Mikey Welsh, a rocker turned artist, is probably best known for his turn as a member of Weezer. Now, instead of gracing the stage of the Paradise with instrument in hand, Welsh indirectly graces its walls with brush in hand.
Reared by his mother who was a classically trained painter, Welsh currently finds paint, not rock, as the more fulfilling outlet for his expression. And it shows. Influenced by artists such as Cy Twombley, Jean Michel Basquiat and Picasso, Welsh combines bold color, haphazard brush strokes and words to contextualize both structured and unrelated meaning.
"I just do what I feel. I don't think about the influences as I'm doing it," he explains.
One of Welsh's larger paintings was lying on the floor of the Paradise, waiting to be hung. A well-dressed man walked into the room and tripped over the canvas, hardly noticing the work. Welsh didn�t bat an eye as he remarked, "That was the bassist for the Flaming Lips."
Whether people like his work or not doesn�t concern Welsh. He'd be more than happy to find that people hate it. "I'd rather get a reaction than nothing at all." And he has. Before the show opened, a sound guy for the Paradise raised a stink about two pieces named Milk and Laxative hanging near the sound booth that showed crucified women with collaged body parts. Pornographic and heretic in their suggestion, the pieces offended the sound guy so intensely that he asked for their removal. Welsh's reaction was one of blatant pragmatism. "How can they be worried about the word 'pussy' when things like Sept.11 have happened and church officials are raping kids every day?"