Uncanny: The Art Design of Shawn Wolfe

An 'uncanny' collection of Shawn Wolfe's most provocative work. In 1984, having spent seven years in and around advertising, Wolfe established Beatkit(tm), the world's first ever anti-brand. It was a brand without a product and was intended to be a shining example of what was sick and wrong in a culture gone mad with consumerism. From 1984 to 2000 Beatkit(tm) sought to expose the dark nature of consumerism, consumption and disposal, all of which escalate the fundamental crises of contemporary life: using up of natural resources, ecological ruin, cynicism, and alienation.

Wolfe used and reused images such as the Bionic Cat and the Removerinstaller until they had achieved the abstract presence of the Nike swoosh. Perhaps the real magic in his work is that it draws us in but delivers nothing.

Features Massive Attack, Panic Now and Too Much of a Good Thing.

A native of Mount Vernon, Ohio, artist Shawn Wolfe has called Seattle his home since 1990. His work has appeared in Raygun, Emigre, Print, Slant, The Rocket and The Stranger. He has designed CD packages for various music acts, including Negativland's Dispepsi and most recently "The William Loose Songbook" by Seattle legend Richard Peterson. Wolfe's clients have included Fuct Skateboards, 26 Red, Mercury Records, Sub Pop, Arista, Sweet Mother Recordings, Tasty Shows, Rudy's Barbershops, The Ace Hotel and ARO.space. In 1995 he contributed "A Guide To Personal Branding" to The Happy Mutant Handbook (bOING bOING/Riverhead Books). Wolfe is currently developing an animated adult-oriented TV series about a cartoon rock group called "The Vandalias" with Minneapolis powerpop wunderkind Dan Sarka. He describes the project as "a cross between Speed Racer and The Partridge Family". His ongoing anti-branding campaign Beatkit(tm) has vowed to terminate by the end of the millennium.