New Acquisitions--Rand Renfrow

I just picked up two silscreen prints I bought at the Monster Show at Domy. They are "fig. 1" and "fig. 3" by Rand Renfrow. I wanted to take photos of them, but they are really hard to shoot--in fact, they are perfect examples of how inadequate photography is in depicting a piece of art. (Especially when I am holding the camera.)


Rand Renfrow, fig. 3, silkscreen print, 2009 (?)

So the colors are about right here in intensity, but the paper looks a dark.

Here's the same piece taken with a flash.


Rand Renfrow, fig. 3, silkscreen print, 2009 (?)

The colors are really intense, and you can see detail you couldn't see before--but these colors are actually a lot more intense than on the original. The flash gives the colors a deceptively "kandy-kolor" look.


Rand Renfrow, fig. 1, silkscreen print, 2009 (?)

Again, this unflashed photo shows colors that are more or less correct, but makes the paper look dark.


Rand Renfrow, fig. 1, silkscreen print, 2009 (?)

And with a flash, the picture is more readable, but the colors are too bright, too flourescent, and basically false.

So if you could somehow mentally combine the two versions of each print, you'd have a pretty decent idea of what they look like. They certainly look great when you see them in person.

Monster Show at Domy

Just a quick note on the 4th Monster Show at Domy. This is their Halloween show, and so monster-ish subjects are called for. Broadly speaking, the art in this show (and in most Domy shows) is either ironic (in kind of a smart-ass way) or deliberately naive. Neither is an artistic approach that I can take for long (I need to have art that shows deliberate intelligence; or else displays a real sense of emotion; or else is the product of bravura technique; or some combination of the above. So the faux naif approach and the smart-ass punk ironic approach are not my favorites.)

That said, there's always something to like in a show like this, which isn't, after all, meant to be all that serious.


Michael Harwell, Bart with Garfield Tumor, watercolor, 2009 (?)

This is a perfect example of punk irony. And it's funny! It's a gag cartoon pinned on the wall in an art show, and that works for me.


Chris Kline, Cheeseburger Picnic, silkscreen, 2009 (?)

I liked this, but as I said, a steady diet of it would be way too much. By the way, I think this is Chris Kline.

This photo makes me think of Look at This Fucking Hipster. (If this is not the same Chris Kline who did "Cheeseburger Picnic," my apologies to both of you!)


Travis Millard, Shank, watercolor ind ink (?), 2009 (?)

This artist is a really talented cartoonist. He comes from L.A., and you can see more of his artwork here and here. His work has a natural cartoon-character feel to it--it's alive and really moves.


Rand Renfrow, fig. 3, silkscreen print, 2009 (?)

Another faux naif artist. But he has a way with colors. I like his pieces (he has four in the show) a lot. So I bought a couple. Even I can't resist the siren call of cute brut sometimes. (Renfrow has a nice blog, which is something I always appreciate!)