By John Benson
If you’re the type of person who gets annoyed at happy people and optimism, you’re going to want to stay away from local gallery BUCKBUCK’s newest exhibit Nice to Meet You!!, which opens Sat 7/13 at the Lorain Road venue in Cleveland.
Featuring plenty of color, shapes and — presumably — smiles, Nice to Meet You!! is centered around the work of printmaker Erin Guido and graphic designer Katie Parland. Overall, the exhibit has a collage-like feel that intends to leave the viewer feeling peppy.
Cool Cleveland talked with BUCKBUCK co-owner/co-curator Joe Lanzilotta about the friendly exhibit, the future direction of the gallery and the importance of booze (which could also explain that peppy feeling).
Cool Cleveland: Joe, yet another BUCKBUCK exhibit. What’s the idea behind Nice to Meet You!!?
Joe Lanzilotta: Well, both girls do collage work. Erin Guido does a bit larger scale – mostly shape and lots of color. She incorporates usually some kind of text in her pieces as well. She typically does public art. So this is the first time she’s bringing that inside the gallery. She does a lot of intricate large-scale pieces. She paints a lot of shapes and throws them up at will. And Katie is our small scale; [she’s] a little more graphic and borrows a lot of texture and texts from magazines. She also does collage work. She’s a graphic designer by trade, and she worked for Agnes Studio. Their two styles kind of compliment one another. Also, Katie just moved to North Carolina, which was kind of a bummer for us and all of Cleveland because she is a very talented girl.
It sounds like Nice to Meet You!! has a lot going on. Is there an overlying theme you see connecting the two artists’ work?
The theme, I guess, is color. If you know Erin Guido, she’s a very optimistic person. From the way she speaks to her voice, which is very high-pitched, she’s very bubbly and excited about everything. I hate to say that because it sounds kind of corny but it’s going to be great. The [other] theme of the show is summertime. It’s going to be a colorful party with good people, good drink and good food.
How does Nice to Meet You!! fit into the spirit of BUCKBUCK?
It’s different and something we haven’t done yet. We’ve done a bunch of things but haven’t done anything that was very collage-y. We’re trying to scale back on the amount of shows we’re doing and just kind of focus more on themes and people’s skills. We just got done with this juried cat show, which was fun, but we’ve done two juried shows out of the past three shows so we’re excited to get away from that. It’ll be a colorful show. We’ll have Cleveland Whiskey there doing a blind taste testing. And Umami Moto will have a food truck as well.
Finally, what you’re telling us is we need whiskey and food to get through this exhibit?
Yeah, of course [laughs]. You need that to get through life. It’ll be fun. We have a friend, Isaac Miller, who also brews beer. So we’ve invited him to brew a couple of small batch beers and that’ll be available for people as well. It’ll be a very social event and fun and nice until people drink too much whiskey and beer.
The opening reception for Nice to Meet You!! takes place from 6 to 11pm Sat 7/13 at BUCKBUCK, 3910 Lorain Road, Cleveland. For more information, call 216.407.9558 or visit http://buckbuckcle.com or http://facebook.com/events.
[Pictured: Art by Erin Guido (top); Katie Parland (bottom)]
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio. When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.
Cleveland, OH 44113