M i s c r e a n t s o f T i n y T o w n

A Little About My "Unknown Unknowns" Show, Coming to the Cult Status Gallery on March 23, 2012

2012-01-11T17:16:00.000-06:00

“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know.We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.”-Donald Rumsfeld, 2002 I’ve been fascinated by the concept of the Apocalypse since I was kid. There was something weirdly romantic about the whole idea-- you know, traversing a barren landscape alone in a suped-up car, wearing a helmet with cool spikes on it and all that. The passage of time, however, eventually teaches us (cruelly) that we all must acknowledge our limitations at some point. So, when the Shit hits the Fan, I’ve had to admit to myself that I would wind up accidentally eating some expired yogurt and dying from food poisoning within the first few weeks. No super car for me, is what I’m saying. The Miscreants of Tiny Town series started, in part, as a way to satirize our culture’s unfounded fears of/perverse desires for Armageddon, but this particular iteration of the series, opening at the Cult Status Gallery in the Spring of 2012, might seem like it’s finally coming to terms with the sad inevitability of it. While my narratives become more complex, the skies are getting rustier and my landscapes are getting scabbier. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell whether the stories take place in the day or night, as the sun appears to be slowly snuffed out by a thick, sooty fog. Throughout this “Unknown Unknowns” show, some figures have even broken free from their landscapes altogether, and are left to participate in an invisible story set against stark, bare walls. Since The Miscreants of Tiny Town emerged as something of an unintended side effect of the bleakly surreal world we’ve been plummeted into by the equally surreal War on Terror, it has often served as an attempt to both channel and mock the metastasizing paranoia caused by constant dire warnings of coming and/or current global catastrophes. They’re playful, satirical jabs at those nagging reminders of the fact that the varnish-thin securities and comforts we’ve been taught to take for granted are also directly responsible for our own impending disasters. But as I’ve slowly been able to build my life around the production of these characters and stories full-time, the work has also become parodies of my inner monologues in a way. They’re my own little Friar’s Club, “roasting” that formless cloud of anxieties and keeping it from getting too high on its horse. So here we are, at the dawn of the dreaded 2012. Yet, after being confronted with years of grim portents and spooky omens, we can take comfort in the knowledge that the world will be just as chaotic and terrifying as it’s always been next year. So if a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, big deal. Let all of the things we do not know that we don’t know fall right along with it. After all, an apocalypse can’t exist without survivors, right? There’s hope in that, somewhere.

HOLY FUCK.

2012-01-09T18:09:00.001-06:00

I'm still waiting to find out when my MN Original segment's supposed to show up this month. I still have nightmares about my performance during the taping. Thank God they were here for 6 hours, is all I can say.

"(More) Little Tragedies," The Glory that is Air Sweet Air, etc.

2012-01-09T17:18:00.000-06:00

Alex

Yeah. I mean, WOW.So Cheryl Wilgren Clyne prefers that the name of her gallery not be capitalized for whatever reason, but yeah, yeah. Screw her. Air Sweet Air Gallery in Lowertown St. Paul has easily been one of the best gallery experiences I've ever had. Sure, I've been lucky to have Cheryl as a friend for several years. But it was blind luck and circumstance that made it possible for us to finally work together on both the "Little Tragedies" opening and the "More Little Tragedies" closing reception. What her small staff has been able to accomplish under tight time constraints has been genuinely impressive, and it was all done professionally, smoothly, fairly, and with great humor and relative lightheartedness. Cheryl's little gallery deserves all of the great word-of-mouth and press it's just starting to get; I'm just really happy to have been a part of it and can't wait to see all of her incredible ideas come together. Anyway, the show is "technically" over, but it's looking like it might be extended. ALSO, Air Sweet Air has been gracious and diligent enough to set up an online store for the show. They're still working on it, so please check on it (airsweetair.org) periodically. I'll make a big deal about it as soon as it's officially up.Air Sweet Air is taking submissions for new artists right now, too. Interested parties should contact and get on that as soon as you can.Thank you, Cheryl, and everyone who was able to make it to the shows! More info soon.

COMING FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9TH

2011-12-05T05:11:00.001-06:00

This is going to be a nice show. Cheryl Wilgren Clyne's air sweet air gallery is a nice, intimate space in the heart of Lowertown Saint Paul. I'll be showing between 15-20 pieces and a stack of prints; prices start as low as $35. For more information, please visit my facebook page. Hope to see you there!

2011-10-25T05:41:00.000-05:00

Here are some new images. They're all very small (6"W at the largest) acrylic and ink paintings on wood. More are on the way:

"Little Tragedy"

"Little Boat"

"Little Mouths"

"Little Aftermath"

"Little Caterpillar"

"Little Comet"

Early Morning "Progress"

2011-10-23T04:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the new Brown Blog. If this site looks like bloody diarrhea flecked with some paintings and words, then...that's exactly what I was going for. Anyway, I added some bat-type things while watching Midnight Cowboy. It's just a first pass; lots more detail to be added. Composition will hopefully make more "sense" when it's finished:

Okay, more later. Sleep now.

Goin' Down to Brown Town

2011-10-22T06:26:00.001-05:00

So during an artist's talk I gave about my work earlier this week, I was asked why my newest paintings were "so brown." I dribbled out some junk about how my paintings change depending on the seasons and that the limited palette reflects my current mood or something, then I just kind of trailed off until someone else managed to change the subject. Both of those answers were sort of true to an extent, though, but I've been thinking about that question a lot.Maybe I have to just admit that brown is my favorite color. I imagine it turns people off because saying "brown" aloud immediately conjures images of feces, dried blood, DMVs, or Jeffrey Dahmer's tinted glasses and that dopey look on his dumb face. That's at least what I picture at first, but maybe that's what I appreciate about it the most: it requires you to think beyond poo-poo and dirty boogers, and gives you coffee, syrup, chocolate, Autumn, bread, soil, the Mississippi, fur, hair, skin, and eyes. It brings out other colors and gives them more richness and meaning. Well, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe to everyone else, it just makes everything look drab.But anyway, yeah. I think browns are showing up more in my work because it seems to fit with my worldview these days. (It reminds me that I should start thinking about writing up a new statement.) This whole "Undeniable Decline of America" thing has been getting to me. My paintings have always dealt with the Apocalypse/apocalypses in one way or another, either making fun of peoples' fear of it to rolling around in the weird "romance" of it, but now that I'm getting older and more sensitive to entropy, it's starting to look like my new work is trying to deal with the inevitability of it. My skies are getting rustier and my landscapes are getting scabbier. My characters' eyes- once all crazy and bulging- are getting deeper and darker. Even the Sun in this world seems like it's dimming, as it's getting harder and harder to tell if my narratives are taking place in the day or night.I know I'm a bummer, but at least apocalypses can't exist without survivors, right?

2011-10-20T01:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some new pieces I've been working on lately:

Big Fat Work In Progress

2011-03-10T20:15:00.000-06:00

Hey again.

Just wanted to share some images from a big piece I've been fiddling with recently. I've clearly got quite a ways to go yet, but I think it'll be one of my favorites when it's finished.

So...yeah. Today's Thursday, right? Just checking.

New Pieces for the SSCA Opening

2011-03-10T18:27:00.000-06:00

Hi.

Here are the 3 pieces I was asked to make for the SSCA gallery's "The Nature of Romance" exhibit in Minneapolis. I have to say, I was a little nervous going into it. This was my 1st local show in a while (since I've been spending all my time working on commissions and grants over the Summer and Fall) and I wanted to try something new, so I was really surprised and flattered by the amount of positive reactions and offers for new opportunities. I got some really nice mentions in the local press too.

Anyway, so there's that. Thanks to those of you who were able to stop by!

Alex

I'm On City Pages' "Top 100 Creatives" List!

2010-11-11T10:26:00.000-06:00

This is unreasonably flattering, especially considering the amazing talent that's already been profiled.

http://blogs.citypages.com/dressingroom/2010/11/alex_kuno_100_c.php - more

Be sure to read the other posts, too. Minneapolis has got some pretty incredible shit going on.

-Alex

Chicago Was Windy For Only, Like, One Day

2010-11-11T09:12:00.001-06:00

Hi,

So I was in Chicago last weekend for a show at the Morpho Gallery. It looked great and was well-attended (considering the gallery's size and location), and, considering it was my first show ever in Chicago, it went pretty much as well as I could have expected. The night was actually kind of a surreal experience, as I wound up feeling weirdly nostalgic for those first few times I began showing the Miscreants of Tiny Town series. See, here I was in a small group show, showing brand new work no one has ever seen before to an unfamiliar crowd. I found myself in essentially the same position I was in 5 years ago, with no expectations, no assumption of sales, just being interested in people's reactions and stray observations.

It's what happened the day before that was a new experience: my good friend and client (who curated the Morpho show, incidentally) stuck her neck out and set up an appointment to meet with Anita Jerman, the owner and director of Curly Tale Fine Art, in downtown Chicago. I had read their email correspondences leading up to the meeting, and Anita was clearly skeptical that my work would be a fit with her gallery, on the grounds that my stuff might be too "illustrative." Come on. This, coming from the owner of a gallery called Curly Tale Fine Art? I was pretty skeptical too.

Anyway, the gallery wound up being in a great location, Anita is very professional and clearly sales-oriented, her other artists are well recognized, and she's continuing to develop a strong reputation in the area. And within a few minutes of looking at a couple of the pieces we brought along, she changed her mind and offered to represent me. The meeting lasted less than a 1/2 hour. So as we left, I think my friend and I were a both a little stunned. I remember saying something like, "hm, so that's something." And she said something along the lines of, "huh. Yeah."

I don't mean to brag, but my reptile brain remains in mint condition, like a sweet Pontiac Firebird from the '70's. It's got cool flames painted on the side and all that shit. So of course my fight or flight response immediately kicked in, as it always does when I've been offered a new opportunity I didn't see coming. I spent the rest of the weekend assuming she offered to sign me on just get us out of her gallery and I'll never hear from her again, but then I received the contract in the mail yesterday.

So that happened. Thank you, Shayne.

My Fun Morning

2010-09-25T15:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I did a terrible job on the radio today. I had a great time while failing, though, and everyone treated me really well. If you can believe it, I've even been asked back for some reason. Anyway, the photo above is the thing you'll get if you win the trivia question posed on the show this week. You're welcome, world.

Good News and Updates

2010-09-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

I found out yesterday that I'm one of the artists selected for the 2010 CSA Grant. It's going to be a huge amount of work in a short amount of time, so if anyone has any extra Pepto Bismol laying around, I could sure use it for the inevitable ulcer this next month is going to cause me. Really, though, this is a phenomenal opportunity, and I'm deeply grateful to the committee and all the kind words of encouragement from the fans, board members and friends and family. This next month will fly by.

While simultaneously working on 50 small paintings for the grant, I'll be finishing 10 new pieces for a show in Chicago at the Morpho gallery opening in early November. Lots of details need to be hammered out, but it's still a go and I'm really excited to see what happens. The photo I posted above is a piece I did for the show, and though it's not quite finished, I'm happy with how it's turned out so far. More images and details about the show will be cropping up slowly but surely.

BREAKING NEWS: I also just found out today that I've been invited to participate in Fox Tax's holiday show, "A Few of Our Favorite Things." Honestly, this made my day. I've participated in a couple of their highly publicized, well-received shows over the past couple of years, and the fact that they consider my work to be one of their "favorites" is a huge compliment to me. They also asked me to donate a piece to a charity of my choosing, which of course I'm more than honored to do. Anyway, that happened just now. It's nice. Minneapolis has proven time and again that it's one of the best cultural focal points in the country, and I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am just to be an infinitesimally small part of it.

Anyway, as a reminder, I'm going to be on the radio as a guest on KFAI's Geek Report on September 25th. Finally, you'll get your chance to know what a lack of charisma actually sounds like. Look for it!

Okay, I need to get back to further exacerbating my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Have a great weekend, and thank you.

TWO NEW PIECES AVAILABLE ON ETSY!

2010-09-13T20:26:00.001-05:00

1: "One Reflection Leads the Other"
2010

2: "The Fallen Trees"
2010

Stop by my store for more information!

More soon,

Alex

NEW SALE IN MY ETSY STORE!

2010-08-13T20:08:00.000-05:00

A New Hot Mess-in-Progress

2010-08-03T15:47:00.000-05:00

Hi again,

Here are some new images of a piece I'm putting together. As you can see there's a lot of work left to be done, but it's slowly starting to come along.

One viewer commented on a detail shot of the "truck" that she didn't see the disturbing element of the story. She made one of those ":(" signs, which seemed to indicate that she was disappointed. She's got a point, though; I am trying to make this one as innocent-looking as possible. however, if anyone else is concerned that the piece won't be creepy enough, don't worry. It'll get there.

Enjoy whatever it is you do on a Tuesday,

Alex

A Trip Down Memory New Shit I've Been Working On:

2010-07-18T05:50:00.000-05:00

So there's that. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks when it's finished, on account I don't have a whole lot going on.

Fuck you. Sorry I said fuck you.

The Crazy Black Lady from Haitia and Other Bummers

2010-07-17T05:04:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I had this dream last night. I was filming a documentary about some sort of political strife in this country called Haitia. (I'm guessing that maybe watching documentaries about the earthquake in Haiti brought this on.) So anyway, I'm standing on this plateau overlooking the capital city, and I'm interviewing this woman who was essentially my guide. She's totally naked, save for a bright blue turban made out of rags, and she has iron-black skin and was so dark I couldn't see her eyes. She was tall and lanky, about 6 or 7-feet tall, with all the curves and the proportions of a long evening shadow.

Any hoo, she was explaining that crime and drugs were the chief problems in her country, and she pointed down at a recently-extinguished fire pit that was strewn with small, orange, plastic contraptions that looked suspiciously like medical devices. Though she didn't explain what the drug was or how those tools were used, all she said was, "it make dem go crazy," and she spun her finger at her temple.

The jet-black, naked woman/girl-thing pointed out that we were standing on a long, looping path leading up to one of the ugly, swollen hills that loomed over the city; a curdled greenish-yellow at the top, an angry red at its base, like a cyst. "We don't go there," she said, and explained that all of the dealers, pimps, murderers and thieves of the country live up there. The police are terrified of citizens being seduced by the dangers of that hill, but since the country is so poorly managed, the path isn't blocked off or restricted; the police are forced to hide behind bushes and shoot unwary hikers on site.

In the distance, two young girls, wearing brightly-colored burkas are seen wandering up onto the path, and my guide starts running while screaming warnings at them. But since the road's so filthy and gravelly, the woman can only hop and limp while her bare feet are cut on the garbage and rocks. As the undercover police run out from the scraggly bushes to murder the girls, another group of men appear from behind a boulder and attack the cops. We realize that the men are relatives of the girls, and they had used the girls as bait to start a civil war. This conflict immediately spreads down into the city, and my guide and I wind up getting swept up in the fight. We run down into town, and witness a horribly violent uprising taking place around a giant factory posing as an elementary school.

I know, right?

So through all the chaos, it's impossible for me to tell the difference between the undercover cops and the citizens. But through the smoke, I see the ragged blue turban of my guide. Her deep black skin was now streaked a blistered white, and I could see her eyes now, all bulging and crazed, her limbs ragged and static. Someone had thrown bleach on her. She was wandering in slow, deliberate circles around the fight. I was screaming desperately for her to go away, to take cover in the woods, but all it seemed to do was deflect her for a moment, then she would stagger back into her crazy orbit.

Eventually the fighting ground to a halt, though there were still gunshots and screams in the distance. There were only a few survivors left among the piles of bodies, and the few that could stand were watching one man stand over another man; I couldn't tell which one was the police and which one was the citizen, at this point. The one who could walk slowly paced around the wounded man, just like my guide was hovering around this particular block of fighting. I remember screaming at the man to not kill the injured one, because the war was over, and - this line stuck out for me - I remember shouting, "if he dies, we won't be able to find out who won."

The pacing man stopped and stared at me. He looked exactly like one of the autistic residents of the group home I managed a decade ago, before moving to New York. He was dark-eyed, Mexican, and missing one of his front teeth, and he always smiled broadly. But finally, when I thought I had successfully talked him down, he suddenly stopped pacing. The depth of his eye contact told me that he made his decision and then he reared-up and kicked the man's nose deep into his head. At that moment in the dream, I woke up to the dog licking my nostrils, her way of telling me to take her outside.

So after all that bullshit, what's the deal?

See, about a month ago, I was really struggling about how to anchor these new wolf-people folks into the narratives of this series I'm developing. I was thinking about these new dog-characters, and their wealthy, decadent society that's based purely around their seduction of wayward children, and how they would introduce themselves into the "world" I had been working on for however-long. So one night in the studio, while staring at some blank panels and wondering what the fuck I'm supposed to do with them, I suddenly started thinking about my dad. He used to take my family camping when I was kid. I remember one time in particular, he put little bells on all of our backpacks to ward off any bears who might potentially be in the area. Funny: as a 9 year-old, that made perfect sense. It seemed like such a considerate idea, and I pictured a family of bloodthirsty bears politely gathering up their cubs and moving on as soon as they heard little tinkling bell sounds. Now, though, thinking back on that, those bears completely missed out on the fact that those fragile noises woulda led to the prettiest-sounding dinner bell of their lives.

Several of those times, while we were all out into the woods, my dad would stress the importance of staying on the trail we were using. Because if you veered off, he'd pant, you could get lost or hurt. To a small, overly-protected kid who grew up in the suburbs, the weight of those words, "lost" and "hurt," were kind of mind-blowing, especially when traveling to an unknown destination in the middle of some vast and unfamiliar forest. Years and years later, he died drunk and alone. Oh, well.

So nowadays, the idea of The Path is starting to become as much of a presence in the new series as any of my other characters. It's softened my original ideas of the wolf-people a little bit. They're luring the kids, while at the same time it's clear that they're up to no good. The wolf-people are starting to become a kind of manifestation of all the things that are about to wrong, of all the things we don't understand yet take for granted, and of all the things or people or ideas that we're taught to live with comfortably every day that are actually out to get us. So as much of a narrative "centerpiece" as The Path is, it totally doesn't matter because the protection and safety we're promised by staying on it is just some fake little painting.

Ugh. Too much. Any ideas of how to lighten up would be greatly appreciated.

Here are some new posts I put up on Etsy

2010-07-15T01:04:00.001-05:00

New posts will be coming up soon.

Thanks.

Here's a New Thing I'm Working On:

2010-07-13T03:38:00.000-05:00

Another Evening Stroll

2010-07-13T00:29:00.000-05:00

Hi, there.

I've got a few details to work on, but otherwise this one's essentially finished.

So that happened.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one's around to hear it

2010-07-12T20:44:00.000-05:00

...then that means you've arrived at my new blog.

Ugh.

So it looks like my childhood dream of becoming a paranoid, sickly shut-in has been achieved beyond my wildest expectations. I went out into the studio at about 8pm last night, then, when I decided that I should probably wrap it up and turn in for the night, it was 5am. Like, in the morning. Sad. Productive, but sad.

The above photos are what NE Minneapolis looks like that early in the morning.