Hi sugarbabies....
last weekend…while washingtonians went about doing their
normal washingtonian stuff.. there was a
Quiet Gathering Of The Art Gods..
Hemphill Fine Arts (1515 14th St NW) deserves props for stepping outside their safe
usual stuff and hosting a show Tug of War that included most of the Giants of the
Lowbrow Genre.. or
Pop Surrealism.. as it has become known..
In any other city..
ok … any major city with a half decent art scene…
just one of these guys would have been enough to have lines around
the block of art school confidential wannabes, groupies, and serious
collectors…commanding prices that range from three hundred to 13 thousand…
there is usually something for everyone..
but DC..well...I suppose it would be stretching it to call our art tastes
anything other than kinda blah… not that we don’t have great artists.. we do.. or that we don’t have galleries that try to showcase good
stuff.. we do..
we just cant seem to get the ultra conservative folks around DC
to care about anything more risky than some black and white photos of statues…
but.. this weekend THEY were HERE..
and the stuff while risky by DC standards.. was… pretty tame
when measured next to the body of most of these artists work…
the show includes the works of:
SHAG, Glenn Barr, Chris Mars, Joe Sorren, Tim Biskup, Gary
Baseman, Liz McGrath, Bob Dob, Gary Taxali, Scot Musgrove, Daniel Peacock, Danial Martin Diaz… etc etc..
and will be here thru April 7th…
The Sunday Book Signing… included the following Superstars:
SHAG (Josh Agle) ..you know his work even if you
don’t know you know it…
Glenn Barr
…ahhh…my personal fave.. a Detroit native and brilliant fella… there are a few of his hanging at home.. here is his famous..
Jesus Tour
a pretty cool way to roll...would'nt you agree???
Liz McGrath… kick
ass gothy twisted stuff that never fails to get folks talking...her submission here.. doesn’t
disappoint
Bob Dob… ive been
wanting one of his exaggerated angsty adolescents for a while now too…
the Gods were all sitting round a long L shaped table with
bottles of Perrier on hand…
(kinda weird.. pop
surrealism in itself ) chatting easily with each other and
supporters…signing books and goodies…there was a slow but steady crowd that
came through.. some in punky leather jackets, some in jcrew, (one blond in
killer red patent leather pradas ;-))
but… not an overwhelming crowd… not the kind that would
require bouncers… not the kind they
would have had if they managed to gather these guys (and dolls) in any other
town..
or maybe just in a town that believed that there is more to life than the scooter libby trial......
xoxo
sb