Untitled 54 Art Blog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Beastly Feast Art Exhibit

The Bailey Gallery @ Pussy & Pooch

April 9th – May 14th

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 9th, 6 – 10 PM

Kelly Thompson

Walt Hall

Susan Weber

Carmen Argote

Squeaky McGee

The Bailey Gallery @ Pussy & Pooch is pleased to announce the art exhibition "Beasty Feast," a group show consisting of new work by Los Angeles artists Kelly Thompson, Walt Hall, Susan Weber and Carmen Argote, with a special appearance by cat Squeaky McGee.

Beasty Feast takes as its theme the animal around us and strives to point out the imagination, humor and fun that art can be in these trying times. Established artists Kelly Thompson, Walt Hall, Susan Weber and Carmen Argote create within their own unique artistic styles a feast for the eyes, a celebration of art and a bevy of beasty animals. Not neglecting our other senses, the famous Kogi Korean B-B-Q to-go truck will be on hand be to add to the feast.

Kelly Thompson is known for her a series of landscape and figurative "dirty girl" paintings. For this show, she has drawn on a wide range of influences, including favorite films like "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and the experience of seeing the band Pink Floyd way too late in way too large a crowd. These influences are filtered through the lens of the animal world to create work that is fun, whimsical and pop.

Walt Hall paintings and mixed media works bring together images and thoughts of other worlds, realities that are not so distant. Set in austere landscapes, the figures tell us something of a possibility not considered by most. These and new worlds will be created for this show along with animals both real and imagined.

Susan Weber is an established photographer best known for her “flipflop” photos. In recent years she has delved into the art of collage using her great archive of vintage magazines and original photos. Her visual humor and imagination will be on display in a number of mixed media pieces.

Carmen Argote will exhibit a floor installation entitled "Oysters and Chicken Heads." A fantastical landscape made up of hand-sewed, hand-created individual paper art pieces, "Oysters and Chicken Heads" grew as a response to the Kyoto, Japan, Grand Hotel's interior space. The installation captures a sense of a playful typography, encouraging viewers to make their own whimsical connections a part of the experience.

Squeaky McGee is a cinematic feline auteur. Outfitted with a special video camera, Squeaky roams the world to present a cat-eye, animal view of his surroundings that is genuinely charming and illuminating. A special slide show of Squeaky's photos, as well as his movie "Shot by Squeaky" will be projected on the Beasty Feast opening night.

Artist and Gallery Information

Kelly Thompson

Kelly was born and raised in Northwest Indiana and attended classes at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. She began her art career working as a graphic artist in Chicago, then relocated to Los Angeles, where she has worked as a motion picture scenic artist. Her paintings have been featured in numerous television shows and videos. Her art draws on the widely diverse techniques and styles she has learned over the years, along with her enthusiasm for artistic experimentation and exploration. Kelly's recent work has been a series of vibrant abstract landscapes inspired by coastal California and urban Los Angeles.

Website: http://web.mac.com/kellythompsonla/iWeb/Site/Home.html

Walt Hall
Walt Hall was born and raised in North East Los Angeles. Although an active artist from a very young age, he cut his creative teeth in the world of commercial art restoration rather than the traditional art school. Until 2000 his main focus was music and a series of local punk bands that he formed with friends. Since that time he has returned his creative focus to the visual arts. Although painting is his first and foremost creative method he also employs a wide variety of surfaces, forms, objects, mixed media, and enjoys collecting discarded materials for assemblage work. He paints primarily with acrylics and produces work that ranges in size from several square inches to mural sized works on unstretched canvas. Website: http://www.thesappystudio.com

Susan Weber

Wanting the extraordinary from the ordinary is what led Susan to create her symmetrical, digitally enhanced photographs she calls "Flip Flop Photos." Susan was educated to be a graphic designer, but has always had an interest in photojournalism and photography. To make her pictures, she uses digital cameras, computer software and a quote from Mark Twain: “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

Website: http://weberweb.blogspot.com/

Carmen Argote
Carmen is a Los Angeles based artist who enjoys the exploration of the systems of organization around us, encompassing everything from architecture to pac-man. Her work includes drawings, sculptures, prints, and wall pieces. "Oysters and Chicken Heads" is her latest installation work. She received her graduate degree in art from the University of California Los Angeles in 2007 and works from a downtown studio near Little Tokyo.
Website at: http://www.acatnamedpony.com/

Squeaky McGee
Squeaky was abandoned as a kitten and found by Julie Peasley in the Echo Park SPCA. Discovered by Purina at an early age, his kitty film career was short lived, as the pressures of being a cat actor took its toll. He spent all of 2001 in the Betty Ford Clinic For Cats, for a catnip and alcohol dependency. He has been working clean and sober ever since, and his career has taken a meteoric rise that seems to have no end. Website: http://www.kat-cam.com/

Kogi B-B-Q
Kogi fuses the taste of Korean B-B-Q, the portability of tacos and burritos, and the institution of the L.A. taco truck to create some of the most unique and savory bites in L.A. The B-B-Q has become a local phenomenon and is always on the go. Hungry customers can track them live on Twitter.

The Bailey Gallery @ Pussy & Pooch:
Bailey Gallery @ Pussy & Pooch exhibits animal-themed works of contemporary fine art and photography. Bailey Gallery Owner/Director Janene Zakrajsek is committed to providing a showroom for established and emerging downtown Los Angeles artists and beyond. Pussy & Pooch embraces and supports the thriving arts scene by their contribution to the revitalization of the Historic Core neighborhood with a cutting-edge lifestyle Boutique and Galley for modern pets and their people. The Pussy & Pooch retail store is an innovative and unique pet boutique catering to the urban lifestyle of modern pets and their owners. Founded in 2007 by husband and wife entrepreneurial team Rob Gaudio and Janene Zakrajsek, the retail concept fuses traditional boutique amenities with exclusive modern luxuries like the one-of-a-kind Pawbar™, where hip pets can “walk-up” for nutritious raw-food meals and more.
Website: http://www.pussyandpooch.com/bailey-gallery.html

CONTACT INFORMATION
Janene Zakrajsek

Bailey Gallery @ Pussy & Pooch

564 South Main Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

213-438-0900

info@pussyandpooch.com

###

I just got a notice for a local art show called INTELLECTUAL ABSTRACTION. My first thought was oh dear here we go again another show that has to convince the audience of how smart and innovative it is out of the gate. My second thought after reading the press release on the show was that I really wanted to hurl!!!!! They say this is a show with a "cerebral bent". The premise of the show seems to be processing the paintings through the brain not only through the eye. Ok not bad... but still stinks like a bunch of crap. Sounds neither "INTELLECTUAL" or "cerebral" to me. I never use my brain when looking at abstract paintings always only my eyes, huh! Ok, I do get it. But WHY? Seems to me abstraction should be a pure emotional experience. My brain is still ticking when emotions are processing a work visually. Or do you have to tell me to use my brain along with my eye. Oh that must be it. I must be told how to think, feel, or perceive art.

I know artists that paint/create what they feel then when it comes to writing about the art they create some sudo intellectual premise to which the art was created. It then pacifies these groups who must have those references in order to take the work seriously. Yes I do love to read about art and realize that it would be ridicules if every show were based on pure emotion. However I find more and more that the writing is just going around in circles trying to create an important critical reference to something that does not really need to be explained. In a word it fails to live up to the description or idea the artist is trying to convey. All in the name of conceptual art.

It seems many critics, educators and art institutions must have some concept,critical, academic or historical reference to the art in order for it to be worthy of recognition or praise. Why is it not cerebral or intellectual to simply enjoy art visually or emotionally any more. I feel their is a real back lash among these groups towards art if it doesn't fit into their learned preconceived notions of what art is.

I love a well thought out conceptual exhibition and need to be surrounded and stimulated by them as well. But I also feel that their is a place for all ideas of art and that art for the people or just for pure visual enjoyment is given a bad rap by the current establishment.

This just makes me more convinced that our next show is on the right track for my head (at the moment). Paintings that are from the heart and strictly a celebration of art and the chosen subject. Nothing political, ecological or pompously academic. Art with humor that is fun to look at and executed in an interesting way.

Perhaps the next show will be something a bit more serious or "cerebral" but I truly hope that it will be saying something worth saying. If not.... what is the point?


Ahhhh Ed Moses a man after my heart during this difficult period.



Note: First Rule of my blob is never listen to a word I say. I often change my mind.... xo

So there you have it on my Press Release (following blog) convincing you how humorous and whimsical my art is, yuck! It just has to be done doesn't it.

Labels: art in la, art now, Art Review, Ed Moses, Kelly Thompson

Join Walt Hall, Susan Weber, Carmen Argote and myself for simply a celebration of animals and art. Also a special screening from cinematic feline genius Squeaky McGee and his kat cam. It promises to be a feast for the eyes as well as the brain, Ha!

Labels: animals, beasty feast, carmen argote, intellectual abstraction, Kelly Thompson, pussy and pooch, squeaky mcgee, susan weber, walt hall

Hope to see you all out at Cactus this month. Cheers!