In working on the next few posts, I had to laugh when I thought back to a comment last year made by a mixed media instructor here from CA who said she was surprised at how many guys she saw in our shop during the weekend she was teaching. Of course, there are guys in our shop--they are artists, designers, printers, etc. So the next few posts have to do with some of the terrific guys we know.
First up is
Kjellgren Alkire (pronounced shell grin). Kjel's show Pulpit is up at eye lounge gallery in Phoenix through September 1st. Kjel is pretty amazing because he is having his MFA show in printmaking at ASU later this year, he's a brand, brand new dad, it's his first year at eye lounge (a terrific gallery where I'm also a member but taking a year off) and his show has been quite the buzz! I'm not surprised at all the buzz because when his work has been in our gallery shows at The Paper Studio, his religious themed pieces from his bible paper airplanes that overflow wastebaskets to his bible pages rolled in gelatin capsules for ease of swallowing have evoked reactions from from laughter to confusion. Kjel is truly one of our favorite characters we have met through the studio and we can't wait to see one of his performances at the gallery tomorrow night. Also, a huge congrats to Kjel for being featured in the Phoenix New Times for the Arist Studio Visit for August. It's an pretty cool honor to be selected since they only feature 12 artists per year. Whoo Hoo!Next, the very talented and amazingly nice guy
Matt Connelly's group show opens at the Mesa Center for the Arts in the project room on September 14
th - Jan 6
th (Matt's the blue guy on the right :)
Cel Mates features Arizona artists influenced by animation. Artists Matt
Connelly, Mike
Maas, Dave
Quan and Roy
Wasson Valle will transform a gallery into a humorous & animated world of 2-D and 3-D characters and landscaping. We can't wait to see this show getting a sneak peak at some of the material Matt is working with for his landscape part of the show.
Also at the MCA at the same time is Beyond the Cel--The Influence of Animation on Contemporary Art is in the South GallerySept. 15th - Feb 10th. Beyond the Cel brings together some of the most influential and significant graphic artists of our time, including Ron English, Gary Baseman, Sket-One, Anthony Ausgang, KRK Ryden, Andrew Brandou, The Brothers McLeod, Ryan Bubnis, Michelle Valigura and Amanda Visell. A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet of plastic (usually acetate) on which objects are drawn or painted for animation, allowing for several layers of composition. After the worldwide launch of RabbitHoles™ 3D Motion Art at Comic-Con in San Diego last month, MCA will be the first venue to showcase this new image technology as part of the Beyond the Cel exhibition featuring Ron English’s Cathy Cowgirl.
