ok, so i know it’s been a while since i’ve been to the Alberta thing on last Thursday, but i was surprised to see that it really was even more crazy and stupid than i remember! it’s not an art walk at all. it’s a street fair at best and at worst, an excuse for a bunch of stinky hippies to take the crap they’ve been crafting while stoned out of the gourd and try to sell it…. and probably the one guy who buys it is the 50 year yuppie with his brand new Obama t-shirt tucked into his high waisted Eddie Bauer shorts with his plastic surgery wife – cause he thinks it connects him to today’s youth.
amongst all the incense, body stink, and general odor of a million types of homemade snacks, there actually was some art. most of it was crap – take for example this over-priced piece.. this looks like the toilet paper after i wiped my ass this morning!
really? $5 for this?!
but this is just one glorious example of the wares that are being pan-handled around the event. from a cardboard kissing booth suit over a dirty hipster to dread lock hair extensions, the only thing worse was the loads of bad street performers. ok so i admit the parade was kinda cool. i secretly would love to be able to get away with walking around in stilts – but to me it seems more like the moment right before those friendly clowns pull out a bloody axe and chop off a limb or two… really, i think it’s just a short step away from that. almost like an Anne Rice story… yikes!
you can't really call 10 people in stilts and dressed in drag a parade, but they were all singing the same song... seemed like they even knew the same words, too!
clowns... shivers*
so while i walked through the hordes of people with their all-too revealing clothing, i did manage to see a couple things i liked. not surprising, it was not in the one actual gallery i saw.
here’s a couple of tasty little nuggets that i dug up.
it's like escher hands cept with teeth!
Steve H Cooper’s delightfully toothy creations made me smile from ear to ear… very organic and slightly disturbing – just the way i like it! i could see this hanging in a dentist office for sure.. but probably not a children’s dentist.
he doesn't spell check tho - butt neither does i
another delight was Rachel Westforth’s little robots. check out the website – it needs to be updated for sure, but a surprise coming from this boob-tacular gal and her harmonica playing counter-part…
who said tapes are dead.. they've been resurrected and will take over the world!
this lovely lady reminds me of one of my favorite Portland artists, Jason Greene. but she has a long way to go before she can stand next to the depth and breadth of his work.. but she’s making a great start!
bots bots... everywhere bots...
a couple other artist whose work caught my eye – Schel Harris and his intriguing little inventions. Trilliumbrella whose work reminds me a little bit of Ashley Armbruster and Kara Burke but more inocent and a little less confident… give her time, i bet she’ll come around..
and that lovely readers, is that – the last Thursday, Burning Man, Saturday Market annex, insanity that is the Alberta street… thing… until next time.
litter pause 