This exhibition features artwork by three San Antonio artists, Alyssa Danna, Jen Frost Smith, and Jared Theis. This three-person show spotlights artists who create work that seems to have a life of its own. Artworks, like the creature from the black lagoon, draw life from inanimate objects. The practice of all three artists transforms the mundane into the exquisite, the camp, the funny, the tragic, and always the surprisingly beautiful.
Theis creates progenitive creature flicks complete with props, scenery, and soundtrack. His creature personas are replete with phallic and yonic characteristics symbolic of the self-generative play that defines his practice. He acts all of the roles, builds all the scenery, writes all the music, and finally edits all the films. The total effect is a complete world that is as strange, freudian, and trippy as our dreams.
full sculptural costume includes: 1 helmet, 2 gloves, 1 cod-piece, 1 pair of pants, 1 chest piece, 2 cowboy boots, 1 stand
2015
full sculptural costume includes: 1 helmet, 2 gloves, 1 cod-piece, 1 pair of pants, 1 chest piece, 2 cowboy boots, 1 stand
2015
full sculptural costume includes: 1 helmet, 2 gloves, 1 cod-piece, 1 pair of pants, 1 chest piece, 2 cowboy boots, 1 stand
2015
Fabric, cap guns, ceramic, and acrylic
2018
partial sculptural costume includes: 1 helmet, 1 shirt, 1 stand
2015
Smith’s work explores the potential to personify our emotions. She populates her pieces with an almost manically cheerful cast. These artworks retain the whimsy and intensity of childlike imagination but with the sophistication and complexity of adulthood. It’s as if we see Smith’s creations performing their base desires while simultaneously critiquing and curating those impulses.
Found towel, driftwood, found lion plaque, polymer clay, nutter butters
2018
gouache, ink, ace bandage, foam noodle on panel
2018
found towel, synthetic hair, ziplock bag, paper, felt, zipper, polymer clay, and thread
2018
found towel, synthetic hair, ziplock bag, paper, felt, zipper, polymer clay, and thread
2018
Top to bottom:
1. Carry you in my purse for safe keeping, gouache on canvas, 2018
2. Grand Pupper, gouache on polymer clay, 2018
Right to left
1. Goody Moody, gouache on 2.5 billion-year-old (approx.) rock, 2018
2. Intuition Amoeba, gouache on 2.5 billion-year-old (approx.) rock, 2018
3. Ugh Slug Brain Bug, gouache on 2.5 billion-year-old (approx.) rock, 2018
Left to right:
1. It looked back at me, Gouache and plymer clay on canvas, 2018
2. Terrible Sound Effect of Destruction, Gouache on canvas, 2018
Danna is an artist that animates the kitsch detritus of our lives. She makes the flea market, second hand store, and bargain bin seethe with life. Often the sculptures and installations borrow their structure from nature but heighten the shine, the color, and decorative qualities of her inspiration. Through this process of accumulation her work grows into curiously inventive bodies.
tulle, faux raccoon tail, gouache on watercolor paper, polycord, foam, glitter
2018
tulle, faux raccoon tail, gouache on watercolor paper, polycord, foam, glitter
2018
16” x 9” x 3”
Found objects and silicone
2018
16” x 9” x 3”
Found objects and silicone
2018
29” x 4” x 70”
Ceramic figurine, talk, and latex paint
2018
16” x 9” x 3”
Found objects, succulents, requires water, and sun
2018
16” x 9” x 3”
Found objects, succulents, requires water, and sun
2018
16” x 9” x 3”
Found objects, succulents, requires water, and sun
2018
80” x 20” x 12”
Found object and wax
2018
80” x 20” x 12”
Found object and wax
2018
80” x 20” x 12”
Found object and wax
2018
80” x 20” x 12”
Found object and wax
2018
80” x 20” x 12”
Found object and wax
2018
80” x 20” x 12”
Found object and wax
2018