Late last week, whilst innocently exploring the interwebs I came upon a flier which instantly caused me to jump out of my seat and litter the air with profane words of excitement.

For those of you who have followed this blog, you may well remember my sporadic ranting lamentations about how so many of my favorite Santa Barbara artists are forced to emigrate to find enough people who will support their art. The reality is that the majority of the people who spend money on art in Santa Barbara have very traditional tastes, so to make a living many of our edgier, progressive, political and urban artists leave town for greener pastures elsewhere. That is, in part, what makes this upcoming show so special and exciting.

On August 8th at the AFS Gallery at 302 E. Cota Street in Santa Barbara, three of my favorite contemporary artist with Santa Barbara connections will be having a show in town for the first time since two of them left for the reasons mentioned above. J. Shea 9, Tanner Goldbeck (a.k.a Racecar 13), and Larry Mills are all accomplished, and talented artists with their own unique style.

When I saw the flier I immediately sent off an email to J. Shea (a good friend to this blog) to get details on the show’s development and the history these three have together. Throughout this week I’ll be posting his response as well as giving a brief profile of each artist and their work.

So stay tuned this week for further details.