Telluride Arts & Hijinx Arts Present: Dave Pressler’s “Summer’s Almost Over,” through 9/29!

25 Aug Telluride Arts & Hijinx Arts Present: Dave Pressler’s “Summer’s Almost Over,” through 9/29!

Telluride Arts & Hijinx Arts: Dave Pressler’s “Summer’s Almost Over.” On view  at Telluride Arts HQ Gallery West,  8/25 – 9/29!

With his latest solo show in town, multi-media artist Dave Pressler asks a question nobody has been asking: How has life changed for the robots?

Never fear! With all the TV, books, space, and more, there’s still time to make tactile art which can be found at www.davepresslerart.com.

Go here for more about Telluride Arts.

Go here for more about Dave Pressler in Telluride.

“Summer’s Almost Over”  courtesy the artist.

Known for his fun, humorous depictions of robots, monsters, and pop culture, Dave Pressler has a unique ability to bring a level of humanity to the inhuman, imbuing his subjects with unique personalities. Now, with his first solo show in several years here in town, the multi-talented artist brings robots to the forefront of the conversation.

“Summer’s Almost Over” challenges viewers to put themselves in the place of the robots, who are, like many of us, feeling unsure and threatened by the rise of new technology and artificial intelligence. The last several years have presented undeniable and unforeseen difficulties. With his arsenal of robots, Pressler deftly explores the current state of our world, using the bots as light-hearted tools to navigate this challenging time.

Self-described blue collar artist Pressler hails from a working class background in the southern suburbs of Chicago. Raised in a factory town, he was surrounded and influenced by people who worked with their hands for a living. Drawing upon those early, formative experiences, he uses his robot subjects to shine a light on highly relatable, but often ignored societal challenges. His approach to his own work is not unlike that of a blue collar worker: discipline and dedication compensate for a lack of formal art training early on.

Driven by the belief that art is a technique that, with hours of hard work, is attainable for anyone who wants to try, Pressler’s work is truly accessible. And not to be missed.

Presenting his first solo show since his career retrospective, “Idea to Object,” at the Lancaster Museum of Art & History in 2018, Pressler once again welcomes viewers into his humorous, albeit gritty world of robots and monsters, those creatures always holding up a mirror to our world. With the rise of AI, no one is safe from the effects – not even robots.

“The last few years have been rough on everybody, so these robots are a personification of and metaphor for all of us as we navigate this time. So much has changed for humans. And so much has changed for robots,” explains the artist.

In the movie industry, Pressler is a beloved player in the world of animation.

Over the past 25 years, he has developed and designed characters and worlds for many major companies, co-creating the Emmy nominated animated show “Robot And Monster” for Nickelodeon; art directing “Boss Baby Back In Business” for Dreamworks TV. Currently Pressler is co-executive producer on “The Rugrats” reboot for Nickelodeon. In this position, he oversees the art direction and look of the entire show, drawing on his impressive attention to detail and once again his dedication to the fun and funny.

Pressler has also found success in illustration with the Bigfoot book series including “Back to School with Bigfoot” and “Bigfoot Wants A Little Brother” for Scholastic.

Pressler’s show at Telluride Arts’ HQ Gallery West features 13 whimsical pieces, including quite a few robotic surprises such as a suspended sculpture.

Robots. They’re just like us.

Dave Pressler, more:

Dave Pressler is a creative force to be reckoned with, a skilled multimedia artist, illustrator, animator, painter, sculptor, character designer, the list goes on and on. While his talent is undeniable, it is his humor and spirit of adventure that has cultivated his relationships with viewers and amassed a large and loyal fan base, with robots, monsters and pop culture as the cornerstone of his artistic canon.

Pressler’s work spans screen to canvas, splitting his time amongst creative endeavors from the tangible to the digital. Over the past 25 years, he has developed and designed characters and worlds for many major companies, including Nickelodeon and Dreamworks TV.

In addition to his media projects, Pressler is an accomplished painter and sculptor whose work shows in galleries all around the world.

A natural extension of his production work in children’s entertainment, Pressler has also found success in illustration.

Telluride Arts, more:

Telluride Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established in 1971 as the Telluride Council of the Arts and Humanities. The organization was the first non-profit in the region, and served to incubate a culture of the arts that has come to define Telluride.

Over the years Telluride Arts’ mission has remained virtually unchanged and its holistic ethos steadfast. The nonprofit’s unique focus is to advance a culture of the arts in the Telluride Arts District, comprised of numerous institutions, activities, events, and artists of all kinds.

In 2012, Telluride Arts engaged the community at large in the development of the Telluride Cultural Master Plan that provides the roadmap for the organization’s work.

Since that time Telluride Arts established the Telluride Arts District and became one of the first Certified Creative Districts in the state, activated the Arts District brand, increased programs for artists, opened multiple new gallery and office spaces, produced the Arts Bazaar, Art Walk, Twenty(by)Telluride and Art + Architecture Weekend, established new studio spaces for visual artists, strengthened partnerships with the Town of Telluride, National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Creative Industries and the State Historic Trust, led planning and implementation for Wayfinding and Space for the Arts and positioned the organization as a leader in the community.

Telluride Arts’ most exciting current project is the restoration of the Telluride Transfer Warehouse which will become a center for arts and culture in the heart of Telluride.