Tastes Like Chick'n - October 2012 - Elroy Artspace, a Gallery of Modernist Art

Elroy Artspace, a Gallery of Modernist Art

"Tastes Like Chikin: a POP Art Expression of Food Malfeasance" - Mark Randall solo exhibition
October, 2012

...About the Show...

Elroy Artspace Gallery presents "Tastes Like Chikin: a POP Art Expression of Food Malfeasance" - a Bbert Goo Solo Show and October First Thursday opening reception...

"Tastes Like Chikin" features Bbert Goo’s (aka Mark Randall) pop-art works inspired by contemporary factory food production. The show’s theme was inspired by the artist’s thought of a large factory hidden in the rural countryside, with a conveyor belt feeding an unending que of various live animals and other substances into an industry-age production factory which spews them all out a ramp then as shiny cans of a single product which Tastes Like Chicken.

Malfeasance, as defined being a wrongdoing in violation of a public trust, “pretty much describes the inside aisles in the supermarkets,” says the artist, “those center aisles, ends of aisles, and cash registers are the prime selling areas - stay away from them! If you want to eat healthfully, the trick is never to set foot in the center aisles - that's where the stores and food marketers try to get consumers to buy the highly profitable junk foods that nobody really needs.”

The pieces in “Tastes Lak Chikin” are all based upon a Warholian Spaghetti O's can as a unifying element. And building them up from there by “mining art references from some of my favorites, and using a lot of Found Paper, posters etc.,” continues the artist, he also “brought back some old favorite images to stick in the can. The silver is an old favorite color of the Warhols’ Factory,” to complete the works. “Everything just gets a cleanup and a shiny new can and it just Tastes Lak Chikin, y’all”!

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...About the Artist...

With a love of Pop, Dada and Surrealism as well as advertising (both vintage and new); Mark Randall’s (aka: Bbert Goo) artwork can be described as a tactile survey of elements of those artists whose influence can be seen in it - including Magritte, Rosenquist, Cornell, Ernst, Warhol, and Rauschenberg among others.

Using paper, spackle, varnishes, acrylic, tempera and various marking pens, pencils and more, Mr. Randall lavishes these media to wood and cardboard. He presents them either on a flat plane floated in a frame, or sometimes applied to a box or column form (which he calls ‘timbers’). He works to distress and create an interesting decayed surface, upon which he overlays the primary image. The wood base uniquely allows for a lot of application and/or taking away of materials.

Mr. Randall’s artworks appeal not only to our sense of sight, but also to our touch. Viewing them, we can sense the feel of amassed texture and vibrant color, allowing us to become enveloped into the surreal world of his subjects. “Ever since I was a kid I have been a scavenger of physical images that caught my eye, and I collect interesting tidbits of paper and images from various print media, old and new,” says Mr. Randall, “I shoot and use digital photo images with several types of cameras, and images collected from the internet.” Having made large collages from Life magazines in his early teens, Marks current work has evolved from his long love affair with the wide-format Xerox machines, “It gave me the ability to blow up 1” and 2” images into 3’ x 6’ monster images - the effect is like silkscreen, engraving and billboard art."

Mr. Randall hails from the Pacific NW, born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. He earned a BS in Art Education from the University of Oregon in 1978, and has been creating and selling his artwork ever since. He is a prominent businessman in the artworld, and lives in the Portland area. His works are proudly owned by innumerable private collectors throughout the land.