Eugene weekly., June 30, 2011, Page 26, Image 26

arts
Shadow-Boxing
SHORTS
An Excellent Exhibit of Emek’s Aaarght
This year’s Oregon Country Fair poster is a dandy. A sort of elongated rock fl yer, the gorgeous sketch depicts in surreal, mock-
scientifi c, neo-religious gestures a Tree of Life with roots as deep as the submerged part of an iceberg. Now look again: Deep in
the strata those roots become anthropomorphic, and they bear the tree’s only fruit — a single, heart-shaped peach. It is a work at
once impossibly simple and endlessly deep, with a quick, revitalizing nod to rococo Deadhead nostalgia that refuses to wallow in the
been-there, done-that of homage. This OCF poster is a genuine work of art. As R. Crumb said of the artist’s work: “Great design and
impeccable political sentiments — what more could you ask for on a poster?”
The poster was created by Emek, an Israeli-born illustrator and graphic artist based in Portland who is rapidly climbing to the
top of the art world, and for all the right reasons. In his big, beautiful new book, Emek … the thinking man’s poster artist: Collected
Works of Aaarght, the man Billboard named one of the top 25 rock poster artists of all time proves he is no one trick pony. Of course,
the 300-page book meticulously reproduces a slew of great posters for bands like Wilco, Mercury Rev, Kraftwerk, Radiohead, Jane’s
Addiction and the Pixies, to name a few — each poster different, each a foray into an adventurous, courageous, sort of sui generis
style that always captures something esoterically essential about the band — but there are further forays into an array of styles and
media, ranging from collage and political sketch to illustrated vinyl and acrylic on canvas. When countercultural icons like cartoonist
R. Crumb and graphic artist Art Chantry blurb your book, you know you have arrived. Emek is, quite simply, a crackerjack artist
possessed of the kind of talent that endures. Sure, it’s only rock and roll, but this man’s work transcends its own boundaries.
Emek’s poster art will be featured throughout the month of July at WOW Hall, with a closing reception for the artist 5-7pm Friday,
July 29; www.wowhall.org/gallery — Rick Levin
Screenwriter/director/visual
artist Johnnie Mazzocco gets
really into her characters — so
deep, in fact, that she considers
her new artwork to be derived
from the mind of her recent
fi lm’s protagonist.
The “shadowbox” medium
Mazzocco works with is a
hands-on form of art that is well
represented in contemporary
museum forums. Looking at
Mazzocco’s shadowboxes, the
attentive viewer cannot help
but think that the Eugene artist
must be infl uenced by the work
of Joseph Cornell. Cornell, a
frequent contributor to some of
the country’s most distinguished
museum collections (MOMA,
MOCHA, AIC), is renowned
for his boxed assemblages —
elaborate box constructions
and collages made from found
objects. Cornell’s work is surreal
and nostalgic — Victorian in
its focus on collecting and
creating cabinets of curiosities.
Mazzocco’s boxes could be seen
as a freshly unique continuation
of what Cornell was doing before
his death in the early ‘70s.
“A lot of my work (with the
shadowboxes) is dictated by
what I fi nd,” Mazzocco says.
Her fi lm Found Objects, which is
in production, presents a main
character who creates these
boxes, much like Mazzocco.
As is the case in “reality,”
the boxes provide an insight
into the creator, as well as
the surrounding world that
the objects were found in.
Mazzocco scoured antique
shops and junkyards to acquire
the things she’s juxtaposed in
her shadowboxes. The most
fulfi lling part about her process,
she says, is that it “brings
together the exterior world and
the subconscious.”
Johnnie Mazzocco’s “Found
Object Shadowboxes” will be
exhibited July 1 — July 30 at
M.E.C.C.A. Gallery.
— Dante Zuñiga-West
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22 JUNE 30, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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