“Retrorama!”

Roq La Rue is very pleased to present a show of work by artists who are influenced by retro animation and design, yet put their own unique spin on it, creating vibrant, playful work.

Mark Frauenfelder unveils a new series of effervescent paintings done in a storybook style mixed with a dash of children’s manga and secret arcane symbolism. Known mainly for his writing and the founding of his uber-popular blog (and former zine) Boing Boing as well as being the editor of Make magazine, Mark is also an accomplished illustrator. This is his first gallery exhibit.

Wednesday Kirwan creates gouache paintings that evoke fairytale themes. For this exhibit she has created a series of paintings depicting mermaid type creatures, as alluringly sweet and strangely eerie as her subject matter has been described to be.

Lynne Nailor and partner Chris Reccardi both come from the animation industry. Lynne designing for “Ren and Stimpy”, “Samurai Jack”,” and “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!”. Her paintings usually features angular yet voluptuous pin up style gals done in a Barbarella meets Beatnik aesthetic.

Chris Reccardi also hails from “Ren and Stimpy” (as a storyboard artist, animator, writer, director, and composer and performer of the show’s opening theme music!) as apprenticing under such legends as Ralph Bakshi and John Kricfalusi. He also worked on “Powerpuff Girls”, “Samurai Jack”, and Rob Zombie’s upcoming “Haunted World of El Superbeasto.” His work is similar to Lynne’s, mixing a jazzy mod look with retro sci fi style.

Both Lynne and Chris have been working on co-producing and directing their original pilot for Nickelodeon, “The Modifyers”, due for completion in January 2007, but were ready to drop some fantastic paintings off for their Roq la Rue exhibit.

Johnny Yanok mixes current pop culture?with a 60’s Little Golden Book type style. His paintings usually are narrative and humorous and feature an array of characters in each piece.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder