Sticking around

Arts | October 5th, 2016

By Sabrina Hornung

Photo courtesy of Albino Buffalo

The Albino Buffalo project’s humble beginnings stemmed from a quarter sticker machine that graphic designer, educator, and arts advocate Jeff Knight purchased online. Thanks to a grant from The Arts Partnership, and a few handy locals who were willing to turn a wrench to aid in refurbishing the machines, Albino Buffalo was born.

The moniker Albino Buffalo was coined due to the beauty and rarity of the beast. Not only does the machine contain an edition of five highly collectible stickers from six participating artists from the Fargo-Moorhead area (one of whom is a secret), but it features a rare Albino Buffalo sticker--which is essentially the “golden ticket” and can be cashed in for Albino Buffalo SWAG.

Albino Buffalo is now on series five. Series four was released in conjunction with the opening for the “Peel + Stick” exhibition at The Rourke last May. The exhibition featured the work of artists who had participated in the previous editions.

The participating artists for series five are Dan Francis, Sabrina Hornung, Sally Showalter, Paul Ide, Mandel Cameron (formerly Mertz), Troy Becker and one secret artist.

“They were chosen either as artists that reached out asking to be a part of the series or selected based on their notoriety in the local art scene.” says Knight.

“I first learned about Albino Buffalo while looking around in Unglued. I have always loved stickers so they caught my eye right away.” says freelance artist and architectural designer Mandel Cameron.

“Three of the stickers I submitted are elements from some of my favorite paintings. The other two are a graphic I created of my dog, Morgan,” Cameron says. “It was interesting timing. The stickers are the smallest artwork I have created, and while working on those I was also working on a mural in Moorhead, which was the largest art I have ever created. I love the scale of a sticker; stickers are artwork that you can put on anything and carry around with you.”

Artists submitted work in a variety of media, photographer Dan Francis’s pieces are a mixture of black and white photos and fantastical compositions that demonstrate his photoshop expertise.

“Sometimes my work gets mistaken for paintings, which I take as a compliment as if, you know light, you can paint with light. There will be a star galaxy image that was taken in northern ND. There will be a composite of a astronaut on a newly discovered planet, along with two black and white fine art photographs of a steam engine train and the escalator taking you into the badlands.” Francis says,“I don't believe the scale will affect the image, if anything I hope it makes the viewer get curious and want to see the larger image printed.”

Though series five launches this coming Friday, artists are already contacting Knight about series six. “Artists seem to think of it as a tool to create more discussion around their work.” Knight says, “They have also expressed that providing work for a sticker format is a great creative challenge to work with. I've heard from customers that it's a great way to collect art in a more financially accessible manner while getting to know a bit about area artists.”

As far as clues on who the secret artist is, Knight added,“If you were keeping track of the latest winner of Cropped in Fargo, that will give you a pretty good clue.”

IF YOU GO:

Albino Buffalo Series 5 Party

Friday, October 7, 5-7pm

Unglued, 408 N Broadway, Fargo

http://www.albino-buffalo.com

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