Life at Bozarts

Friday night the place to be is wherever the hip art kids are hanging out. The art scene is thriving in Toledo, OH. Anthony McCarty’s new show ‘life: a series of random events ’, now open at Bozart’s, is a must see show for anyone who appreciates art, and the opening night party was the perfect kick off for the summer dancing/drinking/schmoozing-fest that is our art scene.

Free food, free beer, free art and free music, Bozart’s operates based on donations and participation. Many local artists have shown pieces there, and it’s one of Toledo’s well kept secrets. Directly across from the Erie Street Markert on St. Claire Street, Jerry Gray’s home/art gallery looks like an ordinary building on a street full of old warehouses and garages. Inside, however, is a constant flurry of expression, ambition, and art. McCarty spent the days leading up to the opening of his show in a whirlwind of painting, building, and creating. The result does not disappoint.

McCarty has spent the last year in Toledo, deeply engrained in the art scene. Anyone who attended last year’s Art-o-Matic 419, will remember his huge illusion-like piece with concentric overlapping circles with two ‘i’s in the middle. In his studio inside the Secor Building downtown, McCarty has worked to produce ever-changing art to show in different areas around the country, including a recent show in Brooklyn, NY.

This collection of works is easily recognizable as McCarty’s. Past shows of his work have provided ideas and concepts that become fully realized in his display at Bozarts. His creations have a striking composition of organized chaos, which is a clear reflection of his personality, creative and compulsive, and was also mirrored in the opening of the event. McCarty invited a band from Detroit that recently played at the Ottawa Tavern on Adams Street, the favorite hangout of the art scene hipsters. The band, called Marco Polio and the New Vaccines, is high on the radar of ‘next big things’. Powerful guitar, amazing drumming, expressive vocals, and a fantastic dedication to showmanship make their band an interactive performance piece. Anyone watching can’t help but dance as the sounds grow, and the singer works his way into the audience in a mesmerizing combination of moves that remind you of Mick Jagger, if he were slightly schizophrenic. I mean that as a compliment. The audience is required to participate, as the band members pass out drumsticks, yarn, and even umbrellas, and everyone willingly obliges. Marco Polio and the New Vaccines is a must see show, just like Anthony McCarty’s, and Bozart’s is the perfect place to do both.

~ by Allison Dow on April 13, 2010.