Continuing through September 30, 2010
VAC presents its first artist-curated exhibition with four local artists who are kindred spirits of sorts. Curated by painter Noble Hardesty, its "High All Day" title is a pun on Jaialdai, the Basque festival that recently stormed through town.
Hardesty's five pieces dominate the event. An aggressive, one might say flamboyant painter, Hardesty weds a clamorously bright palette with neo-Pop/graffiti imagery and a Juxtapoz-inspired style. Known for his unconventional supports, here he opts for hollow doors as his canvas, covered with manic action that evokes contemporary cinema, as in his bloodthirsty "Uzala" or the crazed "Halo of Flies."
Neon artist Wil Kirkman occasionally likes to combine the ethereal qualities of his medium with salvaged materials, nicely done here in "Sign Post to the Future." Jason Lee's wall of work ranging from found erotic imagery to earthy assemblages addresses the hedonistic rewards and pitfalls of musical celebrity. Jeff Baker's hallucinogenic figurative work suggests Pokemon influences. Although the younger Lee and Baker contribute the bulk of the show, their secondary presence underscores an undeniable hierarchy of local talent.
