On View: July 26 - September 7, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, July 26, 7-9pm
Permanent Summer is a show featuring screen printed works by 30 artists who primarily use vibrant color and bold, hand-drawn imagery. The show is a collection of modern pop psychedelia including band posters, art prints and installations.
Featuring: Debbie Allen, Bert Bergen, Morgan Blair, Brian Chippendale, Rob Corradetti, Sohale Darouian. Ryan Duggan, John Dwyer, El Jefe Design, Fire Studio, Maya Hayuk, LA Johnson, Kayrock, Daniel Luedtke, Noah Lyon, KJ Martinet, Ted McGrath, Michael Nielsen, Laura Perez-Harris, Kimberly Reinhardt, Jason Roy, David Sandlin, Seripop, Kim Sielbeck, Thomas Toye, Chris Uphues, Leah Wishnia, Francis Wong, Xander Marro, Mike Zimmerman
Much of the work is directly inspired by music, and many of these artists initially began making art in the form of show posters or album artwork. A youthful energy and rock’n’roll aesthetic pulsates throughout this collection. While much of the work is bright and eye-catching on the surface, upon a closer look, there is a darker undercurrent and tone.
Born into pop consumer culture, we are raised on plastic robots that transform into cars and pink dolls that smell like fake baked goods. Life, as it often seems in youth, is suspended in a kind of Summery permanence. This is exaggerated in our modern hypercolor world of horror movies, music videos, fast food, cartoons, and, for children of the 1980s: slime. As we emerge from the haze of childhood, it becomes clearer that our Summer World has a darkness to it: The edges are slightly tattered where the neon recedes, a curtain constructed to conceal a deeper sadness. Day by day, we as humans are actively engaging in the destruction of the world through deforestation & pollution. Through a conscious and collective desire to live beyond nature, we fight an almost constant war on the planet, and on ourselves.
Permanent Summer is a collective scream from the void; a blazing hot kiss of bright, fluorescent energy, beamed from the beyond by the children who grew older, but never grew up. The show is a survey of bright, wild, 'out there' minds, perched on the edge and armed with ink, squeegees, paper, and the combined willpower to not conform to shit.
Curated by Michelle Cable (panache booking), Rob Corradetti (killer acid), and Mike Zimmerman.
After party info:
Friday 7/26 Permanent Summer After Party
@ Black Cat Red Room Bar FREE / NO COVER 9pm
Live Music @ Black Cat Backstage w/ OBN IIIs & Ex-Cult (2 for one admission with your Permanent Summer Handbill) 9pm
