Jimmy Bell's SEVEN SINS

I’m not a coffee drinker. The unfortunate consequence of this is that I rarely poke my head into some of the best places to see art in this town; particularly for those of us who are interested in supporting up and coming artists. So, today I made a special trip to Red’s, Muddy Waters, and Java Jones where I loaded myself full of Yerba Mate and saw some great art, some good art, and some less than good art.

Jimmy Bell's RIDER

For this post I’ll focus on the great art which was so wonderful that I couldn’t wait write about it. I loved it so much, in fact, that for the second time this month I walked away with something to put on my wall at home. The young artist who created this work is Jimmy Bell from Carpinteria, and his show at Red’s Cafe is easily the most exciting collection of work I have seen for a long time. I say this for two very important reasons.

First of all, the art is fantastic. There is a wide variety of work using different techniques to great effect. Many of the works begin as scribbles or splatters on various kinds of paper. The artist then takes a step back to see what starts to take shape and proceeds from there. The results are usually a figure or collection of figures that are a mixture of urban edginess and bucolic folklore. It is a mixture that is all too common in the pages of Juxtapoz magazine, but Bell’s work manages to retain a consistent stylistic individuality that is at once both improvised and intricate. Bell’s use of a set of arbitrary limitations to work within, either in the form of random scribbles or the grains of a wood panel, is heavily influenced by the Dadaist’s incorporation of chance and the Surrealist’s use of automatic writing. The use of found materials like newspaper and wallpaper further strengthens this connection.

Jimmy Bell's COAST

The second reason I got so excited by this show was that it was full of wonderful peices of art that many people (myself included) could afford. The largest, and the most impressive piece there was a three dimensional box approximately 6″ x 4″ x 60″, installed vertically on the wall with a continuous painting on the three exposed faces. If I had a place to put something that large I may very well have left with it. It was wonderful to see how many of Bell’s works had been sold, both because I really liked the work and because it is great to see that even in an economy when many of us are forced to tighten our belts we will find a way to support the arts. Having never heard of Bell before I was especially excited have a new local artist to keep on my radar.

I encourage you to check out Bell’s MySpace page which contains a very informative slide show of his scribble technique and lots of great examples of his work. It will also help you keep up to date with his upcoming shows. I hope to see you there.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

December 11, 2008

Dear Friends,

Nineteen years ago local students began to explore and create with Art From Scrap Reuse materials and learn what actions they can take to help the environment. Today those students are young adults facing environmental challenges that call out for creative solutions and personal commitments to reduce waste and pollution – and with our help they are ready to tackle those challenges.

Please join us as we continue to teach our children how to be positive stewards of our shared environment.

Happy Holidays and thank your for your support!

Sincerely,

Cay Sanchez                                      Patrick Davis

Executive Director                               Board President

To make a tax deductible donation on line, please visit our website at

http://www.artfromscrap.org/makeadonation.html

or you can send a check to our address below.

ART FROM SCRAP PROGRAMS

AFS Green SchoolsTeaching over 18,000 students throughout Santa Barbara County each year how environmental issues are interconnected and what they can do to help create a healthy environment

To make a tax deductible donation on line, please visit our website at

http://www.artfromscrap.org/makeadonation.html

or you can send a check to our address below.

THANK YOU!

Holly Mackay

Development Associate/Artistic Director

Art From Scrap

302 East Cota Street

Santa Barbara, CA  93101

805.884.0459 ext. 15

devo@artfromscrap.org

Learn more about our programs at www.art fromscrap.org

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

To be perfectly honest, after doing some research for the posting yesterday I was a little uncertain about the prospects for last night. The usual “go to” galleries were not having big openings or had shows I was less than excited about. However, as I mentioned in yesterdays First Thursday preview, there were a few places that I was excited about and these places did not disappoint. In fact, I saw some of the better shows that I have seen a quite some time. The student art sale at Brooks was hit and miss, but there was a lot of great stuff there. In general I found the best photos there were the least manipulated during either pre or post-production. Or maybe just less obviously manipulated. Regardless, it is nice to go to a show and see art that you can actually afford to buy. This was also the case at Perch which took a very small space and put up one of the best shows per square foot that I have seen in a really long time. In particular, the work by Michelle Elizondo was so good that I was convinced to take home a group of three of her small paintings on board. These beautiful postcard-sized paintings were mostly landscapes with a few more abstract works sprinkled here and there. The presentation was wonderful and as a large group of images they were irresistible. So much so, in fact, that it was very hard to choose only three to walk away with. While I was immediately smitten with these paintings, the other work up at Perch was easily worthy of mention here. Monika Molnar-Metzenthin had produced a series of blind-contour self-portraits that hung from lines like close hanging out to dry. Each of these portraits, produced without lifting the pen or looking at the paper, demonstrates an incredible ability of mental visualization that I find confounding. And viewed as a series the variations between each drawing become intriguing connections to some particular variation in the artist at the time of its creation. On December 14th from noon to 4pm she will be in the gallery and available for portraits.

There are other great things to see at Perch, but there is another show that I want to mention that really should not

Carlos Grano UNTITLED, 2007

be missed. I managed to get to the Contemporary Arts Forum to see their “Anthology” show before the performance there started and was especially impressed by the work of Carlos Grano, and Paul deBruynKops. The work by these two artists could hardly be more different. Grano has created large geometric abstractions made from magazine paper. I generally prefer figurative art, but Grano’s work is genuinely beautiful. The arrangement of squares often suggests greatly enlarged pixels from an image that is just beyond your ability to decipher. This is a large part of what makes them so fun to look at, but his use of color also greatly contributes to their appeal.

Paul deBruynkops BOTTOM'S UP CLUB, 2008

On the other side of the artistic spectrum Paul deBruynKops’s mixed media dioramas depict the seedy world of pulp fiction detective novels. There are many wonderful little scenes here, but the most ambitious work is a large construction of a street scene complete with cranes, cars and smoke stacks that can be manipulated by the viewer using remote controls. A stop motion movie breathes even greater life into the dark, depraved world that deBruynKops has created, and it is immensely fun to visit though I have to admit I wouldn’t want to live there.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

It’s First Thursday once again and I’m pouring over the list of shows in the Independent to figure out what is on the itinerary for this evening. It looks like CAF has it’s “Anthology” show which I’m very excited about, but they also have a performance, which can make it hard to see the art. If anyone at CAF is reading, you should have performances on nights other than First Thursday. I’d get excited to see performaces there, but I’m not about to spend a First Thursday in a single place when there is so much to see at a variety of other locations. Anyways, I’m definitely going to check out the results of the 24 hour art marathon at Viva Workshop. And I’d also like to check out the Holiday Student Image sale at the Brooks Institute at 27 E. Cota. While on Cota St. I’ll also be checking out Perch Contemporary Art and Design at 25 W Cota. Then it’s on towards Studio 3 East. If it looks like there is room to move up there, I’ll head up. Regardless, I’d like to check out the paintings by locals like Channing Peake at the Patty Look Lewis Gallery next door. After that… who knows. Maybe the after hours party at Frameworks & Caruso-Woods. Or maybe home.  I hope to see big crowds out there.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite