September 3, 2004

{ Will Travel - New Paintings by Russ Pope - at Foundation Gallery September 3 - October 3 }

I first remember Russ Pope as founder of Creature, Scarecrow and Small Room back in the day. Lately he's been involved with helping run Black Label Skateboards and with making a name for himself in the world of galleried fine-art. He paints with raw powerful lines full of expression, and his pathos-filled characters carry their ugly on the inside. The new paintings on display for Will Travel project a sense of blurred motion, and the layering of images leads also to a layering of thoughts, actions and themes. The inclusion of text in these works builds upon that, becoming the thougts or voices of each piece, or of the characters depicted in each piece. Sometimes subtle, occasionally beligerent, the text offers visual cues for reading each painting, lest your eyes simply wander aimlessly from image to image. There's a lot to be absorbed here, a complexity belied by the rough nature of the lines and textures Pope creates. Adding to the madness are the presence and placement of Pope's 5-foot tall POP-UP characters, two-dimensional cutouts that stand guard over the gallery. Another excellent curation by Foundation Gallery- see the links below for more information and be sure to attend the opening reception tonight.

» Foundation Gallery
» See more of Russ Pope's work

By Adam in Art | Comments:

Comments

That's so strange. I was just thinking about Small Room Skateboards just the other day. I remember being really into them in like '91. All their products were really good and so unique. I was wondering whatever happened to Russ Pope, especially after recently hearing out of Don Pendleton's fame and fortune with Alien Workshop.
I guess now I know.

Posted by: Eric at September 4, 2004 4:50 AM

it's even weirder that Eric mentioned alien workshop and mr pendleton (ravenswood represent!!!) becaus ewhen i saw this piece...and adding the acknowledgement of simplistic text, i see a mix between neil blender and the great aaron(clutter canyon)zimmerman. the skateboard artists of yesteryear will always be held as incredible and important artists that pop culture likes to steal from. and i'm rambling!

Posted by: paul at September 7, 2004 9:57 AM

I just wanted to let the writer of this article (and the readers of this site) know that Russ Pope did not do any of the artwork for any of the skateboards for Scarecrow or Creature. The Scarecrow graphics were all done by Ben Horton, who now does the graphics for Zero and Mystery skateboards. This is a nice website, but I just wanted to set you straight on this item.

Posted by: J. Henderson at October 6, 2004 3:21 PM

Ms. Houghton is absolutely right, and I've corrected the article above to reflect that.
I was misled regarding the artistic history of Russ Pope, and made an error in reporting it.
My apologies to Russ, and Ben Horton.
My thanks to Jen for setting me straight.

Posted by: Adam at October 6, 2004 6:03 PM

HEY! I am collecting smallroom skateboard stuff. If anyone has a lead on decks, shirts, stickers, hats etc. PLEASE CONTACT me. I currently occupy the old smallroom skateboards location in San Luis Obsipo as my beand rehearsal space. We run cones and bomb hills right there all the time and want to make our rehearsal space a shrinage to what it once was....please help if you can.

Posted by: Sharkatron at February 10, 2005 4:25 PM

Correction on the Scarecrow graphics, Ben Horton was one of the artists at Scarecrow. Mike Myers did all ads and a lot of the art, James Wlliams did a lot of the typesets including the Scarecrow logo. Ben did all deck art. The Creature artist was John "Mojo" Munnerlyn. Both companies were founded by and Creatively Directed by Russ Pope.

Posted by: Francis at March 17, 2005 11:43 PM

are you dem or a republicin if democrat email me and talk to me peace out

Posted by: collin at March 16, 2006 9:47 PM