TUGS KABUKI BLACK & BLUE WEEKEND KABUKI FINE ART PRINT Mark Fockler (1980)

THIS IS A CUSTOM-FRAMED FINE ART PRINT FROM THE ORIGINAL BY MARK FOCKLER. 28 ” TALL X 18″ WIDE. It comes to us via a generous donation of the original by Michael Campbell. It’s one of only two prints authorized by the Tugs Belltown (Seattle) Archives to benefit the Salish Sea Arts Foundation and the Northwest Lost Art & Music Foundation

The Third Annual Tugs BAD Weekend took place during Memorial Day Weekend, May 22-25, 1981. It followed 1979 and 1980 Memorial Day screenings of Andy Warhol’s notorious film, BAD, directed by Jed Johnson and starring Perry King and the inimitable Susan Tyrrell and Carol Baker in career-defining roles.

“I met Mark Fockler earlier in the year as he was finishing up art school and preparing for a gallery-presented artist career. His final school project included a series of large Kabuki-style paintings, many featuring Samurais in elements of Geisha-associate, gender-transgressive clothing but otherwise studiously traditional in its renderings. We at Tugs were so impressed we wanted to give him a space to show this work. He was commissioned to do the poster for the Tugs 3rd BAD Weekend event and a simultaneous opening for his Black and Blue Kabuki showing. To put it mildly, Mark outdid himself. He created two more large paintings, a series of hand-printed traditional Japanese kites, and pennant-style flags to hang throughout the bar space for the six-week showing. He gifted the bar with an event poster designed by Mark and the printing of which he supervised. During this showing, Mark ultimately sold every painting, kite, and flag on display in the bar. He was immediately engaged by a local gallery, which launched his remarkable professional career. In this, the 42nd anniversary of that 3rd BAD Weekend and Mark’s Black & Blue Kabuki event, we at the Tugs Belltown Archives, in conjunction with the Salish Arts Arts Foundation, are offering an original poster and two limited edition commemorative fine art prints of the Tugs event poster. All three are custom framed. This auction benefits LGBTQ+ projects the Salish Sea Arts Foundation is developing. We hope you’re as captivated by the quality of the art as you might be by the audaciousness of the event itself.”

Shawn Farnsworth, Tugs DJ/manager, and Tugs Belltown Archives co-administrator