High End Low Brow Pop Art

Nintendo Thumb: Searing Pain, Sensational Fun

Dick Van der Wurst on July 3, 2014

2014 • 17.5″ x 36.5″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

There was once going to be a “gamer” themed group show at a relatively well known gallery in San Antonio. I was creating this when I found out it was going to be moved to a grungy independent coffee shop/art studio/gallery in an “emerging neighborhood”. I bowed out, not wanting to do group shows in coffee shops at this point in my career.

Still, I was stuck with this piece, a bit of a departure from my usual work. I like it though. Any GenXer like me can relate to the feeling of bruised thumbnails from pounding that old school Nintendo controller too hard, for too long.

This is one of my favorite pieces because it evokes to those who know, a very distinct feeling and memory of our GenX childhood. I sold it for a song to a guy in Houston, who has since married and probably forced by his wife to pitch it.

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Houston Press Front Page Teaser for Moe Profane show

Nihilism and Nanner Puddin: A Big Hit with the Houston Press

Dick Van der Wurst on June 30, 2014

My 2014 Houston show is home again in San Antonio. What’s left of it. I sold a few. Meh, I’ll take it. I hear there was a buzz about it from other artists and people from Houston and others who were visiting got a big kick out of it too.

As for press, I got mentions in the usual blogs and bulletin boards but I got a nice write up in the Houston Press. Gus Kopriva, owner Redbud, the gallery hosting my show, was even surprised at the attention. He says his shows don’t get that much play. I must have really caught there eye.

I made the 5 Top Things to do the week of June 5-12 on the Houston Press site.

I also got two images and a write up in the print edition. Still waiting on the calls to start coming in.

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Tejano: Polka Moe Profane Relativist Pop Art Painting

Tejano: Polka (The Colorful Combination of Cultures)

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 34″ x 17.5″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

Before coming to the San Antonio, I hadn’t known of the German culture here and in the Hill Country, much less the mixture of Texan, Mexican and German that I understand is part of what is loosely referred to as Tejano. Being of German decent, I fixated mostly on the polka beat and accordion heard in the folk music of this area, reflecting the 19th century German influence in this part of Texas.

Here I combined a German symbol, the fat polka accordionist, with one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Mexican voodoo holiday of Dia de los Muertos. He leans back, squeezing out a happy tune on his Mexican flavored piano accordion.

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Tejano: Heidi (Colorful Cultural Misappropriation, Boobs, and Beer)

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 34″ x 17.5″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

Here I combined a German symbol, the beer wench, with one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Mexican voodoo holiday of Dia de los Muertos. She presents an arm load of Micheladas, a Mexican prepared beer made with lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers.

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Tejano: Gnomo Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Tejano: Gnomo (The Miracle of Merging Magical Motifs)

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 34″ x 17.5″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

Before coming to the San Antonio, I hadn’t known of the German culture here and in the Hill Country, much less the mixture of Texan, Mexican and German that I understand is part of what is loosely referred to as Tejano. Being of German decent, I fixated mostly on the polka beat and accordion heard in the folk music of this area reflecting the 19th century German influence in this part of Texas.

Here I combined a German symbol, the gnome, with one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Mexican voodoo holiday of Dia de los Muertos. Proudly he sits on a stump boldly telling us who and what he is.

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Blue Boy: A Promising Pop Art Perspective

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 46.75″ x 17.5″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

(After the portrait of Jonathan Buttall by Thomas Gainsborough)

I loved the way the paintings and sculptures of the boy in the blue suit and the girl in the pink dress had a pop culture name of “Blue Boy” and “Pinkie.” We all remember seeing them in the beds and baths of our friends’ mothers, but none of us remember them having any impression other than an un-articulated feeling about their mothers’ bad taste. Later, when I found out everyone had similar experiences, it was great fun. I always wonder though…who among the people I meet today are the children of such women, or do they themselves have representations of these long dead children in their master bedrooms?

Wikipedia says:

The Blue Boy (c. 1770) is a full-length portrait in oil by Thomas Gainsborough, now in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.[1] Perhaps Gainsborough’s most famous work, it is thought to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttall (1752–1805), the son of a wealthy hardware merchant, although this has never been proven. It is a historical costume study as well as a portrait: the youth in his 17th-century apparel is regarded as Gainsborough’s homage to Anthony van Dyck, and in particular is very close to Van Dyck’s portrait of Charles II as a boy.

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Pinkie: Relativist Pop Art Paining by Moe Profane

Pinkie: A Powerful Pop Art Portrayal Of A Historical Piece

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 46.75″ x 17.5″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

(After the portrait of Sarah Barrett Moulton by Thomas Lawrence)

I loved the way the paintings and sculptures of the boy in the blue suit and the girl in the pink dress had a pop culture name of “Blue Boy” and “Pinkie.” Growing up, I remember seeing them in the sleeping quarters and powder rooms of women of a certain age, but none of us remember them having any impression other than an un-articulated feeling about those women’s poor taste. Later, when I found out everyone had similar experiences, it was great fun discovering just how famous these images were. I always wonder though…who among the people I meet today are the children of such women, or do they themselves have representations of these long dead children in their master bedrooms?

Wikipedia says:

Pinkie is the traditional title for a portrait of 1794 by Thomas Lawrence in the permanent collection of the Huntington Library at San Marino, California where it hangs opposite The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough. The title now given it by the museum is Sarah Barrett Moulton: Pinkie.

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Feral Cats Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Feral Cats: From the Popular Wingding Series

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 22.5″ x 17.75″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

I’ve lived in the middle of Louisville and in apartments on the outskirts and a couple of places in between. I’ve lived on and off of two college campuses. I never saw the amount of strays that I did when I got to San Antonio. I saw generations of cats living in the dumpster the day I showed up. Back lit against the skyline from high up on upper Fredericksburg Rd.

This is from a series created from imagery derived solely from pictographs found in my collection of wingding and dingbat computer fonts.

Starting from a large selection of these symbols and shapes I made associations and pairings to match preconceived ideas or allowing them to inspire their own themes.

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Wrong Side of the Tracks: Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

Wrong Side of the Tracks: From the Popular Wingding Series

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 15.75″ x 33.25″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

We’ve all been there. We realized as it happened the gateway those railroad crossings can be from one reality into another. Which side is right and which side is wrong is rather relative though.

This is from a series created from imagery derived solely from pictographs found in my collection of wingding and dingbat computer fonts.

Starting from a large selection of these symbols and shapes I made associations and pairings to match preconceived ideas or allowing them to inspire their own themes.

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World Citizen Relativist Pop Art Painting by Moe Profane

World Citizen: Exotic Poor People From Hot Tropical Lands

Dick Van der Wurst on June 29, 2014

2014 • 15.25″ x 29″
acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets

I was going to make a piece for a group show for refugee relief with the theme being depictions of refugee children, citizens of the world. I assembled the component pieces into an illustration of suffering brown children living someplace hot, making for compelling television entertainment.

This is from a series created from imagery derived solely from pictographs found in my collection of wingding and dingbat computer fonts.

Starting from a large selection of these symbols and shapes I made associations and pairings to match preconceived ideas or allowing them to inspire their own themes.

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