Now that Americans are in the clear for an across-the-pond holiday - thanks to Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano cooling its jets for the time being - we've got an overseas destination for you: the 176 art gallery in London. There, two of Phoenix's best artists, David Quan and Colin Chillag, are exhibiting in a group show called "The Library of Babel/In and Out of Place."
Entitled Exodus, the religious-themed piece by Quan (aka Luster Kaboom) and Chillag is a collaboration between the two downtown Phoenix-based artists. The mixed-media work features crude-on-purpose drawings, in painstaking detail, of human forms; a comic-strip like section of dialogue; and snarky references to pop culture. The word "God" leaps out in several spots, too.
The artwork, which sold during a show in New York through L.A.'s Angstrom Gallery, made it to England because the woman who scooped up the piece, Anita Zabludowicz, "is a big art collector in England," says Quan. "Her and her husband have this huge collection in London."
He's right. The Zabludowiczs currently horde more than 2,000 works.
Along with their personal art collection, the Zabludowiczs funded 176, located in Camden Town. "The Library of Babel/In and Out of Place" exhibit, put together by 176 curator-in-residence Anna-Catharina Gebbers, must not suck because the closing date was recently changed from May 9 to June 13.
Well done, Phoenix. Bloody good show.
Quick Links:
*An enlarged image of Exodus: www.lusterkaboom.com/pages/exodus_jpg.htm.
*David Quan's website (be prepared to be blown away): www.lusterkaboom.com.
*Colin Chillag's Flickr page (be prepared to be blown away, part two): www.flickr.com/photos/11638929@N07.
*176 gallery: www.projectspace176.com.
*Zabludowicz Collection: www.zabludowiczcollection.com.
