Steve Banks: Punching Holes in the Rah-Rah: January 2020

A while back I came across a beat-up tabletop that was itchin' to become a carving. last night I decided to take the first steps towards making that a reality.

The first step is to create several sketches of what I want to do. It is way easier to lay things out on paper than trying to erase on wood.

Once I have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, I tackle the piece itself. First with pencil, then I go over those lines with a couple Sharpie Markers so I can see the lines while I am carving. Time to add the characters that will be inhabiting this world/piece.

The first of several cameos... This character originally came from the classic board game PAYDAY! I used him back in 2018 for my piece Mystaphorical Parfait in Pop Culture Palimpsest. Here is a detail of that piece, AND a detail of the detail, so you can actually see what I am talking about.

More marker work.

This rabbit originally appeared in Relative Location Redux back in 2014. He's ready to get back out into circulation, without his goggles this time.

The same can be said for this devil dude.

Both of them appeared in Relative Location Redux.

More marker-y goodness...

I've need to clean off my carving table before I can dive into the carving portion of the show. Since I am not known for my love of cleaning, it may be a while before I post any progress pictures...

A few days ago I posted a 'year-in-review' post for 2019. As almost an afterthought, I commented on it also being the end of a decade. I wasn't really paying attention when it slipped by, but the decade has ended still the same. I've decided to start off the new year/decade with a brief review of the previous 10 years.

A LOT had to be edited out in order to trim this thing down to just cumbersome. All of my cool photos from road trips to the West and to South America had to to be omitted. There were things, people, and events that were, and in most cases, still are important to me, but I couldn't lay my hands on any images of them, so they didn't make this post either. My apologies in advance.

Let's swing into this trip down memory lane, shall we?

I started the decade still driving Truckasaurus Rex. I nursed that vehicle to over 300,000 miles. I don't know the final mileage -since the odometer quit working around 305,000 miles. Three vehicles later, I am back in a truck and I am as happy and as grateful for my new truck as I was to have Truckasaurus Rex. Thanks to Gary, Phil, and Wini for my truck-based joys!!

Artifice, Artifact, and Allegory. 2011. Quad City Arts Airport Gallery.

ELEMENTAL. 2011. Group show at MidCoast Gallery West with Emily Christenson (Website), Matt Pulford (Website), and Terry Rathje (Website). The awesome series of invitations are the product of Mr. Terry Rathje.

It was during ELEMENTAL, that Terry and I discovered that we worked well together (the first of many collaborations to come).

'Collaborative' works with Heidi Hernandez (Website) (and later Terry Rathje!) for Merican-Tastic! (2012) and Merican-Tastic! II: The Son of Tastic! (2014...maybe 2013, my memory is a bit hazy on that one).

In 2013 I was fortunate enough to work with Terry Rathje to fabricate a piece for his solo show at The Figge Art Museum (https://figgeartmuseum.org/), Questionable Architecture (Click to see Terry's show).

A shot of Terry Rathje, Monica Correia (Website), and me.

Sometimes I think our piece, Vestibule, should have been called Vestige. That green stained wood still shows up in both of our projects 7 years later.

SPINE-Taneous! A one-night only group show pairing local artists and local chiropractors who created collaborative artworks for the show.

It was right around the time of SPINE-Taneous that Dean Kugler (Website) became a regular feature in my art/life -an overdue injection of mother-scratchers, verbal abuse, know-how, positive thinking, and enthusiasm.

In 2014 I participated in on-Som-bel at Water Street Studios (https://waterstreetstudios.org/) -an absolutely stunning venue!

One of the cool people I met at Water Street Studios was Jen Evans (Website). We have since worked on a couple collaboration pieces like this one, and occasionally talk about making more.

I have also had the privilege to help install several shows, fabricate portions of shows, and work with with several artist to help bring their's (and other artists') visions to fruition as an Exhibition Installer at The Figge Art Museum.

Ben Upchurch (https://benjupchurch.com/home.html)

Robin Hill.

Justin Schortgen (https://www.justinschortgen.com/)

Dean Kugler and Andrew Wallace talking with Jefferson Pinder (http://www.jeffersonpinder.com/) before his show Ghostlight.

Rose Frantzen and Charles Morris (http://www.oldcityhallgallery.com/).

In 2015 Terry Rathje and I took our show on the road and went to Suriname for a series of lectures, exhibitions, and to participate in the Moengo Festival of Art.

The salt and pepper action I had in my goatee in 2011 had decidedly become mostly salt by August of 2015.

Dean Kugler, Terry Rathje, and I created a sight-specific sculpture for the 10-year anniversary for the Figge Art Museum back in 2015 called allinitogether.

Moments.

For several years we have worked to help with the Figge Gala. Here is a picture of our efforts from the 2015 Gala.

This image is from a different Gala, but it still captures the magic of the evening.

In 2018 I had a solo show at The Figge Art Msueum -Pop Culture Palimpsest (LINK TO THE SHOW). Dean Kugler convinced his good friend Keith Nester (of Cast of Thousands Photography) to photograph the show -which is why I have abnormally good images of it. Here are a few highlights!

After Victor Armendariz saw Pop Culture Palimpsest, he added me to Gallery Victor Armendariz (https://www.galleryvictor.com/) in Chicago. Nice!

Through being part of Gallery Victor Armendariz, I had work in SOFA (Sculptural Object Functional Art). Very nice!!

A huge 'THANK YOU' to all of the friends, family, and art-lovers who came out to lend their support over the last decade to see some of the various shows of which I was a part.