Behind The Mask art show at The Grind Gallery

"Behind The Mask" group art show took place at The Grind Gallery on Friday night in Mar Vista which most people know as the Venice area. Artist Christopher Ulrich, Ted Von Heiland, Clinton Neuhaus, Bob Lizarraga, Jennifer Springman, Christopher Hall and many others showed off their creations.

Like most art shows you take a quick troll from the door glancing a peep at the art as you head to the complimentary bar area. The makeshift bar at this gallery was in the coolest back patio that gave you the feel like you were chillin at a friends house. Now with a strong Dewers whiskey and coke in hand it was back inside the gallery to view the art on display for this opening.

The art tonight was very on point since Halloween is nearing with horror and gothic imagery taking center stage. One thing that was very obvious was the omission of the pseudo art critic types and overtly “cool types” at this show. The collection of people that came out were just regular people that just wanted to check out some amazing art from a different prospective. If you somehow landed on this page because you did some sort of crazy Google search expecting a scholarly art critic prospective on this show, looks like you are the looser. What can be told about this show is that the vibe here was very chatty as everyone in the gallery relayed what they were interpreting out of each piece while some just inhaled the details of their various pieces.

All the pieces at this show were all a kick in the head, just like this piece that would be a great addition to home. The Hitchcock piece by artist Clinton Neuhaus was one that we were pretty enamored with, maybe it was in part because Hitchcock scared the fuck out of me as a kid and it is just the Stockholm Syndrome kicking in. Aside from that, it was a piece that just worthy of the stare that starts picking out all the details in the piece.

One of the draws for this show was to see some live painting. It’s like seeing a band live verses hearing their CD, when it’s live you have to deliver the goods, you cant make mistakes that can be covered up with a retake. We watched for 45 minutes as artist extraordinaire, Michael Pukac transformed the blank canvas into a piece of visual stimulation. The fun was to see how this painting continued to evolve with every brush stroke. When the canvas assault was almost over a gal walked up and wanted to buy it. While she went to search for an ATM, Michael laid the finishing touches.

As we stood out front gathering our group up to head to Hollywood, gallery honcho, Shahid Brown was out front thanking people for coming to check out the art. He walked over and personally thanked our group. He did not have a clue who any of us were or that this show was gonna be written up, this was just his style, nothing pretentious, just sincerity and proud to represent the arts. The Grind Gallery has openings every month, browse their website to stay in the know.
www.thegrindgallery.com

Here is a link to some more photos from this show, you will see I am not a good picture taker

 

-Payne-