And the Art Remembers When… [Updated]
Is a picture worth a thousand words? Or rather, a thousand memories? This past Saturday, several artists attempted to answer that question, at the “Old School Art Show” hosted by Arlington’s F6 Gallery.
A variety of artistic styles playfully recreated the youthful images of twenty, thirty, and even forty years ago at this weekend’s exhibit. Photography, mixed-media paintings, and sculpture transported us back to the land of Transformers, Sesame Street, Runts® candy, and the Three Stooges. Scenes from Top Gun were etched onto wood, skulls mingled with butterflies in paint, and photographs captured the personality of old but glorious Atari® game consoles.
The F6 Gallery was formed out of a warehouse on Division Street in January 2007. Created to provide any artist with a place to show their art, the gallery hosts shows about once per month, which are free to the Arlington community. Their next show, “Objects, Glass & Metal with Photography”, will be in August.
Share with us your thoughts on the show — your favorite piece, or even your most favorite childhood memory. Did you revel in all of the nostalgia? Were you there as an artist, or as a guest?
Updated 7/8/10: Leighton Autrey recently sent us this email:
“Thanks for putting some of my paintings on your guys site. I love the comments that are getting posted, even the one’s that say they are offended by the skull and crosses. To me that means my paintings got through to them, hit a nerve and made them think. That painting reaches out and gets the attention of the believers and non believers of JESUS and that was the point. Thanks Again, Leighton Autrey”
May I ask how this one image is “controversial”? Is it just the mixture of the crosses and skulls? Everyone has in fact noticed that the picture of the butterfly contains skulls, right?
I wonder, if this post were to show a picture of The Birth of Venus or a depiction of one of the Stations of the Cross, would those be deemed controversial as well? Is it because this Skull/Cross image above is on a website and not in a museum or a church, which is where my two examples would most likely be found?
This post isn’t on the home page in as large a way as it was when it was in the “Vibe Features” section, so when someone comes to the site, they’re not going to see these images immediately. Furthermore, while I don’t think anyone is coming here to see mature images, I’d also like to think that no one is expecting a post about the subject of art to shy away from a picture seemingly as innocuous as one that mixes 3 crosses and a skull.
I think my main point here is that when you walk into a museum or a church, no one’s expecting the curators or clergy to keep certain bits of the rooms or building under cover or anything, and I feel that the people responsible for posting content to a website generally have a good idea of when its readers should be warned of potentially inappropriate content (most often this is nudity, violence, or obscene language, commonly known as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW).
What a great idea!! We need more of this kind of community based functions. Bring on the next one!!
Having the VIBE is a great service to Arlington and a great way for my students and parents to see what is going on here….I have had some parents express concern about sending their children to a site with such controversial images…..could those looking for more mature images be sent to a link where they can see the entire collection? Then citizens of all ages could be comfortable accessing all the great information the VIBE has to offer!
I think it’s cool that you guys mentioned the carvings of “Top Gun”, it’s a new style I’m doing called “Ghost Carving”. It uses light to change the image that can be seen, it was hillarious to see people comming in from across the room to see what was really going on with the panels.
the butterfly stirs up my days from the 60’s….makes me think of joplin,moby grape,paul butterfield, mike bloomfield, san francisco, etc…..i never was much of a painter or drawer with pens,ink -pencil , but there were posters & album covers from back when that always caught my attention…..
To quote Henri Matisse, “Creativity takes courage”. Some people are going to love your art and some won’t. Thanks Leighton, for having the courage to share your creativity. I love that it makes people think.
The skulls and crosses painting doesn’t offend me – but that doesn’t mean I love it. I liked the 3 Stooges painting at the F6 show.
Mathew 27:33 read “They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).”
For those of you leaving comments regarding the skull painting with the 3 crosses, you might want to understand that art usually has a meaning behind it. You, as a “Christian” as you refer yourself, might want to open your Bible and read this verse and the whole chapter at that. It is refering to Golgotha where Jesus was taken to be crucified.
I am a Christian as well and am usually not so fond of the skull paintings but this just proves that you (“Christian”) shouldn’t be so judgemental of a painting (or of people) until you understand the meaning behind it. You might already know Jesus Christ as your Savior but for those who don’t, this painting could touch their lives–please don’t take that away from anyone.
Hope this opened the eyes of some and touched the hearts of those in need. God bless.
Leighton is a High School Art teacher as well and shared with me that he was voted “Teacher of the Year” by his fellow teachers durning his first year of teaching. This guy is talented!
I talked to Leighton and he told me that the cross and skull painting is from the bible itself. Luke 23:33 which says “When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.” The Skull or aka “Calvary” is what gets your attention and is why you feel offended but in reality it works. He explained that the crosses are above the skull to defeat death. Leighton got your attention, made you think and thats what makes him a great artist. Keep it up.
I attended this art show (my first ever F6 event), and was generally pleasantly surprised at the broad range of mediums represented there that everyone used to express themselves.
I’ll say that not everything appealed to me, but being a child of the 80s, I loved all the iconic things from that time – Rubiks cubes, Atari and Nintendo games, Top Gun, Sesame Street, et al.
It’s interesting that both Carol and Sharon feel the skull and crosses picture is offensive or inappropriate. I was raised in a Methodist household, am 27 now, and don’t feel it’s either offensive or inappropriate. After all, it’s art; I’d never expect everyone to agree on an opinion about one piece.
What’s more is that if you check out Leighton’s site, he has these words to say in the “About Me” section on the right hand side: “I have been given an artistic talent from God and when I’m not teaching art, I’m creating it….I love GOD, my beautiful wife Mallary…”, so it seems to me that he too considers himself a Christian. I’d be interested to hear his thoughts on how or what he feels his art should communicate to both like-minded, and not-so-like-minded, individuals.
In this case, I’d definitely use the phrase “your mileage may vary” here, with regards to how everyone feels about the art displayed both in this post, and at the gallery.
Great post all-around, and I’m looking forward to more things from F6 and the VIBE!
This is the first time I have viewed your website. I am a teacher and I look for websites that I can share with my studentsand their parents. The art work that you pictured seemed appropriate except the picture of the skull with the crosses. Maybe there were some more representative pictures that could have been used.
While I definitely am a fan of contemporary art, I am NOT a fan of the Leighton art piece showing the skull with the crosses coming out of it. To be honest, as a Christian it is deeply offensive to me. There’s no doubt Leighton is talented, but I would appreciate taking that picture off this site as a representation of his work. If he wants to showcase that piece in a gallery, etc. that’s fine. But, to be displayed on this site, it may cause people to not return. IMHO
This was one of F6’s smaller shows but it was fun and there were a few really cool works.
Shame that none of your article pics capture the art or environment of the old school show.