Shaky Bacon amuses museum-goers

Jensen Karp is the co-owner and co-curator of Gallery 1988, a Melrose-based, pop culture-themed art gallery, currently in its 10th operative year. He and Katie Cromwell, both USC graduates, opened the gallery to offer affordable, pop culture-inspired art from lesser-known artists.

 

Gallery 1988 is a far cry from the fine art world, but that’s exactly what Karp and Cromwell wanted. In fact, it is the fine art world’s pretentiousness and stuffiness that fueled Gallery 1988’s creation.

“I don’t ever want to be accepted by that blue chip kind of pompous world,” Karp said. “We always thought it was funny that anyone could sit there and be like, ‘Art is in the eye of the beholder’ when they’re trying to sell yellow dots on a canvas for $40,000, but when we want to have a piece on pop culture, it’s not art. It’s very selective. I laugh as much at the stuff that they sell as they laugh at us trying to say that we’re art.”

Insert Dan Goodsell, a pop-art artist who has created an entire world surrounding his lead character, Mr. Toast, and his many friends: Shaky Bacon, Joe the Egg, Mope the Onion and LemonHead, among many others.

Goodsell currently has an exhibition, “Shaky Bacon Strikes Back,” on view at Gallery 1988 located at 7021 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. It is his second solo show with the gallery — the first was “Drawing Mr. Toast” — and Goodsell has participated in a number of its multi-artist exhibitions.

The new exhibition features about 420 original pieces, although the artist is in the process of bumping it up to about 500. The tone? Quirky and eccentric. The style? A playful, comic book look. In addition to drawings, Goodsell also makes comic books and plush toys, which he exhibited at last year’s Festival of Books.

“I like going from very sweet and fun to darkly humorous at times,” Goodsell said. “So you get this sort of nice range which is the range of my personal humor. I love things that are a little saccharine, but I also love to go dark and mess with the characters a little bit.”

Some examples: A VHS tape and a dodo with the words “two of a kind” written underneath, suggesting the impending extinction of VHS; Joe the Egg dressed as Louis CK stands next to Shaky Bacon dressed as Annie; Lemonhead exclaims “Second Rule of Fight Club: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.”

Goodsell’s favorite art piece is Shaky Bacon riding a turkey with “For Columbus” written underneath. Karp’s favorite is Mr. Toast dressed as a Clippers fan. You get the idea.

According to Goodsell, there’s not necessarily any overall theme or message to his work. Rather, this particular exhibition is based on a number of things that inspire him, things that he likes or finds amusing. Media is one such influence.

“Initially, for the show, I was going to try and do all movie, TV and media related, kind of do my character interpretations of all of that,” Goodsell said. “At a certain point, I realized I didn’t want the show to be that myopic, so I just opened it up more. I think I’ve tried to have that as sort of a general, secondary focus. I’m not ruled by it, but it’s definitely sort of a trend that I’m exploring with the show.”

Most amazingly, smaller drawings sell for $30 a pop. Bigger pieces such as “Happy Death Star” are more expensive at $125. Still, the art runs quite a few thousand less than those yellow dots Karp mentioned earlier. Goodsell’s shows are cash and carry, meaning you can walk in and buy a piece straight off the wall and take it home with you that day. His shows are the only cash and carry shows at Gallery 1988.

“Shaky Bacon” is also interactive. Goodsell will be doing live drawings at the gallery on Thursdays (12-2 p.m.) and Sundays (1-3 p.m.) during the exhibition. In that time, someone could simply watch him draw, or commission a work. With commissions, Goodsell appreciates the collaborative process, though he says any work of his will be filtered through his artistic sensibilities.

“As an artist, I do my art for myself, initially,” Goodsell said. “That it can find an audience is incredible, but it’s not like an illustrator who is there at the behest of the people. I think it’s more fun to work with someone to find sort of that middle point between their interests and my interests. Everybody seems to really enjoy it and it’s always kind of a wonderful thing when you see the look on their face and they say, ‘Man, this is everything I hoped it would be.’”

On the curating side of things, Goodsell has the full support of the gallery.

“Katie and I are never here to question it and ask if it’s going to sell,” Karp said. “That’s sort of secondary. We believe in that artist, so we let them pursue their vision.”

Perhaps that’s why Karp is so open to future shows with Goodsell.

“We always want to keep him in the loop,” Jensen said. “These shows are really fun. I wouldn’t be against doing one of these every year.”

 

“Shaky Bacon Strikes Back” will be on display at Gallery 1988 through January 25th.