Sweatshop
Words: Crystal Farina and Julie Martin
Photos: Marina Williams and Seamus Gallagher

Appeared:
September 2, 2007
Czar, Ybor City

Sunday Funday

Music
Czar’s Sweatshop was a well-organized event with 2 stages providing the live performance of juxtaposed music and fashion.   Mouse Fire accelerated the night with the new “Curvularia,” followed by a sliding drum set mishap.  “Never underestimate the power of the cinder block,” shouted guitarist Shane Schuch. Soon after, poised models in measure-tape décor, elaborate wigs, and fancy fabrics were arranged in a conventional runway line-up.

In the third room’s stage, Urbane Cowboys played amongst the sparsely spread crowd of acrylic-masked models in lucent dresses.  Although I am not personally a country fan, Urbane Cowboys are deemed such for a reason, as they successfully avoided the unoriginality of tiresome country-twang. 

The night concluded with Becca and Maynard’s Djing, which sent the dance floor into a long-awaited thrill of circling bodies in expressively mangled positions.

Art
The art covered the walls. Each room of Czar housed select pieces, with each turn offering new surprises. It was the fanciest kind of wallpaper, as it became a secondary focus to the live music and fashion shows. The art pieces below were silent observers of a bustling Sunday night:

Lynda Bostrom: paint, mixed media
"Fancy Stripe" - This piece makes me think of the Morton Salt Girl; however, the feminine persona in the depiction is reminiscent of the artist.

"Like Clockwork" - A nebulous sky of water droplets encasing vintage magazine fragments. Coincidentally, "Like Clockwork" seems to be the logical progression of the sky that might occur in "Fancy Stripe.”

Sean Birdsell: photography
"Bling" - Three men on the Subway costumed as mobsters wearing iconic 'bling'. The first time I met Birdsell he gave me his business card, and on the face was this picture.  He's since been my show-reviewing counterpart.

William Reeves: photography
"Reflections" - The refracted colors dance off the marina in lime green and neon red amidst the stationary vessels.

Pyramid Photos: photography on giclee paper
"Girl Atomic" - Inspires allusions to an action movie still. The scene is overly dramatic but romantic. In addition, each photo in the series is hung by metal clips. This gives the feel of work created in the dark room.

Isabel Garcia: acrylic paint
"Sombra" - A macabre Madonna dawned in a black veil. She holds an animal skull in one hand and an infant in the other. 'Sombra' is the Spanish word for shadow, an appropriate nomenclature for the 'yin' form of this classic portrait.

Daniel P. William
Jonathon L. Day:  paint, pen and wood mounted on plexi-glass sheets
"Line, Light, and Layer Series" - The wiry doodles and two-toned layering display gorgeous motion.

Others worthy of attention:
Brandon Dunlap
Ryan Prado
Melissa Taylor
Jill Trilling
Mike Lima
Chris Kelly
Sean Gardner