Culture Surfing

There’s something about R. Land’s Pray for ATL design that inspires feelings of love. Those weathered hands seem so earnest. Especially when they’re covered in scales.

This weekend features not one, but two exhibitions uniting art, film, and … fish. The first is Alcove Gallery’s Big Tuna anniversary celebration tonight, July 10, from 7 p.m.-midnight. Why’s it called Big Tuna, you ask? It’s an art show inspired by the films of David Lynch. The name nods to the fictional town in Lynch’s 1990 classic, Wild at Heart, a flick starring Nick Cage as a karate-kicking Elvis Presley wannabe. The second is R. Land’s Art Opening and a Movie: Zaat at the Plaza Theatre on Saturday. (Click here for Curt Holman’s Zaat feature.)

Meanwhile, Whitespace Gallery’s Agents of Seduction looks promising. If you miss Friday’s opening, there’s still printmaker Teresa Coleman’s artist talk on Saturday, July 11 at 2 p.m.

For printmaking action of a more socially engaged variety, Jenny Zhang makes two appearances: at the Atlanta Printmakers Emerging Artists in Residence group show on Saturday night, and then at Monday’s JUBA SPIDER Panel Discussion at Apache Café.

Plus don’t forget Saturday’s show at MINT by the plastic Plastic Aztecs, who’ve received much love recently, including one Creative Loafing article, one YouTube “commercial,” and one Studio Visit interview by yours truly.

For more local arts events, visit clatl.com/events or, check this week’s visual arts To Do List at BurnAway.org.

(Wheatpaste by R. Land/Photo by Mike Germon)

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Every so often, a creative dark horse will storm through Atlanta and give the arts world a healthy shake, just when things were starting to look dull. Artist Jenny Zhang, who serves as the Atlanta Printmakers Studio’s inaugural Emerging Artist in Residence, headlines a discussion panel at Apache Café Mon., July 13 at 8:30 p.m. The talk will center on issues raised by the artist’s JUBA SPIDER — an edition of prints inspired by hip-hop artist Juba Kalamka, an outspoken member of the black gay community — and will feature the voices of critics Cinqué Hicks (Creative Loafing) and Felicia Feaster (The Atlantan), as well as Charles Stephens of AID Atlanta and Karen Fain of Apache Café, who will moderate the discussion. Oh, and the artist herself, of course.

The panel is interdisciplinary to say the least, covering both music and visual art, and its themes unite a surprising cross-section of Atlanta groups interested in art and social justice. Hell, even WonderRoot’s involved: They’re responsible for video you just watched (or should be watching, soon)!

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