Some of the Horror Movie Art!

Success!!!

First we would like to thank those of you who decided to come out on Friday to support the local art community. For all of you who weren't able to make it; calm yourselves and listen. We know that you're devastated but luckily we've been preparing for an event such as this. This is one of the purposes of this blog; to bring those of you who couldn't be with us a first hand look into the gallery event. So here goes nothing.

April's First Friday event was a success. The music of Brian Langen served as the soundtrack to a night of considerable enjoyment and, with droves of people circulating through out the night, the gallery was host to faces both old and new. "It's a really good atmosphere" says one Electric City Tattoo Gallery first timer, for reason to why its a good place to come and enjoy some art.




Trevor's interesting choice for display, the tall bike that he is picture with above, was of particular interest to most guests. Hand built by Trevor, this style of bike hasn't been built in Scranton since the 1950's.

Check out some of Trevor's other art below, and for other artists, click on their name under profiles on the right hand side of the screen.

Bigger than the time John Lennon suggested that The Beatles were "bigger than Jesus."

On Friday, April 3rd, the next First Friday series art showing will be held in downtown Scranton, Pa. For those of you who do not know what First Friday is, here you go. On the first Friday of every month, art walks are held in Scranton with various local businesses and art galleries as their destinations. The incredible thing about this is the way you can feel the culture of our great city around you. It's a time, in this struggling economy, where you can actually stop, take a look around and say "hey, this place isn't dead after all," despite what so many misguided skeptics may suggest. So, take the night to join us in paying homage to Scranton by enjoying the art that its inhabitants have created and show the naysayers that Scranton is alive and well. We wish to not only invite you to join us this Friday, but to also explore the surrounding art community.

For information about other events visit firstfridayscranton.com

For a closer look at this month's artists visit the artist profile link on the right hand side of the page.

The Electric City Tattoo Gallery will be featuring art by the following artists:

Trevor Coleman
Matt Stygar
Nick Corum

Also, the musical stylings of Mr. Brian Langan

What is this?

The cast and crew of Howard Hughes' movie, "The Conqueror", were exposed to radiation while filming in the Utah desert. Twenty five years later, over half of them had contracted cancer including Susan Hayward and John Wayne.


It's a bird! It's a plane! No its,...a tattoo shop hosting a blog? I know, I know...this idea may leave some of you asking "ummm...why?". Well first, this will be home to the biographies of artists featured during our art showings; a place to come to take a personal look at the artists we feature. Second, it will be a place for updates and information. Third, you can expect a nice mixture of news, entertainment, art, and culture. We will attempt to bring you periodic feature stories of all types on artists, musicians, authors --local and otherwise-- as well as current events, alien invasions, monster sightings, and so on. A daring venture into the Blogosphere for purposes of transcending the limits of time and space to offer another medium of art and culture. Or, in other words, we can share the experiences and ideas of many different artists with many different people. This will enable us to further our attempts at promoting local artists. Weekly we will try to bring you a feature article on a local artist of one sort or another. Periodically through ought each week there will be various articles pertaining to various interesting things, such as the succeeding article. All you have to do is drop in and check it out.

So, in an attempt to branch off from purely aesthetic art -- and venture briefly into a more conceptual idea of art -- I give you J.G Ballard.

"It is a gratification to me to know that I am ignorant of art, and ignorant also of surgery. Because people who understand art find nothing in pictures but blemishes, and surgeons and anatomists see no beautiful women in all their lives, but only a ghastly stack of bones with Latin names to them,and a network of nerves and muscles and tissues".- Mark Twain


(Watch this video before you read on...it's 1:21...you have that kinda time)



The human organism, as Ballard believes,"needs sensation to sustain itself" and it achieves this through "violent imagery of one sort or another". J.G Ballard Grew up in Shanghai and spent the second world war in an internment camp. Ballard was subject to the true horrors of the war, forever indebted to visions of Hiroshima. These experiences during this time ultimately shaped his view that the world has been forever changed after the advent of the atomic bomb. He believes our bodies no longer belong to us; Affect no longer applies to us. So desensitized from images such as, Hiroshima, assassinations on live television, and Vietnam, instantaneous action from an external source is needed to produce any reaction at all. For Ballard that instantaneous action is the car crash, or the Kennedy assassination.The reaction--sexuality; atrocity is the new pornography. If you find J.G Ballard's commentary on reality and sexuality interesting read either of his novel's The Atrocity Exhibition, or Crash. Containing startling images of horror and destruction coupled with images of the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, the Kennedy's, James Dean, and other pop culture focal points, Ballard is able to create a true artist's rendering of the world around him as he sees it. Ballard may be literature, but its packed full of incredible imagery.

Many of the artistic interpretations of Ballard's concepts are very similar to the pop-art of the 1960's

“Trying to exhaust himself, Vaughan devised an endless almanac of terrifying wounds and insane collisions: The lungs of elderly men punctured by door-handles; the chests of young women impaled on steering-columns; the cheek of handsome youths torn on the chromium latches of quarter-lights. To Vaughan, these wounds formed the key to a new sexuality, born from a perverse technology. The images of these wounds hung in the gallery of his mind, like exhibits in the museum of a slaughterhouse.” J.G Ballard, Crash

Check out Ballard for an interesting perspective of the world in which we inhabit. Take a look at the BBC Special below for a trip into Ballard's worldview.



Next week we will feature an article about a local band. Drop by to check it out.