Zombo Gallery presents Ian Green Studios Vs. BINKY FON Opening Reception Friday May 2nd at 6pm Closing Reception Friday May 23rd at 6pm. Gallery Hours.. Fridays from 5:00-7:30 and Saturdays Noon - 4pm other times ..call 412-904-3703 appointments.
Who is Ian Green and why you have to see his art.
Ian Green was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. As a kid, he played mostly in the woods that edged Carrick. This was the 70's and no one talked about green space, so the woods back then were basically considered a dumping ground for many and most roads that ended there were punctuated by many a lazy slob's garbage. For a parent, this was surely a safety concern, but for little Ian, it was awesome! A seemingly endless supply of discarded and fading plastics, gems of broken glass, rusted metal and peeling painted wood mixed with lush vegetation and weeds offered forms and colors and textures that no clean playground could. Ian was into it.
Every so often, his family would go up to Mars, PA. to visit John and Louise Fox. John was a painter and antique dealer. Their warehouse was dark and ominous and filled to the rafters with John's work and antique items ranging from nearly worthless to rare and exquisite - all accompanied with a layer of dust the thickness of which bespoke either their newness or neglect. Wandering through this strange interior garden excited Ian the same way the junk did back home in the woods. He was hooked.
Skip ahead past the BFA from CCAD, the MFA in Painting from IU in Bloomington, and hit play in Pittsburgh 2000. Ian gets a studio in Homestead (where he is still working) but the world is very different now. He looks at people talking into their cell phones and they seem like plain-clothes extras rehearsing for a Star Trek episode, so he paints a broken branch in a dirty window with the light filtering through the dying leaves. Skip a little pass 911 to the ever-present terror we're supposed to be feeling thanks to Fox News. No thanks - so Ian joins the Zany Umbrella Circus as an antidote to helplessness.
Now people talk to their invisible friends via little Borg attachments. Loud one-sided arguments from pissed off strangers drift up from the bus stop below his studio. Ian sees the billboards getting bigger and brighter and the people getting smaller and smaller and he's seeing a lot more security cameras everywhere and yet people seem more afraid than ever. Pieces like "MacSanto's Pizzarena", and "Dave -n - Strikebusters" and "BINKY FON" stem from a growing suspicion-that our present humanity is sliding uneasily into a trap set for the future. This is what Ian calls "The Time of PIL". Where good credit equals no worries and the billboards read you.
The Zombo Gallery is not only Lawrenceville's newest gallery, but it is Pittsburgh's home for hip lowbrow art. It is artwork that is rooted in 1950's and 60's pop culture and kitsch. It follows along the lines of San Francisco's Juxtapoz Magazine. The gallery houses a retail area with similar themed wares such as Custom T-shirts, DVDs, CDs and recorded air checks of Zombo's Record Party radio show that is heard Fridays from 10am-3pm on Pittsburgh's WRCT 88.3 FM.The gallery is located at 4900 Hatfield St. and also houses a custom screen printing shop.
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