[laugh track]

Keith Rocka Knittel: "[laugh track]," 2008
Site-specific installation
Hollywood Boulevard,  Los Angeles, CA

squawkin' tern : lost on a sandbar

I just did a drawing for the header of "Lost on a Sandbar." It's a blog by my friend Dennis who is one of those crazy East Coast surfers. Like NORTH of DelMarVa crazy! Like surfing in 40 degree (fahrenheit) water hypothermia crazy! Anyway, he and I have been down since birth, literally, and when he asked me to hook him up with a drawing I was more than happy to oblige.

I have always loved shore birds and gulls and the like (even though they tend to get a bad rap by most beach goers) so I drew this squawking tern. He's all "LAY OFF MY FISH!" but he's also trying to be a little polite about it (it's in his eyes). I see terns and gulls how I see someone who lives in New York and calls Rockaway their local break- resourceful and thankful for what they can get.

Old Drawings

Three drawings dating a few years back, when I was transitioning out of dynamo-ville and into being just plain Keith.

This drawing is called "Dick Lewis Is Watching." It's a watercolor on notebook paper, 8 1/2" x 11", drawn in 2006. The story behind it is this: I used to see commercials on TV growing up on Long Island for Newmark & Lewis, which was like Best Buy or Circuit City before those places existed. The deal with this place was they had the lowest prices because Dick Lewis (he's the Lewis of Newmark & Lewis) was watching out for all of us - finding low, low prices on any appliance or electronic device you wanted. Their slogan was "Dick Lewis Is Watching," which always had this creepy 1984-esque quality to me. It almost made me feel like I did when I believed in Santa Claus, but felt funny knowing that he watched me all the time deciding if I was bad or good. I was pleased when, after years of being subjected to paranoia inducing Newmark & Lewis commercials, I read the liner notes of Public Enemy's "Yo! Bum Rush The Show" LP which stated "The 1990's are here, so take no shorts (particularly when we know that Dick Lewis is watching)" - which was Chuck D's way of saying "you better watch The Man, because The Man is watching you!"



This drawing is called "SUN" and is ballpoint pen on paper, 8 1/2" x 11", drawn in 2005. It's a page taken from a hand made sketchbook, so there are holes on the left side from where it was once bound. It's one of the last times I drew anything that looked like one of my "dynamo-ville" characters. This sketchbook is filled with lots of therapeutic drawings and writings which I used to help expunge all that was "dynamo-ville" from my head.

This drawing is called "Acieed!" and is ballpoint pen and pencil on newsprint, approximately 7" x 10", from 2005. It's also a page from the aforementioned sketchbook. This drawing actually has three blank pages that are attached to the back of it - it was a cluster of hand cut newsprint pages in the sketchbook but only one page got drawn on and the rest just stuck together at the edge making it that much more interesting. The critter in the drawing is a tanuki, or raccoon dog found in Japanese folklore. Usually statues of tanuki are found outside of temples or noodle shops. They are mischievous, absent minded shape shifters. The word "Acieed!" refers to the refrain in the song "We Call It Acieed" by D-Mob, which was an Acid House anthem in the late 1980s. Honestly, I don't know what the two things have to do with each other.

Grand Puba Maxwell

This drawing is called "Grand Puba Maxwell (pigeon)." It's watercolor and pencil on paper, 7" x 10", drawn in 2008. It was recently featured in my solo show "Crab Kids Keep Quiet" at The Lab 101 Gallery in Culver City, CA. It's a pigeon, and the words are by Grand Puba Maxwell of Brand Nubian ("Who Can Get Busy Like This Man..." from the album One For All).

Nolan Mookie George Rollie

This drawing is called "Nolan Mookie George Rollie." It's watercolor and pencil on paper, 11" x 17", drawn in 2006. It's a drawing of an infinite word bubble pinwheel of baseball stars' names of yore.

De La Soul

This soft-sculpture is called "De La Soul." It's an embroidered felt word bubble, stuffed with polyfil, approximately 6"x 8" x 2", made in 2008 (click image to see it larger). It was recently featured in my solo show "Crab Kids Keep Quiet" at The Lab 101 Gallery in Culver City, CA. It hangs on a wall and has the words "Take Those Shell Toes Off" on it, a line from the song "Take It Off" on De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising.

Rabbit Day

This drawing is called "Rabbit Day." It's watercolor and pencil on paper, 11" x 17", drawn in 2006. The girl in the drawing is excited because it's rabbit day at her school. Wouldn't you be?

Subroc

This drawing is called "Subroc." It's watercolor and pencil on paper, 7" x 10", drawn in 2008. It was recently featured in my solo show "Crab Kids Keep Quiet" at The Lab 101 Gallery in Culver City, CA. It's a chihuahua, the words are by Subroc of KMD ("Soul Flexin'" from the KMD album Mr. Hood).

KRS One

"KRS One" is a watercolor and pencil on paper, 7" x 10", drawn in 2008. It was recently featured in my solo show "Crab Kids Keep Quiet" at The Lab 101 Gallery in Culver City, CA. The creature in the piece is a nautilus, and the words are by KRS One ("Who Protects Us From You" from the Boogie Down Productions' album Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop).