SM - "No Spitting No Kidding" (10.18.08 - 11.22.08)

Robbie Conal: No Spitting No Kidding
OCTOBER 18 — NOVEMBER 22, 2008
Opening reception Saturday, October 18, from 6-9 PM

His [Conal] art is outrageous, unsparing, and constitutes a welcome offering to the struggles of Americans against war and injustice . . . his art is therefore to be celebrated by all who see the marriage of art and politics as playing a vital role in the movement toward a just society
—Howard Zinn

My paintings are intended as satirical counter-infotainment. If they tickle people into thinking along with me about social and political issues, I’m a happy man.
—Robbie Conal

In celebration of Robbie Conal’s career as both artist and activist, Track 16 Gallery is pleased to present a monumental retrospective of his work, just prior to this year’s all-important Presidential election. This extensive survey dating from the 1970s through the present traces Conal’s evolution as one of the more important artists and political commentators of our time. He has consistently confronted us with his political fervor, his unrelenting desire to express and dissent, and his biting humor.

The entire gallery space will be filled with Conal’s work. From his early turbulent, ghostly figure paintings based on a baseball pitcher’s throwing motion to the charcoal-on-canvas drawings and oil paintings made for his signature posters, the show brings his work into a gallery setting juxtaposing works found plastered on construction site walls, traffic light switching boxes, freeway underpasses and bus shelters with refined paintings that pack a visual and political punch. Featuring paintings—including his magnum opus: a series of seven large satirical history paintings chronicling the ironic intersection of politics and popular culture over five decades— and drawings culled from museums, private collections from around the US and Robbie’s personal archive, this exhibition is the most comprehensive Conal survey ever presented to the public.

The opening reception is on October 18, from 6 to 9 P.M., and the show runs through Saturday, November 22. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 to 6 P.M.

Directions: www.track16.com/directions.html

Track 16 Gallery
Bergamot Station C1
2525 Michigan Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310.264.4678