Bill State Journal of Crap

Bill outside Adam Truman

I came across Adam Truman’s artwork at my first Craftstravagana.  Mr. Truman is an artist who uses screenprinting as his medium.  His style is distinctive and after you recognize it once, you will see his art all over Minneapolis.  I divide his style into three genres: Local landscapes, gig posters, and “Boob, Skulls, and Flames.” I am a bigger fan of the local landscapes over the other topics, but the Boobs, Skulls, and Flames have their appeal.

Over the past three years I have given his art as gifts several times.  I gave my parents this print as an anniversary present, because it looks like St. Patrick’s Church in Cavour, SD.  I gave Erica this print because it reminded me of her new relationship with some lame guy.  I swear this is Izzy on our way to into First Ave, so I gave it to her for Christmas last year.  I know how much Anne and Josh miss Minnesota so I purchased his calendar of landscapes as a Christmas gift.

One of my favorite bits of his art is the coloring.  When I was young and I would draw pictures, everything had to be real.  The grass was always green and the sky was always blue.  It never occurred to me that I had the power to make the grass blue and the sky green.  That is why I am a Communication Scholar and not an artist.    I love it most when he plays with shading of a given color.

My greatest criticism is his objectification of women, which is Bill’s favorite part of his art work.  I like his work where women are the protagonist, but there is a clear difference between the gaze of this verses this.  However, my issues with his work are marginal.  This is not art criticism because I know little about art, but I know what I like and don’t like.  Simply I find his landscapes moving and I need something of his to frame and take with us to Ohio.

I am Facebook friends with Adam Truman and he advertised the Art-A-Whirl as a status update, an announcement which included a statement about a discount on prints.  As a Midwesterner I cannot resist a discount.  So I convinced Bill that we needed to head up to Northeast Minneapolis to hit this gallery.

I had some ideas about what I wanted to buy, but I wanted something for us both.  I had decided that I could not pick one of his landscapes, because none of them spoke true to our Twin Cities experience.  I don’t like Grainbelt Beer, I don’t know the Fosay Tower that well, and I am not intimately connected with the mills on the river.  This painting reflected some of our experiences, but it is was out of our price range.  And for my Mankato friends, here is this work of awesome.  I decided I to purchase the postcard versions of several of these prints.  For the print I wanted a picture, something artful and moving.  After flipping through things I found something Bill and I could agree upon.

This print is called “Red Fence,” a pretty girl walking next to a fence.  Like most local artists my actual purchase was made by Adam Truman, who was also bantering with friends and other people who were buying art.  Mr. Truman told me that this print was of an actual person.  He saw her picture, I am unsure if it was in a magazine or a modeling website, he asked if he could borrow her likeness and she agreed.  He paid her in some free artwork.

We left the gallery, but we were both hungry.  I convinced Bill that we should head down the street to Psycho Suzi’s.  Where we came upon this table…

A Pinic Table

We order a pizza and some salads, with one damn strong drink.  We kept ourselves entertained by this guy’s shirt and Bill trying to look pretty.

Bill is pretty

Guy in a clever shirt