Before enjoying a plethora of musical choices tonight (No Depression Festival, Robin Pecknold/Drink for the Kids at Neumos, The Ironclads & The Hands at Mars Bar, Thee Emergency for Free at The Nectar, The Pharmacy at The Comet, Mad Rad at Chapel…) I highly recommend you make your way to The Sunset Tavern to support another talented local artist, Stoic Swine.

On this blog, Stoic Swine is best known as Blowdog of the dearly departed Hopscotch Boys. His performances, which we’ve described as “part art, part felony” were confrontational, dark, abrasive, fascinating, enthralling, and totally unique. The same can be said of the artwork he creates under the name of Stoic Swine.

While I’m no art critic or historian, Stoic Swine’s pieces evoke the same sort of reaction in me as his performances as Blowdog: enamored revulsion. As Stoic Swine describes his own work, “soul in the soot, head in the ether.”  His art, like his performances, toes the line of grotesque, in a way that makes you want to see more, not less.  It is raw, honest, totemic, evocative, and I think, beautiful in it’s portrayal of the flaws and vices of man. Much like Blowdog on stage, it’s work you’ll either love or hate, there’s no middle ground. I for, one, love it. 

So does The Sunset Tavern on Ballard Avenue, which is currently hosting Stoic Swine’s latest collection, “YESTERDAY’S HERO, TODAY’S GOAT.” The artist describes his work, created just for this show at the Sunset as:

Spanning from the fumes of the room’s storied past (from shaky Chinese restaurant to a debauched sailor dive) to its present lore as one of the city’s finest rock clubs, this work was created specifically to be installed in the legendary Sunset Tavern. All portraits on display are of figures I could imagine, at one time or another, filling the Sunset with their gregarious personalities and drunken behavior as they unwittingly question life’s greater existential formalities. Hopefully no amount of their blood, sweat or ejaculate has been spared in my faithful depiction.

Tonight the bar will be hosting an artist’s reception during Ballard’s Art Walk  for Stoic Swine and his work from 6 to 8pm.

To see more of Stoic Swine’s work, check out his blog: Gift Horse Mouth