I'm not an artist--not "that kind" of artist, anyway, the kind who makes makes a statement with brushes and paint. My artwork is pretty much limited to photoshopping my senators heads on sheep and stuff like that to make a few people laugh.
But when Decorazon Gallery announced a call for entries for the Farewell Shoes for Mr. Bush exhibit, I just had to submit these comfy protest/blockwalking shoes, painted with dates and events of rallies, protests, vigils and campaigns. I call it "Off The Couch, Into the Street":
Follow me over the jump for the really creative works...
The gallery was already crowded when I arrived at 6:00 p.m. last night.
As soon as I walked in and saw the competition, I knew I had no chance as a contender for a prize in this juried art show.
Artists from Canada, Mexico, Texas, and all over the U.S. brought an amazing range of interpretation to the subject. There was a stiletto heel made of preztles, titled "Choke on This"...
...a reinactment of the "shoe-throwing incident"...
...a butt with a shoe on it, with text advising Bush not to let the shoe hit him in the ass on the way out the door...
I felt sorry for the judges having to pick the very best from all these creative efforts.
At 8:00, the judges assembled for the announcement of the winning entries.
One of the judges, Jim Schutze--the man in the light tan blazer--is a writer for the Dallas Observer, and the only writer in Dallas with the guts to question the advisability of bringing the Bush Library to Dallas, since Bush is, after all, a war criminal. (Jim Shutze's account of the art show, In Oak Cliff Last Night, the Shoes For Bush Exhibit Was a Real Kick, But No Joke At All focuses on some of the more serious entries of the evening, including the empty boots of a man who died because he had no health insurance, submitted by his widow).
Honorable mention went to this piece called Burning Bush, by Bryan Gooding, which sold in the first half hour of the exhibit for $800:
The Grand Prize went to a piece called "Environmentally Heavy Ouch! That's Going to Hurt," by Tom Boyd-Lloyd, which illustrates Bush's heavy footprint on our legislation:
Noticeably absent from the art show were any of those "Welcome Home" yard signs that are popping up in Bush's new Dallas neighborhood.
Want more? You're in luck! I set up a photo album with more pics at this link: Farewell Shoes for Bush.
Read more about the art show at these links:
In Oak Cliff Last Night, the Shoes For Bush Exhibit Was a Real Kick, But No Joke At All, Jim Schutze, Dallas Observer.
Photo Gallery: Farewell Shoes For Mr. Bush, Pegasus News.
Sole man, interview with artist Carl L. Andrews, Dallas Voice.
Farewell Shoes for Mr. Bush at Decorazon this Thursday, Dallas Underground Arts Examiner.