"i like pictures that look like things, but not stuff that you can't tell what it is" -the state

i'm sittin on some big ol' etsy news, although i'm not ready to spill the beans just yet. but when i am, you'll realize how this post is indirectly related.

so let's talk about ART for a second!

i can appreciate a lot of different genres and medias...but i'm not going to claim i'm some sort of classical master. in fact, far from it. i prefer low brow/pop culture art to anything, with sleazy themes like monster movies and tattoos. that being said, here are two of my favorite artists whose work i can NEVER get enough of.

the first is GIG, king of my heart in terms of the popular 60s/70s big-eyed craze. his big-eyed pity puppies and pity kitties are as endearing as they are pitiful. i just want to scoop them all up in my arms and hug the fuck out of them!! that sounds more violent than i intended, but i think you get my point.









BAD NEWS: for reasons i'll never understand, the big-eyed art fad was not to be. GIG paintings quickly went the way of velvet art and macrame, becoming highly regarded as "tacky."
GOOD NEWS: because everyone is purging their homes of items that have mushroom and owl motifs, GIG paintings turn up in thrift stores fairly often! i score a few here and there.
BAD NEWS: tacky is back in! "tacky" is the new "groovy kitsch" or whatever! now my kitties and puppies are a bit harder to come by.

it's a neverending cycle. sigh. i guess i have to just wait a few years for them to get uncool again and then i'll SCOOOORE. i'm always working on my collection (and i should have taken a picture but oh well, i'm too lazy right now), which is currently up to 7 kitties and 4 puppies.

my other favorite is SHAG. how can you not dig someone with themes like haunted houses and tiki parties? i love his skeletons. i love his black cats. and i love the colors he uses that give his prints such a cool, mellow feel to them.







i hardly have any SHAG stuff. in fact, i think all i have is a notebook with his print on the cover. i need to do something about that ASAP, which is why i have his book on my christmas list for this year.


and finally, on the topic of cool art: I GOT SOMETHING WONDERFUL IN THE MAIL TODAY!

my friend ben does a lot of art for bands, whether it is album covers or show fliers. i have been meaning to get my hands on one of his pieces for YEARS! literally! so i did and it came today and here he is:



handsome fellow, no?! i love it :)

ben isn't on etsy yet but he said he is looking into it. in the meantime, you can visit him on myspace at his ART FINK! profile and check out a bunch of his cool paintings! he just posted some new ones full of anchors and swallows and old-skool tattoo flash, so give it a look.