Facebook/Black Moon Gallery
As part of this week's upcoming First Friday festivities, Black Moon Gallery is hosting a pizza-inspired group art show that thinks inside the box. Literally.
When brainstorming an idea for the event with fellow artist Regina Morales, Black Moon Gallery owner Zane Thomas settled on the pizza concept for "Oven Fresh."
"I mean what's more accessible than both pizza and pizza boxes?" Thomas said, describing how art made on 12x12-inch cardboard squares meshes perfectly with Black Moon Gallery's mission of making art more accessible.
To him, the pizza box is a "portable canvas" for the 20 artists, allowing them to experiment within the confines of this small white box. The artists themselves represent a variety of different disciplines, as Thomas expects will be reflected in the final pieces that they turn in. Patrons can also expect to see works by Robert Tatum (of Choice Goods gallery), Christa Dippel, Rigo Ortiz, Farad Ibrahimovic, and many more.
He also foresees some participants straying from their usual conventions, citing experienced painter Jason Limon's decision to do create something more sketch-like with his box. Thomas screenprinted his own box and included some pizza-themed subjects on it, but the same content can't be expected across the board.
Black Moon Gallery, the show's venue, is the newest addition to Blue Star Arts Complex and functions as an offshoot space for Thomas's own printmaking business. Thomas focuses primarily on popular culture subjects, making screenprints of everything from Frankenstein to vintage stocking advertisements. Black Moon Print also prints the work of other artists, in addition to those of its owner, usually only on stock paper.
After moving into its Southtown venue about two months ago, the space has held events at the past two First Fridays, including a "cereal and cartoons" themed show in June featuringbig barrels of dry breakfast-y snacks and artwork reminiscent of Saturday morning television. Black Moon Gallery has also hosted two small screen printing workshops, where participants learn the craft from Thomas himself, using some of his original works to make the prints.
Get there early or be sad, because the supply of pizza is limited. For updates on "Oven Fresh," check out their Facebook event. The show runs from 7-11PM at Black Moon Gallery (1420 S. Alamo #106B).
