Art Preview: Stickerthrow

Art Preview - Pittsburgh City Paper 6/9/2005 New Tack Writer: SARA GINSBURG If you’re looking for it, a walk down almost any city block reveals an ad hoc art gallery, where anonymous artists leave the names of alter egos, personal logos, political messages and figures -- human, animal and invented. Somewhere between the ubiquitous fliers and maverick graffiti that make up most of this evolving exhibition is sticker art -- small-scale artistic productions on mailing labels, contact paper, Hello My Name Is stickers and anything else that will stay up. Although recent local shows such as The Street Changes Forever Everywhere and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare have gathered unexpectedly appearing art for display before, Stickerthrow, at Garfield Artworks, will be the first to focus exclusively on sticker art. Curated by New York City street artists Abe Lincoln, Jr. and Anera, Stickerthrow premiered this past winter in a skate shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Lincoln and Anera gathered submissions from the artists who have created the most famous images and helped define the scene internationally, and put out an open call to local artists. Next to the panels of neatly spaced stickers from invited artists was a giant panel covered in a sprawling, piece-by-piece collage of responses to the open call. For Stickerthrow’s Pittsburgh appearance, a similar collage, courtesy of Pittsburgh contributors, will take shape next to the panels from the original show. “We wanted to get as many Pittsburgh people as possible contributing so people will recognize the images from in front of their house or at their bus stop,” says Juicy, local street artist and co-producer of the Pittsburgh show with fellow street artist, Horsie. Horsie, who co-curated The Street Changes, is also featured as an invited guest from the original Stickerthrow. She pursued street art in order to circumvent a common artist’s dilemma. “There’s a competitive aspect to the traditional art world. You need to sell yourself to get a couple-of-weeks-long show in a gallery. People put a price tag on their work and I just wasn’t really excited about that idea. But I also didn’t want to just have piles of stuff at home in my room.” “Sticker art is so unintimidating,” Horsie says. “It’s about play -- like kids with stickers on their headboards. And it’s about access -- access in terms of putting stuff up so people can see it without having to go to a gallery or pay to go to a museum. It’s about access in terms of other money issues -- it’s cheap. It’s also about art as an exchange instead of something that’s done in isolation.” When sticker art became a common sight on city streets, in the early ’90s, any mailbox or utility pole could turn into a slowly evolving collaboration. One sticker shows up, then a few days or weeks later, a couple more join it. The artists might know each other personally or peripherally; they might not know each other at all. Besides the obvious legal implications of unsanctioned public artistic expression that encourages many street artists to guard their identities, Juicy says, “Being anonymous but still being able to have a dialogue with anyone and everyone while being kind of top-secret -- I really like that idea. I feel like it even ruins it when you find out who another artist is. If you put a face to the name or a name to the face, there’s no more mystery.” Even as the show flips some accepted aspects of street art -- its distance from the world of galleries, the removal of the artist’s identity from the experience of seeing the art -- it still defies the more formal gallery world in which it’s presented. “Stickers are so ... fun,” Horsie concludes. “We need fun art shows.” Stickerthrow Opening reception 7 p.m. Sat., June 11. With performers Girl Talk, Seth P Brundel, and Cyne. Garfield Artworks, 4930 Penn Ave., Garfield. $5. 412-361-2262

June 10: John Dee Graham at Club Cafe

AMP Awards 2004: The best year ever? For Jon Dee, yeah 'The Great Battle' wins the top spot in the Austin Music Pundit Awards By Michael Corcoran Dec. 30, 2004

With 'The Great Battle,' Jon Dee Graham's combination of solid musicianship, salt-of-the-earth songwriting and gravelly-voiced delivery scored with critics. 'This year's gonna be the best year ever ... just wait and see," Jon Dee Graham sings on the title track of "The Great Battle," then concedes, "For about 45 minutes, then watch it sink into the sea." Here are part of your 45 minutes, Mr. Graham: Our panel of critics, music directors and insiders who voted in the eighth annual Austin Music Pundit Awards has declared "The Great Battle," a hardened, unflinching, yet ultimately sweet exploration of the human condition, the best Austin album of 2004. Produced by Charlie Sexton and engineered by Jared Tuten at the Top Hat and Wire studios in South Austin, "Battle" is so consistently good that the AMP crew voted individually for four of its tracks as the best Austin song. A perennial critics' fave, the gravel-throated guitar ace has consistently placed high in AMP voting, but with "The Great Battle" Graham put it together like never before.

The Lowdown:
7:30PM Friday, June 10
Doors Open At 6PM
$12 in Advance / $14 Day of Show

Tickets available through TicketMaster
Charge by phone 412-323-1919.

Call Club Cafe at 412-431-4950 for more details.

June 10: Post-Gazette Rundown

Saxon Shore/Ill Ease
Venue: Garfield Artworks
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $7
Ticket contact info: 412-361-2262

Cowboy Junkies, Inara George
Venue: Three Rivers Arts Festival
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Ticket price: Free

Los Lonely Boys/Martin Sexton
Venue: Hartwood Acres
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7 p.m.
Ticket price: Free

Florence Freedom at Washington Wild Things
Venue: Falconi Field
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:05 p.m.
Ticket price: $5-$10
Ticket contact info: (866) 456-WILD

The Desk Set
Venue: Peter Mills Theater
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $12-$10
Ticket contact info: 412-396-4997

William Marchant's romantic comedy explores the concerns of computers replacing people and office romance.

Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones
Venue: Allegheny County Courthouse
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: Noon
Ticket price: Free

The Little Prince
Venue: Theatre Factory
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $6
Ticket contact info: 412-374-9200

Adapted by Rick Cummins & John scouller from the book by Antoine de Sainte-Exupery.

For more information, visit www.TheTheatreFactory.com.

Fiddler on the Roof
Venue: Comtra Theatre
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $12
Ticket contact info: For reservations, call 724-773-9896

My Favorite Year
Venue: Cresson Lake Playhouse
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $14 adults, $13 s/s, $6 under age 12
Ticket contact info: 1-814-472-4333

A musical comedy.

Snow White
Venue: McKeesport Little Theater
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $15, $7 students; group discounts available
Ticket contact info: 412-673-1100

A children's show.

Rounding Third
Venue: St. Vincent Theatre
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8:10 p.m.
Ticket price: $8-$18.50. Call for details; reservations required
Ticket contact info: 724-537-8900

A play by Richard Dresser about the tumultuous and hilarious journey of two Little League coaches from their first season meeting to the climactic championship game.

Enchanted April
Venue: Apple Hill Playhouse
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: Call box office
Ticket contact info: 724-468-5050

Desperate housewives take the stage in this award-winning romantic comedy by Matthew Barber. When two frustrated London housewives decide to rent a villa in Italy for a holiday away from their bleak marriages, they recruit two very different English women to share the cost and experience. There, among the wisteria blossoms and Mediterranean sunshine, all four bloom again--rediscovering themselves in ways that they--and we--could never have expected.

The Nina Variations
Venue: Stephen Foster Memorial
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $15-$22
Ticket contact info: 412-394-3353

Stephen Dietz's fierce and heartbreaking homage to Chekov's "The Seagull." Starring Robin Walsh and Chris Josephs.

Juried Exhibits and Crafts
Venue: Three Rivers Arts Festival
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: morning until 9 p.m.
Ticket price: Free

Visual arts exhibits, craft market and live music. Point State Park and Downtown.

Heartbreak House
Venue: Stephen Foster Memorial
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: Call for details
Ticket contact info: 412-394-3353

By George Bernard Shaw.
Love versus money. Shaw's masterpiece has everything: young love, hypnotism, loud explosions, philandering, burglary and music. Into the eccentric household of Captain Shotover and his daughter Hesione comes Ellie Dunn, a young woman ready to marry for money rather than love. Should financial concerns take priority over romantic ones, or should we hold onto our ideals, regardless of the consequences?

Rib America Food & Music Festival
Venue: Chevrolet Amphitheatre at Station Square
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 4 p.m.
Ticket price: $5 GA, Limited Gold Circle- $15
Ticket contact info: 412-323-1919

Donnie Iris
Show time: TBA

www.belkinproductions.com

Pirates vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Venue: PNC Park
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:05 p.m.
Ticket price: varies
Ticket contact info: 1-800-BUY-BUCS

Forbes Field Replica

Jon Dee Graham
Venue: Club Cafe
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $12 advance, $14 at door
Ticket contact info: 412-323-1919

Forever Plaid
Venue: Cabaret at Theater Square
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $25-$36
Ticket contact info: 412-456-6666

The New York musical comedy hit Forever Plaid is the deliciously funny and charming story of “The Plaids,” a classic 1950s all-male singing group, who were killed in a car crash on their way to their first big gig! Audiences will be rolling in the aisles and tapping their toes as “The Plaids” are miraculously revived to perform the concert that never was in this hilariously nostalgic musical! Performing precision harmonies and executing their delightfully outlandish choreography with over-zealous precision, “The Plaids” perform some of the 1950s greatest hits: “Catch a Falling Star,” “Three Coins in the Fountain,” “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” and “Magic Moments.”

A Little Night Music
Venue: Benedum Center
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: Starting at $14
Ticket contact info: 412-456-6666

Love is in the air! Stephen Sondheim’s Tony® Award-winning score intoxicates audiences in this romantic musical comedy. Desperations, delights, flirtations and frustrations abound as a trio of mismatched couples share an enchanted weekend in the country. Romantic attractions and outrageous mishaps move audiences to both laughter and tears in this musical celebration of love. The elegant score includes moving melodies such as “You Must Meet My Wife,” “Soon” and the Grammy Award-winning hit “Send in the Clowns.”

Gaelic Storm
Venue: Rex Theatre
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $15
Ticket contact info: 412-323-1919

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Venue: Heinz Hall
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 8 p.m.
Ticket price: $19.50-$69.50
Ticket contact info: 412-392-4900

Part of the Mellon Grand Classics concert series.
The Transcendent Finale will be conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and feature Michelle
DeYoung, soprano, Marcus Haddock, tenor, Alan Held, bass and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.

Late Night Cabaret presents Kevin Hurley
Venue: Cabaret at Theater Square
Date: Friday, June 10, 2005
Time: 10:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $8 in advance, $10 at the door
Ticket contact info: 412-456-6666

Professional Magician/Entertainer who will have you laughing till your sides hurt!

[Courtesy of the Post-Gazette]