Back in the 90s

Have you ever been to an art show? Do you know what an art show is? An art show is when artists make art and then they exhibit that art and then a bunch of people put on weird hats and funny t-shirts and they go look at the art. While they're looking at the art they usually get hammered on free booze and then make excuses for why they can't buy any of the art. Then once they're drunk enough to go to the bar and buy their own drinks, they leave.

The art show that I went to was at Domy Books in Austin, TX and was titled Mostly 2+.

It was titled Mostly 2+, because the work in the show was mostly Tim Kerr's and Jim Houser's, plus a few other pieces by a few other folks.

Here's what Tim Kerr's paintings look like.

They're very celebratory and positive.

Much like Tim Kerr himself.

Dan Higgs had one painting in the show.

I prefer Dan's representational work over his abstract pieces. But I really doubt that Dan Higgs gives even a little bit of a crap about what I think. If you don't know who Dan Higgs is, you should do some internet research on the dude. He's been involved with a lot of rad stuff. I know… I know… you've been involved in a lot of rad stuff too. But the difference is, nobody cares about your rad stuff. I'm kidding… sort of.

Anyway, I was most excited to see Jim Houser's work. I've been a fan of his art since like…

Back in the 90s when it looked like this.

I was trying to find an image of that mini ramp at Space 1026 that Jim painted way back when. Wasn't there a photo in some magazine of Jim doing an ollie one-foot on that ramp? Anybody know what I'm talking about right now? Does anybody even read this?

It's cool to see how Jim's work has developed over the last ten (plus) years.

It's really boiled down. It looks like somebody that knows exactly what they're doing.

There's no clumsy moves.

I think you have to see these in person to really appreciate the detail work. They're just so clean and tight.

I loved this transitions painting. It totally made me want to go shred.

I liked this little guy a lot too, because I enjoy talking shit about people.

In the back room of Domy, there was another little art show for people to drink booze at. This show was new work by William Gaynor and Conner O'Leary, two of my skate bros. And by "skate bros" I mean I probably skate with these dudes about once or twice a year.

I didn't even know that Conner painted till I saw this show. I like learning new things about people. Unless those new things include racism.

This one was my favorite. I kind of want to live in that shed.

My camera battery died right after I took that last photo so I had to try to find images of Will Gaynor's work online. I did a Google image search for: "will gaynor art" and I found this image. I love how the internet works.

I dug a little deeper and finally found some of Will's drawings. This one was in the show.

Here's a detail image. The dude definitely knows how to FSU with a pencil. It looks like he's using a microscope to do the detail stuff.

If you find yourself in Austin between now and October 20th, swing by Domy Books and check out the show. If you're not going to be in Austin, then I apologize for alienating you. But I'm sure you could go to an art show where you live. They're kind of all the same. Some just have better beer.

This week's movie review: North Shore

This white dude from Arizona moves to Hawaii and totally tries to bone this super fine Hawaiian girl. Unfortunately, she's in a surf gang or some shit like that. Or her cousins are in a surf gang. Yeah, that's what it is. Anyway, the white kid totally gets really awesome at surfing in a few short months and then almost wins a big time surfing contest. He also designs a terrible logo for a surfboard company while he's in Hawaii. At the end of the movie he moves to NYC to be an artist. Good idea. There's a real shortage of people trying to be artists in NYC.

Next week's movie review: Better Off Dead

Note: my description of an art show sort of glossed over performance art. But only because it's difficult to describe why a grown up person would put on a wig and act super silly and not expect to be laughed at.

www.msieben.com

Previously - Television, Cults, Gyms