Beggar's Bag: Bob Schneider's New Etchings March 12, 2009

Bob Schneider. Singer. Songwriter. Etcher. Etcher?! Many of Bob's loyal fans are not aware that in addition to being one of Austin's most mercurial and highest energy stage performer, he is a consummate visual artist. Bob was etchin' before some of you were crawlin'. And he's gotten real good at it.

With Beggar's Bag, Schneider has stepped out onto a bigger artistic stage. His images have grown larger and bolder, similar to the bodacious intensity and free-wheeling expressiveness of his stage performances. Focusing on the human figure, even his tree stumps and tubular limbs and hoses morph themselves into body-like shapes. Some figures float in space, displaying truncated arms and legs. There is much bodily-distortion, so these fellas may shake up the weak-hearted.

Schneider loves to hatch, his mutant figures and erotic forms are tattooed with billions of tiny, parallel lines. And as usual in his work, there is much wrong-reading script and carefully scribed block letters, like the diaristic entries that cover a mongo, sweeping tube supported by a hollow tree limb that penetrates a very shaggy loop on a stick. I'm not making this up. The thing is, it works. The noisy backgrounds, the random scratches, the gritty atmospheres, the amputations, all contribute to the artist's picture of his inner world. And is it really all that different from our inner worlds i we were honest and gutsy enough to admit it?

Danger: Very live artist at work.

Official Website: http://www.flatbedpress.com/Shows-Detail.cfm?ShowsID=167&GalleryID=Flatbed%20Press%20and%20Gallery