VaVa Vroom!

You and your guests are cordially invited to my debutante solo show “VaVa Vroom!”. Please join me for a night of glitter, custom cars and BIG hair!

Where: Betti Ono Gallery in downtown Oakland, just steps from 12th Street Bart!
When: Opening night s July 4th, 6-9PM
Attire: Your flashiest Outfit and your BIGGEST hair!!

More Info:
Oakland, CA – Betti Ono gallery (1427 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612) is pleased to present VaVa Vroom!, a debut solo show by mixed media artist Elrod. The exhibition opens to the public Friday, July 4, 2014 from 6-9 pm during Oakland Art Murmur and runs through August 9, 2014.

VaVa Vroom! is a contemporary art show created by Elrod as a sparkling celebration of kustom kulture and the big-haired beauties who love it. “Car culture is clearly a male dominated scene and women within this subculture are often seen as just hood ornaments or decoration. I felt compelled to show that there are plenty of ladies out there who are just as passionate and invested in the lifestyle as much as the men, and look damn good while they’re doing it” Elrod explains. “I hope to portray my version of female “custom culture” by honoring the time old tradition of getting dolled-up. This is how some of us customize ourselves- big hair, winged eye liner and maybe a little sparkle here and there.”

To glorify the female experience and give space to the women in her favorite cultures and subcultures, Elrod has assembled a show of bold, vibrant, glittery paintings about independent women, big hair, car culture, and overall exuberance of personality. While the show is a hot collection of sexy images of women, Elrod’s women are substantial, holistically interesting, not just sex objects. They balance femininity and power. With their firm eye gazes and mischievous depth of personality, they are not only gorgeous, but demanding of attention. So often are the images in the subculture created by men, it is time to show it from the perspective of a woman.

Elrod’s work sells out often before finishing it; mainly as a result of her sharing her works in progress on Instagram. Her Snooki series was highlighted in Hi Fructose: The New Contemporary Art Magazine, her lowrider art was featured in Lowrider magazine [October 2013], where she confessed her love for, “beautiful cars, gorgeous women, people with pride and sparkly paint jobs.”

Elrod will provide key opportunities for the community to engage with her work during her time at Betti Ono. The opening party on Friday, July 4th, Independence Day, will be an over-the-top celebration of all things sparkly (including glitter bombs). Guests will find a hot summer Oakland art party, full of contemporary art, independent women, kitsch, glitter, roller skates, and music. The event will serve as an over-the-top alternative July 4th celebration, toasting American cultures and subcultures that are often overlooked, such as Mexican-Americanness, lowrider scenes, and drag/femme cultures. Put simply, VaVa Vroom! is a shrine to the over-the-top, to the power and allure of culture and to powerful feminine sexiness.

Her encore/closing party on Friday, August 1, will feature Elrod’s sculptural work in a shrine to big hair and a large-scale collaborative art sculpture drawing from piñata culture.

Additionally, as a part of Oakland Saturday Stroll, Elrod will offer a glitter workshop (details to be posted on her web site) for aspiring through advanced glitter artists (aimed to teach the world how to not make a glitter mess!)

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Leanne Rodriguez (b. 1985) is a contemporary mixed media artist aiming for total art world glitter domination and beyond. She spent a majority of her simple Southern California youth in solidarity and pursuing her “arts and craps” [as her older brother called them]. It was obvious to her family that her artistic interests would dominate her future. In her early 20’s, she left the states on a 2 year sabbatical to Columbia where she adopted the moniker “Elrod” and befriended a female drug lord and bordello Madame named Cha-Cha Blanco who taught her the loyal and merciless ways of the cartel underworld. Elrod returned to the states and proceeded to recruit her own underground fellowship of chubby female Hispanic art gangsters, known as 3XL or “Tres Xrazy Locas” who perform her miscellaneous illegal bidding. Currently, with a studio on the highest peak overlooking the entire Bay Area, Elrod spends her time making art and mischief and continuously expanding her arsenal of skills. She not only does specialFX makeup, glitter resin casting, silk-screening and bedazzling but also instructs her highly popular underground glitter workshop “Glitter 101.”
ABOUT BETTI ONO

Betti Ono’s mission is to inspire limitless creativity, presenting multidisciplinary arts, media and performance exhibitions, programs and experiences with a slant towards experimentation and independent thinking. The art space includes a commercial gallery, performance venue and retail shop that connects downtown Oakland with the City’s vibrant Uptown Arts & Entertainment District and was founded by Anyka Barber in 2011.