{"id":2248,"date":"2010-12-30T12:22:44","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T20:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2012-11-20T14:19:28","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T22:19:28","slug":"this-isles-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/30\/this-isles-loss-2248\/","title":{"rendered":"This Isle’s Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on December 30, 2010 in The Island. Michele Ellson, editor. Reprinted with additional images.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

Renee Castro, "La Llorona," watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper, 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u2019re naughty, La Llorona<\/em> will get you!<\/p>\n

The Weeping Woman of Hispanic folklore is a bad, bad woman. Specifically, she was a failed wife and mother. Tsk, tsk. Like the teenage girls of slasher flicks, she is a cautionary tale, punished for expressing her sexual desires, and doomed to walk the earth in the fruitless search for her children.<\/p>\n

Renee Castro depicts her not as a monster, but as a beautiful, forlorn, sensual woman. Yet she is corseted by her exoskeleton, suggesting not only her undead state but that what was inside her has emerged and enslaved her, upping the ante on the metaphor of wearing one\u2019s heart on their sleeve.<\/p>\n

Castro has exhibited previously at Autobody Fine Art, as has Ken Davis, and together their work celebrates and reinterprets Alameda\u2019s long defunct Neptune Beach Amusement Park in the gallery\u2019s \u201cThe Lost Isle of Neptune\u201d \u2013 Autobody\u2019s final exhibit \u2013 which is open through January 28, 2011.<\/p>\n

La Llorona could be the patron saint of Castro\u2019s women, who all defy convention. They are aviators, circus ringmasters, and wrestlers, participants in male-dominated professions. Although the artist describes them as \u201cnot overly sexual,\u201d they are also dripping with sexuality (and paint) and are, with few exceptions, bare breasted.<\/p>\n

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Renee Castro, "Neptvni," acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

Castro explains that this is inspired by her Ohlone Indian ancestry. Like many of her characters, only the women were adorned with tattoos, and they were bare breasted. She says, \u201cIn our tribe men would hunt, but women were strong.\u201d As for the topless professionals in her paintings she says, \u201cThey are still strong, but also female. You can\u2019t hide behind a uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n

She reworks familiar motifs and images and gives them a modern spin. \u201cNeptvni\u201d is a female version of Neptune, inspired by the Imperium Neptuni Regis certificate awarded to her father when he crossed the equator in the Navy. And several of her characters, be they sea creature or conjoined twins, wear Mickey Mouse ears. This was suggested by the shape of the double bun hairstyle in paintings like \u201cLa Llorona,\u201d as well as the hats worn by matadors. These two elements support the aquatic amusement park theme quite nicely.<\/p>\n

Ken Davis is a man who doesn\u2019t need to stop to ask directions; His signs point the way, although where you\u2019ll end up is anybody\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

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Ken Davis, Hands, 1 Shot enamel on wood, 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

Davis creates his signage with 1 Shot enamel and gold leaf on glass, wood, and metal, all traditional materials. Some bear text bidding a fond farewell to a bygone era, reading, \u201cWild Times\u201d and \u201cGood Bye.\u201d Others are more modern with pithy sound bites: \u201cThe Heads Will Roll,\u201d and \u201cRide or Die.\u201d Davis has one foot in the past, and the other on a skateboard. His artwork is featured in the January 2011 issue of the preeminent skate magazine Thrasher<\/em>.<\/p>\n

His \u201cRusted Through\u201d best captures the exhibit\u2019s partial, temporary resurrection of Neptune Beach, with its gorgeous lettering on glass framed by wood in disrepair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ken Davis, Goodbye, 1 Shot and gold leaf on glass, 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

Autobody is about to go the way of Neptune Beach. This is the final exhibit at a gallery that survived nearly three years in the Great Recession under the guidance of Executive Director Jacqueline Cooper and her partner Colin Herrick, along with their fearless (and sometimes paid) gallery manager and CFO, Amy George. According to Cooper, the space will be converted into individual artist studios which she will manage.<\/p>\n

There are perhaps a dozen galleries and non-traditional art venues left in Alameda. But Autobody was different, and did more than fill a niche. As a commercial gallery it unapologetically sought the best art it could find, featuring established artists and discovering some new ones. Still, they exhibited some truly \u201cout there\u201d work because it was cool, regardless of its marketability. They managed a nearly seamless integration of \u201cstreet\u201d and \u201cfine\u201d art. And Autobody was the only gallery in Alameda where full male and female nudity were welcomed, be it in paint, photograph, or live performance.<\/p>\n

Receptions were packed, art was sold, and this year Autobody was invited to Aqua Art Miami. But despite these successes, going non-profit, membership drives, dinner parties, and lobbying, their doors are closing. What would it have taken to keep them open?<\/p>\n

Autobody lent a degree of legitimacy to the art scene in Alameda which will be sorely missed, and difficult to restore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lost Isle of Neptune\u201d concludes on January 28, 2011. Autobody is located at 1517 Park Street, Alameda, CA 94501. Their hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.<\/p>\n

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Guess it's time to git<\/p><\/div>\n

Michael Singman-Aste
\nPostdiluvian Photo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on December 30, 2010 in The Island. Michele Ellson, editor. Reprinted with additional images. If you\u2019re naughty, La Llorona will get you! The Weeping Woman of Hispanic folklore is a bad, bad woman. Specifically, she was a failed wife and mother. Tsk, tsk. Like the teenage girls of slasher flicks, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,3],"tags":[73,118,219,220,72],"class_list":["post-2248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","category-rants","tag-alameda","tag-autobody-fine-art","tag-ken-davis","tag-renee-castro","tag-the-island"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pPxQO-Ag","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3875,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions\/3875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}