tube arrived at my gallery a couple of weeks ago. And here it is photographed exactly as it arrived.





That's right. It arrived in that condition. Yes, approximately seven months after I shipped it. Seven months! So, here's the story. I sell things on ebay (Sweet! I'm up to 154 feedback now). Shamless self promotional plug, I know.* Anyway, back in February I sold this screenprinted Sam Flores poster.





I mailed it off to a flat in London and that was that. Or was it? Sadly, it wasn't. An email arrived a week and half to two after I shipped it asking if the order has been shipped and when could it be expected. According to the trusty folks at USPS it should have arrived by that point, but (there's always a "but", isnt' there?) once a package arrives in another country it is out of our hands. "Our" referring to The US Postal Service (again not the band with the annoying website). Once a package arrives on foreign soil it is in their hands and we have no way of knowing what they do with it or how long they take to do whatever it is they do with it. Essentially, there is no way to track it. So, I asked my buyer to please be patient and explained the best I could that it might be another week or two. She was understanding and did wait patiently. After two weeks of waiting (this makes a total of four weeks since the package was shipped) the poster had still not arrived. This situation was very uncomfortable for me. I pride myself on over the top customer service, but given the risk involved when shipping internationally I felt I had done all that I could. There was no way to track the package, but I was able to offer the customer a scanned photo of the receipt as proof that I had indeed shipped the item. Sadly, the customer was out the price of the poster and the shipping cost. I felt bad. Very bad. But I also felt that I had done all that I could do. I said that already, didn't I? Well, I really felt bad. The customer was disappointed, but very understanding to our predicament. Fast forward seven months. THE PACKAGE ARRIVES AT MY SHOP. As damaged as the mailing tube was, as evidenced in the photos, the poster was undamaged inside. My thank you note, button, and stickers* that I include in shipments were also still in the mailing tube. It's amazing that all of that stayed in the tube given the fact that the protective cover on one side of the tube had completely disappeared. So, after all of this, I have the poster back and I was able to refund the customer for the poster. All is good in the world. I'm amazed. Thank you USPS.

The poster has now been framed and hangs happily as part of my current window display.







* Well, I actually do feel a little shame about that pesky self promotional ebay link. But not that much. And not enough to not post it again. See. http://stores.ebay.com/jeff-claassen-gallery.

** Don't hold me to that "stickers in every package" thing. Sometimes I tape up the package and then realize I forgot to include stickers. However, I usually do remember to at least toss in a button.

Nature's Wrath?

I came across this poor little innocent soul of a bird while walking back to the gallery after picking up my daily Orange Dream Machine from Jamba Juice, where, I might add, I no longer have to say my order because all the awesome employees now know what my smoothie of choice is. I switch my free boost on a whim (in case you're wondering I either go with "immunity", "daily vitamin", or "energy") so I still have to mention that, but most of the cashiers could pick for me and I'd have no complaints. Anyway, back to this gut spewing bird. At first I thought it was just your standard text book "nature's wrath" sort of thing. After some analysis I have formulated a completely new theory and one that I think is much more accurate. If this poor bird's life was taken due to the wrath of Mother Nature there should be nothing left of the bird. Nothing except a few scattered bones. If a predator, say a hungry cat, got hold of this bird they clearly would not have left all the meat. I can't imagine a cat or another bird predator killing for sport. Murdering just for the fun of it. Killing for killing's sake. And if that was the case you'd think the killer would take some sort of token trophy to proudly hang above their mantle. Like the bird's beak. Or the whole head for that matter. They would no way leave the entire carcass on the sidewalk to rot in the sun. Nope, this is tragic case of Intentional Bird Suicide. This poor little precious bird was not a kamikaze pilot either, if that's what you're thinking. This tender innocent little bird's final resting point happend to be right in front of a Barnes N Noble display window. So, my theory, which I feel can not be argued is that this frail good natured feathered hero of ours saw the enormous stack of "Story Telling" by Tori Spelling books on display in the window.





Sickened by the sight of all that wasted paper the little bird felt he could no longer go on living in this world.

Amen, birdie. I love you. May you rest in peace for all of eternity.

Against The Grain

I apologize about late notice for the show tonight. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it for the opening, but it will be an awesome show nonetheless. The theme for the show is "wood". Paintings on wood or incorporating wood somehow. Of course, when left to interpret the word "wood" you can only assume what some of these artists will come up with. Pun intended. Pervy jokes aside here are the paintings I'll have on display.



"Be My Wet Dream"




"It Makes Me Nervous To Say So"




"Farewell"




"Pick Your Fight"




"Make Music With Me"



To purchase please contact Alpha Cult at 562.432.9144
www.alphacult.com
408 E First St
Suite #102
Long Beach CA 90802

New Graff Board And New Addiction And They Are In No Way Related

It's that time again. I have a new fresh board up so come on in and help decorate it. Look at it. It's so nice and clean. Get dirty on it!



In other news, I'm currently addicted to Cold War Kids. Here's one of my favorites. We're talking, like on repeat for three days straight. It's that good.

New Envelopes

Right on, brothas and sistas!

Since starting up "The Envelope Art Project" again I have finally received the first two submissions. Check it. The first one was submitted by Raquel and mailed from Sanny Franny (gross term for San Francisco, huh?)






The second envelope was submitted by Peenloon and was mailed from Hollywood. Florida, that is.








Oh yes, I should mention something for all you future submitters. I do not have the time to photoshop out your return shipping address, so if you do not want your address on the internet I suggest not writing your return address on the envelope or simply write it on the back. Other than that, go nuts!

New Feed To Subscribe To. Please Update.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention in a previous post that I started a new feed for all of you that subscribe to this nonsensical gathering of gibberish gibber. Please update the feed to this new address, http://feeds.feedburner.com/jeffclaassen .

Thanks much and I'll try to post a better, more sexier, blog later.

G'night.
- Jeff

The Envelope Art Project

Awhile back I started this "Envelope Art Project" in which people would decorate an envelope and mail it to me. Every single one I received was featured on my website at the time. I eventually accumulated about 70 before I called it quits.

I've decided to start it up again. I set up a dedicated "photo set" on my flickr page to showcase the submitted envelopes.

You can send your artistically enhanced envelope to:

The Jeff Claassen Gallery
1118 Morro St
San Luis Obispo CA 93401

or to

Jeff Claassen
PO BOX 14157
San Luis Obispo CA 93406

If you would like to send more than one please do so. And feel free to include a website if you'd like me to add a link when I post your envelope. Also, for your envelope to be included it MUST be mailed. Do not drop off artwork at the gallery.

Thanks all! I'm anxious to see your envelopes.

Here are a couple examples for you to check out.









To see more please visit the flickr envelope set that I set up.

Two New Prints Available

First. There are two more days left of the Stenzskull show. The gallery will open from 2pm to 9pm today. Tomorrow hours will be 12pm to 9pm.

Second. I have two new prints available!


"Waiting To Be Plucked"
5.5" x 7.25", on wood with epoxy resin coating
$30 each
click photo or visit the shop for more info or to order.




"I Own This Town"
4" x 5.5", on wood with epoxy resin coating
$20 each
click photo or visit the shop for more info or to order.



And here's an installation shot of the two new prints.




That's it for now. As always, thanks for looking.

Cut & Paste Walk Through

I'm just messing around with the flip and did a little walk through of the Stenzskull show. This video is totally unedited. Well, I cut off about two seconds from the end of the shot, but that was it. It turned out a little grainy in parts, but I think that could be fixed if I saved the file in a different format.

The Joys Of Speed. Ball, That Is.

A couple of weeks ago I was at Nic's house and when there is india ink and paint brushes around it's useless to fight the urge to play. If you're a painter and you haven't messed around with india ink I highly recommend it. I started using it a year and a half ago and haven't turned back. The only time I use black acrylic paint now is if I need to fill in large sections or to paint the edges of paintings. Acrylic is just so clumpy and thick. Take a look at those little teeth on that face above. I could never do that with acrylic. Here's the stuff I've been using.



It's only two ounces, but a little bit goes a long way. After a year and a half of using this stuff I have never used a whole jar. The only reason I've had to buy it multiple times is because I end up spilling it all over myself. I've ruined at least two hoodies now and a couple of shirts. Anyway, you can find this at practically any art/craft store. Try it out and let me know what you think.