Matt Cipov Art Opening @323East • Jan 30th 2010

There's Animal Planet and then there's Matt Cipov's menagerie, a visual world that lies somewhere between the theories of crypto-zoology and a pet shop run by Forrest J. Ackerman... and as crazy as all that sounds, go get an eyeful at 323East Gallery this Saturday January 30, 2010! Cipov is that rarity in the art world - a talented man with a very talented brush who is obviously and unabashedly having a great deal of fun with his work. The sweet little creatures on matchbooks? Remember them? The ones we were invited to draw and mail back to some "academy" inside a PO Box? Something almost prompts the belief that these are those same biological entities after a brief spell in an experimental lab. Weirdness - wonderful weirdness!

Cipov's own curriculum vitae mentions no matchbooks, but he obviously learned a thing or two at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (interesting side note: they make beer in Milwaukee too ...) He toiled in the commercial field until deciding in 2005 that an independent (albeit precarious) career as an artist/designer would be more fulfilling. The results? A flood of whimsical and fantastic creations that redefine the phrase "where the wild things are." Matt Cipov is bringing his circus to 323 East on Jan 30th at 6pm. No cages. Try not to feed the animals ....