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

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!!!

mmmmmm good painting - Brandon Reitjes and Nate White

Brandon Reitjes

According to the gentleman at the front desk of A&E architects both of these painters went to the Art Institute of Chitown, and the painting skill is certainly reflective of going to such a prestigious art school.  Each of them certainly know how to handle the medium in there own unique ways.  Brandon Reitjes' pieces contain great surface and layering techniques that give rise to geometric and architectural forms.  Most of the pieces are round, which is generally an uncommon shape for a painting, however I think he makes good use of the roundness here, especially with the asymmetrical placement on the brick walls.

Nate White - detail

Nate White on the other hand has quite a different aesthetic.  White builds the canvas with a fun fierceness that includes many layers of gestural, energetic,  I-don't-give-it-shit-here-is-some-paint-in-your-face-can-you-handle-it styled application. I really like his use of text and other imagery amongst the paint.  At first, I was hesitant about these paintings thinking that maybe they were too out of control or something, but as I felt them a little longer they really grew on me. I encourage ya'll to stop by A&E Architects on Higgins Ave and check these painted gems.

More photos after the jump!!!!

Holy Hell!!

Dood what? Patrick Swayze & James Earl Jones!!! Yeah I am into it! Holy Hell is a group creation featuring Jack Metcalf with colorist Brett Hargesheimer, sound artist Burke Jam, sculptures by Louis Habeck, and a video by Will Hutchinson. The gents provided some real fine visuals and auditorials (yeah made that one up) in the basement of the Top Hat. Yeah there is a sweet gallery down there (so nice i wanna have a show down there too, make sure to check out the gallery in the future!). Metcalf's and Hargesheimer's drawings and prints fluently exhibit tight illustration and are both super serious and hilarious all in one fail slap in the face. Also diggin' Habecks monster and kids bike sculpture.  I am pretty sure it was a one night showing so you can't see it in person, but luckily someone brought a camera...enjoys.

to see it all click more read more...

CLAY!

Two Clay Studio resident artists, Danny Clump and Lauren Sandler, throw down some clay this March. Clump at The Brink and Sandler at The Clay Studio. You won't find any cups or bowls as both artists are presenting large sculptural works.

Clump's show is titled Seeing Constructs. I like Clump's tangled, wood-fired constructs. The structural forms appear strong and sturdy but at the same time vulnerable as if they could collapse at any moment  The shows up for the month so stop by the Brink and see it.

Danny Clump

Temenos by Sandler, a clay studio artists-residence, is elegant display of clay meeting other materials.  The scupltures are made from materials ranging from wire, rubber, clay and paper. These works intimately invite you to move around and witness them from all vantages.  In the small space these large works really meet you face to face. Temenos  is up at the Clay Studio throughout the month...go witness it.

Lauren Sandler

Find a bunch more photos after the jump

Another First Friday - May 2010

 This First Friday was pretty big for the University of Montana.  The National Western Cast Iron Art Conference was brought to UM with the aid of sculpture professor Brad Allen.  A number of Missoula galleries also hosted cast iron artworks in correlation with the conference, including the Missoula Art Museum.  Right out of the BFA exhibition, The UM undergrad art students threw down with a showing at a temporary space dubbed "Gallery 48" denoting the 48 hrs of its existence.  It really excites me when I see students working hard and making art happen.  This town certainly lacks adequate exhibition space for younger artists, so mad props to the BFA'ers for fearlessly making it happen.  Not to mention, a hand full of UM ceramic students displayed their work in the alley next to New West...damn it is good to see energized and prolific young artists making strong & engaging work.  I think students are often thought of as simply "students" but from my experience they make some of the most engaging artwork.  Also the newly founded and fabulous Brink Gallery hosted artworks by, adjunct UM art professor, Edgar Smith.  His works are bold, simple, yet conceptually complex with a natural elegance.  As usual there was a lot of other great art, like the fifth annual installment of "On Deck" at the Badlander.  And for the most creative & ephemeral gallery space I vote for the guy who pulled up in a Budget moving van out front of the Dana Gallery.  Great work Missoula, and now for less chatter and more pictures.

National Iron Exhibit at the Missoula Art Museum

More from the National Iron exhibit at the MAM

2007 UM MFA Sculpture Graduate Kendall Mingey, graced us with her artwork and presence over the weekend.

BOAT LOAD OF MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP

Andy Cline "Scenic Overview 1/4 mile" at the Dana Gallery

In my eyes, Andy Cline's paintings bring some fresh air and ironic commentary into a Gallery that doesn't always grab me.  To my excitement, it would appear that Mr. Dudley Dana is gathering into his arsenal some younger, upcoming artists, including Artmelt favorite, Courtney Blazon.

Cline's paintings are about as photo realistic as you get, however I still wouldn't say he is any Richard Estes.  I find the images, although technically masterful, to be a bit dry in appearance.  The compositions are pretty calm and frontal with hardly a diagonal to be found. "A Pack of Resting Semis" is barely the exception as the shadow from a large sign enters from behind the viewer and takes you into the scene.  Generally, most of the compositions are sweeping vistas with the interstate laid out in front of you.  Perhaps there is a truck on the road, or in "Cruise Control" the view is completely empty minus the road and the sky.  While Estes' crowded scenes reflect the fast pace of the city, Kline's spacious paintings capture the feeling of being on the interstate in the Big Sky.  Ahh the open road...certainly one of the reasons I love driving in Montana.

The titles do add a touch of humor to the otherwise dry, empty, meditative, spacious images.  Names like "Oh Deer" beget images of dead deer on the side of the road. "At Least We'll Have a Ski Resort In Our Backyard" ironically describes an image of a run down trailer, with beat up vehicles framing in the decrepit "homestead", and the controversial  Bitterroot Resort looming in the background.   As mentioned before, "A Pack of Resting Semis" compares the big rigs of the road to the wildlife that inhabit the surrounding landscape.

To me this is the best part of the show.  The elk, bears, and fish that generally fill the gallery are now being replaced by the real Montana  - semis, cars,  and open roads instead of open meadows.  I say real Montana, because we often get this romantic portrait of elk calm, un-startled-by-your-presence grazing in a meadow, yet every hunter knows that this not the way you generally find these majestic creatures (if you can find them at all).

Ironic the titles may be, but even better is that in a gallery surrounded by romantic images of nature we find an artists saying "that is not Montana", here is a semi to replace your elk, here is a junk pile instead of a forest,  a beat up car instead of a horse, a dead dear, a logging trailer, the road...

More pics after the jump

First Friday November 2009

Well it is (or was) 3:15am,  I've been home for one hour after a good evening on the town looking at art, socializing, and drinking free booze of course - isn't that the real reason we go out to First Friday- if it is, it shouldn't be!  Nonetheless, I  saw a lot of art tonight, some good, some better, some worse.  All in all it was a good FF, I crossed paths with a lot of different friends and people, and passed out a bunch of Artmelt handbills.  Tonight was like our official exiting of the closet.

Being that we were advertising the blog we came across a lot of discussion regarding the blog, art, art criticism and its role in Missoula.  We got a lot of good feedback, and discovered a lot of ideas for future posts. So our first official First Friday adventure was a success.  Let us begin the journey after the jump.

First off, I stopped by Bernice's Bakery to see my good friend,  Penelope Baquero's opening "Eco-Sapien."  These works explore human's relationship to the natural world and the concept of the eco-sapien.  Her paintings don't really tell us how to become eco-sapiens, but rather the paintings visually and emotionally explore the meaning of Eco-Sapien. For example, in one piece a human heart is topped with trees (much like a sea stack in the pacific northwest) and obviously trees could never grow out of your heart, so the meaning and symbolism emotionally suggest what it may be to have some eco-in-your-sapien. The highly detailed acrylic paintings are well executed and the style reminds me of a modern day Frida Kahlo. Good work Penelope!

 

 

 

I discovered two new galleries this FF. The first, Gallery @ studio D and  secondly, Contraption (which I find to be an excellent name btw). The audience at the first was filled mostly with people 30+ years older than me, and the work there by Dennis Sloan & some others, was well out of my price range. Contraption, owned by two guys named Phil and Lucas, is intended to cater to a younger crowd and a younger style of art. I was talking to Phil, and he said that younger adults can be intimidated to walk into some of the fancier galleries in town, and that they wanted to create a space that was friendlier toward them; not to mention there were 2 kegs of beer and a DJ playing all night. The space is small but great, and I am looking forward to seeing where these guys take this contraption.

 

 

 

So back to Gallery @ Studio D

I am wondering what these guys are contemplating here...is it the dynamic colors, the interweaving of form, or is it the hot chicks on all fours? Let us hope it is the previous, but nonetheless the figures are certainly idealized and aesthetically proportional, to which I am not sure what to make of?  Is there some kind of sexual objectification occurring? In some ways painting anything is a form of objectifying. When making these works he claims to have been in his female-form phase, according to an article in the Missoulian.  As a painter from a different generation I didn't know there was such a phase, but frankly I do not think his conceptual framework holds up enough to suggest there is no objectification occurring here.  I am less worried about the firearms, as was the Missoulian's focus, and consider the idealized forms and sexual positions to be the point in question.  The paintings themselves are large and technically flawless. Surrounded by so much color, to which Sloan says is inspired by Montana skies, is visually engaging, but ultimately I view them to be no more than a modernist exercise in form and color.

My favorite show of the night was at the Catalyst featuring Sheilah Healow and Patrica Thornton. Like myself, both of these artists have studios at the Ceretana, so lucky for me I have been able to see a lot of their work. I believe their work compliments each other well, and their painting share a similar feeling even though they are worlds apart...it might be their color pallets and ambiguity. My favorite piece is this one by Sheilah Healow. The sheep and the head wrapped in wire, with the aggressive power of the white bull is latent with meaning, what specifically I am not so sure, but  I am happy to leave that question unanswered and just be with it.

 

I love T-Rex in a ball gown

 

 

 

 

Then off to the Missoula Art Museum, ran in to a lot of people there - Wolf Redboy, the museum staff, Ed Morrisey of the art dept, some graduate art students, and a handful of others.  There are a few good exhibits up at the MAM. One Being Roger Shimomura's "Minidoka on My Mind" and the other being a series of cardboard sculptures titled, "Big Trouble - The Idaho Project" by Scott Fife.  Both shows, well-worth-seeing, are rather powerful in content, size, technique and scale, but perhaps get a little redundant for me.

 

 

The texture created by the cutting, gouging, drilling, tearing of the cardboard creates a raw surface, and remarkably captures the likeness of these figures.

This one is certainly the exception to redundancy as the interaction between horse and wood board is rather intriguing, probably one of the few horse sculpture I actually like.