It isn’t every day that life explodes before your eyes. But that’s just what you can expect at Mark Mothersbaugh’s new art exhibition “Postcard Diaries” at Dallas’ own Pawn Gallery.
Beginning the “obsessive hobby” of illustrating postcards for friends and family during his downtime on early worldwide tours, 30 years later Mothersbaugh is still at it. Guitarist and voice of art punk pioneers Devo and the composer of the scores in films such as “Rushmore,” Mothersbaugh offers his distinctive brand of pop commentary and quirky ruminations on sex like a punch to the gut. Each of the 20 limited edition digital prints of the original postcards yearn to escape the very medium that partly allows it to succeed so flawlessly. Vibrant, wild colors and irreverent, often lurid subject matter coalesce to create an exhibit so obsessed with its own psychedelic tendencies and subtle socio-political undertones it’s haunting.
Works evoke everything from comic light-hearted humor, to dirty dry jokes, to a child’s coloring book of extravagant perversions. But it’s all in good fun. Plenty of Mothersbaugh’s works thrive in the simplicity of their themes. Some even encircle the very culture he and his band helped create (d-evolution). This provides enough Devo faux-political themes to pacify even casual fans of the band and intrigue anyone with even a cursory knowledge of propaganda.
Conceptually, the exhibit is one of the most unique to hit Dallas this year. Although many may find art exhibitions alienating in their attempts at creating high levels of “culture” for the public by highlighting only the most inaccessible art, all of you may wipe your furrowed brows. While Mothersbaugh’s art may draw inspirations as diverse as the origins of his postcards, “Postcard Diaries” is by no means your average art show.
Sure, both complexity and vague allusions are rampant in many of the pieces. The difference that separates Mothersbaugh and many of his overtly serious contemporaries is choice. Stemming from his nomadic pallet and the seemingly random nature of his subjects, Mothersbaugh never forces anything on his audience.
Opportunities exist throughout the exhibit for delving into subtleties from art’s storied past, as some works even sample from a Salvador Dali influenced realm.
But by and large, “Postcard Diaries” has something for everyone. Granted, this isn’t something to pack the kids in the minivan for, or a reason to check grandma out of the home (you should though). But with its plethora of provoking content and unusual imagery, Mothersbaugh’s exhibit is truly not one to be missed.
Admission to Pawn Gallery is free. Pawn Gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 2-7 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 2-10 p.m. “Postcard Diaries” will run until Nov. 25; visit, pawn-gallery.com for more details on this show and future exhibitions.
Pawn Gallery is located at 2540 Elm St. in Deep Ellum.
