Mark Selander's Artwalk "Machine Safari" (9/8/2012)

Here are a few Photos of Mark Selander's artist reception on September 8, 2012

You can see more pictures on our facebook page.

Mark Selander
Machine Safari

I used to watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with it's grainy footage of cheetah's chasing antelope, hippos roaring their maws from muddy banks, and elephant stampedes. The fact is however, that I have always been more fascinated by the mechanized creatures that inhabit the urban built environment. These machines are so ubiquitous that it's easy to take them for granted, but consider this: much like an animal, machines are a picture of efficiency and purpose when applied to the proper task. They excel at doing what they were built for and fit into an interrelated ecosystem of mechanically enhanced labor. Like the house cat is a relative of the lion, the common garden shovel is a distant cousin to a 20 ton excavator.

Every week I drive around Seattle looking for new machines in the wild. I do my best to channel Wild Kingdom's host Marlin Perkins, reporting back in vivid technicolor the wonders of the construction site. Where he had a helicopter, I have my Honda Element. I roam SODO instead of a Sub-Saharan savanna, and being stuck on Mercer during it's endless overhaul is actually kind of a treat as dozers, graters, and haulers push around piles of dirt and concrete. Machine Safari is drawn and painted one machine at a time - almost always on site. Next time you drive by a machine, or even open your tool-shed, take a closer look and imagine the world you already live in.