Color Me Mine

Thursday night I popped into two shows that blinked on my radar. After the dark reality of the film "Biutiful", which I saw that afternoon, I needed the colorful surreality of the work I was venturing out to see.

On my agenda was a solo show of artist Robin Williams at PPOW Gallery, and the Trey Speegle show at Benrimon Contemporary.

I checked out Robin's show "Rescue Party" first, and no the artist is not a fifty year old furry male comedian, but rather a twenty-something blonde chick. I ran into an acquaintance just as I was entering the gallery who was too amused that I referred to her as a him. How was I to know? I hadn't really heard of her though her work seemed familiar, I was there purely because I liked what I saw in thumbnail-size posted on art log. 

To my surprise and enjoyment all her pieces were no smaller than 60"x 40".  She explained that she liked her work to be life-sized. Understandably so, as each piece brought you into this world she's created that, if I had to describe it in few words, evokes a farm on LSD.

Neon-hued scenes of children "at play" or portraits of eccentrically costumed figures fascinate and bewilder. When you get close, the texture pulls you in just as the subject does from afar. Ridged and swirled the paint extends off the canvas like barnacles.
In their entirety, these paintings are truly beautiful and cinematic and a little bit eery.

Photo courtesy of RobinWilliamsArt.com

Next was Trey Speegle's show and pop-up shop.  I happened onto a pre-opening, so the crowd was very manageable  and included a friend of my mother's Fred Schneider, the lead singer of the B52s. I was not entirely surprised to see him as he and the artist have a very similar aesthetic; retro. While Fred and his band keep the sound and soul of 50s beach music alive and cool, Trey has created an extensive body of work based on paint-by-number paintings. They were originally kits sold to the masses to turn even the  least artistic into a master painter with the simple direction to "paint by number", and now those masterpieces show up in many a rummage sale or junk shop.

Trey reincarnates these kitschy collectibles, using some from his personal collection of over 3000 or recreating them on large canvases. He'll leave portions "unpainted", numbers and outlines exposed, to create words and form witty phrases.  This show, titled "It's Not About You", features all works with the word "you" in it: "Who Are You?", "I O U", "Thank You".  It's a fun show.


To top it off, he has his rePop Up Shop set in one of the smaller galleries where merchandise and various editions are for sale.  Embracing the kitsch, I snagged a wood-cut puzzle.

Above: Trey Speegle, It's Not About You, 2010  

Photo courtesy of BContemporary.com