PIONEER SQUARE: Collage, Danger, and Mystical Entropy

It's 1st Thursday in Pioneer Square! There are an amazing number of shows opening tonight, and I know I won't be able to see them all, but I have to start somewhere...

Collagemonauts @ Trabant

My first stop is Trabant Coffee & Chai and the Collagemonauts' "Don't Lick the Fine Print." The show explores themes of space, religion, indigenous people, and medical science; and features the Collagemonauts' collaborative work as well as individual pieces by Marty, Tim, and Craig. Due to a series of unfortunate events, all of the folks who run Trabant Coffee are out sick for the evening. Thankfully I curate the space, so I have a key, and I have the pleasure of spending the first couple of art walking hours in the company of this talented trio of costumed gents. Because we have to close the doors a little early, the Collagemonauts are hosting an encore event ~ an interactive collage workshop! ~ on Saturday, 21 June from 1-4pm. 

After locking up at Trabant, I swing through Occidental Park on my way south on 1st and pop a quick 'selfie' in one of the shiney new installation boxes that are part of the "ARTSparks' project featuring "Just be Your Selfie" by Dylan Neuworth & "No I in Self" by Tariqua Waters. Our culture has become fascinated by self-referential portraits, and this installation explores that media indulgence in a very public way. While I generally prefer to be the one behind the camera shooting photos of other people, I find myself drawn to the colourful shiney cubes mounted to the trees that distort my image just enough to make it interesting.

"In Danger" @ AXIS

I continue on to AXIS and find myself in the midst of a vivid series of large-scale animal portraits, "InDANGER" by Justin Kane Elder. Every portrait in the exhibit features an endangered species, and the "visual elements such as patterning, repetition, and dissection are used as references to the profit driven human presence that is at the forefront of this epidemic." (JKE)

Redd Walitzki and her faerie muses

The lovely Walitzki sisters

Andy Kehoe @ Roq la Rue

Redd Walitzki & Andy Kehoe @ Roq la Rue

Redd Walitzki @ Roq la Rue

The last show I'm able to attend this eve is Redd Walitzki's "When We Break" and Andy Kehoe's "Inner Mystic" at Roq la Rue. Redd's work is an intricate process of painted layers on exquisite laser cut panels, and Andy's pieces incorporate painting and sculpted silhouettes encased in resin. The subjects in Redd's works are gamine and ephemeral, "celebrating the beautiful moment of ecstasy on the cusp of entropy" (RLR) and inspired by lyrics from the Neutral Milk Hotel. Andy's compositions are reminiscent of myth and legend, creatures revered and barely remembered but frozen forever in a moment of mysticism. The entire exhibit simply glows, and the audience is a wonderful mix of artists, muses, artistic wanderers, and the few of us who only come out at night. I see old friends, meet new ones, and end the eve catching up with everyone after hours at the Elysian.


Support your local art scene!

~ BCDuncan