Most bars show art to bring in more drinkers and increase sales. As mercenary as that sounds, the added wall space is a welcome addition to gallery space. The work reaches an audience that might not normally be exposed to gallery art, and a lot the work is entry level. Bar and cafe shows have their place and tradition in the art world.
Frank Strunk III is a prolific and well-known metal artist in Saint Petersburg whose work has been shown widely. He has worked with and/or mentored most of Saint Petersburg's best women artists, but that's for another blog post. Laura Spencer draws and paints figurative imagery with an illustrator's touch for the narrative.
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| Strunk and Spencer, "The Big Bang" |
The two of them collaborated on a show titled "Bombastic" in early August at the Sake Bomb bar, the original home of the Wednesday Artists' gathering.
Collaborations can result in a new synthesis, work that looks like a departure from either artist, or something more like a diptych with areas/parts distinctly from each one. "Bombastic" was of the latter variety.
A repeated and central theme of this show was a very emphatic "weaponization" of genitalia, with things like grenades in crotches. Bombastic indeed. It was a good show and an excellent one for any bar show.
Kudos to Spencer and Strunk for taking the time and effort to improve the existing lighting in the Sake Bomb. That should have been done long ago.
Congratulations on a good show.
--- Luis
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