OOPS...It's Art! : New Work by Kii Arens
Opening Reception:
Friday, June 22, 2007 7-10pm
Show Runs:
June 22 - August 24, 2007
Kii Arens is a Pop-Art Designer with a bent towards Rock-N-Roll. Never formally trained, this St. Paul, Minnesota native grew up with a fascination for album covers, band logos, and font styles. He credits Saturday mornings in the '70's spent watching Sid and Marty Krofft as his main inspirations for color. As a graphic designer/photographer, Kii has designed over 50 CD packages for various local and national artists. He was also the guitar player and back-up singer in the rock band Flipp, which he handled all design and artwork for.
Kii's fine art career began at the Minnesota State Fair just a few years ago. His search for a corn dog turned into one of life's happy accidents as it led him to discover the Spin-O-Paint booth. He was inspired to create an oil painting of a SPIN-ART painting in a paint by numbers fashion. His first SPIN-ART piece entitled 'La-La Land' became the album cover for Cheap Tricks' release entitled 'Special One'.
At the time of his 2002 debut show at the Flatland Gallery in Minneapolis, The StarTribune published an article in which "La-La Land" was inadvertently printed sideways. This accident led to the creation of the character, "La-La" which has since been recreated in many forms including a limited edition vinyl toy. In 2004 Arens moved to Los Angeles to open a gallery appropriately called La-La Land.
On Friday, June 22nd, Kii returns to the Twin Cities to showcase his new series; Oops...It's Art! at the Toomer Gallery. From SPIN-ART to SPILL-ART, this new collection of painted lightboxes were created from cell phone photos of spilled drinks and various stains found on the streets of Los Angeles. Who knew a dropped Slurpee could become art?
