Hello, folks! As you all may know, May 1 was First Friday, which meant that there was all kinds of biking, rollerblading, drinking and socializing, all in the name of Art! Several galleries were new to us, at least in the sense of us biking to them. Pictured above is the group at Flanders Seaboard. We had 90 riders in the photo, and at least 100 overall for the second month in a row! Way to go, Raleigh bikers!

Our first stop was FM Goods, the urban apparel boutique. Always a good decision.

After FM Goods, we trekked down Peace Street and into Seaboard Station to go visit Flanders Seaboard – A new stop on the First Friday ride! They were exhibiting the new DXR (Design Expo Raleigh) show in Seaboard and at Flanders 311. It was pretty neat, please do yourselves a favor and check it out!

After Seaboard we rode up to DesignBox. Cool show, as always.

After a stint at DesignBox we travelled to the newest gallery in all of Raleigh – The Mahler! Friday was literally the first day it was open and it did not disappoint. I did a post earlier detailing the Mahler and it’s aparments/offices, and our friends at NewRaleigh also did a cool little segment on it. The Gallery had a new show featuring the photographs of Raleigh native and musical phenom Tift Merritt. It also included paintings by other area artists. It was totally rad!

After that, we cruised down to Lump, which had a very Lump show. You know what I mean if you’ve frequented Lump over the years! I enjoyed it a lot.

As always, we rounded out the evening at Morning Times/Fish Market. The Fish Market was doing a really cool Scale Show, and the Morning Times had photos by Stephen Aubuchon. Very cool indeed.

It turned out to be a fantastic evening, and even tho it was raining up until about 6:50, we still had a killer showing and accrued a ton of riders along the way. Even better, the weather got nicer and nicer as the night went on, so there was no worry of rain at all for the whole night. See you guys out there next month, bring bikes, locks, lights and friends!

I’ve long been a fan of Michael Salter’s work, although I didn’t know who he was until somewhat recently. I first encountered his art on the side of a dumpster a few years ago, and was immediately enamored by it. Seeing such simple yet beautiful iconography over a unusual medium was moving and thought provoking.

A few weeks ago when my sister was in town for a visit we decided to stop by Holly Aiken’s store. Like so many others that see Holly’s stuff for the first time, she was absolutely enthralled. In wandering around, I noticed some of the bags carried the icons that I had come to know on the dumpster near where I live. It was part of CAHOOTS, a collaboration involving artists Michael Salter and Paul Friedrich.

Michael is a part of Team Lump, a loose group of artist that collaborate on a number of projects.  He was a part of it from the beginning, and helped form the identity of the gallery (my personal favorite among all the ones downtown). His studio was located there for 9 years before moving it to his home on Tower Street.

Four years ago he relocated to the West Coast to accept a position with the University of Oregon as an Associate Professor of Digital Arts. An artist in residence in Portland, he is represented by Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York and Think.21 Gallery in Brussels.

One of his most unique creations is that of giant styrofoam robots. Above is a time lapse video of a twenty foot tall robot being assembled at the San Jose Museum of Art. He is currently working on an aluminum-cast robot for the Basel Switzerland Art Fair, VOLTA5.

People buy so much. Every time something ships there’s a piece of Styrofoam to keep it safe and sound. I really look at these pieces as being mechanical and robot in nature. The result is a pretty poignant statement about what we buy … and what we throw away.

When asked about his connection to Raleigh and the people within, he shared the following:

I miss many people whom I was very close to in my early years developing as an artist.  Many of these people are artists and designers themselves.  There was more than one Sunday when we would occupy a table for 20 at Humble Pie for brunch, fond memories.

Let me remind those who own my work in the area that those early indications of support were essential to putting on a pretty enjoyable professional trajectory.

Trying to pin down Michael’s inspiration for his iconography and minimalist pieces is a far more difficult task, however. He provided a much-abbreviated version of what drives some of his creations:

If you walk down the soda aisle of a Food Lion you can see the language that moves me.  If you drive up Capital Blvd you can see my inspirations.  If you go the the fairgrounds Flea Market and buy some socks and a fake leather cell phone case, you know where I come from.

The drive to create art from found objects and inexpensive retail items isn’t just limited to his own work. He had his students create projects found at a dollar store, for a project aptly named Dollar Store Hack:

In an effort to investigate design and push creative methodologies we hacked existing dollar store items, designing, sketching and building a variety of personal and home goods. All our materials were acquired at the dollar store. Our goal was simple; design by hacking cheaply made plastic junk, and hopefully, manipulating some irony and employing some criticality in an otherwise humorless and often anonymous world of product.

Although the vast majority of Michael’s work in Raleigh resides within private residences, there are a few artifacts within public view. One such example is the hanging kinetic sculpture on Tower Street above.

He has a dog named Dolce, misses the early Spring of North Carolina, and was most recently published in the book Best New York Art, 2008.

More information:

• Michael Salter
• Lump West
• Holly Aiken Stitch

As mentioned last week, the Lump Gallery Benefit was on August 15th at their studio/gallery on South Blount Street.

Your favorite beer was there, provided that your favorite beer is PBR.

Schooner playing their set.

Bill Thelen grinning behind a pile of money in a paint can. He’s one of the three artists who run Lump.

More of Schooner.

Med (as in Club Med) showing off a crisp five dollar bill that someone just gave him as he was thanking everyone for attending.

Located at 505 South Blount Street, Lump is half gallery and half studio. The Lump wing in Raleigh is run by three people – Bill Thelen, Jerstin Crosby, and Tory Wright. Lump West is in Eugene, Oregon and is run by Mike Salter, who used to be located in Raleigh. Team Lump has been around for thirteen years.

The benefit show is Friday after next, August 15th from 7 until 11 P.M. Donations will be accepted at the door. Proceeds will help Lump to continue operations for the next year. Lest you think this is some wine and cheese affair with classical music in the background, think again. The Lump Gallery benefit will feature PBR and two great local bands, Phon and Schooner.

Phon is a collaboration between sound artists Dustin Dorsey and Drew Robertson. The two friends discovered a mutual love of gorgeously strange sounds and music in 2002. Phone makes textural layers of field recordings, electronics, guitars, and feedback that result in feelings as disparate as being wrapped in a cloud blanket, and being drudged along the ocean floor.
– Phon

Schooner is from Carrboro, NC. It started from a 4-track project by Reid Johnson in 2003, and then turned into a full band. The current lineup includes Reid and Kathryn Johnson (yes, we’re brother and sister), Billy Alphin (The Ashley Stove, The Rosebuds), and Maria Albani (Pleasant, Un Deux Trois). Tripp Cox played bass on all of the records and pretty much did the booking and van driving until last year, and we’ve toured and recorded with Megan Culton on guitar and cello as well.
– Schooner

To hear the sounds of these two great musical acts ahead of the event, you can visit them on their respective web sites, phonpage.com and schoonermusic.com.

Lump is an unusually internet-savvy gallery/studio, with several online points of presence:

• Team Lump Sucks (blog)
• Lump Docket (blog)
• Lump Gallery
• Lump West
• Lump Magazine

The story behind the title Team Lump Sucks is that at some point someone defaced a Team Lump sticker by adding the word “sucks” at the end. The artists liked it, and adopted it.

Works by Jerstin Crosby

Lump is located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Combining the rigor and professionalism of a commercial gallery with the experimental attitude of alternative spaces, Lump presents exhibitions and projects with emerging, mid-career and under-recognized artists. With a twelve-year history, we remain dedicated to exhibiting the most thought-provoking, contemporary art available. Lump is an artist-run space that does not represent artists.

– Lump