Contemporary artists get the SCOOP

Gallery opens Brian Bustos exhibit Friday

Last New Year's Eve, Colleen Deihl and Rebecca Powell bonded over local artist Bill Mead. This contemporary artist, who uses fruits and vegetables as the subject matter of his landscape paintings, embodied the same idea for these two ladies: a sector of the art world under-represented in the Charleston area.

Powell, who co-owns the gallery with Deihl, says they saw a marketing hole.

"Art in Charleston is usually more traditional, and we wanted to scoop up the younger, hipper crowd who weren't represented," she says.

And so came the name SCOOP Gallery.

Located at 57 1/2 Broad Street, SCOOP Gallery has already signed on numerous artists. Notables include Charles Williams, an artist who plays off of Charleston's traditional landscape style, but makes the bottom of the canvas appear as if it's melting; Karen Ann Myers, the executive director of Redux; and Ryan Cronin, an artist from New York who uses color and a sense of humor to approach contemporary issues.

The gallery's first solo show and reception, running from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, will feature Brian Bustos, a Charleston native.

After selling his first 15 paintings in Deihl and Powell's two independent shows, both affectionately dubbed "One Night Stand," Bustos has moved on to making one 9-foot by 9-foot mixed-media piece of art. On what is essentially brightly painted plywood, Bustos arranged 45 tiny boxes. All include original drawings in both the lid and bottom. The drawings, according to Bustos, have no rhyme or reason; he merely draws and writes "what comes to mind."

But the work of art itself was very intricately planned.

"I draw inspiration for my art mainly from songs — the lyrics, the music," Bustos says.

Based on the Tool song "Lateralus," a musical interpretation of the Fibonacci sequence, Bustos created his artistic version of the mathematical equation. The piece is painted in boxes and spirals, hence the name, "To Swing on the Spiral of Our Divinity and Still be a Human." Along with cut-out book pages and random word placement, Bustos also adds written word to his artwork by including original poetry.

All displayed work will be for sale.

When asked what sets him apart from other artists, Bustos explains that he has had no formal training. Of his peers at the gallery, his favorite is Ben Timpson. Timpson arranges found objects on minuscule slides and then blows them up to create a blurred image. Bustos liked the idea of the process.

Chad Haselden is another featured artist of the gallery with a unique artistic concept. By burning images into copper, Haselden takes a new approach towards floral design.

All artists in SCOOP Gallery do have unique processes, but their ideas merge when thanking Deihl and Powell for noticing the crack in Charleston's art scene, and filling it.