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It Ain't The Size That Counts

"It Ain't The Size That Counts" celebrates all that is wonderful in dimensionally challenged art. The exhibit also serves as an introduction to Garde Rail's latest discovery, Northwest artist Mark O'Malley. Also included in the group show will be Aberdeen artist Stephen Powers, Alabama's Buddy Snipes and Anne Grgich, and more.

Karen and Marcus met Mark O'Malley and his bag of rocks at their Art Out Loud lecture which occurred, by chance, on Superbowl Sunday. "If the Steelers hadn't lost to the Patriots and made it to the Superbowl, I wouldn't have come down," Mark later tells us. Originally from Detroit, Mark moved to the Northwest in the late 1970's, where he found a job as groundskeeper in the Bothell school district. An avid fan of blues music from the Delta and Chicago and Detroit, Mark collected blues memorabilia when he could find it.

Blues artifacts being scarce in this region, he began painting his own four years ago from his "Blues Barn" in rural Snohomish. "The only art teaching I had was in Catholic school, where the nuns were big on blunt scissors and Elmer's glue in teaching 'art' ", Mark recalls. His blues memorabilia evolved to blues players and then to street scenes, painted in bright colours onto broken chunks of sandstone. We were immediately attracted to the architectural elements in Mark's postcard-sized chunks of stone - the tiny bricks, window shades, Coca Cola and cigarette signs - and the text associated with each piece.

The exhibit will feature over 50 small paintings on rock, from scenes of the urban east, waitresses and guitar players, to scenes of Seattle's own Columbia City. Stephen Powers' tiny vintage matchbook cover pieces, Buddy Snipes tin cutouts, and new tiny drawings by Anne Grgich will also be featured.

Mark O'Malley