The Manticore Blog

Lo-Fi/Sci-Fi at the Mind Unwind Gallery/Treehouse Lounge

Dave — Fri, 10 May 2013 02:30:51 +0000

The Lo-Fi/Sci-Fi show was one of the most massive shows I’ve done! The Lo-Fi portion took place upstairs in the Treehouse Lounge, boasting of over 55 stenciled records ranging from musical to film icons. The Sci-Fi portion filled the Mind Unwind Gallery with science fiction pop art painted on recycled wood and second-hand paintings. Here’s an interview from the 4/11/13 opening with myself and gallery owner Krystal Kelley conducted in a Chewbacca and Han Solo cut-out I made for the opening.

Video, C3P-O, Chewy Roar, Land Speeder, Ludovico Treatment, record, and Yoda and Vader lap dance pictures courtesy of Mark Brent from Seattletopia. https://www.facebook.com/Seattletopia

All other pictures by Dave Ryan.

Mind Unwind Gallery

www.mindunwind.org

Great Scot! Recycled Art!

Dave — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 22:00:20 +0000

My wife and I were wrapping up an evening walk through our new neighborhood when I spotted a huge painting in the alley. It was leaning against the garage of a house that had burned down a few weeks earlier. It seemed pretty evident that the painting had been rescued from the house. The 5′x3′ painting was stretched over a warped frame and had a large hole offset from the center. It looked like someone had started to paint it but it never really got off the ground. Soot covered its orange and painted surface.

So, of course I grabbed it. I knew that I could use it, though I had no idea how. It sat above my washer and dryer for months while I figured out what to paint on it. Every idea I had just didn’t gel with the gaping hole. I moved it to the easel in my living room so it would never be far from my mind. It wasn’t until I realized that I had to use the hole in order for anything to work.

I chose a Back to the Future theme, having Doc Brown yelling his trademark phrase “Great Scot!” and had his suped up Delorean blasting its way through the hole with electric tongues lapping at its track. After finishing the painting, I cut it from the from the frame and hammered grommets in the corners so it could hang off the wall .

Manette Bridge Bottle Cap Mural

Dave — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:47:14 +0000

In early 2010, my friends Andy and Jessica Husted were about to open the doors to the Der Blokken Brewery in Bremerton. They approached me about doing a mural of Bremerton’s soon-to-be replaced Manette Bridge as a centerpiece for their new brewery. Jessica had suggested that it be made of bottle caps. I jumped on the idea at once, as I had been saving caps for five years for some unknown project.

As I hammered the 7200+ caps on a 4′x8′ sheet of plywood, the new Manette Bridge rose from the depths of the Puget Sound next to its older sibling, and my mural began to take shape one cap at a time. During this time, the new bridge opened up, and the deconstruction of the old bridge began.

After seven years of collecting bottle caps, almost two years of hammering them into place, and countless hammer-blackened thumbs and fingers, the mural was completed. One of the most gratifying moments was driving across the new bridge behind Andy’s mural hauling truck and watching the construction workers heads turn as we passed. Another was Mayor Patty Lent stopping by the opening, and giving me her Bremerton pin from her lapel.

The project made the Kitsap Sun a few times throughout its progress. Click on the links below for the articles and accompanying pictures. They show a good progression of the brridge, and also talk a bit about my stencil art too.

Kitsap Sun 6/18/2010

Here’s a good look at my beard. At this point I had vowed not to shave until the bridge was done. Kitsap Sun 11/25/2011

The finished product and grand unveiling. Kitsap Sun 2/3/2012

Here are some pictures my brother Scott took:

…and finally a video of Jessica and myself giving some speeches and the unveiling.

New York Comic Con

Dave — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:32:02 +0000

I split a booth with Strange Child Ink t-shirt company at the 2011 New York Comic Con. Here is a video brought to you by Davemmr.com. I’m interviewed at about the 8:00 minute mark.

This video was brought to you courtesy of Joe Ammendolea.