RABBIT VS BEAR

It’s a post apocalyptic world where two enemies must come together to fend off an enemy of even larger proportions…

There is BEAR. There is RABBIT. And there is a city under siege by squirrel goons zombibified by an  alien acorn…

 In the modern age where contemporary art is all the rage and often the words are more appealing than the actual installation, a few art forms have been brushed off. So, how nice it is to see one gallery, Art Boy, picking up the cartoonists, graphic and street artists, and all the other artists who give you more BAMB than intellectualized prose, and gathers them all together in one bright white hub…

This past week Craig Bruyn invaded the Art Boy Gallery, emblazoning the walls with a dozen different paintings, sketches, and even stamping the walls, door, and window with his graphic story of Bear VS Rabbit. 

Craig Bruyn has to be the archetype of what we can all accomplish in our spare time. He mentioned the exhibition as being a ‘hobby’. By day he designs popular toys such as Battleground and Skanmaster and even dabbles at creating video games. In his leisure time he creates several dozen paintings to be displayed at art galleries…

And these paintings weren’t just hanging over his pillow or bathroom sink; all were custom made exclusively for the Art Boy Gallery.

I am enviously impressed…

As a child who relished her allotted time of 2 hours of cartoons per week, I luxuriated in the joy of seeing painting after painting of the artillery clad heroes at the Art Boy Gallery. Vibrant reds jumped out as Rabbit leapt through the air and black paint dripped from buildings as zombies drugged through the city…

Now, I love my intellectualized installations, but they don’t curdle my senses or excite my eyes as this genre of art does.

We’ve been viewing cartoons for decades, since Mickey first tooted his horn in 1928, but glancing throughout the history of art, cartoons are still fairly new. And, for galleries to exhibit this genre; well I just don’t see that all too often. So, when I come across it, I absorb it, relish it, and invite others to experience it too…