Tina Imel's oil paintings are an amalgamation of classical portraiture, punch cartoons and medical texts. Her portraits border on the surreal. She often incorporates pieces of someone else's past into her own environment.
Her fondness of possessions that have outlived their owners and her traditional style of painting give her introspective and very personal work a connection to history. Tina is an award winning artist whose work has been shown in galleries across the United States and Europe. Her paintings will be published in two upcoming books, including a collection of contemporary female surrealists.
Scary Fun - The Art of Kristen Margiotta
Written by Administrator
Growing up, I was always attracted to creepy, scary, but fun things. Scary Stories to tell in the Dark, R.L. Stine books, and movies such as Return to Oz or Alice in Wonderland were some of my favorite past times. Halloween could never come sooner, and playing dress up or make believe in imaginary haunted houses are still memorable to this day. I guess I was genetically predisposed to be this way, what else could it be?
My interests in art began as a child, but when I began to seriously pursue painting and illustration in college, I was painting in a very realistic, dark manner, with some elements of exaggeration. The Old Masters such as Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci have been a huge inspiration to me in a technical and conceptual sense. I then began to explore these doll-like characters that appeared so sweet and beautiful, but were having unpleasant experiences. In a way, those characters, and my characters I currently paint, are autobiographical in a sense. Some of them even resemble me.
My hometown of Wilmington, Delaware is filled with so much history; history that I grew up seeing and learning about. Old brick and stone buildings fill the downtown area, and the historic victorian and colonial homes give great character to this aged city. American Illustration was born here and where the Du Pont family flourished. I was also born and raised Catholic, so being exposed to imagery of a crucified Jesus, and similar depictions were not uncommon. Trips to cemeteries with wrought, iron gates, adorned with old and decorative tombstones was the norm to visit deceased family and friends. Cemeteries are one of the most peaceful places you could visit. No one is there to bother you; all is quiet. My paintings mirror these aged and gloomy elements.
The best piece of advice I was given was at a talk given by Marshall Arisman in 2001. He said, “you need to paint what you know”; I paint what I know and love. Beneath the often muted colors, and imaginative settings, my characters are experiencing feelings and fears we all do or have at some point. It’s about being human, and tapping into this childhood innocence and imagination we all experienced or had lack thereof." - Kristen Margiotta
Bradley Hoffer use to own the Asbury Art gallery on Cookman Ave in Asbury Park, when there was nothing else on that road, except for boarded up windows. The street looked like it had somehow survived the shelling of a war that had scared away every living soul. But when Bradley opened up, along with neighbors Be Gallery, you could see a little bit of life returning to that street. Eventually Cookman Ave became the symbol of Asbury Park’s resurgence. Happy wasn’t born yet, in fact he wasn’t even a thought at the time. But there hanging in Brad’s storefront was the first painting that I’d hang on Happy’s wall. And there it’s hung, along with a giant Ren and Stimpy promotional clock, and a framed uncut sheet of Wacky Packs, ever since.
GlubDub: Why robots?
Bradley Hoffer: Now – Robots are the best. Its what we strive to be and also what we’re afraid of. On a weekly basis I feel like one, going through the motions, building, renovating, constructing. I’m good at it, and I get slightly better as time goes on. I upgrade and reprogram. That’s the logic of it. On a lighter and more emotional note, it comes from popular culture. Look around and all you see are robots, whether it’s real robots or images in fiction. Also, robots an be both friends and/or enemies, so they will always be a curiosity.
In the 1980s (my most vulnerable and impressionable stage) – Knight Rider was a Firebird robot, what 10 year old didn’t fall in love with that? On the other end of the spectrum was Small Wonder, she sucked, but I still watched every week.
I’m watching Blade Runner as I write so I got to go.
P.S. I've been working on Birds lately to help clear my mind and think about robots more. I love birds!
LOOK OUT FOR: Modern Anthropology of the BIRD Plates 1-12 @ CRYBABY Gallery April 19th
Jason Thomson of The Tri City News
Written by Max Stout
I found about the Lanes while living in Point Pleasant Beach, after moving from Asbury when Happy was born. Point Pleasant Beach is exactly how it sounds. It’s a beach town that gives off that southern Cal feel in the summertime. We’re 7 small shore towns away from Asbury, and the Tri City News filters just south enough for me to get my hands and eyes on. The Tri City has covered a lot of what’s cool between Red Bank, Long Branch and Asbury Park. Towns that were once dead, and that were brought back to life but a thriving arts community. A lot of artists, musicians, filmmakers and writers traveled far and wide, to make this small part of the world home. The Tri City News has covered most of it, and Jason Thomson has been the driving force in making sure the underground culture scene doesn’t slip between the cracks without anyone noticing. Jason, is a web designer by trade, and was working for a plumbing supply company, when he scored the Tri City News gig. Since that time, Jason has logged a ton of hours detailing an arts scene that rivals any other.
GlubDub: How has the Asbury Arts Scene changed since you started covering it?
Jason Thomson: I would say the arts scene in Asbury is always changing for better and for worse. I think more and more creative minded people are moving into the city and that will continue to fuel the arts scene. The only thing that concerns me is that rents are still too high which prevents a lot of smaller creative businesses, especially businesses that complement the arts, from opening. Hopefully with the real estate market being where it's at, landlords will be forced to lower their rents. And as is usually the case with any city undergoing a major redevelopment, you always run the risk of destroying the character of a place which was the reason artists and the like were attracted to come here in the first place. I see more and more buildings getting torn down or polished up. And a lot of the venues for gorilla artists are gone or pretty close to being gone. But overall Asbury has the best music and arts scene on the local level and hopefully that will continue.
GD: How much of that do you think is because of your pieces in the TCN?
JT: We've been the biggest promoter of Asbury since day one when no one was here. I think the triCityNews has done its part to attract liked minded creative types to the city and to highlight a lot of these people through our editorial. I know I was turned onto Asbury when I first picked up the paper back in '99. I started coming here regularly and really fell in love with Asbury. And I've heard that same story from a lot of people over the years. In terms of the local media, I think we are the most unique and we give the biggest voice for the local art scene not just in Asbury but throughout the area. What most people don't realize is how hard it is to put out a 50 to 60 page paper every single week. Coming up with creative content can be a drain. Especially over a nine year period. But getting back to your question, I like to think the paper is always playing a vital role in supporting the local art scene and helping to grow it. Personally, I would love to see the paper be more arts focused but in order to be sustainable and financially viable we need to appeal to a wide audience in order to survive. And I think we do a good job of giving the readers a little something for everyone.
GD: Can you tell me some of the bigger events you've covered and maybe some of the more memorable ones?
JT: The Warped Tour,Skate & Surf Fest, The Great Bamboozle (all now gone from Asbury), TheSchool of Rock fest and the Wave Gathering both last year are probably the biggest events I've covered. In terms of the most memorable? That’s a tough one. I'm not really sure about that. But I can tell you the most memorable story I ever did, in fact it was the first one I ever did back in January, 2003. I wrote about this artist from Brooklyn, Matt Vescovo. He has a style he calls Instructoart which is really hilarious. Just to give you an example, one of his pieces is called Black & Curly and it gives step by step instructions on how to wash pubes off your soap. Check it out at www.instructoart.com . But ever since that story ran this guy's art has been on magazine covers, in art books and on TV commercials. For me it was cool to be the first person to give Matt press and to see him take off from there (not because of me I gotta admit). I'll never forget one day I was at the bookstore and I picked up a copy of an art magazine I read called Res, and there was Instructoart on the cover. That was pretty amazing for me.
GD: What’s your background in the Arts world (art, music, film, words)?
JT: I pretty much listen to everything when it comes to music. I'm inspired by everything from jazz, rock, reggae (not the cheesy kind), garage, some old school country, traditional Indian. I like all kinds of stuff, really.
On the film side, any kind of foreign or independent films and documentaries, I'm in to. Some more memorable films I’ve seen recently: Nicotina which is like a Mexican Pulp Fiction, The Science of Sleep, Turtles can Fly is a great movie about Iraqi orphans before the war started, Water, 2 Days in Paris with Adam Goldberg is one of the best movies I’ve seen lately. Life Stinks, a Mel Brooks film, is another movie I absolutely love.
Art wise, I love graffiti, any kind of street art, lowbrow, etc. Really I just like whatever grabs my attention which probably sounds a little stupid, but it’s true. One artist I've been into lately is Gajin Fujita out of LA. I just really dig how he combines his paintings of traditional japanese art with graffiti.
