TAG MY SPACE FOUNDER RANDY TAT UNVEILS NEW WORK FOR ZIMMER CHILDREN’S MUSEUM “SHOW&TELL: THE ART OF VISION” EXHIBIT
“Pop It, See It” Will Show at Fundraising Collection featuring David Hockney, Raymond Petitbon and Tony Bennett, runs May 8-June 20
LOS ANGELES, CA—Noted entertainment executive, designer and multimedia artist Randy Tat’s “Pop It, See It” will be a featured work at the Zimmer Children’s Museum annual fundraiser, show&tell: the art of vision exhibit, from May 8-June 20, along with art from more than 75 other artists, humanitarians and social activists. Zimmer Children's Museum's is located at 6505 Wilshire Boulevard. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90048, www.zimmermuseum.org, Main info number: (323) 761-8989.
All artwork from the exhibit, which features artist interpretations of vision and the meaning the word plays in our lives, will be auctioned, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting youTHink, an initiative utilizing the power of art to foster students’ critical thinking about contemporary issues by empowering them to find and use their voices to take action for positive social change. Among the noted artists represented in this year’s edition are David Hockney, Raymond Petitbon and Tony Bennett.
For more information on the collection, go to www.zimmershowandtell.org/release1.html. Tat, who runs a feature production company with a deal at Paramount Pictures, has been represented at past exhibits. He offers a glimpse into the origins of Pop with “Pop It, See It!” a six-foot tall, coin-operated set of binoculars that you would see at any tourist scenic viewpoint around the country. The piece is made of vintage tin, recycled wood, metal and found objects, hand-painted with acrylics and oils, incorporating framed images by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Peter Blake, Robert Rauschenberg and Oyvind Fahlstrom. Just pop a coin in the slot and push the red button as flashing tractor lights blink, crystals hanging from silver industrial chains add to the dizzying high, while the attached pill box advises, “Take one tablet a day for vertigo.” Peer inside the illuminated shadow box through a looking glass of fluttering butterflies, flying nuns, mirrored disco balls, Elton John goggles and altered hologram images reflecting Pop as a lifestyle, cultural movement, generational community and artistic phenomenon. “If dizziness continues, please call your doctor.”
“Everything is recycled, and made up of found objects discovered at Inland Empire and L.A. area flea markets,” says Tat of the piece, which is valued at $10,000. “It’s always a pleasure to be invited to participate in this very prestigious show, which helps raise funds for a worthy cause,” says Tat, who also founded the popular Tag My Space website (www.tagmyspace.tv), which offers design solutions and ideas on a modest budget for his interactive online community, with the mission to “turn reality into your own personal fantasy.” “My mission is to transform an ordinary room into a magical, fantasy, a self-created refuge from the everyday using objects that can be found anywhere,” he says of Tag My Space, “while utilizing the expertise of users to foster a dialogue and offer unique solutions to their peers.”
Tag My Space is not just a concept, but also a way of life for Randy Tat, whose expertise is to “accessorize, personalize and transform your lifestyle” through a personal flair and everyday, inexpensive objects. Negotiations are currently underway for a TV version of Tag My Space, with an online video version currently in production and podcasts available on the site. An avid flea market enthusiast, Tat attended Design College of the Arts in Seattle, WA, whose “Tat on the Wall” (www.tatonthewall.com) multi-media fine art has been exhibited in galleries in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Sherman Oaks, La Jolla and San Diego.
Last year, he exhibited “Tutto Flauto” at the Zimmer Children’s Museum Show, a hand-crafted piece that transformed an actual flute into a stunning silver baroque candelabra that might have adorned the halls of the majestic 15th century Odescalchi Castle overlooking Lake Bracciano outside Rome, using semi-precious stones, crystals, vintage charms, antique Italian figurines and silver-plated metal. Two years ago, Tat donated “Timey the Juggling Clown’s Circus Trunks,” a three-dimensional tribute to his interest in vintage circus memorabilia to the show’s tribute to time. A self-styled “renaissance man” who loves to paint, design and cook for his wife and children, Tat is currently working on “Tag You’re It!,” an online competition hosted from the L.A. Flea Market that can currently be seen on www.tagmyspace.tv and YouTube, and is currently being pitched as a television show. “I am always trying to reinvent and re-design the rooms in our house,” he laughs. “I drive my family crazy.”
ZIMMER CHARITY - Sunday, May 6th 2007 - Music and Harmony which will open on Sunday, May 6th, 2007. Proceeds from the sale of the art works will benefit the Zimmer Children’s Museum’s *youTHink* arts education programs in public schools.
Randy Tat is a multi talented and gifted artist: a painter, interior designer, illustrator, cartoonist, television and Executive Vice President of Production Company housed at Paramount Pictures.
Tat’s paintings are beautiful and elegant creations that render the world in soft, abstract colors and are an imprint of his feelings and experiences. From the texture landscapes of Driving Chaos to Rock, Paper and Scissors, Randy portrays the world in a gentle light. As Sheryl Mandel of Integrity Publicity wrote so beautifully: Go back to your childhood, when there was magic and wonder, giggling secrets, soft whisperings and stories to be told and then you may find yourself again. Those are the feelings that you experience when you are contemplating his art. Tat sold more than 150 individual pieces to collectors, with many more commissioned works. Randy's limited edition release of his lithograph, Living on the Ceiling, sold 250 out of the 300 in the series.
Artist Interviews visited Randy in his house in Hollywood, which once belonged to movie icon John Wayne. It was like entering a magical world. Randy designed and decorated it, transforming every room in a piece of art.
Randy, you have been creating art for more than 20 years. You started to paint after you had an accident. That's an interesting story.
I love to paint (Smiles) I have been painting ever since I was a kid, but when I moved to Los Angeles one of my goals was to exhibit my works and sell paintings. I came up with the idea of these Tat on the Wall exhibits. I started off turning loft space, vacant buildings, gas stations and warehouses into gallery spaces. I would invite everyone I knew. At the time I would do all my own promotion and publicity. For every show I would paint 25 - 30 paintings (all sizes). I would set up lights, great decor and everyone thought it was a gallery space. Within the year after each show I would end up selling all my paintings. One time, I had 3 people requesting the same piece.
Your art pieces have a long process and some of them you re-create them.
Yes, painting each piece a little differently. I'm from Seattle, several years back I had an exhibit in Pioneer square and a great open warehouse space. I rented a van and my wife and I carted 20 paintings up to Seattle. It was really great to invite all my friends and families to the show and develop a following up there. I then got gallery representation and did quite well up there. When I was 21 years old I decided to travel to Europe and the middle east alone. I had a eurail pass for Europe, a round trip plane ticket Seattle to Germany and back, no credit cards and $1,000 cash. I made a commitment with myself that if I got in a bind I would not call home for money. Six months into my trip, I broke my leg on the island of Corfu and I spent my first night in Italy in the hospital. I spent every night following that in train stations and in parks with a big heavy cast on my leg and a cane. I ran out of money very quickly. I spent my last dollars on watercolor paper and paints. Then all I did was paint and sell my art on the streets. I was able to make money for food and sometimes, shelter. It taught that I had the inner strength to do anything I set out to do. To make it happen-- and still maintaining, my pride, self-respect and integrity. I painted on beaches and on trains.
Your artwork tells a story.
I love to look at the many paintings that I've painted throughout the years. They are magical to me. They are like my personal journal. When I look at a piece (whether it's in a photo or the original) I know where I was at that particular time in my life, who my friends were, what my family was up too and what made me tick. The colors and the palette: I can look at the emotion I was feeling at the time: sad, happy, or confused. One time I was painting this piece that started looking like a colorful amusement park. We just finished a barbecue and I started using the paper plates as my color pallet. Then I decided to incorporate the paper plate into the painting, creating the Ferris wheel. You would never know it but the plate represents the fun of going to an amusement park.
