Salient

The Drunk Wives’ Tales

By Lisa Lawton | 10 Sep, 2007

An exhibition of the artworks of Simon Morse

Well-known for his low-brow, pin-up girly/cutesy horror meets pop art pieces, as well as his comic book works, the name Simon Morse may ring a few bells. Mr Morse has a CV that reads off like a comic-nerd’s wet dream – Dark Horse Comics, Chopper Chick, Toolbox, Verotik (Glen Danzig’s creepy/sexy comics) and has designed for companies like Hell pizza, Illicit Clothing and bands such as Horror Story, Miniut and Fat Freddy’s Drop. Friday August 31 saw the opening of his latest exhibition at ALC Headquarters, a clothing store/tattoo shop on Cuba St.

It was a night of pin-up girl pictures, ALC fashion and mash beers to the soundtrack of 80’s, rock and electro-pop spinning on the turntables. The walls of the store were lovingly adorned with Morse paintings, and the clothing racks stocked fresh, specially with Morse T’s. Even the mannequins were dressed up for the occasion, like corseted, lipstick smeared pin-up dolls. A horde of Wellington’s most fashionable crammed themselves inside the place, spilling out for cigarettes on the street. On display by Simon Morse were prints on canvas of his pin-up ladies – all black ink on white, and a larger canvas print of one sultry pin-up with smoky eyes, slick Hollywood starlet hair and corset entitled ‘drunk wifey’ on sale for $750. Limited edition black and red t-shirts featuring a couple of the prints were also on exhibition/sale and, in true ALC exhibition style, one Morse art fan had a pin-up engraved into his flesh on the night by ALC’s tattooist Ali, making his skin a work of living art. ‘Eva’, the piece he had tattooed was one of two works originally commissioned for Wellington goth/electro band Dekline, based on the band’s two dancers that complete their onstage act, and came up looking on skin just like it did on canvas.

Overall, there was a really great turn out, with Coney wines and Mash beers keeping conversation flowing and wallets opening. The only problem was getting kicked out so early! Check out the store for more exhibitions coming up soon!