February ArtWalk Favorites
What do a drunk nun, a broken toaster and tools with testicles have in common?
...You guessed it: Artwalk here in Seattle.
Lets start with something comfortable... Like dead puppets.
Acrylic on canvas / 28" x 22" / $2,800
Molly Hill was showing @ Grover Thurston And although her show seemed a bit "kitch"... Never the less: I fell for it.
Don't get me wrong, she's an amazing painter. Inspiring even. As a matter of fact, her work looks like N. Rockwell and S. Dali were domestic-partners raising an orphan daughter who only painted at the psychiatrists office. I dig it.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for direct symbolism, obvious paradox, and cliche topics in general. Stuff like puppets with severed red strings, a chained up monkey, or fore-staged subjects... what's that? the painting to the right has ALL that? DAMN. See?
Art like this falls into the "guilty pleasure" category for me. It's comfortable. you can glance at it, understand it instantly, and move on to stuff like inspecting proportions, colors, textures, and "craftsmanship". All of which Molly has in spades.
I suggest you click on Molly's Website Link below to explore her work in full, it's got all of the above and more.
Molly Hill - Website
Kate Hunt / Dollar Pieces 2009 / 2" x 7" x 5" / $200ea
Finally! Art with indisputable value... It's made of money.
Kate Hunts fascination with paper is unhealthy. Which is most unfortunate for her because it's so amazing that I doubt anyone will ever let her stop working with it. In Feb she displayed a large "sum" of work @ Davidson Galleries Money that made flags, newspaper that made pedestals, I couldn't help but wonder if any fire marshals have given her grief or insisted on fire-proofing.
Kate's work was fun. She used steel, encaustic, bailing wire, newspaper, and cold hard cash to create burnt out, charred, pillars, bowls and panes that made me feel like I was at a fire sale for an eccentric printer whose house burned down. What I liked most was that she's got an obvious brand. I could recognize her work now anywhere I ended up seeing it, and that's the kinda thing that makes one famous...
Check Out her website for more cool sculpture. Kate Hunt - Website
Now lets get to Some Penis and Testicle Art shall we? I thought you'd never ask...
Ken Edwards/ Garden Tool /Mixed Media / $950
Ken Edwards filled the Gallery IMA with tools designed to be more organic but still very masculine. They basically look like the tools that the natives in Avatar might use. I loved this one, but there's lots more to view on his website (See Link below)
I know it's not a new idea to re-invent mans common tools, but for a 35 year firefighter, I'm sure tools have varied meaning and memory even in retirement.
Ruthie V / Gender / Cement on panel / with Trowel Penis
Ruthie V, Showing in Feb @ Shift in the TK building, made quite an impression on people that night. What does it all mean? I mean I get the phallic nature of tool handles, but cement? was it to tie in the trowel or are you making a comment on how attached we are to them? either way, you had me at "...is that a penis"? It's not all about sex or genitalia with Ruthie, in fact this is the only penis I could find in her collection..
She had lots of great work in the show and she even knew enough to throw in one of those blantantly obvious shock value pieces to grab the lesser versed artwalkers who might have missed the subtle hint of brilliance in her other work. good show Ruthie.
but it's plugged in...?
What's left? Oh yah, broken toasters and drunk nuns!
So here's the toaster... It's a piece by Paul Young in the infamous 619 (Western) building. via Gold Shoes Studios & Gallery on the 5th floor (Edd Cox's Establishment) You can find Lots more of Pauls work here www.PaulYoungPainting.com
Anyways, i just liked it for the irony of it all. I mean it's plugged in, but has a sign telling me it still wont work... yet I have to try to push down the lever... I HAVE TO.
And what West Coast event is complete without running into one of the Sisters of perpetual indulgence. Aside from free condoms and lube, they also hand out sex-positive messages and try to loosen people up about sexuality in general, after all, if there's one thing I learned growing up in New England it was that we were most CERTAINLY founded by Puritans. And we've got a long ways to go before we find a comfortable "middle ground" about sex. I wish I got this sisters name, they're usually hillarious like sister buttercup panties, or bertha beads, and so on... here's our two photos, one with me drinking and the other with her drinking. (her being the one with a beard here)
