|
|
Creepshow 2: Return of Creepshow New Artwork by Salty, EEE, The Count and Joe Keinberger
|
Added: 04/08/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 821 time(s)
[ Not Rated Yet ] |
Creepshow 2: Return of Creepshow New Artwork by Salty, EEE, The Count and Joe Keinberger
The original Creepshow, held last year, showed artwork by Salty, Keinberger and The Count. “We wanted to do a show with a Halloween feel, but not at that time of year. We figured that all the Halloweeniacs would be into it since April is usually all bunnies and Easter egg hunts and all that crap,” says Salty. “We are all fans of horror movies and all things creepy and scary.” This year, Return of Creepshow includes the addition of Ian “EEE” Adams. “We are all on the same page artistically,” says Salty. “We are all fans of horror movies and all things creepy and scary.” The 4 met and have become friends through the art and music scene in Boston-- either attending Mass Art, working at Pearl Art and Craft, or through playing music. The exhibit is curated by painter Carly Weaver, who programs the room for Out of the Blue Gallery.
Salty (Dave Bryson), who has been drawing “as long as I can remember,” calls his subject matter—suicidal clowns or comics about liver thieves and ‘John Wayne Hobbit’-- “a combination of humor and horror.” Armless, legless clowns speak to Bryson’s interest in the “dark side of things that are ‘all-American.’ I think art is good when it’s honest. Mine falls into the category of ‘love it or hate it.’ Many people tell me they love the clown suicides, but it’s not something they could hang in their living rooms.”
He works mostly in acrylic and mixed media on hard surfaces like masonite and plywood, and sometimes he works in ink and watercolor on illustration board. “My work is for entertainment purposes only,” says Bryson. “It is not intended to change the world or elicit massive social upheaval. I seek only to entertain the viewer for the few brief moments that I have their attention.”
Salty also self-published Comb-Over Comics, a collaborative effort “with no restriction on subject or style. We have stories about boys who get their faces cut off by lawn-mowers; true stories of ex-roomates who eat their toe skin; stories about tapeworms and their value to society. There’s a little something for everyone.”
According to Salty, “inspiration comes from all over the place… music, pop culture, life and other artists.” He rarely plans his paintings, rather scans old sketchbooks, finding ideas. “It’s much easier for me to sketch when I’m not worrying about whether I’m going to paint it. Then later, I can go through the sketches, pick out the ones I like and burn the ones that suck.”
He is inspired by Camille Rose Garcia, RK Sloane, Tim Slowinski, and Dan Higgs. “It would be impossible to list them all. These are some of my favorites.” He studied at AIB and earned a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. He has shown in many venues in the Boston area, contributed illustrations to The Weekly Dig and The Boston Phoenix. Bryson lives in Somerville.
Joe Keinberger started making art as a kid. “My dad used to get reams of computer paper and I would draw on that.” With an active imagination, he sketches, doodles and draws, before painting. “You always get the best drawings and ideas when you doodle on a cocktail napkin or a takeout menu.”
Keinberger explores two-dimensional spaces in his paintings, rather than trying to render too much or be photorealistic. “My characters are often stylized with strong leanings toward the macabre or darkly humorous. I love working with lines—the different things they can do, and the properties they have.”
Most of Keinberger’s work features monsters, which has held his interest since childhood. “One of the downsides of American culture in the 21st century is the lack of connection to folklore, he says. “We’ve become too enamored with the future to remember the past. The fact that early settlers believed surrounding woods were filled with ghosts and devils, or the existence of Bigfoot—is looked upon as antiquated or naive.” Keinberger wants to remind the viewer that there was a time when we used to look under our beds for monsters, instead of “over our shoulders on the subway at night.”
Keinberger studied at Mass Art, but says “I’ve learned more through hanging out with other artists, and even non-artists who are on the same page.” He sites visual art influences including Ralph Steadman, Egon Sheile, Ryan Wallace, Camille Rose Garcia and The Clayton Brothers. Keinberger has shown paintings and sculpture at Boston Center for the Arts, Oni Gallery, Fort Point Studios and lives in Somerville.
Ian “EEE” Adams, according to himself is “a creep, a charlatan, and a huckster.” He is to art what Hustler and Mad Magazine are to literature. In the early 90s, he dropped out of Mass Art. “Rock and roll, after all, is America’s favorite corruptor of youth.” Since then, within a variety of mediums (but favoring ink and brush), he has depicted horror and eros “in a way best left to a disturbed adolescent imagination.”
“My father is a decent artist, himself. He gave me his old Vampirela comics, my first copy of Dracula. My fondest childhood memories are of watching Creature Double Features, Saturday afternoons on TV with my dad. School was hell. I’m dyslexic, and didn’t properly learn to read or write until I was nearly 13. Escapism into my own little world of creepy things was necessary to my survival.”
Adams works from photographs, old magazines, “almost defacing them,” he says. “My main passion is depicting the human form using ink and brush on paper. I use liberal amounts of black hatching to shape the effects of light, and to just enjoy the luxuriousness of a clean line. I guess I would consider my work to be satire, taking precious images and making them obscene, and vice versa.” He sites influences including Charles Burns, Jose Gonzalez and N.C. Wyeth.
When asked about his imagery, he says “the people are often people I know or have seen on the street mutated in some way and stuck into impossible or mythological situations. I often just let an idea happen and if it has any deeper meaning it reveals itself. “This show will be different for me because it will show my work in it’s pure form, without text or color added,” EEE says. Adams lives in Allston and plays music in Rock City Crime Wave.
The Count (Josh Mcalear) has been drawing as long as he can remember, and painting in varied mediums since 1995. “I like old stuff,” he says. “My work is influenced from everything from pre-1980s horror movies and 1940s tattoo flash – to 1950s advertising and black and white cartoons.”
The Count attended the Art Institute of Boston and Montserrat College of Art. In addition, he apprenticed at Dark Wave Tattoo for two years. “In the past I worked mainly on large-scale acrylic paintings. Eventually I got burnt out on them. I recently switched to watercolor and use a semi-traditional American tattoo flash painting method.”
He’s shown previously solo at The Milky Way in Jamaica Plain, and as part of group shows at The Middle East, The Paradise Lounge Gallery and Boston Tattoo Convention. The Count lives in Somerville, and is works at Darkwave Tattoo in Roxbury. Return of Creepshow will feature a series of his skulls.
Creepshow 2: Return of Creepshow is part of Art, Art Everywhere, the upcoming seventh anniversary of Out of the Blue Gallery in Cambridge. The weekend festival, celebrating visual art in numerous venues marks 7 years of off-the-cuff, emerging talent.
The Middle East Bakery is located at 480 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge, MA. MBTA Central Square stop via Red Line. Metered parking available.
Creepshow artists are available for interview, and will be in attendance at the opening reception. High-resolution images available at alterartgallery.com/creepshow. For more information, please contact Ami Bennitt, 617.876.7363, ami.bennitt@verizon.net. Exhibited artwork is available for sale.
[mideastclub.com [outoftheblueartgallery.com [saltydave.com [rockcitycrimewave.com |
Article Pages: 1
|
|
|
Recent News