Pervasion @ Laguna Art Museum

Pervasion, a retrospective featuring the collected work of Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup, opened at the Laguna Art Museum this past Saturday (6.17.06).   At the entrance to the museum, Biskup’s Giant Helper welcomed patrons into the exhibit.  A long shelf running across one wall of the exhibit hall featured numerous toys from the two artists including rareties such as hand-painted protos and unreleased toys (Hot Cha Cha Cha).  The center pieces of the lower-level were two installations — one from each artist.  Biskup’s installation was a set of 2.5D "Big" Flat Callis stacked one on top of the other wich reached from the floor to the ceiling.   Miniature Flat Callis were available for purchase at the show with a set of four colorways available for $30 (limited to 1000 numbered sets). Additionally, there was also a large installation of "flat" birds — perhaps there’s another "flat" set on the horizon?   Beyond the installation pieces, the lower room was ringed with paintings from both Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup.  It was pretty amazing to soak in the pieces some familiar and some that we hadn’t had the opportunity to see yet.  Upstairs, more art and toys were on display.  Plush Toby was featured in two installations: a legion of Tobys and a "lifeline" of Tobys descending down from the second floor.  Tim had a nice display with matching paintings and toys — though one display had an empty toy shelf?  Swiped?  Oh no!  No — turns out that Doragamel will be appearing as a vinyl figure in the near future.

Pervasion continues through September 24th and is an inspiring and impressive look at both artists’ tremendous creative output.  We can barely begin to imagine what the future holds, though we’re hopeful for more and more vinyl 😉