Scott

It’s been a busy travel month. We were in Rehoboth Beach and Baltimore, and we also flew out to L.A. the weekend of the 22nd. We had a good time despite the unseasonably cold and rainy weather. We were there primarily to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of Billy Shire Fine Arts but also saw several great exhibits.

First up was Mark Ryden’s “Tree Show,” his first solo show since Wondertoonal a few years back. We were lucky to be in L.A. back in 2003 and caught that up in Pasadena when it was there. This show is a great follow up and had all new work of course. No pictures allowed but several pieces are here.

Annie, Bob Dob, Tiffany, and myself at Billy Shire Fine Arts.

Next up was I AM 8-BIT at Gallery 1988. We stopped in to see Alan Defibaugh’s piece and were pleasantly surprised to see what a great group of artists were hanging right alongside him. Bob Dob, Amy Sol, Kathy Olivas, Joe Ledbetter, Luke Chueh, and many more. We also found out later that D.C. artist Chris Bishop was in the show, and happy to announce he has agreed to be a part of Art in Heat.

Marion Peck’s work was showing at Billy Shire Fine Arts. Very cool show. She and Mark Ryden are a couple, and there are many similarities in their work. Both of their shows sold out by the way.

Nathan Ota’s work was at La Luz de Jesus along with Martin Wittfooth. I chatted with Nathan briefly at the anniversary party. He was in the Tug of War show with me here at the Hemphill last month but didn’t make the trip to D.C. Amazing work – check it out here. His work sold out, too.

Here is Mario’s Breakfast by Alan Defibaugh, as well as several shots of the I AM 8-BIT show.

We went to a screening of The Tripper a few weeks back at the Senator Theater in Baltimore. Very funny movie – sums up the last 40 years of U.S. politics in one tidy slasher movie. Very twisted and fun. Everyone was cheering the chick with the hammer at the end, and we were right there with her.

Finally got a chance to meet David Arquette, who wrote and directed The Tripper. He also bought some of my work at the La Luz show last December.

Lots of friends are exhibiting their work here, including many “Art in Heat” artists. It should be a great time.

ARTOMATIC 2007
April 13 – May 20, 2007
2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA
Metro stop: Crystal City
Free admission. Donations accepted.

HOURS
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Noon–10 p.m.
Thursday: Noon–11 p.m.
Friday, Saturday: Noon–1 a.m.
Closed Mondays

“Artomatic, the Washington, D.C., area’s eclectic, engaging — and occasionally even eye-popping — arts extravaganza is back this spring and promises to be more of a draw than ever before.

“Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic is the region’s one-of-a-kind multimedia art featuring more than 600 regional artists and performers. The free five-week event, to be held April 13–May 20, will feature nearly 90,000 square feet of paintings, sculptures, photography, and other creative work.”

I was searching for info on Mark Ryden’s new “Tree Show” and ran across the new blog That Ain’t Art .

Lots of great lowbrow news and info, including this reprinting of the editor’s intro from the March issue of Juxtapoz.

“You are the LA Times art critic, and yet lowbrow seems to be
completely off your radar. Astounding. History will not look upon you kindly.”
-Jim Hanson

“Criticism as an activity emerges from within genres. It is not imposed from the outside. If a substantive body of criticism were to emerge from within the lowbrow world, it would be unavoidable and fun to engage with it. So far as I know that hasn’t happened. Perhaps that’s because, with populist genres, criticism is almost always beside the point.”
-Christopher Knight, Times Art Critic

I offer the preceding correspondence between a critic and his audience as an example of a much wider contemporary discourse. Critical writing dealing with the so-called lowbrow category exists in abundance. Carlo McCormick’s efforts over the last decade in publications like Art Forum and Paper are standouts in scholarly discourse. Walter Hopps, William S Burroughs, Ed Roth, Charles Bukowski, David Hickey, and Norman Mailer all famously advanced the consideration of vanguard outcast aesthetics. Even the Newsweek/Art Forum critic Peter Plagens occasionally tackled the hot rod ethos. And, of course, there are the valuable continuing efforts of a cadre of working aestheticians in the United States such as Doug Harvey, Scott Snyder, Roger Gastman, Larry Reid, Aaron Rose, and Theo Douglas; and internationally, Simon Wood of Australia, NASH of Japan, Takuji Masuda of Switzerland, and Giorgio Dimitri of Italy. Mr Knight’s outright dismissal of such extensive artistic inquiry is ludicrous and demonstrates a chauvinistic ignorance of current developments. Elsewhere monumental moves are afoot.

Take, for instance, the plethora of galleries and artists numbering in the thousands at 13 concurrent art fairs that is Art Basel, Miami Beach, the country’s four-year-old grand industry event-the only one of its kind and chronicled this issue by Francesco LoCastro. Not to mention a major museum exhibition is being organized by the Laguna Art Museum entitled In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz School, which has already secured two additional museum venues. And interestingly enough, the San Jose Art Museum is independently developing a similarly themed show. All should be debuting in 2008.

So here is issue 74. Warning: it could be unavoidably provocative and fun to engage. Please do not confuse it with mere criticism because that, as the august authority Mr Knight points out, always misses the point. Roberta Smith, chief critic of the New York Times recently gave Shag’s Earl McGrath show a glowing review. That fact, and the previously mentioned museum projects, prove that those with open minds are actively forging a new history.”

Photos courtesy of Trevor and Ana!

Click for a larger view.

Here we are in front of Divine at the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore. From left: Glen Barr, Billy Shire, Liz McGrath, Jason Houchen, Shag, Rebecca Alban Hoffberger (director of AVAM), Bob Dob, myself, Annie A., and Anna Bagayan on the far right. (I didn’t catch the guy’s name.)

Liz, Billy and SHAG

Bob Dob and myself

Ana and Liz