Artmelt Missoula: Megala...what? An evening with Abe Coley

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

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!