Artists,

A friend of mine, Ethan Turpin is going to Indonesia for the month of April to do a photo project. He and his very cool studio partner, Bill McVicar, have agreed we’ll sublet some space to an artist to offset his cost, and can make it available for May as well.

Perch is a great space to make art with an inspiring history as a gallery and studio. He’s looking for a responsible, creative person to come in while he’s gone. This is a good opportunity to dedicate time to a project and/or hang work for studio visits.

You Get:
• 15 ft white wall – good for painting and hanging work
• 4 ft (currently orange) wall
• Folding work tables
• Adjustable gallery track lighting
• Good indirect natural light
• High ceiling
• Small refrigerator
• Kitchen
• Bathroom/shower
• Stereo
• WiFi
• Storage
• Great downtown location

$250 per month

Conditions:
Access available 10am – 5:30pm Tuesday through Saturday while Bill is at work. (Somewhat negotiable with Bill.)

Perch • 25-C W Cota • Santa Barbara • CA • 93101

If you are interested in this offer please contact me at nathan@sbartsblog.com, and I’ll get you in touch with Ethan.

I just got the press release for the First Thursday show at Perch (25 W. Cota St.). Bundle up and head out into the rain. I’ll see you there.
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TONIGHT! THUR. FEB. 5, 5-8PM

LOVE IS IN THE AIR (and on the walls) at Perch Art Studio/Gallery.

Valrie by Susan Tibbles

Celebrate the LOVE of your life this Valentines Day with a gift of art created by local cupid and artist extraordinaire Susan Tibbles. Nationally renowned assemblage artist goes to the heart of the matter in her latest series of work on Love. The human heart long considered the center of our emotional, spiritual and romantic center of our beings is central to these new works. Tibbles tugs at all the strings with her visual celebration of the most vital of mans organs. The second installment in her on-going commitment to spreading her love of art and for her community, Tibbles lets fly with a quiver of petite – but potent – collection of new works aimed particularly at those new or flirting with becoming art collectors. The artist states “This show is like a Valentines card to all of Santa Barbara…it’s my way of giving back to a community that has supported me for so many years “. Many of the works literally are Valentines cards. Tibbles remixes the imagery of Victorian era cards with her own 21st century materials and orientations but as always wedding ideas and materials in the perfect union of Love.

I hope that the weather won’t keep too many people from heading out for First Thursday tonight, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m going to start the evening at the Blackbird Gallery, which I mentioned in a recent post, and which  I haven’t ever been to before. From there I’ll be heading up State Street to Perch where there will be an assortment of assemblage Valentine’s Day themed works. I do not know what exactly to expect, but I do know that the owners are very excited about the show. From there I’m going  head across State Street to geek out at the underwater photography exhibit at the Brooks Institute. Next, I’m hoping to get to the Contemporary Arts Forum before the performance by Sara Paul Ocampo starts. Let me mention once again that I think having a performance on First Thursday diminishes both the performance and the art. I’m going to CAF to see what I’ve been lead to believe is a new ceramics show (though they’re website has no mention of ceramics), if the performance is going on there will be no chance of seeing the art so I’ll leave. It’s not that I’m in any way making a judgment about the performance, but First Thursday is a fun event that requires making visits to many places over the evening. That’s the idea anyway. A performance, on the other hand, is meant to get people’s attention and keep them in one place for longer periods of time. So by definition the two are in conflict. If any one at CAF is reading, I promise I’ll come to your performance if you move the date. …Promise.

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.

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.