On display September 28th through October 29th, 2023
The Haight Street Art Center is pleased to announce a new exhibition titled “Keepin’ it Surreal,” which runs from September 28 through October 29, 2023. Featuring the work of artists Dennis Larkins, Isabel Samaras, and Dave Kloc, the more than 100-piece exhibition looks at surrealism through the work of these three artists, all of whom still use handheld tools like pencils, pens, and brushes to give shape to their thoughts, though each approaches the early 20th-century genre from different angles to achieve different effects.
Of the three, Dennis Larkins has been at it the longest, making a name for himself in 1980 with two landmark posters for the Grateful Dead. More recently, the 50-plus posters he has designed for Moonalice and related bands parody the utopian boosterism of retro-futurism.
Isabel Samaras comes at surrealism from a different angle, mining the look and feel of Old Masters paintings to reimagine classic fairy tales, popular movies, and cult TV shows. Included in the exhibition is her update of a 17th-century painting by Peter Paul Rubens titled “The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian,” in which actor Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman replaces the doomed saint.
Dave Kloc lives squarely in the rock-poster world, though he got his start in comedy, creating hundreds of posters and flyers for a comedy showcase called “The Meltdown.” Since 2016, his meticulously drawn compositions for Phish, Goose, Billy Strings, Dead & Company, Primus, and Sleep has made him one of the hottest artists on the contemporary gig-poster scene.