Atari Aesthetics at the Brink

The Brink Gallery is hosting a juried exhibition titled "Atari Aesthetics".

Here is the link to their webpage with the details.
http://www.thebrinkgallery.com/atari/

It looks like it is going to be a fun show, so stop playing video games and submit! Deadline is December 15th

Megala...what? An evening with Abe Coley

Look at all those health food snacks!

Abe Coley made a run for dictator of West Montanastan this last First Friday with six separate shows at six different local businesses.  The overall event is titled Megalobamboozlementarianism: Abe Coley for Dictator of West Montanastan. His works are outrageously fun, overloaded, and filled with ingenious anecdotes and witty observations.  Many of the works are rather large and painterly with simple drawings of figures, faces, animals, plants, words and all sorts of other hullabaloo; while others remain simple little collages and drawings. The small drawings and collages seem like little jokes put in visual form.  

Abe led us on a walking tour of the different venues, feeding us health food snacks and pretty much just chillin' out with us.  I was kinda hoping he would make some kind of proclamation or speech at each venue, but no he kept it simple, non-nonchalant and let the work speak for itself....here's to that!  I am not sure there was a specific theme for the night, but some of the themes I found where love, love lost, scary, funny, prolific, animals, plants, big, overload, mashing, smashing, dripping, naked-ness, death, life, truth. Although, when I met with him the week before he did mention something about people getting screwed by rich people, a book about the conquest of the West, a sneaky politician, a grandiose weirdo, and that it is easier to ask for forgiveness later then ask permission first. So yeah.

The work is up for the month at 6 different venues.  To learn more and to find out where the different venues are go to www.abecoley.com.  Now...the pictures!

Terrorizer...one of my favs.

Detail

almost naked self-portrait in the garden! Yeah Abe, I like your style!

another detail

Peek-a-boo

Doilies, drunk rabbits and fire = dangerous

awwww he has a pet kitty

If you can tell me what instrument and what band this guy plays in then you will get a free artmelt book-when it comes out, and if we remember.

Abe makes you think!

Shit bro is right!

Abe's work accentuates anyone's style

Dogs on acid

 

detail

This was part of the 18 and over portion of the show

Tricia really liked this...how can you not!

Dig the Face & Party Lion!

i love this simple portrait...its like "Hey!"

what an awesome skull!

HA!

These were littered throughout all the shows...what's cooler the words or the lines?

Abe traveled by scooter to each show

Calling you....artmelt is a BOOK

artmelt is really excited to announce that we are making a custom, hand-bound, book of awesomeness, and we want you to be in it! See the call to artists at the end of the post.

When notions of artmelt first emerged 3 years ago or so, the idea was for it to be a print gallery. So every First Friday there would be this gallery that existed in print.  However, due to procrastination and lack of time and money we figured a blog would be the most tangible way to begin the melting of art.

But alas, the times have changed, and procrastination doesn't stand a chance.  artmelt will be releasing a custom made, hand-bound book, with multiple types of printing and original artworks scattered throughout. Yet, we need your help to fill it with great art, writing, information, rants...you name it we want it.

So here we are, doing the typical...we are posting a call to artists, and we might even be able to pay you...maybe. Click on the link below to read the full call to artists.

Link to full call to artists

Deadline is July 30th, 2011 for submissions and you can email your proposals and works to artmelt@gmail.com.  If you have originals to put in the book then we can arrange a drop off.

Sunny SF Respite

Artmelt left Missoula for sunny San Francisco this month, and saw two shows, one at Fecal Face Gallery and another at its neighbor Fifty24SF.  FecalFace: Henry Gunderson, a student at the San Fran Art Institute, makes provocative, awesome, confusing, mythological images.  Fifty24SF: Don't know much about Johnny "KMNDZ" Rodriguez but the street art inspired paintings and illustrations are pretty rad.  I left San Francisco saying the word 'radical' a lot...not sure why. Check out the links for more images and stuff.

Henry Gunderson at Fecal Face

 Johnny "KMNDZ" Rodriguez at Fifty24SF

2011 University of Montana BFA Senior Thesis Highlights

Adam Lynn - Detail

Check out some of the highlights from this years UM Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Thesis Exhibition at the Gallery of Visual Arts.  Good work BFA'ers! I would like to tell you to go see all the great works that I didn't photograph, but sadly the show was only up for a terribly short period of time : ( x 1000.

Rachael Jones

Ellie Weber - Let Go

I really liked Hannah Spry's rendition of Little Red Riding Hood

Jose Chavez - "What Some Do For Others" - Detail

Love the surface and character.

Nice landscapes by Riche Carter and a snail by Louis Habeck

Didnt get this guys name but I like the root sound system

El Rico.  The painting skill here is great and the artist statement is one of the best I have ever read by a student

A great little figure. part of the piece title "Shooting at someone who outdrew you" by Rachael Marne Jones

Big truck - vrrooooooom

Adam Lynn - detail

Rachel Marne Jones

Ellie Weber's ceramic sculptures were some of my favorites works in the show.

Hannah Spry

Jose Chavez

Richie Carter

Adam Lynn

Going to Church of the Lost Dog with Greta Rybus

 

Greta Rybus brings us some great photos from The Church of the Lost Dog with Reverend Craig and Sister Debby. This year it wasn't on a Sunday, but it was on a Tuesday! This annual R-I-T-U-A-L took us forward and backward in time and space. We were even visited by the Klingons and Santa Claus himself.  We sung some of our favorite hymns, almost got branded, and all where given a present from Santa (I got a box of those word magnets for your fridge, which are cool but also kind of annoying).  The R-I-T-U-A-L (play) took place at Freecycles and prudently enough Father Time came by to fix his bike.  Fathertime's drunk Irish, spit-talkin' and hilarious father gave us some fatherly advice, and stole the Talisman of Time preventing us from bringing Reverend Craig back from the dead (dont worry, 11 volunteers stole it back).  Mr. Time also let us in on a little secret...and sorry to disappoint but the end of the world isn't gonna happen, no cataclysmic event will force people to change for the better, we are just going to keep going while our personal freedoms get whittled away,  people will keep on polluting and wrecking the planet, and it just keeps on going...thank goodness Santa showed up to raise our spirits after that devastating news.  I used to find church abrasively boring but this church I can get into.

Uh oh, here comes Fathertime's father

More awesome photos by Greta Rybus after the jump

A pickle with Laura Alich

Cornucopia - Laura Alich

Frontier Space has certainly posed Missoula-folk with some good questions since their inception in fall 2010.  I imagine many are walking away a little confused or wanting more, but I have got to hand it to these guys for creating one of the coolest and most thought-provoking galleries since Goatsilk.  This month is no exceptions as New Yoorka Laura Alich swift kicks us in the gut, plays with our minds and makes us laugh. I have a feeling this show is going to be one of the highlights for 2011...yes and pretty much because of the pickle.

Pop! Grid - Laura Alich

I really liked the elegance, simplicity, and freshness of this wall sculpture.

more pics after the jump!!!