Dannyboy
03-04-2003, 05:56 PM
History in the Making—The Art of Punk at the Kantor Gallery
If you want to see a nice bridge from punk’s distant past to its present, check out this exhibit at the Kantor gallery in L.A. (7025 Melrose Ave, Melrose and La Brea, northeast corner next to the auto shop.) Just knock on the door between 11am and 5 or give a call ahead at 323.933.6876. I know, I know! It’s not in O.C.! So broaden your cultural and geographic horizons chucklehead! It’s worth it! Yes it’s free!!
The centerpiece of the show has to be the flyers—a collection of at least 800 (count and multiply if’n ya don’t believe) OLD SCHOOL punk flyers, many of which I recognize from my friend Fester’s room in his parents’ modest Laguna Hills home (they moved a long time ago, so don’t go over there looking for them!). Flyers used to be so interesting—there’s one T.S.O.L. flyer that sports a skeleton in a coat and top hat, with a white cross (right side up, if you youngsters can believe it!) emblazoned on his lapel, and he’s flipping you off. These range from the scribbled to the fantastic (only one Pushead flyer that I noticed, but it’s a doozy) with band names you might not recognize if you haven’t hit the ripe old age of thirty yet (Necros, Sin 34, Symbol Six, et al). Remember when punk was civically acceptable?! I don’t! But look—“The City of Torrance presents a free rock concert: Red Kross, The Peer Group, The Resistance, The Salvation Army, The Invisible [?—can’t read my scribbly notes], Minutemen.” There’s also a flyer requesting submissions for a new ‘zine called Thrash . This wall of flyers is about 13 feet high by 20 feet long, and good for mucho peruso. If you love old Black Flag flyers, they got ‘em—Pettibone Central. If you look closely you can find imitations of Pettibone’s sexually charged, one-liner style: One flyer is a triptych (look it up) of a Patrick Nagel (artist who drew women for Playboy) print, some nuts and bolts, and the camel from the cigarette box, with the catchy line, “Where did sex come from?” Nice try. There’s old movie flyers for the Decline et al, including The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle, with the tagline, “The film that incriminates its audience!” Seen some others that do that too recently.
Speaking of Raymond Pettibone, you’ll find a set of originals of his here, and they gain a lot in their full size—some are as large as wall posters. I’ve always really gone for his absolutely sucker-punching depictions of the dark aspects of human psyche, relationships, and emotion that are far from what anyone wants to face, but in equal measure must be acknowledged if one would live an honest life. I’ve always found his works a comfort. For examples check out any Black Flag album cover—they’re ALL his. The “My War” original is at the Kantor gallery, as well as something about Pettibone ya don’t get from the punk albums and flyers—his fascination with the all-American sport known as baseball. Several of his pieces figure swinging batters, not without the usual unusual spat of psychically provoking internal-reading monologue.
Gotta have it—why, oh why didn’t I buy Pettibone’s books when they were readily available back when I was 16?! All that money I spent on beer!—gives me a hangover just thinking about it.
From the past to the present we jump, into the world of...Shepard Fairey. This is the guy who’s been churning out all those “Obey” posters you see plastered everywhere—including the Andre the Giant one on the powerbox on the corner near the gallery. The stencils on wood panels in the exhibit depict yer punk rock heroes, from mainstreamer Bowie to Iggy to Rotten n’ Rollins. Not to mention a Misfits’ “Fiend Club” piece with—you guessed it—Andre the Giant as the Grinning Skull. All the while telling me to “Obey”—I’m afraid I do enough of that already. This guy’s stuff is also all over Boulder, CO where I used to live and God knows where else.
Another modern is Dave Leamon, whose fantastic comic-monster style has graced the covers of bands like Electric Frankenstein (poster actually) Violent Femmes (t-shirt) and Jughead’s Revenge. These ink drawings that are also sort of like cutout overlays are definite eye candy—detailed enough to keep you seriously amused, and they transport you into action-world.
Back to the past, with the sketches of mark Vallen from the late 70s/early 80s. This guy did a cover for Slash (and claims it started the mohawk craze) and portraits of people like Darby Crash. These are what you would I representational sketches. I mean by that that they are lifelike portraits and if I could draw this while I might spend an inordinate amount of time drawing people having sex.
“So, Dannyboy,” you ask, in breathless anticipation, “who’s the middleman? And how does this all tie in?” Ahh, I’ve been hoping you would voice this query, Grasshopper. The middleman is Emek, whose style is reminiscent of Pushead (and vaguely Japanese, which don’t hurt any) while still being entirely original. His caricatures of Rollins (one as a smirking old fellow with bulging muscles and a cane) are not to be missed, nor do they surpass his flyer work (one featuring a killer female robot with pierced nipple) or one ‘pure art’ piece that is as fine as any punk art I’ve seen (go there and see if you can guess which one.) His artwork graces “The Art of Punk” t-shirt which goes to support a mighty good cause—The Kantor Gallery exhibiting, recognizing, feeding and not exploiting punk as an artistic and intellectual movement. There’s also a little book you can buy filled with old school shmidt and you’d have to at least go that far in support of a SoCal scene! Am I wrong? Am I wrong?! NOOOO!!!!!
Here’s the typical Dannyboy tie-in: The flyers, most of which are entirely homespun, non-studio art by irregular shmoes like vous and me, host Pettibone—rebel outlaw Artiste, and his artwork branches off in two directions: back in art history to the accurate sketch portraiture of Vallen, and forward to the high detail/comicky stuff that is Leamon and Emek. What does this all mean, anyway? It means punk ain’t generic, and it was never meant to be (“Was anything ever ‘meant to be’, Dannyboy?”—alright, I’ll give ya that one!). All I’m saying is this: our scene ain’t dead yet, and there’s inspiration by the miles for punk to thrive, grow, and do what I love it for doing: challenging the ‘normal’—from thoughts to social conventions to the junk that gets swept under the rug. So if you attend this exhibit, beware: you might be reminded of a time that’s gone, or a time that is to come, but how much that’s as punk will you find to reflect on that’s in the present? THIS EXHIBIT IS PUNK AS FLUCK!!! So recognize your scene. Remember it. Participate in it. Enhance it. Love it or leave it!
If you want to see a nice bridge from punk’s distant past to its present, check out this exhibit at the Kantor gallery in L.A. (7025 Melrose Ave, Melrose and La Brea, northeast corner next to the auto shop.) Just knock on the door between 11am and 5 or give a call ahead at 323.933.6876. I know, I know! It’s not in O.C.! So broaden your cultural and geographic horizons chucklehead! It’s worth it! Yes it’s free!!
The centerpiece of the show has to be the flyers—a collection of at least 800 (count and multiply if’n ya don’t believe) OLD SCHOOL punk flyers, many of which I recognize from my friend Fester’s room in his parents’ modest Laguna Hills home (they moved a long time ago, so don’t go over there looking for them!). Flyers used to be so interesting—there’s one T.S.O.L. flyer that sports a skeleton in a coat and top hat, with a white cross (right side up, if you youngsters can believe it!) emblazoned on his lapel, and he’s flipping you off. These range from the scribbled to the fantastic (only one Pushead flyer that I noticed, but it’s a doozy) with band names you might not recognize if you haven’t hit the ripe old age of thirty yet (Necros, Sin 34, Symbol Six, et al). Remember when punk was civically acceptable?! I don’t! But look—“The City of Torrance presents a free rock concert: Red Kross, The Peer Group, The Resistance, The Salvation Army, The Invisible [?—can’t read my scribbly notes], Minutemen.” There’s also a flyer requesting submissions for a new ‘zine called Thrash . This wall of flyers is about 13 feet high by 20 feet long, and good for mucho peruso. If you love old Black Flag flyers, they got ‘em—Pettibone Central. If you look closely you can find imitations of Pettibone’s sexually charged, one-liner style: One flyer is a triptych (look it up) of a Patrick Nagel (artist who drew women for Playboy) print, some nuts and bolts, and the camel from the cigarette box, with the catchy line, “Where did sex come from?” Nice try. There’s old movie flyers for the Decline et al, including The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle, with the tagline, “The film that incriminates its audience!” Seen some others that do that too recently.
Speaking of Raymond Pettibone, you’ll find a set of originals of his here, and they gain a lot in their full size—some are as large as wall posters. I’ve always really gone for his absolutely sucker-punching depictions of the dark aspects of human psyche, relationships, and emotion that are far from what anyone wants to face, but in equal measure must be acknowledged if one would live an honest life. I’ve always found his works a comfort. For examples check out any Black Flag album cover—they’re ALL his. The “My War” original is at the Kantor gallery, as well as something about Pettibone ya don’t get from the punk albums and flyers—his fascination with the all-American sport known as baseball. Several of his pieces figure swinging batters, not without the usual unusual spat of psychically provoking internal-reading monologue.
Gotta have it—why, oh why didn’t I buy Pettibone’s books when they were readily available back when I was 16?! All that money I spent on beer!—gives me a hangover just thinking about it.
From the past to the present we jump, into the world of...Shepard Fairey. This is the guy who’s been churning out all those “Obey” posters you see plastered everywhere—including the Andre the Giant one on the powerbox on the corner near the gallery. The stencils on wood panels in the exhibit depict yer punk rock heroes, from mainstreamer Bowie to Iggy to Rotten n’ Rollins. Not to mention a Misfits’ “Fiend Club” piece with—you guessed it—Andre the Giant as the Grinning Skull. All the while telling me to “Obey”—I’m afraid I do enough of that already. This guy’s stuff is also all over Boulder, CO where I used to live and God knows where else.
Another modern is Dave Leamon, whose fantastic comic-monster style has graced the covers of bands like Electric Frankenstein (poster actually) Violent Femmes (t-shirt) and Jughead’s Revenge. These ink drawings that are also sort of like cutout overlays are definite eye candy—detailed enough to keep you seriously amused, and they transport you into action-world.
Back to the past, with the sketches of mark Vallen from the late 70s/early 80s. This guy did a cover for Slash (and claims it started the mohawk craze) and portraits of people like Darby Crash. These are what you would I representational sketches. I mean by that that they are lifelike portraits and if I could draw this while I might spend an inordinate amount of time drawing people having sex.
“So, Dannyboy,” you ask, in breathless anticipation, “who’s the middleman? And how does this all tie in?” Ahh, I’ve been hoping you would voice this query, Grasshopper. The middleman is Emek, whose style is reminiscent of Pushead (and vaguely Japanese, which don’t hurt any) while still being entirely original. His caricatures of Rollins (one as a smirking old fellow with bulging muscles and a cane) are not to be missed, nor do they surpass his flyer work (one featuring a killer female robot with pierced nipple) or one ‘pure art’ piece that is as fine as any punk art I’ve seen (go there and see if you can guess which one.) His artwork graces “The Art of Punk” t-shirt which goes to support a mighty good cause—The Kantor Gallery exhibiting, recognizing, feeding and not exploiting punk as an artistic and intellectual movement. There’s also a little book you can buy filled with old school shmidt and you’d have to at least go that far in support of a SoCal scene! Am I wrong? Am I wrong?! NOOOO!!!!!
Here’s the typical Dannyboy tie-in: The flyers, most of which are entirely homespun, non-studio art by irregular shmoes like vous and me, host Pettibone—rebel outlaw Artiste, and his artwork branches off in two directions: back in art history to the accurate sketch portraiture of Vallen, and forward to the high detail/comicky stuff that is Leamon and Emek. What does this all mean, anyway? It means punk ain’t generic, and it was never meant to be (“Was anything ever ‘meant to be’, Dannyboy?”—alright, I’ll give ya that one!). All I’m saying is this: our scene ain’t dead yet, and there’s inspiration by the miles for punk to thrive, grow, and do what I love it for doing: challenging the ‘normal’—from thoughts to social conventions to the junk that gets swept under the rug. So if you attend this exhibit, beware: you might be reminded of a time that’s gone, or a time that is to come, but how much that’s as punk will you find to reflect on that’s in the present? THIS EXHIBIT IS PUNK AS FLUCK!!! So recognize your scene. Remember it. Participate in it. Enhance it. Love it or leave it!