A little bit of Sol in the mail

Swinging by the ol’ P.O. box the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to receive the above gem among the barrage of CES promotional materials I’ve been receiving the last month or so. It’s a postcard promoting artist Amy Sol’s current solo exhibit at Mondo Bizzarro Gallery in Rome, “Smoke & Water.” The image featured on the front is “Speak to Me,” the original of which is a 14.5″ by 12″ gouache and graphite work on cotton.

Amy is something of a homegrown hero. Just five years ago, she was part of the then-underground “lowbrow” art scene in Las Vegas, doing group shows with the likes of Mark T. Zeilman* at venues such as Gallery Au Go-Go. Then she seemed to disappear for a while from the local art scene. You know why? Because she was BLOWING UP outside the city. Next thing you know, she’s being featured in art mags such as Juxtapoz and doing shows all across the globe.

We featured Amy in Racket magazine’s art issue, which also happened to be the last issue of the magazine. But it was great to feature her alongside other internationally renowned artists such as Naoto Hattori (whose art he donated graciously for the cover of that issue). I’ll bust out scans and more information on that issue for you later, if there’s any cries for such things.

The other nifty thing about that mailing: The envelope is from Direktrecycling, a company that reuses materials such as maps to create new products — a more efficient method of recycling than having to re-pulp and re-manufacture used paper goods. Pretty cool.

*Full disclosure: Mark plays bass in my band. So yeah, I just promoted his art. I do not receive a cut of his sales. Really. Even though I’ve asked.