Friday, March 7, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Balls Out!
Chick on this image and see the freakin crazy line up. You won't even believe this!
Balls Out!
As in, give it all you have.
That’s the theme of this group art show.
March 7th (1st Friday)
6-9pm
Grass Hut
811 E. Burnside
Portland, Oregon 97214
503-445-9924
Grasshutcorp.com
All the artists involved were giving a panel of wood to paint, ink, felt of do whatever they do best onto.
Who are these folks?
Grass Hut is also going Balls Out with our
grand reopening in the new space (the old Denwave space next door).
A bigger space became necessary
once the openings became too crammed to see the art.
The studio is bigger so Bwana, Scrappers and all the other residents
will have more room to grow.
The shop inventory is fully stoked with all new books, zines
and Gargamel Kaiju figures (the finest Japanese goofy monster toys).
The gallery is bigger and totally free to change shape with each new show.
More space, more driftwood, more river rock and more fun.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Rock & Roll Fantasy
Ojo StardustMartin Ontiveros
SOLD
Crossing StreamsMartin Ontiveros
8x10
SOLD
Bang The Head That Does Not BangMartin Ontiveros
10x10
SOLD
Something For You to Get OverMartin Ontiveros
18x24
SOLD
18x24
SOLD
The Rocking WoundedMartin Ontiveros
18x24
SOLD
Brother In The WindMartin Ontiveros
14x11
SOLD
Righteous FuryMartin Ontiveros
11x14
SOLD
The Spirit of Cliff BurtonMartin Ontiveros
10x24
SOLD
Ojo Rojo BoozeScrappers
14x4
SOLD
Worshiping the GodsApak
6x3
SOLD
Ojo RojoKoji
SOLD
Ojo RojoNaoya
SOLD
Ojo RojoYutaka
SOLD
MOJO COJO!!!Cupco
SOLD
SOLD
Ojo RojoKaToPe
14x18
SOLD
Ojo RojoKiyoka
SOLD
Evan b. Harris
Ojo Rojo
SOLD
Ojo Rojo
SOLD
Ojo Rojo(Wait list is overflown)
EatBwana Spoons
(shardz of green glass bottle inside)
SOLD
(shardz of green glass bottle inside)
SOLD
BallsBwana Spoons
(shardz of green glass bottle inside)
SOLD
(shardz of green glass bottle inside)
SOLD
Ojo VerdeScrappers
(Glow-in-the-dark!!!)
SOLD
(Glow-in-the-dark!!!)
SOLD
Mark NagataOjo Rojo
SOLD
SOLD
Rip It Up DoodLe Merde
(comes with skateboard and drawling)
SOLD
El TorsoSnaggs
SOLD
All American RojoArbito
SOLD
Let's Roll RojoArbito
Get it!
New Work By Martin Ontiveros
Featuring fresh paintings & Ojo Rojo toy release by Gargamel & friends
February 1st (Friday) 6-9pm
Grass Hut Gallery
811 E. Burnside
Portland, OR
New Paintings in the tone of Awesome!
With this fresh paint Martin explores the strange and beautiful world of Rock&Roll, vivid colors and mythology.
Ojo Rojo toy release.
Bigger and better then the mini releases at Comic Con '07, this new Ojo has movable limbs and will not fit in your mouth. It's a Grass Hut exclusive, locals get 1st dibs on opening night, but they will be available online the next day. The sculp was masterfully executed by Kiyoka Ikeda of Gargame. Gargamel & the Grass Hut gang have been stoked on each others work for quite a while now. Just last summer we arm wresteled in the sand at the Giant Robot bon-fire party in San Diego during Comic Con.
Martin's friends are going to pitch in too.
Arbito Hibert
Kiyoshi Nakazawa
Evan Harris
Scrappers
Tweeqim
Cupco
Bwana Spoons
Gargamel
Mark Nagata
Apak
Le Merde
Not everyone is customizing a figure, some are just doing a painting. Some are doing both.
A tiny interview with Martin:grass hut- So you graduated from Cal Arts along with the inventor of
the Power Puff Girls, do you see any common trends in line work and
character design from the artists who go through that school?
Martin- There were two schools of animation at CalArts, Experimental and
Character. I was in the former, which meant that we were allowed to do
anything we wanted, traditional cell or 3D or whatever, at our own pace
and with minimal structure. We were encouraged to explore our own
visions and explore new ways of making animated films. Experimental
worked more from the angle of animation as short art films than as
something that would develop into a series on TV, not to say that
alumni from there didn't wind up doing such things (for example,
Stephen Hillenburg, who created Spongebob Squarepants, Henry Selick,
director of Nightmare Before Christmas and others, Jorge Gutierrez,
creator of El Tigre, and Brad Bird, who worked on the Simpsons and is
the genius behind Pixar were all from my program). I never made a film
myself though. Character Animation, which was the school that Craig
McKracken graduated from, was way more structured in that it taught
students everything from the mechanics of constructing a film to the
history of animation to character design itself, a true program with
teachers straight out of the industry itself. Most of them were really
young, right out of high school (versus the older crowd of
Experimental) and were actively following what was going on at the time
in popular animation, all fans of the same stuff, and all
impressionable by what they dreamed of being a part of. When I started
CalArts, indie and alternative animation was just gaining popularity--
Ren and Stimpy, Spike and Mike, Nickolodeon, and later on, Cartoon
Network's original programming-- so suddenly there was more to offer
than just getting a job at Disney. More opportunity to be a maverick in
line work and character design, and if not that, than at least more
productions to get a job on. So, I guess the answer is yes... Jesus,
could I have spent more time answering this?
gh- How is this new show at the Hut different from the solo you had at Giant Robot the other month?
M- The GR2 show wound up being a catharsis of all these emotions I had
been harboring for the year prior. The art was the natural outcome of
having gone through some heavy stuff and yet having worked and created
through it regardless, resulting in some of my best work to date. Like
drinking a mix of all kinds of things that aren't necessarily good for
you and puking out rainbows in the end. Having said that, I think it
exhausted me in a way too-- I'm still too burned out to load the new
stuff with all the color that went into GR2. This new show is a switch
to something simpler, lighter in mood, subject, and spectrum, and just
plain fun. It's all about my deep love for Rock N' Roll and Heavy
Metal, combined with mythology, and the cheesier the composition, the
better. It's a new year, a lot of things have been resolved or are on
another, more positive course. I'm in strange new territory and I want
to have fun. When this is all over, I'll get back to the big-color
thing.
gh- What's Ojo Rojo's story, what's he stand for?
M- Story...? I guess you could say he's a bit of an alter-ego. He smiles
all the time. He has cooler hair than me. His fashion sense is somewhat
glam, which is a look that I could never pull off. He's a character I
can throw into any piece and he would brighten it up. I don't know if
it's the grin, the hair, or the boots, but he gets some good response.
His name is kind of a fluke-- I tend not to title things until the last
minute... I like to see what I come up with spur of the moment. In his
case, I was titling everything in the show he premiered in after rock
song titles, and since he had red eyes, I used Ojo Rojo from a Fu
Manchu song. I wish it could be more extravagant a story than that, but
there you have it. Good song too.
gh- What's you connection with the Japanese kaiju (monster toy)
company Gargamel? How is Gargamel different from other kaiju-makers?
M- I met and became aware of Gargamel through Bwana Spoons. We shared a
room with them at Comic-Con 2006. They knew very little english, we
knew very little japanese, and we had a blast regardless. I'm not the
biggest expert on vinyl out there, I don't collect much since I don't
have the money, plus I'm really selective about what I get, and won't
buy something just because it's the hot thing out there-- so my opinion
is sort of limited about the vinyl world. It's really up to the tastes
of the makers and collectors as to what's cool. That said, I love
Gargamel best personally because they are in league with my taste in
kaiju--they hail back to the aesthetic glory of Bullmark and Marusan,
the older days of vinyl. I don't really see anyone else out there doing
it that way (except Super 7 and Max Toy), and that's why I'm into
Gargamel. That we are pals with a strong mutual admiration for each
other's work is just the icing on the cake. Those guys are fun!
gh- What is going to make 2008 two thousand great?
M- Grass Hut, duh! And going to Japan for the first time, that will
definitely help.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Fairytales
Photographs by Alicia J. Rose
A re-imagining of 3 classic Grimm's fairy tales...
Opens January 4, 2008 (through Jan 28)
Grass Hut Gallery
811 E Burnside, Portland OR 97214
Tel: 503-445-9924
Fairytales is the debut exhibition of a new series of photographs by Portland photographer and artist Alicia J. Rose. Seen through a keen eye of childhood dispossession and vivid color-drenched fantasy, Rose delves deep into the dark side of Grimms' most harrowing tales held dear in her youth. Known mostly for her work with rock bands and ballet dancers, with Fairytales, Rose invites the viewer into an inner world where her imagination is laid bare and her fevered visions are brought to big, bold life.
Pushing the boundaries of perception, Rose's Fairytales are striking gender-amorphous visions of hope, fear, possession, and the mis-adventures of losing ones' innocence. Culled from a burgeoning and beautifully disturbed imagination, Rose's work is filled with impossibly bright colors, chiaroscuro lighting and purposeful composition. Using a medium format Hasselblad camera, lush high grain film stock and a combination of natural and artificial light, she creates all her images in-camera without the aid of post-camera/darkroom special effects or computer programs.
With characters cast from her friends and favorite performance circles (Sissyboy, Queer Bait, Splendora & The Gender Fluids), and a handful of remarkable tales to tell with a spooky forest at bay, Fairytales was shot over a moody and blustery weekend on Sauvie Island at her friend Pennie Lane's Rock and Roll Ranch in November 2007.
Over 25 limited edition archival prints collected from the 3 tales will be shown at Grass Hut Gallery in January.
View More Fairytales
About the artist:
Once upon a time, long, long ago, a little girl lost the ability to remember her dreams. In picture books, and aging tomes she took shelter in the grandiose images they generated in her imagination. The girl grew up, making music with an accordion that she always described as "soundtracks to films in her head." Eventually the pictures she was making music for became larger than her music could properly accompany or her small head could possibly contain. The girl then took up another instrument, a camera, that allowed her the proper sight necessary to capture the stories that had been running amok in her skull for years, and share them with other sets of eyes everywhere.
Fairytales is a follow up to her 2006 exhibition Ballet Supreme (Press Club, PDX), and her 2003 show Histrionic (Genuine Imitation Gallery, PDX). And was created in part as a companion to her upcoming musical release Hearts & Daggers a collaboration with Violinist/Vocalist Petra Haden, set for release in early 2008 by File Under: Music.
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