OHHH did you SEEE IT?

I did, and if you didn't you missed out on supporting one of SF's finest local Artists' spaces Queen's Nails Annex and one of SF's finest musicians, John Dwyer. John arrived in town roughly 9 years ago, had nothing and made something happen, and is continuing to make it happen with THEE OH SEES. While developing vibrant new Visions and Fuckin' Rockin' Hip Swayin' Music, John has been simultaneously developing these visions on paper and in a variety of media.

The installation consisted of drawings hung all over the walls. There was a painted orifice on the bathroom floor, a painted log on the floor next to a large red dot with a wolverine rug on top, a cobra dressing screen in the corner, and flat black paint blotches that came out of the drawings, went all over the wall and door, and back into the paintings.

Rhode Island born and bred, you can see John's roots in Providence but they mix with the San Francisco signage and imagery to form a unique visual language and style. The images are graphic and Popy, not like recent Pop Images, but a throw back to early 20th century images of Victorian buildings and child toy graphics, Japanese drawings, and patterns that all morph into each other. Text is utilized like lyrics and signage which is often overlayed or written on top of previous thoughts and text. There are also enough orifices to wonder where he is going to stick his thumb next.

Images and text all have dual uses, multiple meanings, and suggestions. The visions are a mix of images that morph back from abstractions and patterns into faces. Butt cracks turn into faces. Orifices turn into eyes. The background shapes become foreground, the foreground recedes into the background. The positive and negative shapes, dark and light marks, are in constant flux and continuously in conflict, which adds a physical richness to the viewing experience, and new discoveries are abundant.

There is some strange shit goin on—its weird, and seductive. The humor is there, the playfulness is there and John's hand and intention is getting stronger. Super Poor Friends gives us a broader scope of John's thinking. And like his music the art produces a physical reaction on and in the viewer. I am excited for the future when John jumps out of the paper and into our space. John shouldn't be workin a job just makin art and music period.