UPLIFTING VENGEANCE 2006 WORLD TOUR
RX Gallery, San Francisco.
Opening July 27, 2006

Review in SF Weekly Aug. 27-Sept. 2: It's nice to see an art exhibit with an over-the-top title, such as "Uplifting Vengeance World Tour," and overblown press notes — "an ongoing, all-out battle for human consciousness" — actually back that shit up. One look at the work on the walls and you forget about words, because there be monsters. And sharp teeth. And genetically fractured, nightmarish beings that you'd kill to have on a T-shirt. The work in this group show tends toward the wildly colorful cartoon fright-fest aesthetic, particularly in the paintings of Skinner. His dense, collage-like portraits of all things scary, tightly grouped on a wall that features a huge caped creature with its head aflame, give you plenty to marvel over — his work is like a study of things that go bump in the night before they rip your head off. Similarly intriguing are John Stuart Berger's cuddly-no-more animals (a frog gone insane, a sharp-toothed Moby Dick with a stomach wound, a black-eyed bunny with a horrific overbite) and Robert Bowen's surreal, drippy blobs of animal-like flesh (enlivened here and there with a creepy Mickey Mouse). "Uplifting Vengeance" also features work by Mike Rodriguez, Kim Scott, Aaron Winters, Ashley Harris, Dan Herrera, and Kevin Price. — Michael Leaverton

Robert Bowen

Ashley Harris & Dan Herrera

Aaron Winters

Skinner

John Stuart Berger

Mike Rodriguez

Kevin Price

Insets:

(top row, left to right) Mike Rodriguez, Kevin Price, Skinner. (bottom row) John Stuart Berger, Robert Bowen, Ashley Harris & Dan Herrera

Opening Party:

(top row, left to right)Skinner shows Anna how to shake at the devil as Aaron points. Jay Howell and Sully catch up while Kristie hugs Soldano. The Herrarrises. (bottom row) Ms. Meg and Mr. Hertzler. The RX bar from above. Art and Lettie.