Review

Poster from "Image Bank."

Luke Rocha
Image Bank

Noon-7 p.m.

Halcyon Diversified Trading
4706 Mission Road
Roeland Park, KS
816.739.7069

Hours: Noon-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
Runs through: Sept. 5.

Artist's site: http://www.dimestoremysticism.com

Site-specific installations are nothing new. Artists have been creating work to fit its surroundings since the first Lascaux cave painter said, "Y'now, an aurochs would look great right here." (This was followed by the first art critic sneering that the aurochs clearly belonged on the opposite wall, a review cut short by a well-placed blow with a rock.)

It does seem unusual, though, for an artist to create work specifically to be shown in a funky, eclectic secondhand store.

That's what Luke Rocha has done, though. The posters in Image Bank, his current show, were made to be displayed at Halcyon Diversified Trading in Roeland Park.

It's an excellent fit. Rocha, whose work is also on display in the 2010 Kansas City Flatfile group show at the H&R Block Artspace, mines the veins of Surrealism, Pop and Psychedelia ... often within the same piece, as with the poster above. That's in perfect keeping with Halcyon's status as a bastion of kitsch, musical equipment and retro-cool in the suburbs. (Okay, so it's just barely in the suburbs, being across the street from KCK, but that's a minor quibble.)

Not only that, the pieces look as though they've been around for years. It's as though Halcyon owners Rod and Terra Peal unearthed a stash of great vintage poster art and decided to share it all at once. 

Nothing about Image Bank screams "ART SHOW HERE!" ... and isn't that the ultimate proof of art fitting seamlessly into its surroundings?

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