Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard & Tobin Sprout Art Opening: 'The Big Hat & Toy Show' 10/5-6, At The Library is On Fire, BKLYN
If you want to give your ears a rest and inspire your eyes instead, here’s a tip for this weekend.
“Elliott with Machine” — we assure you this is just the beginning.
On October 5th-6th, Steve Five & The Library is On Fire will present “The Big Hat & Toy Show: The art of Guided by Voices’ Robert Pollard & Tobin Sprout.”
We’re personally fascinated, but don’t take our word for it – here’s the full rundown from the organizers at The Library is On Fire, a D.I.Y. art & performance space in Bushwick, Brooklyn, that’s been running strong since 2007 (directions below):
“Since their epic 2010 reunion, lo-fi indie rock legends Guided by Voices have burst back into the music world, first with their debut at Matador Records’ 21st birthday party in Las Vegas, and onto a massive world tour, releasing 2011’s Let’s Go Eat The Factory, 2012’s Class Clown Spots a UFO, and preparing to release 2012’s Bears for Lunch (the band’s 19th album). Altogether, Sprout and Pollard have over 40 full-length GBV and non-GBV album releases to their credit.
The Big Hat & Toy Show will showcase the visual talents of Guided by Voices’ frontmen, lead singer/songwriter Robert Pollard and singer/guitarist/co-songwriter Tobin Sprout, in a menagerie of installations. Both Pollard and Sprout have been as prolific in their visual art as they have in their musical output. The Big Hat & Toy Show will be an interactive conceptual installation showcasing the world of Pollard, Sprout, and Guided by Voices.
Robert Pollard
Robert Pollard was named one of Spin’s “Top 50 Rock & Roll Front Men of All Time”. Pollard’s collage work has been the source for most of Guided by Voices myriad releases. Novelist Rick Moody wrote of Pollard’s work, “You can see Duchamp in Pollard’s collages, as well as the influence of the painterly spaces of De Chirico and Yves Tanguy.”
Pollard’s artwork has been showcased at The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and twice in NYC, 2007’s “Do The Collage” at Michael Imperioli’s Studio Dante, and 2010’s “The Public Hi-Fi Balloon”, hosted by artist Todd DiCurio and Vanity Fair Online Editor Michael Hogan. In 2008, “Town of Mirrors: The Re-Assembled Imagery of Robert Pollard” was released by Fantagraphics Books.
Tobin Sprout
Working in a photo-realist style recalling Charles Bell and Richard Estes, Sprout’s art has an underpinning of stark surrealism that is at once singular and universally felt.
Sprout studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Ohio University and has worked as a professional illustrator and designer. Sprout’s paintings and illustrations have won a multitude of design awards, and he holds an extensive roster of private and corporate clientele, as well as founding Petrified Fish Gallery in the late 90’s. In 2009, Sprout released his first children’s book, Elliott, published by Mackinac Island Press.
The Library is On Fire Headquarters
Since 2007, singer/songwriter & filmmaker Steve Five has curated events with indie rock band The Library is On Fire at The Library is On Fire Headquarters, a D.I.Y. art & performance space located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. https://vimeo.com/channels/nbcnewyork/35064578
The Library is On Fire Headquarters is located at 114 Forrest Street Loft 3C, buzzer 13, between Central and Flushing Avenues in Bushwick, Brooklyn. L train to Morgan Avenue. Opening night is Friday, October 5, from 6pm to 11pm. The show will also be open to the public on Saturday, October 6, from 1pm to 11pm and Sunday by appointment.”