Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Press Release: Stubble & Smoke opens July 12 at Zombo Gallery

Zombo Gallery
4900 Hatfield Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15201

June 4, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Zombo Gallery Celebrates its First Anniversary with
Stubble & Smoke: New Works by Wayno

PITTSBURGH -- Zombo Gallery, Pittsburgh's quirkiest art space, celebrates a year of eccentricity with its first anniversary show, Stubble & Smoke, opening July 12, 2008.

Gallery owner, entertainer, and impresario Michael Devine has created a welcoming home in Lawrenceville for artists of unique vision with his brainchild, the Zombo Gallery. In the past twelve months the gallery has hosted a dozen art shows, musical performances, retro-kitschy flea markets, benefits for Democracy Now! and The Wildlife Center, and the burlesque life-drawing class, Doctor Sketchy's Anti-Art School.
The featured artist for the anniversary show is Wayno, whose 2007 solo exhibit, Squaresville, opened Zombo Gallery with a bang, drawing an overflow audience of 300 art lovers, and selling out on the first night. To celebrate the gallery's anniversary, Wayno returns with a new collection of paintings in his unique cartoon-pop style.
Wayno is a cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer based in Pittsburgh. His clients include The New Yorker, Nickelodeon Magazine, Rhino Records/Warner Music Group, McGraw-Hill Books, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, Pittsburgh City Paper, and The New York Times. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators and the National Cartoonists Society, and is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the ToonSeum, Pittsburgh's museum of the cartoon arts.
Stubble & Smoke evokes film noir moodiness, and feature images of tough guys, saucy dames, down-on-their-luck chumps, and that staple of the hard-boiled mug's diet: red meat. The show also includes the artist's Chinese zodiac series, animaliA Astrologica, first previewed at the Gypsy Café in February, which recasts the traditional zodiac signs as westernized party animals. In response to many requests, Wayno is now offering several limited edition prints, including portraits of Rat-Packers Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr., East End Brewing beer label art, and a Stubble & Smoke show poster.
Devine said of the exhibit, "After the incredibly successful opening of Squaresville last July, the first thing Wayno said to me was 'Same time next year?' I can't think of a better way to kick off our second year in "Larryville" than having a show of new stuff by Wayno."
The Stubble & Smoke opening reception is on Saturday, July 12, 2008, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, and is sponsored in part by East End Brewing Company and Tony G's Delafield Winery.

The exhibit will run from July 12 through July 26, 2008, at Zombo Gallery, 4900 Hatfield Street, in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood. Gallery hours are Fridays from 5:00 to 7:30 PM, and Saturdays from noon to 4:00 PM, or by appointment.

Buyers will be invited to pick up their paintings at a take-down party on Sunday, July 27, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

The Zombo Gallery is Pittsburgh's home for hip lowbrow art, rooted in 50's and 60's pop culture and kitsch. The gallery houses a retail area with unique wares such as tiki mugs, custom T-shirts, DVDs, CDs, and recorded air checks of Zombo's radio show, which is heard Fridays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM on WRCT 88.3 FM. The gallery also houses a custom screen printing shop.

For additional information, visit Zombo's Website

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06/04/08 ndp