SUMMERaRTSHOW 2010

DEATH OF JUAN PERON: MOB SCENE 1974 MIXED MEDIA/PHOTO BACKDROP PAPER COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST 90X120 COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

2010-10-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

The SummerARTshow is over......

2010-10-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

After 4 months the show is over.......might comeback as a Holiday Show...or WilliamTony showroom/gallery, that's up to Tony Taj..but for me packing is about done and the moving about to begin. Thanks to Shawn Oleson and crew I'm expecting a pretty smooth move back to the studio on the alley above HOMA Rugs. Over by Hammering Man. For me summer is just ahead, the weather in Chapala is usually great! I'll see Deb at least once on PV, probably Chapala too, Xtina in PV, many other friends have suggested they may drop-in. Yikes, keeps a guy busy!

Many thanks to Allegra, especially Boris and Rebecca who made the SummerARTshow a reality. To Jose Torres who had my back during this whole adventure. To Bob Morgan at Washington Screen Graphics who made my signage and produced some great images for me and for Linda Balyeat who helped me when I was hobbled as did Mary Fogh and several others, and especially Deborah who allowed our divorce to revitalize our relationship. Life is good, blessings.

Sales continue to be good

2010-09-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

September still rocks as an art month, the locals are back and they are hungry for the art scene. Course you would have to show up with a large moving van to make a serious dent in my 40 year retrospective but piece by piece my inventory is being whittled down. I'm discounting certain works 20-50% off so yes, make me an offer I can't refuse. More $$ is needed to launch my Mexico Art School. Yes I will trade art for a car, truck or van! Next door in the WilliamTony showroom Paul Young has added 5 lovely abstract oils. And our new line of allgreenart.com giclee prints are all up and looking good. See you here any day but Tuesday, open late every Thursday.

1 Month

2010-08-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

Busy times here at the showroom. Various works have sold and have been shipped to Washington DC, Dallas and San Antonio. Laura my framer of Pictures Perfect fame has reframed several prints, all my work but just a couple have nice museum quality framing now. Staying open late on Thursdays works too as people often are looking for something to do besides a bar or a restaurant. Next door Tony Taj is filling the Willam Tony gallery with new works by Jose Torres, Scott Morgan, Faustino and Crystal Medler. Stop in, we are here daily 11-5 except Tuesdays (by appointment).

Retrospective II

2010-07-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Really this show amounts to a 2nd retrospective in that I have truly cleaned out the studio and have put on display more work than ever. The earliest piece is called MOM and is from 1968. That mixed media/canvas is signed "billy"...I was massively high when I painted that piece, living in a Pioneer Square storefront, working for the Great Northern Railroad over at king Street Station. With that artwork I was trying to capture the essence of nostalgia, an idea that fascinated hippies. The work next jumps to my socio-politico works on paper; THE DEATH OF JUAN PERON....and the DECO-FASCIST series of which I have Mussolini (on loan) and also a recently dry mounted HITLER. All these were over-size works drawn on photo backdrop paper, a paper I would rescue from the dumpster when some local photographer finished a photo shoot.

Also showing, and for the first time, is a 1984 body of mixed media works on paper that began my VORTEX series. These are pastel drawings done on top of black acrylic paint on rag paper. This concept of the vortex made such an impression on me that I am still exploring the theory in my more recent (2008-9) WHEN VORTEX COLLIDE series of oils on wood.

Prior to the vortex but started the same year, 1984, are the original BIRTH OF EVE works on paper. The research that these represent continued into the early 1990's with my END OF THE MILLENNIUM METAPHOR series. Another off-shoot of this study was the SKIRTS -UP prints. That body of work playfully looks at the transition of female symbol from one representing fertility to one representing sexuality. I continue with the tradition of not selling SKIRTS-UP to anyone who does not already own a Billy King artwork.

There are a few of the MEXICAN BOWLS paintings left. Then there are no more of those, commissions only. The MODERN STILL LIFE has examples of both the early and later stage works. The works in progress on display include;
CHAPALA BOATS,
MEXICAN BEACHES,
URBAN FACES
and all my prints;
SKETCHES FROM THE VIRGINIA INN
OTHER PEOPLE
LATE NIGHT AT THE TRATTORIA
il BISTRO 30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
THE 70'S MARKET: PLACE PIGALLE
FIRST THURSDAY/GALLERY OPENING
MARKET ANNIVERSARY 1ST/ PIKE NEWS STAND
MARKET "FRESH" FISH
CHINATOWN/TAI-TUNG'S

The time has come to really find new homes for all this work. If someone wants to buy the whole works for a bargain price of $175,000 I'll be happy to work out the payment schedule with them. This would include all the artwork at the showroom and in the studio, all the prints, all the works on paper, all the oils on wood and canvas, the rolled up work and all the printing plates. I'm ready to travel light. Those who purchase individual pieces will be rewarded with additional art that I select for them as a complimentary gift. So be sure and indicate several of your choices; you may end up with all them for the price of one!

I'm also open to donating work to fund-raising auctions or certain public places like schools, museums and community centers. Send me some info so I can decide what's appropriate. If you haven't been into see the exhibit yet please come by and say hello. 1st and Lenora everyday but Tuesday through September 2010. 6,000 sq. ft. of showroom. Adjoining my space and also on exhibit are the works of my Seattle painting studio partner Jose Torres aka Tony Taj. We are often here late, call if you want to make sure 206-340-8881. And remember if you live locally you can always take my artwork home and see if it works for you!

Thanks

Billy King

Belltown ARTWALK (3rd Thursday) July 15

2010-07-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yes we will be open late for Belltown Artwalk!

Now Open Daily 11-5

2010-06-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Yes its True we are open even if we are still installing the show!

Continental Furniture

2010-05-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

So looks like I'm working with Allegra Properties once again. The corner of 1st and Lenora where Continental Furniture was for so many years is mine for the Summer! Yahoo! 5,000 sq ft of turn-key space...track lites, painted walls, carpet.....big windows onto First Avenue. Should work out fine. I'll still be able to curate the space in Pioneer Square too. I've gotten a couple good leads from groups looking for a location for shows; COCA and 4 Culture..so we be happy.
Probably be open by the new moon in June!

Changes

2010-04-12T08:04:00.001-07:00

Mexico! Ah spring is busting out all over..even though we experience Spring like weather here year round one can tell the seasons by the night temperature....now its in the 60's when I wake up, I think my thermometer read 69 this morning....in the cooler months of Dec-Mar it can be in the 50's overnight. By the hottest part of the day its generally mid 70's to low 80's..the lake is a moderating influence on the climate; not to cold in the winter nor to hot in the summer..as compared for example to Guadalajara or Zacatecas where the extremes of temperature are more pronounced. With the good weather arrived scads of well mannered tourists celebrating Semana Santa aka Easter or Spring Break. Everything more or less ended yesterday at sunset..now the only remaining elements are the Mexicans now living in the states who must pack up their SUV's and head back North. The hottest month, also the driest month, May is just ahead. Time for me to finish repairing my roof and get the backs packed for my return North as well.

The gringo contractor was supposed to start day after Easter on the interior walls for my Art School Chapala project but he flaked at the last minute and I was bummed. But then as that door closed another one opened; I received and email from Seattle advising that a building owner there would give me great rent if i would take a 5,000 sq ft storefront in Pioneer Square for the Summer, possibly into the Holiday Season! So far they have said to all my requests and so in the spirit of going with the flow I'm headed to Seattle by mid May. No i won't get all the things done that I had planned on for this season. Looks like the interior/exterior painting will have to wait as well as the studio walls in the future art school.
I'm still working on my paperwork for opening a business in Mexico so in some ways best not putting the cart before the horse. Mainly i feel its all part of the flow of things and i can't get to worked up one way or another. I know my game plan is to switch to the Mexican economy and though it may take longer than i had planned eventually I will live off of the Art School and the artwork I sell here.

Returning to Pioneer Square for a show at this juncture in my life is quite cosmic as the whole thing has a full circle ring to it. I started my career as an artist in Pioneer Square back in 1968 with a storefront called Mother's Antiques at 116 1/2 1st Avenue. This where I became Billy King instead of Bill King and where various other seminal events transpired.
The goal of the small collective of hippies living in the square back then was to revitalize the square and make it a bohemian arts center among other lofty goals. Fast forward 42 years and the goals for the square remain the same; an arts friendly neighborhood with affordable housing and an eclectic mix of owner operated retail shops and restaurants.
A village if you will have it. Much has been accomplished yet much remains the same. Buses stop in Pioneer Square now; they didn't used to. One thing hasn't changed and that's the overflowing number of Winos, Dino's, Dingbats and Aristocrats who call Pioneer Square home. What has changed everything and not for the better in my opinion is the sports stadiums and the mobs of sports fans who overwhelm the district on game day...but I'll save that saw for another day.

The realization that i was not going to finish my project on schedule put me through some changes, both physical and philosophical. One thing is I shaved off my goatee and mustache and now have the clean baby face of a used car salesman. Guess I'll start growing that back so I can look the part at my artist operated gallery. The other thing was that i began to let go of my territorial grip on the "studio" as the most essential part of me. I've chronicled my love affair with the lake and my new interest in landscape painting, easel painting, painting outdoors, wet-on-wet painting. None of those things require the voluminous studios that i have maintained for the last 42 years. One can operate out of a much smaller space, a space mainly used for art storage. The studio is the world outside!
I haven't done that much but prepare myself mentally but that I have done and I see no reason not to segue from studio artist to on-site easel painter! Forever it seems I'm exploring new ideas and methods. Forever! But this idea has sustaining characteristics..besides in this economy and world who can afford to maintain those big spaces. I think the kids of today are right when they say who needs a big loft to conceptualize and actualize one;s dreams and ideas. Today's studio is the computer; portable, affordable, and immense in its possibilities and realms of exposure! So the summer of my 62ND year may in fact be my Guy Anderson year; Guy who lived to 90 or so was quoted as saying that in his 62ND year he had a "new idea" that sustained him for the next three decades. In his case it was the painting on the ribbed craft paper used and then discarded by the railroad for holding shipments together. Anyway its all good; my life in Chapala, my vision of the future, my acceptance of the past and especially the now!
April 12, Chapala
bk

Thinking it over...

2010-04-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Frank sent me an email the day after Easter with the information that I would make an ideal transitional tenant for the soon to be vacated Elliot Bay Bookstore space. WOW! Now there's a concept I did not see coming. I had been quietly fuming for a few days as my plans for studio renovation were put on hold when my contractor Carl took another better paying job. BUT AS ONE DOOR CLOSES ANOTHER DOOR OPENS. So now the Art School build out will have to wait until I return in the Fall. Unless the gods would have it that things get built without me this summer....there's not much to do, basically some walls but I have not worked with galvanized metal posts before so I need to hire someone to do the work....in the meantime I will be in Seattle trying to make a 5,000 sq ft storefront, formerly a bookstore, into a studio and gallery! Actually I'm jazzed as i think this is a great chance to give back to the community..let some other artists show their work along with mine, maybe let some people put their office there, maybe redo the windows to pitch some other agendas....we'll see. I haven't seen the space bare. The connection to the basement cafe is evidently to remain open which makes a very interesting security breach! HaHa!! So this really is a wild pony....but the chance to come full circle, as in my first studio in Pioneer Square ala 1968 to a studio today in the year of our Lord 2010..well I just feel the dynamic is beyond economic and into the social and communal. Which is much like it was back in the 60's when I first came downtown. So 4-5 weeks then I'll be back in Seattle. Ton of things to do here including roof repairs, FM-3 status, caretaker found etc. Andale!!