I had made the mistake of going to the space gallery just before the Friday night art walk, that is so beloved in Portland on every 1st Friday of each month, so I had already been somewhat frustrated from trying to walk the 2 blocks from my house to said gallery through brigades and cluster-fucks of dandies and hipsters alike who smelled like b.o. and looked like homeless Russel Brands. So my views on this showing may be a bit harsh. As a silk screener by trade I found it narcissistic that these people feel the need to sell their artwork that cost probably no more than 1$ in plastisol ink and 5$ in canvas to make for 500-plus dollars. Granted there were some moderately price works and a lot of the print had mind-bogglingly cool designs, but the price tag on some of Mike Houston’s and Martin Mazorna’s just shows they think far too much of themselves for doing what just about every vocational tech school student can do in their sleep with only.
The first piece that caught my eye as I walked into space gallery was “Party” which I could only imagine was quite popular with 99% of Portlanders who had the chance to view it. It was about 7” x 10” of silk screened canvas riddled with all the characters you’d see at just about any tailgate, keg, fraternity, and after-party. This one was particularly high in contrast between the front and background giving off somewhat of an illusion of depth. It was like a Where’s Waldo of party staples like the guy with a lamp shade on his head, the puker, and the too close for comfort couple.
Mike and Martin’s eye for composition really came out in their 3.5’ x 7’ canvas poster titled “Rat Snake” of a not quite anatomically correct viper eating a rat. The scales of the snake and the fur of the rat were printed perfectly and the positioning of the snake really makes the eye wonder all over the canvas again and again. I could also be complimenting this biasly since I adore snakes and have used them often to fill negative space in my own works.
No comments:
Post a Comment