Whats the New Art Exhibit at Flaming Lips Gallery

A wild-haired Iowan with horn-rimmed spectacles and tattoos down both artillery crawled out of the oral cavity of a larger-than-life chrome head as vivid colors exploded and low-end music rumbled from within.

His eyes were glazed and his smile was irreversible. He stared back at the sphere, laughing and running his fingers through his hair, equally if trying to bottle up the feel in his mind … like he wanted to capture the fleeting minutes inside and revisit each 2d in his memory on a loop.

"Other people might have something completely different to say about it," said Scott Konken, 25, of Waterloo. "But … somebody sitting next to me summed it up perfectly: 'We're basically in the mind of God.' Like, 'here's all this information, only I just speak in light.' "

He continued: "It's difficult to accept one rational thought about it."

Konken experienced 14 minutes inside "The King'due south Mouth," the centerpiece attraction at "Works past Wayne Coyne," a new exhibit at the Waterloo Centre for the Arts featuring phantasmic visual and audible art from the self-described "workaholic" frontman of the acclaimed psychedelic rock group the Flaming Lips. At the exhibit'south opening reception Thursday night, hundreds waited in a line that wrapped through the gallery and into the fine art eye's lobby in hopes of catching time inside the mouth.

A completely immersive experience, the inside of "The Rex's Mouth" features strands of lights hanging from the ceiling and across the walls, teeth-shaped pillows and a reflective orb on the ceiling. Fans crawl into the mouth and enter the mind of Coyne. From outset to end, lights and music fill the within of the sphere, telling a story through 360 degrees of pulsing sound and color.

An original version of the mouth debuted in 2015 at Baltimore's Visionary Art Museum, and a similar piece remains on display at a gallery in Coyne'due south home state of Oklahoma. Mixing enthusiasm and thoughtfulness when discussing his piece of work, Coyne, 56, said he doesn't want to force a meaning on viewers. At its cadre, he describes the oral cavity as "escapist amusement."

"Well-nigh artists that I like would say the most important and most powerful part of art is what you call up of information technology," Coyne said. "Your reaction to it should be a subjective thing that is important to you. If I try to tell you, 'If you think it means this, you're wrong or yous're stupid,' … you're stripping information technology of its most powerful affair."

A wait at the showroom

The "King's Mouth," along with the other works that span Coyne's multi-decade career of artistry and musicianship, landed in Waterloo by way of Kent Shankle, director at the Waterloo Center for the Arts. The 2-decade veteran of the arts middle, which opened in 1965 and sees about 125,000 people come through its doors each year, said he briefly experienced the oral cavity in Baltimore and knew he had to bring it to Waterloo.

"Seeing this exhibition and seeing how incredible his work is and the range and all the media he works in … (it) really resonated with what nosotros do here at the Middle for the Arts," Shankle said. "In a manner, 'The Rex's Mouth' is similar many of our interactive, immersive kids' exhibits — when you lot crawl into 'The Male monarch's Rima oris,' yous're similar a kid once more. You have that sense of wonder and awe."

Other exhibit works include:

• "Christmas on Mars," a full-length moving-picture show created by and starring Coyne. Shot in Coyne's Oklahoma City backyard, the campy scientific discipline fiction attempt features appearances from actors such as Fred Armisen and Adam Goldberg. It originally debuted in 2008.
• A listening station for the Flaming Lips' 1997 four-disc "Zaireeka" tape. When played simultaneously, the four discs produce a unified, harmonic listening experience.
• A viewing station of Flaming Lips music videos from 1992-2016.

'Colorlessness is the death of most things'

Coyne'south represented work shifts from studio recording to flick to visual art. He said not jumping betwixt endeavors simply would be boring. The Flaming Lips released its 14th studio anthology, "Oczy Mlody," concluding month. The band collaborated with Miley Cyrus and delivered entire cover albums from groups such every bit the Beatles and Pinkish Floyd.

The group headlined the first edition of downtown Des Moines' 80/35 music festival in 2008 and performed in Waverly in 2015 equally part of the Mumford and Sons-led "Gentlemen of the Route" tour.

"For me, the idea that you're really jumping around (and) doing stuff is great," Coyne said. "I think it's better when yous get to focus on something and pause the focus and so focus on something else. You can always come dorsum to these things and get a new perspective. Otherwise, it'd be very difficult to get a perspective on things."

He later added: "Colorlessness is the death of most things, merely information technology's definitely the expiry of art."

The showroom runs through April 23 in the center's Forsberg Riverside Galleries. Chawne Paige will curate the exhibit for its duration, and he described working on the launch with Coyne equally accessible and connective with others involved in the show.

"Even though it'south his full-on imagination that'due south spilling over, he's a true collaborative artist," Paige said. "He recognizes (what) other people (are) bringing to the plate. It's this intersection of his thoughts and their input into i collective whole. In a fashion, that'due south the mastermind of him."

Alongside his band, Coyne returns to Iowa on April 22 for a evidence at Hoyt Sherman Place. A handful of tickets are still for sale.

"Nosotros never really terminate doing stuff," Coyne said. "We're always doing 10 things at once."

If y'all go:

Where: Waterloo Center for the Arts,  225 Commercial St., Waterloo

When: ten a.yard.-5 p.one thousand., Monday-Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday

Cost: Costless

More than information:waterloocenterforthearts.org/programs-events

cawleytinstrally.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/02/19/waterloo-exhibit-takes-you-inside-one-rocks-most-prolific-minds/98048818/

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