art shows & news

Artist Mark Mulroney can be extremely crude, with fluids and body parts galore, but that only serves to add character to his fascinating murals and sketchbook illustrations. This particular series of murals below interests me because of their atypical use of shape and space. It’s extremely uncomfortable, but that’s what makes it work. (His website is also very uncomfortable. I’m not sure if it works, but I guess it does, since I’m linking it. Here.)

Tomorrow is the last day you’ll be able to check out the Halogen Gallery’s June Variety Show which features — you’ve guessed it — a variety of works by artists from Seattle and slightly beyond. Amongst the grouping include some real Redefine favorites. Here are some of the pieces you can check out, along with a cool mural by Max Kauffman which you can catch an ever-so-small glimpse of in the image above.

Max Kauffman seems to be the centerpiece of this particular Variety Show, what with his offering up a mural and more than a dozen of his pieces for sale. His signature style, full of bright watercolors and organic lines, really make their mark on a good portion of the wall here. It helps that I honestly can’t say I’ve seen many watercolor pieces glossed with resin, but the added touch, such as in Suck It Down (pictured left), gives the pieces a nice sheen.

Bryan Mandronico always manages to create sci-fi-themed images that are still cutesy and colorful enough to appeal to not only males and females, but nerds and non-nerds alike. And in a time where robots and octopi are strangely in vogue, the hybrid of them in Wendl Pup (pictured right) is perhaps even more appealing still.

Crystal Wall Lancaster’s recent paintings seem to pay homage to vintage fashion in an updated way. While pieces like Percy (shown left) depart a bit from her usual, darker style of female figure rendering, neon colors and crazy patterns are in, and these pieces seem to capture a portrait of what the current state of fashion might look like if blended with the old.

Kelly Patton exercises careful control over watercolor with three delicate pieces, including Spell: Violins (pictured right). Watercolored animals and insects pop out of gold leaf backgrounds, and the organic color palette lends itself well to the overall message behind the pieces.

www.halogengallery.com
www.kauffmanartistry.com
www.mandronico.com
www.crystalwalllancaster.com
home.comcast.net/~kellypatton/

(Photo courtesy of SlightlyNorth on Flickr)

If you’ve been to the U-District in Seattle lately, you’ve probably seen a building covered with all sorts of graffiti on the corner of Roosevelt Ave. and 50th Ave. This is the handiwork of Seattle’s art collective, The Free Sheep Foundation, and dozens of Seattle artists, including Kinoko, No Touching Ground, Baldman, Ego, Shade, Angel 179, Boz, and Weirdo (just to name a few).

The TUBS Memorial Mural Project is a project that temporarily affixes art to a building that is slated to be demolished. Here’s a beautiful statement of purpose from the Free Sheep Foundation itself:

Currently on view, Free Sheep Foundation is proud to host an exhibition memorializing the forthcoming demolition of the former TUBS building in Seattle’s U-District. Highlighting graffiti-style murals by over 20 artists (please scroll down for list of artists) and window installations, FSF would like to invite the public to view this artistic intervention with the same heart as viewing cherry blossoms in Spring. This temporary project is meant to serve as a beautiful display of color in the waning days of a building’s demise, as well as a re-interpretation of site and celebration of the City. In partnership with the property owners, we offer this gift to the neighborhood and the world, embracing our rapidly transforming urban landscape.

Historical records of the site are available since 1905, when it was developed as a residence and small commercial space. In 1923, the building was redeveloped as a grocery store, eventually becoming the Big Bear Store, then the Lucky Store, and in the early ’60’s, the P&C Serve U Grocery. During this time, the site was also shared by a car dealership. In the mid-70’s, the building became renovated and housed The District Tavern (one of the earliest rock music venues in Seattle) and Fotomat Drive-thru. In 1982, TUBS took over the building as its most recent tenant-to-date; operating a spa with rental rooms of hot tubs and saunas, and offering tanning and massage services. Soon the site will be developed into a 60 unit apartment building with ground floor retail.

Free Sheep Foundation thanks Handsome Murals, Art Primo, and University Volkswagen/Audi for their generous support, without which this project would not be possible.

King 5 News also did a recent segment on this project, which can be viewed as a negative view on the work of artists who have donated their time and energy to this project. You can view it here.

Head on over to the U-District on April 26th from 2:00pm to 6:00pm for what is bound to be an amazing, amazing art opening which will never be repeated again.

www.freesheepfree.org
www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_031909WAB-seattle-graffiti-increase-SW.501509ed.html?btm

Hera and Akut [Herakut] saved my life.

They have managed to become my only exit out of my brutally mundane environment, spotty with pseudo-innovative chumps with tired techniques mistaken for creativity. Honestly, I don’t even want to leave my house for fear I’ll run into some of these half-assed stencils and installations that are out right now.

I want to see something that’ll fxcking make my head spin.
I want to see something that I CAN’T do.
Give me some Herakut, dammit.

Lucky for me and the rest of the restless, the duo has come out with a hearty-sized book this month, so appropriately titled The Perfect Merge, filled with images capable of changing your entire perspective on the hybrid of street and fine art. I refuse to say anything more about their work, simply because I feel the entire process and product speaks for itself. Really, no words would be able to do them justice. Cue: video.

Don’t forget to pick up a copy (I see that tax refund check), but be sure you’re prepared for some serious brilliance.

www.herakut.de

A week and a half ago, I was in Barcelona and stumbled a protest that seemed well-organized and was immediately engaging. With my limited Spanish, I managed to pick up slogans like, “Beauty is not for sale,” and “Barcelona is dead.” It became immediately obvious that the protest was politically and artfully-motivated.

From an outside perspective, those statements seem extreme, especially considering Barcelona is known for its street art. Street art radiates practically from every corner of the city, and I’m not just talking meaningless little tags here and there. Barcelona is a storehouse of graffiti and street art pieces that actually look as though they took time, passion, commitment, and energy.

What then, caused this outpouring of anger from the art community of Barcelona?

Not many people in Spain speak English that well, so after an hour of standing around wondering, I finally decided to try my luck and ask around. In Spanish, I was told something along the lines of this. The protest stemmed from police actions that resulted in the closing of art spaces in a nearby neighborhood. The closed spaces were important hubs for musicians and artists alike, and as a result, the artistic community felt patronized and felt that bureaucratic decisions involving their livelihoods were being made without their input.

People of all ages participated in the peaceful protest, which was artistic in and of itself. A giant banner was unfurled on which visitors were allowed to scrawl their opinions. A booth tacked with, “Take off your pants!” encouraged visitors to defy the norm and take Polaroids of themselves naked.

It is only in a city like Barcelona with such a lively street art scene that such a demonstration can happen. While I cannot fully grasp the ramifications of all this bureaucracy on the Barcelona art community, I sincerely hope that it emerges from this better than before.

If you can read Spanish, head on over to culturadebase.net to find out more information about this movement. If you know more information about Cultura De Base, please share your knowledge. Thanks!

Never heard of the Polaroid PoGo until now, but this little advertisement was pretty interesting and eye-catching. So what is the PoGo? It’s a portable printer. The quality is not nearly comparable to a glossy printed photo, but it’s good enough for its size and convenience. 2″ x 3″ borderless prints print in under a minute. On the downside, however, it’s hard to imagine people will really have a use for these things over a use for the now sadly extinct Polaroid.

Artoleptic threw its first event last year, in the parking lot adjacent to the 619 Building and the Snowboard Connection. Some decent art pieces were created, but the sense of community was lacking, partially due to the fact that the event was barely publicized.

Earlier this month was year two of the Artoleptic urban arts and music festival. The non-profit rented out the same space but gave out free booth space to artists, got sponsored by Glaceau, enlisted the participation of many more mural artists, chose a much more diverse selection of music, and brought on Skate Like A Girl for girl skate workshops.

Here were some of the highlights from the event:

Ego and 179 join hands for a mural.

Ten Hundred, who was covered in the Spring 2008 Issue of REDEFINE, gives away free drawings at his well-stocked, colorful booth.

Nothing much here… just a quick zebra mural for you to check out! As seen in the small town of Pembeton, British Columbia (that is, about an hour north of Whistler, BC).

CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW OF THE MURAL.

This past Saturday, Blaine Fontana visited Snowboard Connection’s flagship shop in Seattle to unveil his newest mural, brought to the store by Vans. Fontana’s huge 20″ x 4″ mural was shown to the public, alongside a dozen of his original pieces. He also did a book signing for his most recent Upper Playground book, In Our Absence, and had miscellaneous limited edition giclee prints and posters for sale.

If you didn’t manage to catch the show, head on over to SnoCon sometime. The mural is still up on display at 263 Yale Ave. N, Seattle, Washington. Enjoy!

Originally from the Pacific Northwest but now residing in Southern California, Blaine Fontana is the favorite of many skate-related brands. He has a couple books that have been printed by Upper Playground and, as the owner of one, I must say that they are wholly worth the money. In this case, Vans has brought Blaine Fontana to Seattle for a book signing at the skate and snow shop, Snowboard Connection. See the unveiling of a new mural and partake in a book signing! 263 Yale Ave. N, Seattle, WA.

A time at Seattle’s possibly newest venue, King Cobra, is always a good time. For $3.00, you can witness live paintings by favorite Seattle street artists, PGEE!, Ego, Brennan Coyle, Parskid, 2H, 179, and Daner! Hip-hop music by DJ Sean Cee.