(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
Art, when successful, challenges perceptions. It challenges perceptions of what might be considered art and, sometimes, it challenges perceptions of who might be considered an artist.
Ask any tattoo artist.
While the profile and legitimacy of the tattoo and tattoo artists has certainly increased over the past 20 years or so, there’s still a certain stigma, or outsider appeal depending on your perspective, attached to that culture. It is, I believe, an artifact of the sailors, bikers and guys-who-play-metal audience of aficionados that for years were the industry’s primary clientele. It’s taken a lot of work, both generally and locally, for tattoo artist to shake that for-outlaws-only image and present tattooing as an art form defined only by the specificity of its canvas.
One of the more interesting experiments has been the annual More Than Skin exhibition, now in its sixth year, organized and featuring members of the local tattoo community. This year’s show, helmed by the Moth & Magpie Tattoo Studio, is an interesting blend of perspectives and media that only occasionally feels the need to dip its toes into the tattoo work. The exhibition, on display at the 600 Broad Gallery through the end of October, allows tattooists and piercers to exchange their needles for pens – and brushed and so on. The result is a fascinating and often inspiring collection of work bound, really, only by the day jobs of the artists involved. Work spans the gamut from large-scale graphic art pieces to miniature BDSM-inspired needlepoint. I guess that counts as graphic art too. What’s interesting about this collection is the peek behind the curtain it offers. It allows the viewer to look behind the inspirational typography, skulls and occasional daggers that are the established iconography of tattooing and uncovers a more complicated aesthetic. Sure, there is the odd skull or two featured in the More Than Skin collection and a few other pieces that seem tattoo-adjacent, but for the most part these pieces – excellent and imaginative – go a long way toward emphasizing the idea of the tattoo artist as an artist that tattoos.
MORE: Brand New Bag: Remembering Paul Marsh and highlighting Estimated Principles
Nothing Sadder Than an Empty Stage
Columbia County has a beautiful venue in its Performing Arts Center. That is a fact. It’s a great size – intimate while still exceeding 2,000 seats – and clearly carefully designed with both the audience and acts in mind. But it seems, from my perspective, a little underutilized. Between now and early May – approximately 200 days – there are eleven acts booked. That’s one show approximately every three weeks. Certainly massive increase in Columbia County entertainment options but also not nearly enough action when we consider the potential draw of a venue like this. Now I understand that those acts listed probably do not represent the totality of acts coming to the PAC between now and summer. Bookings often spend a significant time behind a venue’s metaphorical curtain before being announced to the public and promoters, staff and agents undoubtedly have some shows in various stages of the booking process. Still, that said, I feel like there’s a potential audience that has, so far, remained unreached.
A couple of weeks ago Coco Rubio brought the Drivin’ n Cryin’ to the PAC. Coco in the CoCo. It was, with the exception of a very mellow Boz Scaggs set several months before, the first real rock show at the venue. Come to think of it, Boz may not count – entertaining but certainly not rocking. Despite the fact Drivin’ n Cryin’ usually plays smaller venues, regularly appears on Augusta stages and was ticketed at a higher-than-band-average price, the show was successful. Which leads me to believe that not only is there and untapped rock – and most certainly country – market in Columbia County, but the shiny new(ish) venue itself may prove to be a draw. It’s not surprising really, because unlike the Miller, Imperial and even the Bell downtown, the PAC is built for those kind of performances. It was built with contemporary touring acts in mind. Load in is easy. Backstage is nicely appointed. The sound and lights are beautiful. It’s a full package performance experience.
So here is my question to you. Who would you like to see play the Columbia County Performing Arts Center? Obviously, some acts will remain out of reach, but even so, I don’t believe there are any bad answers. Let’s give the fine folk tasked with filling those seats on the regular an idea of the kind of things that would excite a local audience.
MORE: Brand New Bag: Phillip Lee, murals, bear
Buried Treasure: Perspex Island by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
The rap on Robyn Hitchcock has always been that he is weird – and make no mistake, he is. But weird does not always equal unlistenable. This 1991 gem, which featured a few Georgia cameos by way of Michael Stipe and Peter Buck of R.E.M., is, to be fair, one of the more polished of Hitchcock’s presentations. That does not, however, mean that he hides his surrealist tendencies. While a song like ‘So You Think You’re in Love’, the album’s lone hit (a term I use loosely), isn’t much of a head-scratcher, plenty of the Perspex tunes, most notably ‘Vegetation and Dimes’, ‘Lysander’ and my personal favorite ‘Birds in Perspex’ are lyrically suitably Hitchcockian. What makes them marvels rather than musical oddities is the attention he pays to placing them into arrangements that are both catchy and unexpected. They are, in essence, singalong songs that have no real business being sung along to. That’s an impressive trick from an impressive artist that continues, to this day, to both confound and engage.
Steven Uhles has worked as a professional journalist in the Augusta area for 22 years, and his Pop Rocks column ran in The Augusta Chronicle for more than 20. He lives in Evans with his wife, two children and a dog named after Hunter Thompson.
