Friday, October 24, 2008

Portraits of Andy Torch and Greg Edmondson as a German flounder



Yesterday I "installed" my part of the group art show I am in tonight (7-10 p.m.) in a loft at 2101 Locust, right across from the Tap Room (not cattycorner, as I had been saying). "Installing" my "work" for this public show was not much different from decorating my dashboard, which is my more typical curatorial efforts. I just taped shit up.

Then I strolled across Locust for a beer and a plate of fries. There sat Andy Torch, the hardest working man in St. Louis Surrealism. In fact, he had been working - tearing down walls on the far South Side to build up a storefront for his antique toy business.

I have never sketched, Andy, and he has a fresh, mischievous, boyish look that I did my best to capture. In trying to fake a little detail on his T-shirt, I did a microstudy of the old Busch Stadium, which led him to make the hilarious observation about the Tampa Rays' stadium that I scrawled on the portrait.

Helping Andy in his labors was fellow local artist Greg Edmondson, who presently appeared at the bar. I have sketched Greg several times and enjoy doing it, because he has a long, thin face with several distinctive shapes - his upper lip is particularly fun to try to get.

As I was sketching Greg, he and Andy were musing on the St. Louis art scene's disproportionate focus on German art, and Greg was imagining the transformations necessary to make himself over as a faux kraut. He even signed the sketch using a Germanic nom de plume.

Though this here is "new work," too new for the "recent work" that is "hanging" (by the thread of blue electrician's tape) in my first public "show," the actual two real artists behind these sketches will themselves join me tonight at the loft on Locust, or so they tell me. Given that free Schlafly will be on offer, my instincts tell me I will, indeed, be seeing them soon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm looking forward to meeting you at the show tonight. I "installed" my stuff last night (hoping that it's still on the wall as I didn't really have the right things to hang on brick...) and I think the space looks really good, including your drawings. :)

nosey parker said...

well, since my previous comment was denied by the blog gestapo and you've since posted about your show for the googillionth time I'll send another art blessing your way. Let me know how the market value of your work turns.
I've got a hot Chris King sketch that might fetch me some crunk on ebaby...baby

Poetry Scores said...

Not sure about that previous post from Nosy. I do now moderate comments after a regular vistor using a City of St Louis computer (according to my state counter) regularly left vile, off-point comments at the expense of their host.

See you tonight, Amy.

nosey parker said...

True dat! King's got an art spert.