Custom Munny by Crystal Mielcarek on Flickr.

Here are a few of the images I snapped right before the show opened Friday night. I think for some of my larger pieces I’ll need some help properly documenting them, but most of my images are scanned and prepared to be shared here in the coming weeks with you lovely people. Before that, here are some pictures to give you an idea what the gallery set-up looks like.

Crystal Mielcarek adjusting some of her paintings, with some of my work in the foreground.

Some of the amazing work Crystal made for the show.

Being all meta and taking a picture of Kill Taupe taking a picture of his work.

An adorable collection of small pieces Kill Taupe made for the show.

I can hardly believe how fast time flies and that our show is opening tomorrow. We’ve put a heck of a lot of hours into putting this together and it all culminates in a big ol’ party tomorrow. Here are some of the articles some nice folks have written about the show:

The Romeo Observer - Happy Serum art show features 3 pop surrealists

The Oakland Press - Starkweather Arts Center gives metro Detroit ‘Happy Serum’

The Macomb Daily - A dose of ‘Happy Serum’ at Starkweather Arts Center

Advisor & Source - Artists bring unique works to Starkweather exhibit (Note: the pictures in the article show one of my prints, but the other works are that of Emi Slade (the cyclops sculpture) and Daniel Allyn Lee’s Happycloud Thunderhead plushies.)

CW50 - “Happy Serum”

Perfect Laughter - Happy Serum Opens on June 3 at Starkweather Arts Center

Whew! I’m pretty stoked for tomorrow. Hope to see you there!

killtaupe:

Heather Hansma, Crystal Mielcarek and I are looking to get you hooked on the good stuff this Friday when Happy Serum opens at Starkweather Arts Center in Romeo, MI.

“My approach to Happy Serum was simply to create a bunch of art that makes me happy. That’s it. No deep existential subtext about the state of the human psyche in a time of financial and political upheaval. Just bunnies, beer and Doug Benson.”

-Heather Hansma

“I created a selection of work that immediately draws the viewer in with bright colors and fun characters, injecting them right away with happy. However, once they take a closer look at the work they may begin to notice that many times, no matter how joyful it appears, everything has a dark side.”

- Crystal Mielcarek

“The world has become a wasteland of strip malls, big box stores and Applebees. In order to combat the wave of depression gripping its citizens the government, along with several top corporate investors, enter into a project to produce the drug HS42 (Happy Serum). As more and more citizens become heavy HS42 users the serum rises in price and its horrendous side effects are revealed! A small resistance group rises up against the use of the drug claiming it is a form of mind control…. but how long can independent thought hold out against the masses?”

-Kill Taupe

HAPPY SERUM OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, June 3rd | 6 - 10pm
Starkweather Arts Center
219 N. Main St. Romeo, MI

Each of us are doing a poster design that will be available for sale at the opening and throughout the exhibition. I built my design around the Mario Bun triptych I made for the show. This might be about it for sneak previews of new pieces, though. I don’t want to give away all my secrets ^_~

Oh, and if you are so inclined, you can check out the event page for the opening on the Book of Faces.

We are two weeks away from the opening of our show, and things are really coming together. There are lots of new paintings about happy things, and of course paintings utilizing the sarcastic humor the three of us are prone to use. This is the press release just in case you are looking for some more information about the show.

“Happy Serum” Art exhibition by Heather Hansma, Kill Taupe, and Crystal Mielcarek

June 3 - 25, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, June 3, 6:00 – 10pm

Starkweather Arts Center
219 N. Main Street
Romeo, MI 48065
586-752-5700
www.starkweatherarts.com

Detroit has been getting a lot of attention lately: ruin porn, Eminem’s love letter to our hardworking people, and a love/hate relationship with the idea of a Robocop statue. These images of the city aren’t necessarily inaccurate, but they are definitely not the whole picture. There is one key aspect of the folks around here that isn’t shown very often and that is happiness. Three artists from different areas around Detroit see plenty of things to be happy about, and they want to give everyone a dose of Happy Serum.

Happy Serum is a collection of new art by pop surrealists Crystal Mielcarek, Kill Taupe, and Heather Hansma at Starkweather Arts Center in Romeo, MI. Heather Hansma’s colorful and humorous artwork usually features her signature Puff Bun characters paying homage to entertainment and pop culture, but this show will also include some of her portrait work. Kill Taupe is a geeky painter and illustrator of strange rabbits, cannibal cupcakes, forlorn Slurpee chugging bears, robots that bake, angry vegetables and other critters and riff-raff. Crystal Mielcarek’s art tends to reflect an odd balance in life with her super cute brightly colored characters combined with a dark, almost cynical look on life.

Starkweather Arts Center is a non-profit art gallery located in historic downtown Romeo, located north of Detroit, MI. It is located in the former home of Helen Starkweather, an art teacher who donated her home and studio to be used as an art and cultural center after she died in 1987. It is the goal of the SAC to foster and promote artistic excellence not only in Romeo, but in all the surrounding communities. The two story building has gallery space on each level, both of which will be used in showcasing the art of Happy Serum.

In an attempt to bribe all of Metro Detroit to make the commute out to Kid Rock’s hometown, we will be offering food and drink to the intrepid folks who make it out to the opening. Yorokobi, Romeo’s new sushi bar, will be providing sushi. There will be the traditional offering of wine that you usually find at gallery openings, but also beer because that’s how we lowbrow folks roll.

Since 2010 was such a sucky year Kill Taupe, Crystal Mielcarek, and I decided to band together and jab 2011 with a dose of Happy Serum.

Mark your calendars for June 3rd, folks. On that day we will be opening a show of new work filling both levels of the Starkweather Arts Center in Romeo.

More details to come as we get closer to the event!