Iao: Acme Burger Company (Iao: ABC)EVENT
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November 26, 2008 PRESS RELEASE
Iao: Acme Burger Company 275 SOUTH 200 WEST SALT LAKE CITY UT 84101 T. 801.257.5700 http://www.acmeburgercompany.com http://www.iao-gallery.com/index4.html
Sk8ter Kickstand
The Iao: Acme Burger Company gallery is pleased to exhibit a newly minted series of small scale painted, mixed media sculptures by Seattle underground artist Eric Osborne. With primeval influences ranging from cave art to postmodern street art particularly that of the skateboarding culture, the artist presents an imaginative, DIY universe that emphasizes the blurry line between fine art and raw craft. His use of embellished, unnatural colors similar to that of domestic house paint on various recycled objects ranging from liquor bottles to leftover wood suggests that the resourceful artist is forced to deal with a life of mark-making that is an escape from the media-usurped society that the average person is faced with in today’s oversaturated world.
Osborne’s universe encompasses hearts (perhaps with some overtones from Jim Dine’s work), skulls, bottles, angels, and poetic lines. Many of the images are engraved directly into the surface of the support, mostly wood or metal. Like the street shaman, the artist allows the viewer to enter into a mysterious environment that exploded into odd shades of purple, pink, and yellow which are infused with a personal symbolism that is not grasped easily. Occasionally some of the sculptures incorporate sliced-off skateboard decks that have been chipped and worn down by heavy use. The overall tenor of these pieces suggests that this tough autobiography has a skeleton of vulnerability and romantic emotion that is not apparent from a first glance.
The conjunction between everyday but not commonplace elements of skateboard decks, wood scraps, and metal becomes a metaphor for the artist to forge a bond between the disparate events of human lives. The brutal optimism of these riddles such as “open, always forever hurt” or “he loves me he loves me not” and the visual motif of the guardian angels transformed from the trash heaps of studio imply that humanity will overcome the pricks against the kicks.
Despite the primeval and magical qualities of Osborne’s craft, the driving concept of environmentalism (however subtle that may be) and American ingenuity combined with a poignant Dadaism appeals to our fine sensibilities. As postmodern icons of the diurnal existence, the touching humor of an existentialist Beckett as if he were a skateboarding free spirit is unavoidable as the tragedy of our inability to avoid mundane depression or obsession with refinement.
For example, “Open, Always Forever Heart” is a prime example of the artist’s creative spirit. Punning on the words “heart” and “hurt,” the creator suggests that man’s passion within romance is built on a foundation of open emotions and forgiveness. This positive street philosophy becomes the means for capturing the tenderness and anger of a personal relationship one cannot know fully like a Dylan Thomas poem. Yet the artist prevails over the urban jungle of indifference through forceful expression of tough love and crazy antics. Eric Osborne, who was raised in the Tucson, Arizona area, is working as a self-taught street outsider artist within the Seattle area. Influenced by Basquiat, Haring, Johns, Scharf, and lowbrow skateboard art, he has exhibited for a decade in various locations ranging from the Twilight Collective in Seattle to 7&7 Gallery in San Diego. Currently he is represented by Iao PROJECTS Flatfiles. “Sk8ter Kickstand” is his first solo show in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In conjunction with the solo show, Iao: ABC is continuing to feature a long-term untitled group exhibition that includes selected artists such as Jo Tuck, Rafal Karcz, Jeff Faerber, Barry Wolfryd, Mason Fetzer, qi peng, Circlegal, and Emilia Dubicki. This show will portray a wide range of media from figurative outsider art to graffiti-style stencils on layered Plexiglass to mixed-media watercolors on paper. The revolving group show will showcase international artists who are represented by Iao PROJECTS or Iao: ABC.
For more information about inventory or purchasing artwork at Iao: Acme Burger Company, please contact Alan Ireland or the gallery at (801) 257-5700 or abc@acmeburgercompany.com. For more background information about the artist or Iao PROJECTS, please contact Albert Wang at (801) 879-1971 or albert@iao-gallery.com.
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