"Cat Show" Opens January 4, 2013

We're honored to present another exhibition of work by the late artist Greg Brown. "Cat Show" is a collectors' show of cat paintings Greg painted in the early 2000s. J. Williams, Jennifer Martin, and Shelley Ross graciously lent the works on display. Included is a portrait of the infamous "Rocky", who had his own Nuvo column at the time. Rocky made a regal appearance at the unveiling of his portrait, impressing the Utrillo's crowd, and the press, with his poise.

The show opens with a reception on Friday, Jan 4, 6 - 9pm. It will run Jan 4 - Jan 19 (two weeks).

Dewclaw is located at 1125 Brookside Ave, in the Circle Center Industrial Complex. Be sure to use the South Studios entrance - then go see more art up the street, through the Center Studios entrance.

Found-photo and Ephemera Portraits

Opening reception: December 7, 6 - 9 pm

Show runs two weeks, December 7 - 22, 2012

 Selected works from the Utrillo's collection of thrift art. This show features found photos of people, ranging from a tiara-crowned little girl to a disturbing montage of backwoods kinfolk. Utrillo's was a thrift art and framing shop, on East 10th Street, Indianapolis, which was founded by artist Greg Brown in the early 1990s. Also on display, portrait sketches by Harry Blomme.

“My plan was to show a fairly straight-forward presentation, but the work defied standard arrangements. In the end, I mixed everything together, and added even more disparate works. And so heart-melting children's photos hang next to the har-har hairdo photos, next to the haunting 19th century Russian couple. The scary mountain folk snapshot collage and Randy Wyatt's O.J. Simpson painting, are corralled from the children by vertical grouping. Harry Blomme pencil portraits cover one wall, and Georgia Kraus watercolors grace the opposite corner. The absurdist approach tempers the emotional extremes, bringing the freak and the sweet onto more common ground.” Carla Knopp 12-1-12 

Most works will be for sale, proceeds will be donated to Gleaners Food Bank.

Found-photo and Ephemera Portraits opens tomorrow

Some installations shots of the current show. It opens tomorrow and runs December 7 - 22. Most of the art is for sale, with proceeds being donated to Gleaner's Food Pantry, Indianapolis. The works include magazine clippings, found photographs, thrift store paintings, as well as work by Georgia Kraus and Harry Blomme. Price range $5 - $50. We can authenticate your purchase with the official "Utrillo's" stamp, if you like.

I'm really enjoying this show. I hadn't planned a curated approach, at least not beyond basic arranging of the work. It did go beyond that, and it was a very intriguing process. I'm not sure I can impose my own vision, to this degree, onto the work of active, living artists. But I'm certainly more open to that scenario now. 

More images of the show are here.

"Kinkade Meets Turner Paints Sci-fi With Fanbrush"

  Carla Knopp presents

current landscapes from her studio 

November 2 - 24, 2012

Dewclaw founder Carla Knopp presents current landscape paintings from her studio. She revisits her earlier working methods, using a wet-into-wet application to intuitively conjure new imagery. Many of these paintings use a high-keyed palette and imagery that steer them toward the realm of kitsch. These choices also give the paintings a new aesthetic look, creating new paths of reference. The results range a bit, from the raucously saccharine and playful, to poetic, wistful, and ominous.

These paintings start from similar intentions and methods, and then become independent explorations. 

 IMAGES from show