Art Crawl: Just For the Pun of It Hanksy and Alexis Smith

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I went to two art shows recently that both dealt with visual puns.
The first, Hanksy at Gallery 1988, opened last night. The second, Alexis Smith at Craig Krull, closes today. Both are very amusing.

Hanksy is riffing on Banksy. He has taken Banksy's signature style and applied it to pop culture and celebrity.
Such as, "Pee Wee Merman" 

Or this trio of potty humor:

"Gatspee" | "fl-Usher" | Poolander"

The work is online at Gallery 1988 here.
The show will be up until 6/15. Find it by cruising Melrose and looking for the giant rat with Tom Hank's head.
Read an interview with Hanksy here.

Alexis Smith too enjoys playing with words, images, and meanings.
I went to her artist talk that was held last week and got to hear about her process and some of her obsessions.

Alexis Smith, "Against the Grain" 2013 [source, Craig Krull]

In "Against the Grain", she's taken two found objects: a postcard and a hand-drawn paint-by-numbers outline. She positioned the card to line up the visual elements with the underlying drawing of the bird.

She says she likes to change the meaning of things through the act of collage. She waits for the right combination to manifest and lets her pieces "sit around in heaps for a really long time" before deciding that they're finished. She has no secret art agenda and gears her work for "the regular person" -- albeit skewing to an older crowd who can remember the cues.

this gent needs to stand next to these pieces all the time

 Mixing and matching and playing with words makes for fun art that tickles the brain.

Hanging Day at TAG Gallery

I'm a member of TAG Gallery, a co-op gallery jointly owned and operated by 42 artists. Unlike a typical commercial gallery, we are individually responsible for mounting our exhibitions. Ellen is our member who is an ace at installation, and is usually around to help everyone, but she was on vacation in Hawaii. Severo was working his day job, and could only help me on his lunch break. I decided to forge ahead on my own, since I didn't have that many pieces.

Here's how Sunday, Hanging Day, went.

First of all, I had to frame four things -- not my idea of a good time.
I usually use professional framers, but I went DIY with Aaron Brothers frames, since these were small prints.

This is Commute Home and its 11x14" frame

Next, I had to go spelunking in my art storage room in the garage to find some pieces.

The gravel pit oil painting diptych was easy to find and easy to retrieve.
I never did locate print #1 of Commuter Quilt. Thank goodness the service bureau convinced me to print two. And that I bought two dowels. Otherwise... a meltdown may have occurred! [Still wondering where it is].

Another potential problem was what faced me when I got to the gallery: nine pedestals arranged around the perimeter.  Grrrr.

Fortunately, they were much lighter than they looked and it was easy to shove them into the middle of the room.
(Elyse, a co-exhibitor, needed them for her sculptures in another part of the gallery).

Getting things arranged

Stopping for an outfit shot

Hello math problem!
Middles of all pieces 62" from floor.
Add 1/2 of width, minus where the hanging wire hits.
Extra credit: get it in the middle between the two pastels.

Severo arrived at the perfect time!

Lunch break with awesome sandwiches!

We got everything up, saving the hardest for last

Done! So happy it's all up!

Selfie with Commuter Quilt and matching iPhone case

The show opens tomorrow, March 26 at 11am. It runs until April 20th.
The reception will be in two weeks, April 6, 5-8pm.
TAG Gallery 
Bergamot Station,
2525 Michigan Ave, Bldg D3, Santa Monica, CA  90404

Joining up with Patti's Visible Monday, the fun place to be!

Note: I received the 10% artist discount for the phone case. It retails for $35 + shipping.