Panick buttons

Underground artists Seripop and Gunsho got their own thing going on

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

It’s been a busy time lately for Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleaux, who comprise the Montreal-based underground art-in-bulk unit Serigraphie Populaire, better known as Seripop. After establishing their Mile-End studio space/secret fort 100 Sided Die, they’ve done a six-week gallery tour showcasing their increasingly recognized poster art for rock shows and cool events, launched a line of T-shirts with Toronto’s Art Lab gallery, designed interiors for stores and poster art, credits and DVD menu for Larry Kent’s The Hamster Cage, snagged numerous illustration jobs and seen their work published in Art of Modern Rock and Panda Meat. “We also got our first certificate from Print Magazine,” adds Lum. “It says we don’t suck.”

But note the recurrent theme there—what they do, they’ve been doing for everyone else. The pair has elected to finally scratch the itch that affects any artist in their position. “We wanted to do ‘real art’ for a change of pace,” says Lum, “and to amuse ourselves. It’s harder than we thought, because we don’t have any money outside of our commissioned jobs. We both had a lot of ideas for pieces and a few full sketchbooks, so we figured a gallery show would be a way to force ourselves to work on this stuff.”

The gallery show is Masters of Panick, opening tonight at Madame Edgar, and the stuff in question is—well, a whole heap of things. “A series of masks, several art prints, giant silkscreened paper sculptures, a series of one-of-a-kind mono prints, acetone transfers, original drawings for some of our commissioned work—loads of stuff.

“It all sorta revolves around the themes of mental illness, heavy metal and the occult. Lots of secret-society types, mystical beasts, acid-trip stuff, castles and pyramids. We’ve emptied our brains on paper and ink.”

So, for that matter, has Boston-based James Quigley of Gunsho, who is sharing the split exhibition with Seripop. While Quigley’s bold, carefully refined linework, reminiscent of classic skateboard graphics and underground comix, contrasts against the raw, often chaotic approach of Seripop, the three have plenty in common.

“James is one of our best friends and we share many of the same obsessions. We met online a few years ago, and since then have met up a few dozen times in Montreal, Boston, NYC and Providence. We talk about mind control, reality and getting back to nature—stuff that we all cover in our work, from different angles. A lot of cross-influence has gone on between us three and I think we all push each other in a healthy way.

“We are all masters of panick, in the sense that we’re socially awkward types who suffer from anxiety. Our work shares a frenzied, too-much-coffee look. We share influences, both in terms of visual stuff—comic books, prog album art, fantasy stuff, gross toys—and in lit and theory—esoterica, true crime, Arctic exploration, the Vietnam war, the Manhattan Project—as well as a shared interest in heavy music.”

Oh, one other point in common for Gunsho and Seripop—“James and Yannick,” Lum notes, “both have giant beards.”

Master of Panick is at Madame Edgar (6370 St-Hubert), Oct. 20 to Nov. 20, vernissage with Et Sans and Sons of Warsaw tonight, Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., free

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