Calling all (b)artists!

This Saturday at Muddy Waters the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative will be holding the first of many “belly to belly” events. These events are designed to get people together to make connections and foster future resource sharing and collaborations… they are also supposed to be a blast.

I have been heavily involved with the planning of this event, so I can give my personal assurance that this will be a good time. It may also be an opportunity to get a very unique work of art by an artist whose work you’ve admired for years but couldn’t easily afford.

In the afternoon people are invited to come to Muddy Waters to work on their Bar Napkin masterpieces. Starting at 4pm the napkins will be put on display for a silent auction that will begin at 5:30 and end at 7:30. The proceeds from this auction will go to the SBAC’s direct-to-artist grant program.

There are already more than 100 people who have confirmed their attendance on the event’s Facebook page. I know that there are a wide range of artists (not all of whom are visual artists) that will be contributing napkins to the event, some of whom are very well known in town. However, we encourage everyone to take part.

I also happen to know that some extremely awesome SBAC t-shirts will make their world premiere at the event. These t-shirts will be sold for $20 (also to benefit the SBAC), so make sure to stop by an ATM before you come because Muddy Waters doesn’t take plastic.

We are also looking for any donations of supplies to help out with the event:

We are looking for white bar napkins, golf pencils, and art supplies for Saturday. We’d rather recycle or use what’s out there than buy more.

If you have access to any of these things please contact me at: nathan@sbartsblog.com

Also, if you would like to contribute to the event but can’t make it on Saturday, feel free to work on a napkin in advance and bring it (or have it delivered) to Muddy Waters on Saturday.

Here is a partial list of the artists whose napkins you can expect to see at the silent auction (I’ll update this list as more artists confirm).

Hugh Margerum                      http://www.hughmargerum.com/
Vanae Rivera                           http://www.maryandthemachine.com/
Bob DeBris                               http://www.bobdebris.com/
Jane Callister                           http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/faculty/janec/
Keith Puccinelli                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcHtBffHGqA
Penelope Gottlieb                    http://www.penelopegottlieb.com/
Dane Goodman                       http://www.sbcc.edu/art/website/index.php?page=faculty&contact=25
David Starkey                          http://www.vimeo.com/5294834
Bob Mask                                 http://www.west.net/~bobsart/
Elizabeth Folk                          http://www.elizabethfolk.com/
Jim Connolly                            http://www.jimconnollymusic.com/
Sheryl Schroeder                     http://www.schroederville.com/
Anna Abbey                              http://www.myspace.com/radannabbey
Clay Bodine                              http://fishbonsb.ning.com/
Dominique Reboul                  http://fishbonsb.ning.com/
Ben Anderson                          http://www.benjaminanderson.com/
Sean Anderson                        http://www.seananderson.com/
Jimmy Bell                               http://www.jimmybellart.com/

UPDATE:

Colin Gardner (Chair, UCSB Art Department)   http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/content/colin-gardner
Ann Diener                              http://www.anndienerart.com/
Jeff Shelton                              http://www.jeffsheltonarchitect.com/

UPDATE #2

Molly Hahn                              http://mollycules.com/
Kimberly Hahn                       http://www.kimberlyhahn.com
James Van Arsdale              http://www.jamesvanarsdale.com/
Ken Bortolazzo                      http://www.sullivangoss.com/bortolazzo_ken/
Joe LaCorte                            http://www.josephlacorte.com/
Robert Redfield                    http://www.redfieldpictures.com/

If you are an artist who wants people to know that you’ll be at the event, just post your name in a comment on this post.

Today’s post is brought to you in part by the good people at Muddy Waters Coffee Shop, who kept my iced tea flowing while I wrote this.

What do you get when you combine a heavy dose of urban grit, a rat fink grease monkey acid trip, post-apocalyptic punk, and a dash of social commentary? For Tanner Goldbeck, aka Racecar 13, this combination produces works of art that are astonishingly  majestic, beautiful, stark, and haunting. For those of you who are familiar with the pages of Juxtapoz magazine, you will know that artists working with this recipe are hardly rare.  This abundance makes much of this art seem derivative–simulacra of some Primordial Angst.

LA Angel by Tanner Goldbeck

What makes Goldbeck’s work stand out is a quality of being simultaneously intensely cerebral, and sublime. In my favorite of his work, there is a silent violence that reminds me of Munch’s “The Scream”, as if you froze time at the moment of great revelation and were able to (or forced to) dwell there, forever. That said, Goldbeck’s work retains a playfulness that keeps the work from becoming overly dark or dreary, either on a purely visual level or in mood.

Below I’ve pasted Goldbeck’s bio as well as a short history of the Haley Collective that he sent out. For more information  or to check out the work of Racecar 13 visit his website here.

And make sure to mark your calendars for the “Thrice” show at AFS Gallery on August 8th.

Tanner Goldbeck A Baltimore native currently living in downtown Los Angeles… Racecar 13 is the evolving project in the back of Tanner’s brain. In short summary, the art is always up for interpretation. Influences cover an endless art gamut from many great master painters to the people that hit the walls around Traction Ave. There is a definite interest in experimenting with iconic images and finding new ways to reconfigure them in less traditional ways. Graduate from The Maryland Institute College of Art, attended The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey and now works in both commercial and fine art venues. Making paintings, pulling prints and pushing a mouse to see how it all works out.

The Haley Collective origins……….

The Haley Collective’s creation is one of circumstance and providence. The Collective has it’s roots imbedded in the side streets, local bars and coffee shops of Santa Barbara, California. Known primarily as a resort town, Santa Barbara has its own burgeoning crop of young artists who are often kept to the smaller venues slightly outside the mainstream. The name, “Haley” itself taken from the street location of the first three, Works in Progress shows in December, 2003.

Starting in the nineties, a small group of relocated artists from across the country, began to combine works and promote larger events in an attempt to initiate something more. The group as a whole took advantage of it’s unique culmination of varied talents and directions.

The artist’s consolidated their work to be displayed in a much more, “D.I.Y.” style. Over time, the Collective created it’s own unsanctioned energy involving all sorts of mixed media, from paintings, photography, sculpture and collage, to music, projections, hot rods and art cars.

If there are any lasting impressions, we’d like to feel that the Haley Street Collective acted as a catalyst for people to get out on the streets: to hold more events, support local shows, and to enjoy the energy and interaction…

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.