Blab! Show Group Invitational at Roq la Rue

Monte Beauchamp

With a quick glance, you might say that the Devil was in the details at the Roq la Rue Gallery during the opening of the Blab! Group Show on Friday, August 12th. Curated by Blab World’s Monte Beauchamp, the theme for the Blab! Group Invitational was Krampus. For the unfamiliar, Krampus is the demon counterpart to Kris Kringle for children in Northern Europe. While good children get gifts and candy from Kringle, bad children get punished with rusty chains and birch branches by Krampus. He makes getting coal in your stocking not such a bad proposition.

With over twenty artists displaying work at Roq la Rue, there was a rich mix of interpretation of the horned demon. Brian Despain made sure to keep it dark and moody with ‘The Nature of the Beast’, while Yoko d’Holbachie’s ‘Naughty Heart’ went subversively evil with her usual mix of bright colors and stuffed animal fervor. According to Shag, Krampus enjoys playing Scrabble in ‘Brettspiel’, and the Krampus in Fred Stonehouse’s ‘Off Season’ apparently likes to pick apples when it’s not Christmas time. Chris Buzelli’s ‘And The Children Shall Inherit The Earth’, and Alex Kuno’s ‘Alle Kinder Sind Böse’ both depicted children that must have been extremely naughty, because Krampus has spared them no mercy. While the overall themes are dark and hellish, one can’t help but smile after leaving this show. – Robbie Lowery

The Blab! Show runs from August 12th – September 3rd at Roq la Rue Gallery 2312 2nd Ave. Seattle, WA 98121.