Field Trip!

Remember last summer when some of the bots got picked for exhibit at a museum in Florida?  Well, it’s happened again. These guys–Rocky, Look Homeward Angel, Big Honeymaker, Glitch, and Tom Foolery–have been selected to appear at the Arizona Museum for Youth (soon to be re-christened the “i.d.e.a. Museum”) in Mesa, AZ. The exhibit of robot art runs February 6 through May 25, 2014. I’m sorry I won’t be chaperoning this particular field trip, but if you go, tell the bots to please misbehave whenever the teachers’ backs are turned.

Yeah, But Is It Art?

For years I’ve been joking, “Not only can’t I jury in to any art festival sponsored by an art museum, I can’t jury in to any show within five MILES of an art museum”. It’s kind of true, though–jurors at museum sponsored shows tend to be thoughtful academics, selecting art that they may like but which has the average person scratching their head and going “What the hell is it?” And did I tell you we just won the first annual People’s Choice Award at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver? What people like and what critics like are two entirely different animals. And that’s totally OK with me.

Which is why I think it’s hysterical that five Fobots are currently on display at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala FL. Yup, the guys pictured above (from left, Rocco Rolls, Prima, Buzzbee Berkeley, Tom Foolery, and Speed Bump) are at this very moment making people laugh at the “Art of the Robot” exhibit until September 22, 2013. And they’re surrounded by some really cool robot paintings and sculpture from artists across the country. If you want to know more, visit www.appletonmuseum.org/exhibits/current/ or see the show catalog at www.appletonmuseum.org/pdf/ArtRobot%20Brochure%20final.pdf . Or go visit, if you’re in the area. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure this is not the kind of exhibit where you’ll be kicked out for laughing or having a too good a time.