Italy has a long rich history in the fine arts.  It is the country credited with the birth of the Renaissance movement and home to world famous venues such as the Vatican Museums and The Uffizi Gallery.  It’s a legacy that deserves every bit of respect that it garners, but there is a great amount of people who feel no connection to these ancient works and even more people who feel distanced by the term “art” in general.  Art is a class that you take at school; something coupled with “Literature” on a Trivial Pursuit game card.  It can become more of something to understand intellectually than emotionally.  For the last 30 or 40 yrs, the  Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow, Graffiti and Street Art worlds have challenged these constrictive ideas of what art is and who it’s for.  These are also the selected art-forms that Milan‘s Matteo Donini has been dedicated to showcasing since opening The Don Gallery in 2008.  This month’s exhibit at The Don, New Idols, is a refreshing venture into pop-culture by a young Milanese sculpture  by the name of Francesco De Molfetta. (more…)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Tags: art, barbie, batman, bronze, comics, ET, Exhibit, fiberglass, francesco de molfetta, gundam wing, hitler, idols, italy, jesus, jfk, king kong, milan, new idols, nike, obama, obesity, Politics, Pop art, pop-surrealism, resin, rolls royce, sculpture, Silvio Berlusconi, super heroes, superman, the don gallery

About 4 years ago, I spent a lot of time on Threadless.com.  In fact, one of the only reasons that I visit the site so rarely, at this point, is because I’m always so busy with this one.  I had been working the graveyard shift as a night auditor at a shit-hole of a hotel across the street from a public park full of crackheads and the one thing that I had to occupy myself during the long nights was a computer screen and the internet.  A lot has changed, both with my life and with Threadless, but every once in a while, they produce something so crazy and awesome that I remember what drew me to them in the first place. (more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: american apparel, art, Clothing, design, Film, geek, geek culture, glow in the dark, hoody, martiandrivein, Movies, pop-culture, rolf nelson, Sci-Fi, t shirt, Technology, threadless, tron

[Read Part One feat. the 179 exhibit HERE]

A few months ago, I was watching Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network when an image of a giant pie-chart that was painted on the side of a building was shown.  The pie-chart was divided into 4 sections, representing what viewers could expect to witness on Adult Swim during the 2010 year. Descending from largest to smallest percentage-wise, the divided portions of the chart were as follows: “EXPLOSIONS“, “MEAT“, “P’TOOTS“, and “LOVE“.  The bottom corner of the screen identified the location of the mural as being in Seattle and I recognized the spot immediately.  It was on 45th St. just barely on the West side of Interstate 5, which separates Wallingford from the U-District. The building that it’s painted on contains Milano Pizza, a joint that stays open and delivers pizza until 3 am every night.  Since first noticing the image on television, I’ve traveled by it and seen the painting numerous times.  I’ve also seen various other locations with almost identical murals in other cities, shown on Adult Swim, generally with somebody posing in front of it.   I’ve thought about taking a photo myself, but never really got around to it.   On the day of the opening reception for the 179 exhibit at Upper Playground, my bus traveled past that location as usual but, as I looked off to the right to glance at the painted wall once more, I noticed that somebody was painting something else over it.  At first I was disappointed but, upon further inspection, I recognized that what was being painting on the wall was a 100 times more awesome than what was on there before. (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Tags: adult swim, aerosol, art, cable, check it out, cinco news, Comedy, eric wareheim, for your health, graffiti, jan and wayne skylar, jan skylar, milanos pizza, mural, portrait, Seattle, spray paint, steve brule, Television, tim heidecker, tom goes to the mayor, trailer, TV, Video, wallingford, wayne skylar

[View Part 2 about the new Steve Brule show/mural HERE]

Last Friday, April 16th, I jumped on a bus and headed out to the Upper Playground store/gallery in Seattle‘s University District.  I was on my way to catch the opening reception for an exhibit entitled, “Oh Mischevious Me” by local artist 179.  This post isn’t going to delve too far into the background of 179 as an artist.  It’s mostly just going to be some very loose photo documentation of the event, while Part 2 covers an unrelated mural that was created about 10 blocks away on the same night.  It will, hopefully, also function as an opportunity for me to drop some names and for you to find out about some local Seattle artists that are involved in a movement that’s on the verge of breaking through and gaining the attention that it deserves.  As far as 179 is concerned, the real story isn’t on this site at all.  In fact, this isn’t even the beginning of my coverage of her work or even of this specific event.  Earlier this month, I was asked to conduct an interview with her for the site, The Citrus Report and, for all intents and purposes, you should probably be reading that interview first and utilizing this post as a follow up.  Then again, there’s nothing wrong with looking at the photos first and then venturing off to discover more about the person who created them.  Do whatever the fuck you want.  Make your own decisions.  We’re all adults here and, if not, maybe your parents should be paying a lot more attention to what type of emotionally detrimental hijinx you are likely getting into on a regular basis.

Regardless of what you decide…
here’s the link to the 179 Interview on The Citrus Report

(more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: 179, acrylic, angelina villalobos, art, Exhibit, family fortune, fifty24sea, Gallery, gouache, interview, one seven nine, painting, sam walls, Seattle, solace wonder, the citrus report, Upper Playground

I was in attendance at Sasquatch! for the very first year of the festival, but haven’t returned since.  That was a long time ago and a lot has changed.  First of all, the promoters were House of Blues (they’ve since been purchased by Live Nation).  Second, it was primarily a one day hippie festival.  On the bill… String Cheese Incident, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, etc.  Blackalicious canceled.  It was mostly terrible, but I walked in for free with a photo pass that I laminated at my friend Lars‘ house/gas station (he lived in an Exxon in Tumwater, Wa) and I got really spun out on some LSD, so it didn’t really matter anyway.  It isn’t that the acts haven’t been getting any better, because they definitely have, but I’ve just never cared enough about the lineup to actually trek out there for 3 days of blazing heat, 7 dollar beers, piss soaked grass, and a bunch of hassle.  Either the acts didn’t do enough for me or the one’s that I loved I had already seen a million times anyway.  This year it looks like they’ve put something together so good that even I’m gonna have to drag my lazy ass out there.

This year I’ve found the festival to be much more intriguing and the folks that run Sasquatch! appear to be making even more of a concerted effort to really present the yearly event as a well-rounded entity, even beyond the musical acts.  Some of the amazing performers on the lineup are Pavement, Ween, Aziz Ansari, Public Enemy, Mayer Hawthorne, Quasi, Dr. Dog, and Todd Barry.  Comedians have been part of Sasquatch! for a while now, so that isn’t new, but the way that the promoters chose to announce the lineup this year is.  A “launch party”, featuring performances by Surfer Blood and Atlas Sounds was held at Seattle‘s Crocodile Cafe on Feb. 15th and the full lineup for the festival was announced that night.  Now another event is taking place to showcase the poster artwork that was created specifically to commemorate the appearances by each one of those individual acts which were announced.  Just like the launch party, this event is absolutely free. (more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: 33 RPM, Aaron Bloom, Adam Zacks, Andre Martin, Andrew Vastagh, Andy Abero, art, Bob Smith, Bobby Dixon, Bungaloo, Carisa G, Casey Burns, Chad Lundberg, Chelsea Conboy, Clay Nowak, Clint Wilson, Corianton Hale, Cricket Press, Dan Black, Dan D Schafer, Dan Paulus, Dan Stiles, Diana Sudyka, Dirk Fowler, Dj Darwin, Don Clark, exhibition gala, Farley Bookout, festival, Frida Clements, Furturtle Design, Garrett Karol, Gary Houston, george, gorge, Guy Burwell, Hero Design, Invisible Creature, Jannie Mercado, Jason Munn, Jay Ryan, Jeff Kleinsmith, Jeffery Everett, Jesse LeDou, Joanna Wecht, Johann Gomez, John Foster, John Howard, Jon Smith, Joseph P. Markiewicz, Junichi Tsuneoka, Justin Hampton, Keith Whiteman, Kevin Mercer, Kevin Tong, Killorn O’Neil, Kim Mason, Lauren Jong, Lee Zeman, Lia Cerizo, mad rad, Mark Pedini, Matt McCrakin, Michael Budai, Michael Strassburger, Mig Kokinda, Mike Grigg, Mike King, Mike Klay, Modern Dog, Molly Leonard, Music, Nat Damm, Nate Duval, Nathan Goldman, Patent Pending, poster, poster show, Rob Helmstetter, Rob Stanton, Robert Zwiebel, Robynne Raye, Ryan Clark, Ryan O’Niell, Sara Thompson, Sasha Barr, sasquatch, sasquatch music festival, Scott Dalrymple, Sean Carroll, Seattle, Seattle Show Posters, Shane Long, Shawn Wolfe, Shogo Ota, silk screen, Small Horse Studio, Strawberry Luna, The Silent Giants, Two Rabbits, Victor Melendez, wa, Zach Hobbs

Laurie Hogin

“Diorama of Endless Desires”

oil on canvas
48″x 60″ image
SOLD

New York has the Jonathan Levine Gallery among others.  Los Angeles offers art venues like Gallery 1988.  San Francisco is the birthplace of Upper Playground with galleries like Fifty24SF and Fecal Face.  For many years, Seattle was far less acknowledging of the underground art movement.  Although the city is home to artistic innovators like the subversive Charles Krafft, there was never really a place tailored to display works of such members of the Pop Surrealism/Underground Contemporary art movement.  Fortunately for us that live in the city , Kirsten Anderson changed all of that.  Coupled with her love of the culture and the realization that there was a huge void to be filled, Anderson opened the Roq La Rue Gallery in 1998 and has remained an integral part of “LowBrow” and underground art movements ever since.  In 2004, Anderson even released the first real comprehensive book on the subject entitled, Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art (Last Gasp), which featured essays by artist Robert Williams, curator/critic Carlo McCormick, and Fantagraphics‘ Larry Reid.  Not only has Roq La Rue provided a forum for established names like Mark Ryden and Chet Zar, but the gallery has also made us personally aware of amazing work by lesser known artists on the rise, such as Victor Castillo.

Last year Anderson curated a group exhibit at Roq La Rue titled, LUSH LIFE.  The following quotation, which is taken from the press release of that event, explains the intention of the show as well as why Roq La Rue has continued to remain such a unique venue throughout the rise of these underground art movements:

“While many galleries in the “underground”/Pop Surrealism art scene have increasing turned towards street art, Roq la Rue has decided to instead focus on the more formal, Symbolist -inspired painters in the genre. “Lush Life” brings together painters in both the alt-art world as well as contemporary art scene, who all work within a guideline of tight technical craftsmanship as well the use of opulent and decadent imagery to convey higher inner truths and emotions. This take on “Neo-Symbolism” is different from it’s predecessor in that while it still mines the unconscious for a sense of mythic gravitas, it incorporates American culture’s pervasive pop culture-flavored and cartoony aesthetic.“

Beginning last Friday, March 12th, and running all the way until May 7th, is the sequel to that event, LUSH LIFE 2.  When we contacted Kirsten for more details on the event, she explained to us that, while last years LUSH LIFE exhibit “was focused on painters who worked with a bit of an opulent or lush tone either in subject matter or in technique (ie: painterly)“… “this time (she) opened it to sculpture as well.“  Among contributors of new work to this exhibit are Pop-Surrealist powerhouses, Marion Peck and Charlie Immer,  Les Claypool favorite, Travis Louie, and, helping to round out the 3-dimensional aspects of the show, the intricate sculptural work of Kris Kuksi.  Anderson was also kind enough to provide us with a full list of pieces in the exhibit along with their images (featured below) (more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: Andrew Arconti, art, Boomer, Boomer Torvik, brian despain, charlie immer, Chris Berens, Exhibit, Gail Potocki, Gallery, Joe Sorren, John Brophy, Kirsten Anderson, Kris Kuksi, Laurie Hogin, low brow, Madeline Von Foerster, Mandy Greer, Marion Peck, Martin Wittfooth, Michael Brown, painting, pop-surrealism, roq la rue, Ryan Heshka, sculpture, Seattle, Travis Louie