Two red dots!

For anyone who has followed this blog over the past few weeks, I think I made it pretty clear that I was very excited about the show “Thrice” put on by Larry Mills, Tanner Goldbeck, and Joe Shea at the AFS Gallery.  And the show was no disappointment. What was slightly disappointing was the less than expected turn out for the show. I expected the place to be packed with these artists’ many friends and fans. And while there was a steady crowd there, it was not the standing room only event I had hoped it would be. I talked to Holly Mackay at Art From Scrap yesterday when I went back to the show for a second look, and she explained that Fiesta kept some people away but that many people showed up late so they kept the show going for an extra hour. Apparently I  left just before many arrived. And the people that came brought their check books since there are now quite a few red dots next to works that had sold.

Part of J Shea's "Silent Night"

The work in the show was of the high quality that is usual for each of  the artists, but there were also some nice surprises that re-emphasized the importance of seeing the work in person. For instance, I had previously seen many of Larry Mills’ photographs on his website. However, for the show these photos were mounted on wood panels and cleverly sanded around the edges, rounding the corners of the wood and wearing away the edges of the photos, giving the photos a worn and weathered look that echoes the themes of many of his photos.

There were also many great works there from J. Shea. His iconic wood box framed sculptures continue to surprise me with their wit and depth of character as in the wonderful “King of Kings” , but I was most surprised to find that my favorite of all of his pieces was a painting entitled “Silent Night”. The painting allowed Shea to present his characters in a specific setting, suggesting a plot, and giving an additional narrative complexity.

Another great example of the importance of seeing works in person came in the form of Tanner Goldbeck’s “Citizen No. One – Pale Rider”. This image was another that I was familiar with from the internet, but that representation does no justice to the actual work itself.  There is some kind of magic that comes with brush strokes and oil paints that digital creations cannot reproduce, and this painting is full of it.  The paint amplifies the frenetic action that is typical of Tanner’s work, imbuing it with all-important gravitas.

Tanner in front of "Citizen No. One". Photo by Larry Mills.

There is a lot to enjoy in this show. If you were one of the people who missed the opening, it will be up until September 12th so you have another month to catch it. Head over to Art From Scrap and check it  out for yourself, because you never know when you’ll see a show like this in town again.

The last time we saw a Joe Shea exhibit in Santa Barbara it was for his first solo show at the AFS Gallery last year. At that time Holly Mackay from Art From Scrap had the foresight to ask him about doing a follow up show.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, Joe is one of the great artists who has had to leave Santa Barbara to look for a place where he could support himself with his art. So  Joe had the idea of having idea of getting two of his cohorts from the Halley Collective involved in the show, Larry Mills and Tanner Goldbeck. As I’ve been reporting for the last week or so, the show is called “Thrice” and will happen this Saturday at the AFS Gallery from 6 – 10pm.

I’ve been milking this upcoming show for a week in part because there is a definite “getting the band back together” sort of feeling associated with this particular group of artists. It is hard to know when  you will ever be able to see these guys together again in Santa Barbara, so you had better take full advantage of it. And for those of us who really care about contemporary art in Santa Barbara, this has all the makings of a show that you’ll be talking about when you reminisce about “the good ol’ days”.

J. Shea9, the last of the three artists I’m profiling in the run up to the show, is a reoccurring name on this blog despite the fact that he now lives in Portland, Oregon. In fact, one of the very reasons I started this blog was out of frustration that I had missed one of his shows in town a few years ago. I was sad that there wasn’t a reliable source of information for exhibits with the kind of art I was actually interested in. In Santa Barbara you’ll never have a hard time finding pretty landscape paintings, but if you want to find something that is utterly original and unique…well, you really have to hunt it down.

And that is one of the things that makes Shea’s art so special and why I was so sad to have missed his show. When standing in a room full of Joe Shea creations, its almost as if you have been transported into some Gulliver’s Travels parallel universe. There is a mythic other-worldliness that is ripe with grandeur and purpose. Yet, the figures are recognizable enough to identify with, and they suggest some sort of strange narrative which we might begin to piece together.  This simultaneous strangeness and familiarity is in part a result of Shea’s use of recycled materials which show up in various shapes and sizes throughout so much of his work. Being able to identify a watchband or spray can suggests the evolution of a new species of post-humans, reveling in whatever it is that we left behind.

J. Shea9 and another “Haley Collective” accomplice,  Yoskay Yamamoto, have been part of Scion’s National Art Tour the passed two years. Click here to read an article about the show that appeared on Juxtapoz.com. Yoskay will be joining Shea this Thursday when the tour hits Portland. Give my regards to  C.H.V.N.K. 666 guys.

This is a big one, people. If you want to have a piece of Santa Barbara’s distinct art culture that defined the first decade of this millennium, Saturday is your chance.  Spread the word!

If you have been to  the Santa Barbara Bowl you have probably seen Larry Mills, camera in hand, capturing some of the visual highlights of the show. Mills is the house photographer for the Bowl, as well as SoHo, so he’s got quite the portfolio of concert photographs, many of which can be seen here. Mills is also an accomplished fine art photographer, with a long history of exhibits in town as well as LA and recently Portland, OR.

My very own Larry Mills photo.

My first encounter with Mills’ photos was at a show in Muddy Waters a few years ago.  The majority of the shots had been taken at a billboard graveyard outside Vegas. The images did an wonderful job of capturing the epic strangeness that is Las Vegas.  Looking at these photos you got a sense of how this strangeness has evolved over the years, and these remnants were evidence both of a glorious past that seems worthy of nostalgia and an inability to age gracefully; like a withered old lounge singer whose act hasn’t changed since the Rat Pack were regulars at the Sands.

In many of Mills’ photos there is a deep affection for the beauty of bazaar Americana; elements of a blue-collar fringe culture and extreme  rural remoteness. There is also a focus on the passage of time, entropy, and decay but always from the point of view that these a processes are natural and often have beautiful results.

Mills will be joining Tanner Goldbeck and J. Shea9 in the “Thrice” show at AFS Gallery on August 8th. He has a  website and blog to check out to get an idea of what you might see in the show.  I’ve also pasted his bio below for your reading enjoyment.

Born and raised in California’s agricultural, Central Valley, Larry Mills, now a resident of Santa Barbara, is a mostly self-taught photographer using his camera as a tool for artistic expression and a means for putting beans on the table. In the early 1990’s, while studying Graphic Design at S.B.C.C., he made the personal discovery of photography. So taken by it in fact, after only two semesters of training in the medium, he chose to forfeit the rest of his formal education to free-up more time and energy for the sole purpose of learning-by-doing. Since that decision, photography has played a roll in his life on an almost daily basis. Larry, has used his gained knowledge to obtain working positions in professional imaging labs, execute editorial assignments for numerous print and online publications, exhibit in solo and group art exhibits, and photograph live music for the Santa Barbara Bowl, where he has been the house photographer for nearly a decade.

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…