Categories:

Art

Christopher Seidl


The Gallery@404B presents photography by Christopher Seidl. The show features never-before-exhibited pieces and some Seidl favorites. Portraiture, architecture and landscapes are included. Mr Seidl will be on hand to meet and greet you at the opening reception from 5-9pm, Friday March 6th. 

Anna Wingfield

The Fayetteville-based painter Anna Wingfield makes her 404B debut. Anna's pieces (in my opinion) play with space by using rooms and the elements of rooms - doors, windows, walls, etc - by presenting them in not quite the concrete way. The artist will attend the opening reception from 5-9pm on Friday March 6th.

The Mud Monster of Gulpha Gorge


Author J Lee premiers his new novella, The Mud Monster of Gulpha Gorge. This is the fourth book in Lee's series set in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and utilizing the colorful characters of the town. All the usual J Lee dysfunction and mayhem are here, except this time around there's a monster who looks like a naked old woman covered in shit. Who could possibly ask for more.


The Gallery@404B represents other artists. Visit our shop to see more.

About the Hot Springs Art Community

I live in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where, beginning in the late 1980s, a community of artists developed. An Italian-born painter named Benini, with his wife Lorraine, bought a large building in the historical district, moved into it, and then other artists began to move here. Soon there were a lot of galleries and studios. Some of these new art people formed an organization that started several significant events, such as the Gallery Walk, which happens the first Friday of every month (and has now happened for 225 consecutive months), and The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the first film festival in the United States to show only documentaries. Though I was living out-of-state during some of those years, I was here quite a lot to watch and even participate in the beginnings of the Hot Springs art community. This year, 2008, is the 21st anniversary of the Hot Springs scene.

The Gallery@404B

In June of 2000 I moved into a second-floor loft in the heart of the downtown arts and historical district. The space had previously been the home, studio and gallery of the painter Randy Groden, who had come to Hot Springs in the early 1990s to be part of the scene. Once a popular brothel, the loft is a block long and features many antique skylights. In January of 2006 I reopened part of the space as The Gallery@404-B. In the photo below, Randy Groden stands in the main hall just before the first grand opening in 1992. (photo courtesy of the Randy Groden Collection and The Hot Springs Sentinel-Record)

The art

The Gallery@404-B represents over fifty artists and has a stock that includes many hundreds of paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures, silk-screen pieces and video installations. The gallery is known for it's involvement with the young artists' movement within the Hot Springs art scene. The roots of this movement are found in graffiti, post-punk skater culture, fashion illustration, the Art Brut and Outsider movements, and the works of artists like Bacon, Warhol, Rauschenberg, Rothko, Johns, Basquiat, Hirst, Banskey, Shepard Fairey, Ryan McGuinness, et al. The Gallery@404B also shows works by regional, national and international artists.

The artists


Pedigree (b. 2006, Long Island, New York, USA)

Pedigree is the collaboration of Michael Schaeffer (l) and Christopher Baber (r) which occured in the last half of 2006 while the two were together in residence on Long Island, New York. The work made under the Pedigree label combines elements of fashion illustration, graffiti, pop art, geometrical figures and bold color washes, and captures the gritty spirit of the street in a way that's intelligent and beautiful. (video capture by Chuck)

Christopher Seidl (b. 1981, Homa, Louisiana, USA)

Christopher Seidl has developed a distinctive photographic style by using his safe light to tweak the browning effect on lithographic paper. His images are often stark and harsh, but there's an underlying tone of deep intelligence and spirituality. His subjects range from figure studies and nature to architecture and abstractions. Seidl is also a fine musician, playing bass in the bands Church of the Snake, White Glove Test, Blue Screen Skyline and Pop Vulture. (photo by Chuck)

Art by Christopher Seidl is available in the shop! Click here.

Christopher Baber (b.1983, Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA)

Christopher Baber is a leading figure of the young artists' movement. In 2005 Baber opened his own gallery space, called The Vs. (Versus) Gallery, which became the ground zero of the young artists' momement in Hot Springs. There are obvious nods to fashion design and graffiti in Baber's works, and he lists Duchamp, Bacon, Rauschenberg and Basquiat among his many influences. Baber himself has influenced the style of many young artists. (photo by Chuck)

Kendal Harkey (b. 1977, De Queen, Arkansas, USA)

Kendal Harkey paints miniature worlds populated with many odd creatures. Typically using oils and acrylics, he's fashioned his own style that borrows gently from surrealism and pop art and applies a wicked sense of humor to the horrors of a world gone wrong. (photo by Chuck)

Art by Kendal Harkey is available in the shop! Click here.

Kelly Moran (b. 1959, Kingston, New York, USA)

The recent works of Houston, Texas, artist Kelly Moran make strong statements about gender roles in society. Moran's unique pieces are made using a variety of printmaking techniques, including polymer photogravure, Linoleum-cut vintage wallpaper and etching. Moran has worked in a wide array of media and from 1995-97 studied indigenous textiles and ceramics in Indonesia. (photo by Chuck)

Art by Kelly Moran is available in the shop! Click here.

Alex Oberste (b. 1988, Benton, Arkansas, USA)

Alex Oberste's bold canvases are often iconic in stature, sometimes with hints of humor, other times with a stark matter-of-factness. He has the ability to render a wide range of styles, from abstractions to pop art, from minimalism to works of intricacy, and from the Mondrianesque to relative realism. To see Chuck's video interview with Alex, click here. (photo by Chuck)

Art by Alex Oberste is available in the shop! Click here.

Jesse Evans (b. 198?, ?, ?, USA)

A painter of striking originality, Jesse Evans is also known for his creative use of found materials. Whether painting on wood, scrap metal, shed doors or discarded television screens, he fashions work that speaks in a singular voice, in which color, form, space and motion come together to make a new language. (photo by Chuck)

Art by Jesse Evans is available in the shop! Click here.

In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

10.14.07 Chuck's remarks about the Museum of Contemporary Art were quoted, as was his explanation of how the Hot Springs art community began. The article also included this about The Gallery@404B: "Dodson's gallery, in a former brothel at 404-B Central Ave., represents about 50 members of Hot Springs' "young artists' movement." Paintings, sculpture and photography by Christopher Baber, Christopher Seidl, Kelly Moran, Kendal Harkey and others use wood, scrap metal, cloth, discarded TV screens, old doors, paper, linoleum and canvas to create works earmarked by graffiti, eroticism, pop art, punk skater culture and other contemporary influences." The article was written by William Schemmel.

In the New York Daily News

The Gallery@404B was the subject of a feature article in the New York Daily News on May 20, 2007. The article confirmed that Hot Springs, Arkansas was 4th on the list of Best Art Towns in America and said The Gallery@404B was the "headquarters of a new, vibrant 'Hot Springs' style." We couldn't agree more.








Currently listening:

Currently reading:

Last book I finished:


© Copyright 1998 - 2005, Chuck Dodson. All Rights Reserved.
Photo of Chuck by David Corbell. XHTML, CSS and 508.