Free AC and art opening Saturday afternoon

New Haven Free Public Library Art Gallery
133 Elm St., New Haven
Free AC: Artworks by Kim Mikenis and Tony "Baloney" Juliano
June 20—Aug. 2, 2008
Artist's reception: Sat., June 28, 2:30—4:30 p.m.

Press release

"I sculpt paper," says Kim Mikenis. "I collage. I paint. I sew fabric plushies. I make animations. Inspired by travels abroad, vaudeville, circus, bicycles, and animals, my artwork is created. Using miniature figurines, fabric sculpted monsters and monkeys, old-west railroad train set scenery, painted backgrounds from my puppet show sets and a St. Jude paper cutter, my animations are created. No dialogue ensues as the positioning and interactions of the figures do the talking.

"Out of encouragement from my art enthusiasts and out of a personal interest in stop motion animation as well as a background in puppeteering and theatre, my animations are born."

Kim Mikenis has exhibited at Hartford ArtSpace, the Hygienic Gallery, Milford Fine Arts Council, The NEST (Bridgeport), Koffee?, Artwell Gallery, and at the Neverending Bookstore. Her puppet shows have been at Cafe' Nine, The Space, and Idea Village.

Tony "Baloney" Juliano, an award-winning satirist artist, is not your normal painter. With his wacky, single panel, lush, comic-like paintings dealing with quick puns, whimsical sayings, ironic sadness, and his penchant for parodying other famous artists, Tony makes art laughable in colorful complementary painted frames.

Tony Juliano graduated from Paier College of Art with a BFA in Illustration in 1998 and has been a successful free-lance artist from 1997 to the present. Being teased and picked on by his classmates, he developed a childish made-up nickname: "Agoo," a name that hounded him for years. So turning lemons into lemonade, he then titled his distinctive artwork "Agoo Art."

Tony's shows tend to be more of a circus than your typical art opening. With a following of fans that come as chickens, purple cows, robots, dragons, accordion players, sumo wrestlers, Santa Claus and The CT Roller Girls serving drinks on their roller skates. Even Tony gets dressed up in unique outfits too for his exhibitions. His other interests are toy collecting, comic books, art history, accordion playing, filmmaking and Godzilla!

Tony has done commissioned murals for Corona Beer and The Peabody Museum, art instruction, backdrops, and set design. He has been included in umpteen group shows, and has had solo exhibits at the York Square Gallery in 2001, the Chapel Square Gallery and the Margaret L. MacDonough Gallery in New Haven in 2002, Kohn-Joseloff Gallery in Cheshire, the Hygienic Art Center in New London, and Europa Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

There will be an artists' reception tomorrow afternoon from 2:30—4:30 p.m.