[click pics for full image]

Drawings, zines, photography, graphic design, sculpture [click pics for full image]… a few samples of new work for the show at Satellite Studios on Friday.

Flex-Space at Pump Project’s Satellite Studios presents

New & Recent Works by Rachelle Díaz and Gerardo Arellano
Reception: 8pm-10pm, Friday, October 7 – one weekend only show!

Open Gallery Hours: 12-5pm, Saturday, October 8
1109 Shady Ln., Austin, Texas 78721

Two friends, one long overdue show. I have about an equal amount of wonderful art buddies I’ve met both through random interwebbing and slightly tipsy chattin’ at shows. But the internet folks stand out more so because they’ve put out the extra effort to find people in their locality via good ol’ fashioned sober Google/craigslist/Flickr searches. I first received an email from Gerardo 6-7 years ago, saying something to the effect of:

Hey, I’m a painter. I like your work. I’m new in Austin and looking to meet other painters.

Kind of out of the blue, non? Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was legit, but I liked what I saw on his website. Months passed… I can’t remember when I actually met Gerardo in person, but I believe it was when I invited him to participate in Vision Riot 2, one of my solo forays into curating (credit to Ricardo Acevedo for the concept). Besides, who in the art world can recall the exact moment you met such-and-such person? It all blurs together.

Much like our work as artists blurs together: painting, photography, graphic design, hair/makeup/fashion styling, community outreach. Aesthetically, our work is both influenced by strong design skills, a love of bright colors, a sense of humor, and a certain studiousness about the world — visually, socially, spiritually — and what it all might mean, or not mean at all. Lighthearted and sincere.

Gerardo will be showing paintings from 2006 to present and a site-specific mural. I’ll have a new series of drawings up and will be debuting a self-published/bound zine, “Hippy Fit,” a personal photographic essay reconciling art, fashion and fitness.

To that effect, we plan to have a good time AND donate 20% of art sales to Casa Marinella, a local organization dedicated to assisting immigrant families. Although this is a one-weekend show, it’s not just gonna be another “hey-look-at-me-I’m-an-artist” East Austin kegger. We both genuinely care about helping people in our community, so friends and guests can not only pick up some great art at an affordable price, but also make a donation to those in need.

What is not awesome about that? Our good friend DJ Rocoroyo will be laying down the soundtrack and we’ll have all the usual refreshments at the reception on Friday night (special thanks to J. Haley and Pump Project Satellite), and possibly leftovers during open gallery hours on Saturday. Come celebrate with us.

After a creatively dismal 4th Quarter 2010, 2011 is already off on a highly productive note. I’m really interested in listening to music again, constantly, which as a general pattern with me indicates that sparks are a-flyin’! Scroll down for some recent hair/make-up/photog woodshedding. [inspired by ZE Records' Mutant Disco vol. 1]

I have new never-displayed-before & recent work up at Cafe Zope thru the end of July, so please stop by, grab a cold ‘n’ tasty beverage, a delicious crêpe and check it out.

Cafe Zope
344 N. 4th Ave.Tucson, AZ
July 13-30
Tu-Fri 9am-3pm
Sa-Su 8am-5pm

***RECEPTION***
***SATURDAY, JULY 17, 5-9pm***
Snacks catered by Café Zope, wine available, or BYOB

Now, about this art blowout sale thing:
Please buy something at Zope if you’re so inclined, everything is less than $50, and that’s not just per piece, that for sets of 2 pieces or more!!! Why are you getting such a deal? Because the Mr. and I are moving back to our hometown of Austin, Texas on July 31 and would be very grateful for any donations towards our move. How do you do this? The awesome staff at the cafe can handle any sales and I’ve authorized them to part with the work right off the walls so you don’t have to wait to collect your item(s). But more importantly, I’d love to see your shining faces at the reception on Saturday to give you a big thank-you/good-bye hug.

P.S. Never fear about Tu Scene – a re-launch event is also in the works towards the end of the month that will explain all.

27-6
Reception: Saturday, February 27, 6-9pm
Open Gallery: Sunday, February 28, 12-5pm
Candelabra Gallery, 412 E. 7th St., Tucson, Arizona

You’ve seen 27 online, now it’s time to see the show!

27 is how different artists approach the same theme.
27 is to be excited and inspired by photography.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxed27/

***Come to the Saturday reception for to take part in a surprise interactive photographic experiment!***
Music + refreshments

Work from MAXED ART members not limited to:
Rachelle Diaz, Alex G!, Christian Ramirez, Steven Soloway, Alex Von Bergen (Tucson, AZ)
Molly McClintock, Alex Nelson, Sylvia Sewell (Brooklyn, NY)
Jaxun Doten (Portland, OR)
and others… or perhaps not all of these people.

27 is an international group art project occurring on the 27th of every month. The project began in September 2009 as a collaborative photography experiment among mixed/multi-media artists and friends originally based in Tucson who, over the course of a few short months, found themselves living in different cities and missing the connection once accessible when it was easy to meet in person to share and talk about art.

Each month, we pick a different theme simple enough to shoot on a busy weekday, but one that also requires conceptual thinking and attention to detail. Past themes have included Place, Colors, Reflection, Transport, and Portraits. However, we’ve self-imposed a few technical limitations in order to make us stretch our imagination further within the given subject, leaving room for nuance and surprises. Images can only be taken within 24 hours on the 27th of the month, and only “lo-fi” cameras including disposable cameras, vintage cameras, toy cameras, cell phones, webcams and even scanners may be used.

But 27 is more than just a picture-taking/picture-looking/documentary project. We then share the resulting images online for commentary ranging from introspective aesthetic feedback to humorous quips. 27 has not only provided an outlet for communication within our collective, it has also made us grow as artists through examination of our personal thought processes and technical inventiveness.

[Image by Jenny DuPont: "trophy" from Reddy Set Go]

Pop Up Spaces‘ newest project, ±92, is a hybrid of art show, history lesson, architectural exhibit, planning study, performance and interactive experience. It will be unlike anything you or I have ever seen.

±92: Downtown Master Plans, 1932-2009

Soft Opening: Friday, October 2, 4-7pm
Grand Opening: Saturday, October 3, 6-10pm
Exhibit Hours: October 10, 17 and 24, 6-10pm
McLellan Building, 63 E. Congress (NW corner of Scott Ave. and Congress)

Tucson artists Bill Mackey, Julie Ray, Rachelle Díaz and Kimi Eisele, representing several collectives and entities including Worker, Inc., Pop-Up Spaces and Design Co*op, present ±92: Downtown Master Plans, 1932-2009, a compilation of over 100 Downtown Tucson master plans, comprehensive plans, studies and projects. The exhibition will include realized and unrealized plans authored from the early 20th century to 2009. An interactive timeline will help viewers track world events, economic and social trends, and Tucson’s history in relationship to the plans’ origins, realization, or death. This is a rare opportunity to see ALL of the planning for downtown Tucson in one space at one time.

Also included in the exhibition will be 92 images (by photographers including Josh Schachter) of spaces and places that make our downtown unique—some of these are a direct result of planning, some of which are not. A crew of official performing “apparatchiks” (i.e. officials in a large organization, usually a political one), will be on site to collect public input for current and future downtown master planning, for which there are no funds, of course. A small booklet entitled “A Guide to the Master Plans of Downtown Tucson” will be available for purchase.

Worker, Inc., Pop-Up Spaces and Design Co*op received pertinent plans, information, space, and materials for this exhibit from Pima County Planning Department Archives, City of Tucson Department of Transportation, Tucson Pima Arts Council, Poster Frost Architects, BWS Architects, Rob Paulus Architects, Wheat Scharf Landscape Architects, PARKWISE, Earl Wettstein, Alex Kimmelman, Donovan Durband, Sy Schorr, J.T. Fey, John Wesley Miller Companies, MOCA Tucson, Wilko, and others.

Created in 1995, Worker Inc. is a company that specializes in promoting change in the built environment. In 2007, Worker Inc. saw the need for science based research of the more mundane processes of popular culture and formed the Neighborhood Residents Resources Ethnography Studies Unit.

POP UP SPACES seeks to produce temporary, interactive, site-specific installations in empty spaces in which the visitors are not just expected to be passive viewers, but asked to be active participants. The goal of these art-based experiences is to enhance economic vitality and public engagement in downtown Tucson through promotion of the area’s culture, history, architecture and business community.

Design Co*op is a collective of Tucson-based architects, designers, and artists working across disciplines to raise public awareness of the value of affordable and appropriate urban design.

For more information, contact Bill Mackey, workerarchitect@yahoo.com; Julie Ray, juliegraphics@gmail.com; Rachelle Díaz, info@popupspaces.org; Kimi Eisele, kimi@kimieisele.com. Visit popupspaces.org to view past projects.

Press for ±92

• Zocalo magazine: “Actualized & Discarded Designs for Tucson” — August 5, 2009
• Tucson Weekly: “Designs for Downtown” — October 1, 2009

Mint vintage at affordable prices. Free delivery in Tucson. All this and more at artdivastudio.etsy.com.