Stranger Factory

Leslie Levings,Shing Yin Khor, and Patt Kelley return to Stranger Factory this September!

  • by

THE SAVAGE – Leslie Levings
A MEMORY OF BEASTS – Shing Yin Khor
SOULMATES – Patt Kelley will run from
September 6th – September 29th, 2019

Opening Reception with the artists: Friday, September 6th from 6-8 PM

Book signing and An Afternoon of Creative Conversations Saturday, September 7th 1-4 pm


Stranger Factory is proud to present The Savage, a new feature show by Leslie Levings!

The Savage is new collection of myths, in which our avatars confront the inadequacies of the world, the relentlessness of destruction, and the hopeful beauty of what comes after. These are Just So Stories for the end of the world, or maybe for the end of a world that never existed to begin with.

Stranger Factory is happy to present Shing Yin Khor in her new feature show at our gallery, A Memory of Beasts!

A Memory of Beasts is a show about the objects we hoard in order to remember our lives. It’s about the keys we keep adding to our key rings, the small rock with a hole in it that we fidget with in our pockets, the shells, the worms, sticks and bones we pick up on our hikes. It’s about grounding, collecting, and keeping.

This body of work also features new critters that are signature to Shing Yin Khor’s work and stories, as well a meet and greet with the artist the following day!

Stranger Factory is happy to present Patt Kelley in his latest feature show at our gallery, Soulmates!

Some people believe that everyone has a soulmate. Another person so suited to you that they must have been delivered by fate or divine intervention. In this show, each piece has a soulmate. A perfect counterpoint. The subject of each work is the destined partner of another subject within the exhibit. Some pieces may go to a home with their soulmate piece, but Kelley likes to think that even if separated, perhaps the pieces will be rejoined at some point in the future.

All shows run fromSeptember 6th – September 29th, 2019
Opening Reception with the artists: Friday, September 6th from 6-8 PM

Join us for the release and signing of Shing Yin Khor’s new book, The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 as well as
An Afternoon Of Creative Conversations
Saturday, September 7th 1-4PM
Conversations and snacks curated by Shing Yin Khor

1-2pm
Queer Comics and Southwest History
A conversation with Melanie Gilman
(with book signings to follow)

2-3pm
Building Creative Careers
A round table conversation with Ryan Singer, Melanie Gilman, and friends, moderated by Shing Yin Khor.

3-4pm
Divinations for a Creative Path
with Leslie Levings and The Oracle Bird

“If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that is best
Get your kicks on Route 66.”—Bobby Troup

Route 66 covers a total of almost 2,500 miles, famously winding from Chicago to LA. Established in 1926, it’s been called the Main Street of America, was dedicated to Will Rogers and is an essential part of Americana. Even those who’ve never traveled its roads know it from pop music, the 1960’s TV show Route 66, the Cars franchise, and John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath.

As a child growing up in Malaysia, Shing Yin Khor had two very different ideas of what “America” meant. The first looked a lot like Hollywood, full of beautiful people, sunlight, and freeways. The second looked much more like The Grapes of Wrath—a nightmare landscape filled with impoverished people, broken-down cars, barren landscapes, and broken dreams. Those contrasting ideas have stuck with Khor ever since and help explain their fascination with Route 66. In the spring of 2016, 10 years after moving to LA and 4 years after becoming an American citizen, Khor embarked on a road trip along Highway 66 in a 2010 Honda Fit, accompanied only by their trusty road-trip adventure dog Bug.

On sale from Zest Books on August 6, 2019, Khor’s graphic memoir The American Dream?: A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues, Muffler Men, and the Perfect Breakfast Burrito allows readers to ride shotgun for a deeply personal and playful pilgrimage of roadside attractions, abandoned towns, diners, and motels. Like the very best road trips, the book relishes in unusual sites and roadside kitsch, with detours providing arcane trivia and profound observations alike. We visit Oatman, AZ, a former gold-mining town where several Hollywood films were shot. We stop at Two Guns, AZ, the abandoned site of the former tourist trap known as The Apache Death Cave. We take in plenty of iconic landmarks, from Holbrook, AZ’s dinosaur statues to Oklahoma’s Blue Whale of Catoosa.

The American Dream?: A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues, Muffler Men, and the Perfect Breakfast Burrito is already receiving accolades:

Khor takes that ‘feeling of desperately searching for something better, for a new start,’ and adapts it to their own ‘pilgrimage’ as immigrant and artist traveling historic Route 66…in whimsical full-color detail.—Booklist (Starred Review)

Breathtaking.—School Library Journal

Offers important perspectives on being an immigrant and American identity.—Kirkus Reviews

Shing Yin Khor’s trip preceded the 2016 Presidential Election by a few months. And as Khor writes, “This comic feels like a record of a time when a brown girl could drive America fearlessly.” It is both the document of one cartoonist’s trip on the open road and a portrait of a constantly evolving America. Khor’s journey echoes the Joad family’s desperate pursuit of a better life out West, and the book takes stock of both the myth and the reality of the American Dream. We invite you to join us on the ride.

Shing Yin Khor is a cartoonist and installation artist. Their work has been published in The Toast, The Nib, Upworthy, Huffington Post, and Bitch Magazine. They make the road trip adventure comic Tiny Adventure Journal, and the tender queer science fiction comic Center for Otherworld Science. They are also the author of The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues, Muffler Men, and the Perfect Breakfast Burrito published by Zest Books. They live in Los Angeles.

 

August at Stranger Factory: Dan Barry, Jon MacNair, and René Palomares

  • by

This August at Stranger Factory:
CAPTIVE ILLUSIONS – Dan Barry and Jon MacNair
HANDPICKED FROM BAD APPLES AND BAD EGGS – René Palomares

August 2nd – September 1st, 2019

Opening Reception: Friday, August 2nd from 6-8 PM

Stranger Factory is proud to present CAPTIVE ILLUSIONS, a two-person show by artists, Dan Barry and Jon MacNair!

Captive Illusions features the collected image works of Dan Barry and the illustrative works of Jon MacNair. Together, the duo create a show that sends the viewer into surreal and playful worlds with characters that come to life in warm color schemes.

Dan Barry graduated from Lawrence University in 1994, where he primarily studied cultural anthropology and fine art. His most recent mixed media artworks explore themes that are simultaneously intensely personal and universal -mortality, loss, connection, family and patriotism.

Jon MacNair was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in the suburbs of southeast Michigan near Detroit. He graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2005, where he earned a BFA in Illustration. The body of work he has created for this show is a deviation from his usual monochromatic ink on paper works. Employing color, to assemble an exhibition entirely comprised of paintings on wood panel, he focused less on narratives and more on straight-forward character driven works. Feeling illuminated in the new process, MacNair has taken a fresh view on the characters he has drawn many times before in monochromatic tones, enlivened and transformed with a fresh color palette.

Stranger Factory is happy to present René Palomares in his first feature show at our gallery, HANDPICKED FROM BAD APPLES AND BAD EGGS.

Hand Picked From Bad Apples and Bad Eggs is a body of work that serves as a timeline from past to present. The works honor people and events that have been factors that has shaped Palomares’ life until now. Those people and events are represented in luchador versions that mostly consist of Palomares’ signature characters, The Eeep!, The Ghost, and Hollowmen. The idea of the luchador in his work serves as a beacon for strength, hope, and Mexican culture; But also, secrecy, disguise, and fear.

René Palomares was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico and grew up in the towns of Mesquite, Anthony, and La Mesa. He currently lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has had the privilege to be able to explore his art while teaching both middle and high school. Drawing has always been comfortable medium for Palomares and as an undergrad in college, he began exploring paint. It challenged his color-blindness (which he prefers to think of more as ¨color-confusion¨). It was then that he fell in love with paint and all its forms. He has continued to explore the possibilities of paint in the style of work he currently creates.

This July at Stranger Factory: Kathie Olivas, Kristina Drake, and Sandi Ray Pierce

  • by


This JULY at Stranger Factory
“ELIXIR” 
Kathie Olivas

“CONSUMED” 
Kristina Drake

“MADE IN THE SHADE” 
Sandi Ray Pierce 

July 5th – July 28th, 2019

Opening Reception: Friday, July 5th from 6-8 PM


Stranger Factory is proud to present ELIXIR, a solo show by artist, Kathie Olivas!

“Elixir” features a series of mixed media paintings and art toys that explore the sensation of propaganda and “snake oil” in a post truth world. Snake handlers, faith healers, and self- serving magical “cure-all” peddlers exploit their toxic, child-like sweetness through their seemingly innocent blank stares and buyer beware expressions. They want to sell you their too good to be true elixirs that will purify your demons and cure all of your ills.

Kathie Olivas is an internationally exhibited multi-media artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her work explores society’s insatiable desire to assign “cuteness” as a measure for innocence and acceptance; to sooth our innability to accept our discomfort with the unknown. A dark blend of early American portraiture set in post apocalyptic times, Kathie’s mixed media paintings and hand made “toys” are a satirical look at how fear affects our sense of reality. Her characters are meant to evoke a nostalgic reaction that reflects isolation, fear, and an uncertainty, yet they also act as empowered alter egos. Her abstracted cartoon style, reminiscent of vintage story book illustrations and iconic advertising mascots, is meant to disarm our fear of the “other.” While these characters explore their new lonely worlds, they double as our narrators. They guide us through their reality as they experience it and yet, even in their company, we are granted no reassurance.

Kathie Olivas received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida in 1999. She began exhibiting her work in the mid 90s and is often associated with the Lowbrow/ Pop Surrealist movement and Sentimentalism.

Stranger Factory is happy to present Kristina Drake in her first feature show at our gallery, CONSUMED.

Kristina Drake strives to convey her appreciation for nature through her sculptures. Believing that nature is the closest reflection we have to ourselves, Drake uses delicate themes to convey the passage of time, our own fragility, and temporary essence. Her efforts create beautiful works that drive attention to environmental conservation and help one feel connected to the world around us.

Stranger Factory is happy to present Sandi Ray Pierce in her second feature show, MADE IN THE SHADE.

Join us in the shade for local artist Sandi Ray Pierce’s second feature show at Stranger Factory. Exhibiting a collection of new works mixing her signature style with a new twist, the southwest-loving artist takes us on a visual journey inspired by vintage signs and New Mexican sunsets. Here you can find typographic visuals and skull shaped wood cuts of varying colorways that is sure to make you nostalgic for summers past!

See you there
Opening Reception: Friday, July 5th from 6-8 PM

This June at Stranger Factory: TOY MAKERS OF PLANET EARTH III and LOST & FOUND from Gretchen Lewis

COMING THIS JUNE
TOY MAKERS OF PLANET EARTH III / Our annual group toy exhibition
and
LOST & FOUND from Gretchen Lewis 
June 7th – June 30th, 2019

Opening Reception: Friday, June 7th from 6-8 PM

Stranger Factory is pleased to present TOY MAKERS OF PLANET EARTH III, our annual group show of toys, dolls, and 3D works!

This invitational art exhibition will feature top independent contemporary toy artists, narrative artists inspired by toys, character makers, and independent toy companies from all over the world under one roof at Stranger Factory Gallery.

Over a dozen artists including: Brandt Peters, Kathie Olivas, Angela Oster, Calan Ree, droolwool, Javier Jimenez, Katyushka Dolls, Michele Lynch, Mizna Wada, Nana Williams, Pantovola, Pickled Circus, Ratberry Toys, Scott Wilkowski, Silk & Thistle, Tanya Marriott, Vanessa Ramirez, Weston Brownlee, Yetis and Friends, Yozielle Lorenzo and more!

Stranger Factory is happy to present Gretchen Lewis in her first feature show, LOST & FOUND.

This show is a collection of new paintings on found vintage objects and ephemera. Exploring themes related to Lewis’ love of collecting objects with history, and the past lives she imagines those items to have had, she is drawn to items that are well-loved and possibly inhabited by friendly ghosts or spirits. Her signature style references endearing nostalgia, most specifically turn-of-the-century children’s book illustration, fairy tales, and folklore.

*ALL STRANGER FACTORY EXHIBITIONS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
SEE YOU THERE

April at Stranger Factory: ALL OF EVERYTHING ERASED / Joe Scarano and THE HOUSE AND THE DEVIL / JohnPaul Gutierrez

  • by

This APRIL at STRANGER FACTORY
ALL OF EVERYTHING ERASED / Joe Scarano and THE HOUSE AND THE DEVIL / JohnPaul Gutierrez 
April 5th – April 28th, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, April 5th from 6-8 PM

Take a break at Stranger Factory and explore All of Everything Erased, a show inspirited through the idea of pausing. Pausing long enough for the grass and the weeds to swallow you up for a while.

Fascinated by the idea of abandoned buildings giving in to nature, Joe Scarano’s characters are brought to life as they fall into varying states of disrepair. As they let the grass grow over them and get swallowed back up by the landscape, the viewer has the pleasure of witnessing and imagining that the will eventually wake up again after the earth has grown around and start over.

Scarano was guided to create this show after recalling memories in an old neighborhood in which his children would seek to explore an abandoned house with him. The title of the show, All of Everything Erased comes from a Kevin Devine song of the same name. Influenced by the paintings, Scarano could not get the song out of his mind and Kevin was kind enough to let him borrow the song title for the show.

Stranger Factory is happy to present JohnPaul Gutierrez in his show, The House and The Devil.

The House and the Devil portrays the many negative voices that we create within ourselves. The Devil is represented not in a religious or spiritual context but simply as the adversary telling lies and creating fear. These voices that we house inside, waking us up in the middle of the night or creating a paralyzing fear, prevent us from achieving our truest self. The House, being a little worn down and weathered seeks to maintain the onslaught, and pushes on in hopes of achieving their dreams.

Gutierrez is an Albuquerque local and returning artist to Stranger Factory.

 

This March: CARNIVAL OF LOST DOLLS III / Jen Musatto and IN DOG WE TRUST / Katherine Walsh

  • by

CARNIVAL OF LOST DOLLS III / Jen Musatto and IN DOG WE TRUST / Katherine Walsh will run from
March 1st – March 31st, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, March 1st from 6-8 PM

Come one, come all to Carnival of Lost Dolls III! Jen Musatto’s signature style returns to Stranger Factory for her fourth feature exhibition at the gallery! Each unique in their own endearing way, “Them Dollz”, are a line of handcrafted plush dolls that evoke a sometimes melancholy and gloomy image of the fleeting nature of childhood. Where innocence and the longing for companionship take a most unusual form, the playful nature of the doll is born.

Her figures are nostalgic and reminiscent of the sewn faces of characters like the classic commercial ragdolls of her childhood. She finds solace in sewing bits and pieces of fabric together watching limbs, torsos and features come to life.

Stranger Factory is pleased to welcome Katherine Walsh in her second feature show, In Dog We Trust. Join us as Walsh takes us on an exploration of her connection to dogs as protectors, throughout the living world and the afterlife.

Walsh’s take on historical embroidery and appliqué puts a new spin on the traditionally domestic craft. Her non-traditional approach to imagery creates a narrative that is both unexpectedly feminine and feisty.

Circus Posterus / Stranger Factory / 3411 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque NM 87106, United States

David Santiago’s “24k” this February at Stranger Factory

  • by


Stranger Factory is pleased to present a solo show with New Mexican artist, David Santiago!

24k features a body of work that looks back at the viewer. Returning to us with his signature style, David Santiago creates an intimate exploration of one’s own value and inner beauty. The subjects in his show are adorned with 24k gold leaf freckles, toying with the idea of how we view our “blemishes”. With each freckle becoming a star in a constellation, the viewer is reminded that nothing is by accident.

David was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, and spent his early years as a Hawaiian shirt wearing – rolly-back pack pulling superfan of the film Titanic. Eventually, David forsook the former and embraced the latter, becoming a charcoal artist specializing in female portraiture. When not drawing his French girls, he derives inspiration from his southwest surroundings, and influence from his father, a rock sculptor, whose passion for his work bleeds into David’s dedication to his own. A graduate of the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, David discovered many of the techniques and mediums he still uses, as well as a love of art, and work ethic that can only be born from architecture school’s rigorous sleep depriving demands during his college tenure. David is the exclusive artist of Tractor Brewing Company, and has shown, and been published nationally.

24K by David Santiago will run from
February 1st – February 24th, 2019

Opening Reception: Friday, February 1st from 6-9 PM

Stranger Factory
3411 Central Avenue NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106 

 

MADE IN NEW MEXICO III January 11th – January 27th

  • by

MADE IN NEW MEXICO III
January 11th – January 27th

Stranger Factory is pleased to present our third annual local group exhibition!

Made In New Mexico III is our annual exhibition of new works featuring a diverse group ofMade in New Mexico artists from the Land of Enchantment. Made In New Mexico features local artists from throughout the state. Many of the artists are expected to attend the opening reception on January 11th, from 6-9pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

This year’s participating artists include: Brandt Peters, JohnPaul Gutierrez, Karen Peters, Karl Deuble, Kathie Olivas, Mike Peters, Nicole Sonobe, Pretty.Weird, Rene Palomares, Ryan Singer, Sandi Ray Pierce, Stephan Webb, Weston Brownlee and more!
Opening Reception: Friday, January 11th from 6-9 PM

 

 

 

WINTER SALON VIII this December!

  • by


Stranger Factory is pleased to present our eighth annual group winter exhibition!

Winter Salon finishes the year with a bang! Our small works annual group show is an end of year celebration and one of our most exciting exhibitions, featuring new artwork from many local and international artists. This year’s talented line up promises to provide a variety of enticing alternatives for the upcoming gift-giving season including original illustrations, paintings, sculptures, and plush!

This year’s participating artists include: Allison Bamcat, Angela Oster, Brandt Peters, Bruce Parker, Cassia Harries, Creeptoons, David Santiago, Defective Pudding, droolwool, Fika Art, Genevieve Geer, Joe Scarano, Johnpaul Gutierrez, Junker Jane, Kaitlin Zeismer, Karl Deuble, Kathie Olivas, Katherine Walsh, Nora Thompson, Pretty.Weird, Sad Salesman, Sandi Ray Pierce, Stan Manoukian, Tim Lee and more!
WINTER SALON VIII will run from
December 7th – December 30th, 2018

Kathie Olivas and Bob Doucette this August at Stranger Factory!

  • by

Stranger Factory Gallery
presents

Afterlife
Solo exhibition of new work by Kathie Olivas in Main Gallery

Tales from Dystopia
Solo exhibition of new work by Bob Doucette!

Afterlife
Solo exhibition of new work in Main Gallery
August 3rd – September 2nd, 2018
Opening reception, August 3, 6-9 pm

Stranger Factory is proud to present AFTERLIFE, a solo show by artist, Kathie Olivas!

Kathie Olivas is an internationally exhibited multi-media artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her work explores society’s insatiable desire to assign ‘cuteness’ as a measure for innocence and acceptance; to sooth our inability to accept our discomfort with the unknown. A dark blend of early American portraiture set in post apocalyptic times, Kathie’s mixed media paintings and hand made “toys” are a satirical look at how fear affects our sense of reality. Her characters are meant to evoke a nostalgic reaction that reflects isolation, fear, and an uncertainty, yet they also act as empowered alter egos. Her abstracted cartoon style, reminiscent of vintage story book illustrations and iconic advertising mascots, is meant to disarm our fear of the “other.” While these characters explore their new lonely worlds, they double as our narrators. They guide us through their reality as they experience it and yet, even in their company, we are granted no reassurance.

Tales from Dystopia
Solo exhibition of new work in Main Gallery
August 3rd – September 2nd, 2018
Opening reception, August 3, 6-9 pm

Stranger Factory is proud to present TALES FROM DYSTOPIA, a solo show by artist, Bob Doucette!

As we are living in a new time, people everywhere seem to be highly stressed out over the state of the government and the state of the environment. Bob Doucette is generally a very positive and empathetic person and strives to find the upside to any problem even when experiencing an overall pain in the world. He hopes his work will help relieve some stress, bring a smile to people’s faces to help them forget their troubles for a few minutes; but sometimes, the darkness creeps in when everything in the world points to a Dystopian now.
Both shows will run from 
August 3rd – September 2nd, 2018
Opening reception, August 3, 6-9 pm