UNUSUAL ANIMALS EVENT IN TACOMA TONIGHT
November 15th, 2008 , by John Beeler
If you’re reading this and you live in or near Tacoma, Washington, please consider seeing the Unusual Animals event this evening, hosted by The Helm. Art starts at 5pm, and the music at 6:30pm. Art includes dear friends of the label the Bents, and music headlines Grampall Jookabox.
Click more to see the wonderful poster for this Unusual Animals.
UNUSUAL ANIMALS DEHIBERNATE IN TACOMA
November 8th, 2008 , by John Beeler
It’s been a while since the last Unusual Animals party. But dormancy does not equal extinction, and we expect the event series to reemerge, freshly rested, in Tacoma, Washington on November 15th at Helm Gallery Space.
The idea behind the Unusual Animals parties is pretty simple. We wanted to create a way to celebrate the local culture and commerce of various cities and towns. We have celebrated Austin, Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Portland, and Louisville. The Helm gallery space will host The Tacoma Edition. Art on display will include works from Zack Bent and Gala Bent, Nicholas Nyland, and Ellen Ito. The show will be open from 5pm to 10pm and will run until December 11.
On opening night, November 15th, Grampall Jookabox will play with Allan Boothe and Alexander and the Optimistics. Suggested donation $5. The show will start at 7pm and he will be on by 8pm.
Listen to a few tracks from the bands below, or load up AK Radio (see above).
Owl & Booth, "Merry" Afraid of Flying (Download)
Sean Alexander, "the rats" Broken Free (Download)
AN UNUSUAL THIRD VOLUME
April 27th, 2008 , by John Beeler
LOUISVILLE HOSTS A HERD OF UNUSUAL ANIMALS SATURDAY
April 4th, 2008 , by John Beeler
In or near Kentucky’s cultural capital this weekend? Then, after a few swigs of Ale-8 for pep, perhaps you ought wander to the 930 Art Center, where you will find yourself surrounded by creatures of disparate origin but sharing the same space and time. Culled from a call for submissions that emphasized local Louisville artists but reached nationally and globally, the show is a perfect encapsulation of a zoo; a temporary holding area for creatures that normally have nothing to do with each other.
Shedding, The Town Criers, Squeeze-bot, and Ultra Pulverize plan to properly inaugurate the show with music. Doors open at 6:30pm, admission is free and all-ages. You can read a succinct essay on the spirit of this series of shows by Unusual Animals zookeeper Michael Kaufmann here, and more about the bands and art here.
UNUSUAL ANIMALS EMERGE IN LOUISVILLE
March 5th, 2008 , by John Beeler
The Unusual Animals series of events has spawned many mutations from its now year-old Austin ancestor, including species in Indianapolis, Houston, and Portland. Now a particularly strange variant will emerge from the warm cocoon of Louisville, Kentucky on April 5, at the 930 Gallery, 6:30pm.
One attribute that makes this particular Animal so abnormal is that it will incorporate an active pollination from the public at large. Along with the 930, we are requesting art from you or someone you know. You can read the call for entries here, but you only have until the 15th of March.
Attendance to this particular evolution will merit observations of music explorator Shedding, old-timey modern rockers The Town Criers, the non-android sound making of Squeeze-bot, and hip-kraut Ultra Pulverize.
Cost to this phenomenon is free, save perhaps what it wears away from your scientific assumptions.
UAPS TWO
February 26th, 2008 , by John Beeler
The Unusual Animals Project Space is pleased to announce its second exhibition. Indianapolis based artist Stuart Snoddy presents Impromptu Compositions, a collection of works that explore and call attention to naturally occurring phenomena. The exhibition is open now and will run until mid-April. For those of you in the area, be sure to stop by for a reception Friday March 7th from 6-9PM. The Unusual Animals Project Space is located in the basement of the Harrison Center for the Arts. Curator Michael Kaufmann investigates the "simultaneously progressive and strategically humorous" art of Snoddy with a brief dissection and an interivew, which you can read here.
HUNTING FOR UNUSUAL ANIMALS
January 16th, 2008 , by John Beeler
Though part of a record label, the Unusual Animals here at Asthmatic Kitty have always leaned heavily on the sense of sight. That is now more true than ever, as we begin a very special hunt. We are partnering with the 930 Art Center in Louisville, Kentucky to craft a gallery exhibition as a visual compendium to a party/showcase of Louisville musical talent. The Unusual Animals Louisville party and gallery opening will take place on April 5th, with the gallery show running until May 27th.
We are asking for submissions to an exhibit appropriately titled Unusual Animals. Favored pieces of work will depict unusual animals from nature, or the imagination of the artist. Two hundred dollars will go to best in show, as well as a $100 second place award. The deadline for submissions is March 15, so you have some time – but don’t take too long. We are anxious to see what the kinds of creatures inhabit the recesses of your imaginations and backyards. Click here to see more details.
MOSTLY LOVES CLOUDS (AND SHIRTS)
December 17th, 2007 , by John Beeler
The Unusual Animals Project Space is finished exhibiting the brilliant landscape dissection of installation artist Cindy Hinant, and there are a few limited edition t-shirts still left. Designed by Cindy herself, made by American Apparel, and pressed by Kangaroo Press, these are custom made for each order and will take 1-2 weeks for manufacturing and shipping. You can purchase them for just $15 from the UAPS website here.
And on January 4th, UAPS will debut its new show, Mostly Loves Clouds, a crowd collaborative installation from the clouded mind of librarian Michael Kaufmann. The show will open on January 4th, 2008, from 6-10pm, at the Project Space in the Harrison Center for the Arts in Indianapolis.
WEATHER AND MIGRATION FORECAST FOR HOUSTON, PORTLAND
October 20th, 2007 , by John Beeler
Houston will see sunny skies with a pleasant high of 86° today. Moving in later this afternoon to Diverseworks Art Space around 3pm are some Unusual Animals including Future Rapper, Cryptacize, Hearts of Animals, The Wiggins, Space City Gamelan, and Moth Fight. Read details here, or our sidebar, where Craig McCormick writes about the Gonzo Art of Houston, Philip Beck lists Patrick Swayze as one of his favorite things about Houston, Sara Strohmeyer finds Houston delicious and interesting, and Moth Fight digs up the Houston news archives.
Portland will experience some cold rain, with a high of just 54°. But that’s ok, as the Unusual Animals in Portland will be taking shelter at the warm and cozy Urban Grind Coffee around 2pm. Varieties include Half-Handed Cloud, booty-shaking The Beauty, the lo-fi-ically precise Upsidedown Cat, and the charmed-before-you-know-it Kelli Schaefer, as well as nearby Olympia Washington’s hand-clapping Lake. Read details here, or see some propaganda puppetry here.
Also you can stream a cover by The Beauty of "Sway," a Castanets track from this Tuesday’s release of In The Vines, just below.
Both events are free, of course.
"Sway" The Beauty, covering Castanets
UNUSUAL ANIMALS IN SPACE AND RADIO
October 12th, 2007 , by John Beeler
In about a week, Unusual Animals will arrive in Houston and Portland. As is protocol, we have incorporated artists from those two events into the blustering airwaves of akradio – which you can access by clicking on akradio just below our banner.
But that’s not all in UA news. When Unusual Animals first crawled onto land, it did so from a pool of oozing vinyl in the from of a limited print double side series featuring eclectic experiments by Asthmatic Kitty Records artists and friends. From there, the idea propagated into Unusual Animals Parties, live events with an Asthmatic Kitty artist highlighting local fringe musicians and businesses. Now, catalogers will have to change their genus-differentia of Unusual Animals to include art, with the evolution of this project into the Unusual Animals Project Space in Indianapolis, Indiana.
On October 31st, UA Project Space, Asthmatic Kitty Records, and Kangaroo Press present the official debut of the specialized gallery, along with live music by Castanets, newly announced Cryptacize, Deer Tick, and Bronze Float. The Harrison Center for the Arts, a gallery with studio space housing 23 artists and VSA Arts, is hosting the UA Project Space. Music will be in the Harrison Center Underground.
Because the Unusual Animals Project Space will promote installation art from aspiring and established artists alike, local and national, it will be the first of its kind in Indianapolis. Cindy Hinant, the Space’s first artist and co-curater with our very own Michael Kaufmann, will present Cascades, a representation of Hinant’s personal mythology with nature. The environment will combines images from popular culture and childish shapes to describe the relationship she has with the natural world.
Doors open at 7pm on October 31st. Admission is $6.