Blue Blood hottie Serena Toxicat recently mentioned that she would be showing thirty of her art pieces at the Blow Gallery in Berkely, California. If you are in that neck of the woods, you can stop by 2112 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 for an evening of hotties like Serena Toxicat, art, and possibly some free booze. Most gallery shows have free booze. I try not to examine why too closely. Here you can examine the conversation Serena Toxicat and I just had about art.
Amelia G: What first got you into creating? Were you always creative?
Serena Toxicat: Apparently as a 5 year-old my painting looked like pointillism. My 1st grade art teacher raved about the stuff. After my dad saw how much I liked to color and paint, his best friend bought me a set of acrylics and I never looked back, except to kick my own ass to make more. I do so many things in the world of art and performance that my productivity in any one area tends to ebb and flow.
Amelia G: What are your favorite media to create in and how to you feel writing vs. visual arts compare for expressing yourself?
Serena Toxicat: I love acrylic and just developed a system whereby I draw in marker over an acrylic base. I also like making sculpture with found objects and occasionally indulge in photography. I made some mixed media pieces, with b&w images of my pointy little Isis as the central focus. Most intriguing might be my channeled oracular pieces. I close my eyes and let the spirits paint with my hands. You should feel the energy coming out of those things!
Creating is creating, and if I’m happy with a piece of art I feel the same sense of completeness I do with my writing. Usually the visual stuff goes faster. Well, compared to a book it does!
Amelia G: Who is curating the Blow show and how did you get involved? Does it have any particular theme?
Serena Toxicat: Amy O’Rourke, one of the stylists, curated the last two shows. It is very eclectic – everything from artistic nudes to hanging paper sculpture – and she is quite happy about that!
Amelia G: Is it true that the Blow gallery is actually a hair salon? If so, how does that work? Do they get the sort of clientele where the art and hairstyle work have good synergy and complement one another?
Serena Toxicat: Yes! And they do great hair. It seems to work well for them, this meeting of the aesthetic worlds. The clients appreciate it and many come to the shows and buy or just enjoy. Blow has a new opening every 10 weeks with fantastic catering. They have been combining hair and showing art for as long as I can remember. I discovered them while searching for a colorist. When I found David, who has since moved, we developed a relationship based on bright horizontal stripes (in my hair) and mullets (as material for many a delirious joke).
Amelia G: When to when can people see the show? Anything in particular, specific art piece of yours, event feature, other artists showing with you, whatever, which you think people will extra enjoy?
Serena Toxicat: It starts Sat. 4-4 and closes June 7. I’m really excited about my bright green and orange pieces. They address important issues, like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc., and feature multicultural female (so far) subjects dressed in gothy striped frocks.
I also hope people get off on my socially conscious and poetic propagand[iv]a video. I play a newscaster and talk about everything from Bush and Obama to animal activism and being nice to hookers. Jim Stipovich has been showing his nudes since the 70’s. I’m sure he’ll bring out his following out of the proverbial woodwork and make many new fans! I also love Shaista and Kelly’s stuff. Fun!
Gidget Gein (born, Bradley Anne Stewart) lived his life to the fullest,and touched countless people with his art, music, and multi-layered persona. He was a dear friend, and a close collaborator, who gave his all to projects but never lost his remarkable sense of humor. I met this amazing man just shortly after he moved to Los Angeles. Our mutual friend, Lenora Claire, introduced us when I was interested in casting him in one of my films. I was immediately struck by his whole aesthetic and by his humble personality. From that moment on, I was smitten with him and we grew to become friends and created some art together.
Gidget was best known to most people out there for his contributions to the band, Marilyn Manson, and more specifically Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids. He performed bass and wrote music, but it was his authentic style and aura that would later become so vital to the whole Manson aesthetic. All internal band politics and hearsay aside, his creativity would peak later and in all honesty, it was in his solo work that he would craft his own voice.
Fueled by pulp novels, blaxploitation, B-movies, pop art, drag queens, pornography, religion,and racism, Gidget began painting, silk-screening, and drawing amazing art that would become an essential part of the underground UnPop Art Movement. He played in his own band, The Dali Gaggers, for quite awhile, and also recorded solo musical projects, designed his own clothing line, Gollywood, and so much more.
His acting was amazing and his quirks made him all the more endearing. The two roles he played in my films are eerie to me now, for apparent reasons. I was very proud of him for embracing the acting bug, and more than anything else for the fact that he was clean for 9 years or so. He had been so strong and no matter what, always remained a bright and powerful force. He could always make me smile. His sense of humor was sick and twisted, but also very innocent. He was such a tender and sensitive soul. Any trouble or pain just drove more negativity into his heart, and there was apparently more hurt there than anyone could imagine.
There is no forgetting Brad. There is no way to sum up his influence or magic. There is no way to let him go. Gidget Gein is art. He is rock and roll. He is a dear friend and a cultural icon.
Laughing Squid reports that the Art 94124 gallery in San Francisco will be presenting the 6th Annual Altered Barbie Art Show this week. This gallery group exhibit showcases the works of a variety of artists with different takes on the Barbie concept and place in the cultural zeitgeist. The Altered Barbie site has more information and gives you the opportunity to buy the gift for that hard-to-shop-for friend who has everything i.e. an $8,000 Barbie. Bet most folks you know don’t have one of those yet. Actually, even as I type this, I feel the certainty coming on that I must know at least one person who does.
With The Sun reporting that the new Black Canary Barbie, based on the DC Comics superhero character, could be called S&M Barbie, edgy artists will need to pull out all the stops. I have faith that Art 94124’s artists will be up to the challenge. But, yes, Mattel is actually releasing a superheroine Barbie clad in motorcycle jacket-cut PVC, hotpants, fishnets, and fetish boots. I’d ask what the impact of such media on little girls is likely to be, but I saw Olivia Newton-John in Grease when I was the right age for Barbie. Grease clearly taught that the best thing was to be a nice girl like Sandra Dee, but to dress like a dangerous black-clad uber-slut. Taking my own experience as an example, obviously eleven-year-olds don’t take any weird lessons away from such media. I mean, look how I turned out.
I met the talented Kristin Tercek through Ed Mironiuk who has been doing artwork for Blue Blood projects since 1995 or 1996. But Kristin wouldn’t need nepotism to be covered here because I love love love her Cuddly Rigor Mortis doll collection. Kristin is also an accomplished illustrator and completely self-taught. She explains her fairly organic creative process, “I basically sketch out a design and then go to the fabric store and wander around, touching everything, holding it up to the light, stretching it out to see if it might be the right fit.” She generally has an idea what she is looking for. For example, the artist was sure her Pulp Fiction-inspired fetish plush Gimp “needed to be black leather or vinyl” and was pleased when she found just the right soft, black pleather. Some of her creations, however, such as the Tiki plush doll and matching purse came into existence because Kristin found a cotton wood grain print velvet fabric which just begged to be made into something cool.
Although Kristin Tercek’s Cuddly Rigor Mortis plushes have only just been launched, they have already appeared in Frontiers Magazine, been a Yahoo New & Notable and Daily Pick, and been part of the Plush Rush show at Acme Art Gallery in Ohio. Kristin even did an exclusive one-of-a-kind cuddly piece for Plush Rush called Gorbot. The seasonal Gingerbreadman plush was a featured item on Etsy the fast-growing online marketplace for all things handmade. Seasonal means that you can only order Gingerbreadman which his deliciously chewed-on head or the very cheerful Snowman between now and January 31, 2006, although this article will be archived to tease you after the moment of opportunity passes.
Here is our exclusive Blue Blood interview with artist Kristin Tercek, the creator of the fabulous Cuddly Rigor Mortis plushes:
What first lead you on the path to the darker end of the artistic spectrum?
Always been there, always will be. What’s great now is the combination of cute and killer, something I’m obviously attracted to.
How did you get into doing art in general and cool dolls in specific?
I think I was born with a paintbrush in my hand. I grew up on Bob Ross and William Alexander (the same premise as Bob Ross but with a big, old Prussian guy ‘Firing in the trees! with your brush!’). I started painting on my own around 11 and haven’t stopped. About 4 years ago I started dabbling in other mediums and stumbled upon sewing. I’ve always loved stuffed animals (to the point where I still can’t watch any being thrown away) and got sucked into the whole urban vinyl/designer toy movement where all these different artists were turning their work into three dimensional toys. The plush designers like Ugly Dolls, Friends with You and Anna Chambers really inspired me to buy some fabric and let my inner plush-maker out.
What inspires your work?
I guess you could say all the old monster movies do. Certainly artists like Tim Biskup, Seonna Hong, Mark Ryden, Takashi Murakami, everything San-X, Aranzi Aronzo, Toy Field (Japanese Teddy Bear designers), Kariwanz (Japanese Fetish designers) and of course, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
Do you whistle while you work?
I don’t listen to much but recently Gorillaz has gotten my attention. I love everything about them, even their toys by Kid Robot (I recently acquired Noodle and can’t take my eyes off of him). Black Eyed Peas is an amazingly good album, too. One of my oldies but goodies is Desi Arnaz. You gotta love Cuba when it was cool. Honestly the past couple of weeks I’ve been going through the original Star Trek DVD’s while I work.
Any additional special credits or bio info you want to mention?
So far I’ve been so lucky with Cuddly Rigor Mortis. Gimp made it onto http://agentchin.typepad.com/cutethings/ . It’s a great list of cool toys that this person liked. So I emailed her to thank her and low and behold it’s Lili Chin one of the creators of “Mucha Lucha”. Gimp now lives with her in LA. He’s also been a part of Tokyo Perve’s Halloween Ball, accompanied by Karin and Wanco of Kariwanz. All of the plushes have sold really well due in no small part to the fact that someone over at Yahoo! (I don’t know who) took a liking to my website and made it a ‘New and Notable’ with only three other sites for a week in October and a Daily Pick in MyYahoo!. My webhits jumped from 3 a day to 5500 (it’s gone down a lot more now…whew!). These little guys have been shipped to Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, Italy and of course, the good old US of A. I even had a fan over in Iraq in the form of an army soldier. (hope you made it home, Daniel!) who bought three of them! Everyone has been so nice and so happy with their plushes — I can’t ask for anything better.
What are your plans for the near future?
Sew! Sew! Sew! oh and celebrate Christmas with the little ones (2 chihuahuas and a husband, Ed Mironiuk). I was also asked to be part of a 12 artist plush show at Plastic Passion Toys in Seattle sometime in February. Ed and I also want to shop around a gallery show we want to do called ‘Pinups and Plushes’. It includes both our artwork — he’s started making pinups that include and compliment my plushes. Oooh he’s so talented it kills me!
Who is your favorite Blue Blood hottie?
I must say I’ve taken a liking to Dana Dark. I like her dog.
Blue Blood hottie Serena Toxicat recently mentioned that she would be showing thirty of her art pieces at the Blow Gallery in Berkely, California. If you are in that neck of the woods, you can stop by 2112 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 for an evening of hotties like Serena Toxicat, art, and possibly some free booze. Most gallery shows have free booze. I try not to examine why too closely. Here you can examine the conversation Serena Toxicat and I just had about art.
Creating is creating, and if I’m happy with a piece of art I feel the same sense of completeness I do with my writing. Usually the visual stuff goes faster. Well, compared to a book it does!
Amelia G: When to when can people see the show? Anything in particular, specific art piece of yours, event feature, other artists showing with you, whatever, which you think people will extra enjoy?
