Eclectix Arts

Friday, August 5, 2011

"Illusions of Grandeur" Opening at 111 Minna Gallery

Lee Harvey Roswell

Eclectix was so happy to feast our eyes at Minna's opening last night of "Illusions of Grandeur" - Paintings Reflecting the Imaginations of: NoMe Edonna and Lee Harvey Roswell.

This is a really stupendous show - full of surreal symbolism, Dali influences, drugged hallucinations, wry humor and tons of original artistic imaginings. One of the best Bay Area best shows we have viewed in a while. Both artists reflect and complement each other, playing off shapes and themes to engage the viewer, letting us wander inside their heads for peeks at twisted, sensual and funny subjects.

Lee Harvey Roswell's works (below) tell stories wit a narrative flow with humorous titles and details. He is obviously a huge fan of Salvador Dali and does skilled homage to the master in a number of paintings. The imagination and vision succeeds in each piece- wowing the viewer without being trite or pretentious.

Lee Harvey Roswell

Detail- Lee Harvey Roswell

Lee Harvey Roswell

Detail- Lee Harvey Roswell

Lee Harvey Roswell

Spoon toes, detail from previous - Lee Harvey Roswell

Lee Harvey Roswell

NoMe Edonna's works ( all below ) - while having surreal elements, tend to lean towards more abstraction or straight ahead portraits and rendering. He plays with shapes and geometrics, folding and molding them into visual trips thru his brain. Sometimes beautifully graceful, other times hard edged and confrontational.

Detail - NoMe Edonna

NoMe Edonna

Loved this triptych! - NoMe Edonna

NoMe Edonna

For a previous Eclectix post of Lee's works at ArtPads click here.

For a beautiful art book "Further" with some of NoMe's works, click here.

Get out to SF and 111 Minna Gallery to see this fantastic show, it's up through August 27th, 2011.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Cause Attaboy Sez- You Might Be A Monster!

Attaboy has a great new book out "You Might Be A Monster", a perfect hip gift for yourself or some kids in need of inspired imagination. Not to mention it may make all those "monsters" seem a little less scary. He is hosting a number of book signings around town and points yonder in the near future.

8/6/11: The Escapist

3090 Claremont Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Book Release and Attaboy Reads and Signs at Berkeley’s amazing new book store.

8/7/11: SFMOMA

151 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94103

Book Release and Attaboy Reads and Signs at the SFMOMA! This will be a reading followed by a signing, as part of their family activities day.

"Attaboy's creepy cool monsters are an insane delight. They'll leap off the page, squirm through your optic nerve, and haunt your brain forever. And that's a good thing."

- Mark Fraunfelder, founder of Boing Boing

Link for a look inside at all the beautifully fun imagery.

Link to the future signing dates and locations.

Scott Marr’s Pigmented Pyrography

Australian artist Scott Marr has a unique technique of drawing using pyrography (the art of using a heated tip to burn or scorch designs onto wood) and painting with natural pigments, predominantly from the bush. His works just blew us away- beautiful creatures and anthropomorphic mixtures - full of poetic tiny details, tribal decor and emotional imaginings.

“By the time Scott sits down at the easel, his works of art are already well underway. A large part of Scott’s artistic practice is comprised of the identification, collection and preparation of an astounding range of natural pigments. His bush pigments are unpredictable by nature, ensuring that each work of art is imbued with a genuine uniqueness. The variable palette reflects the dynamic and seasonal character of the natural world, where no two days or places are the same. Scott says, “Over the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with the extraction and application of natural pigments. I now feel my experimentation has become my applied practice. This confidence together with the discovery of new colors has opened up new dimensions for my art”.” - Via KatoomaFineArt

For Scott’s art blog, click here.

For a look/listen at Osunlade's new album "Pyrography", for which Scott did all the incredible art, click here.

(Originally posted in the Eclectix "BURN" Issue, July 2011,

along with the permanent online exhibit of fire-related art, LINK HERE.)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Outlandish Art - in Walnut Creek!

"Outlandish" is the current exhibit at the Bedford Gallery and it is very worth seeing. Full of favorite locals we are familiar with and some new artists - it is a beautiful show in a great gallery space. Large, classy, brightly lit, very well hung and presented with lots of room to move and view. Some of the pieces were a bit too esoteric for my taste but overall it is a well thought out and curated show with tons of local flavor and different mediums. From their website:

"Outlandish: Contemporary Depictions of Nature — a two part exhibition that features both a juried section and an invitational... twenty-eight contemporary artists that explore themes of nature — from micro to the macro — ranging from a tiny speck of a garden to a global view of the world. This intriguing exhibition looks at over-the-top depictions of landscape from a variety of vantage points and in a range of media."

Scrolling down are our picks from the exhibition.

A dynamic, two-faced sculpture (in the alcove outside the front of the gallery) by John Casey & Derek Weisberg is the first piece, don't miss it - kinda easy to walk right by.