Local Artist Showcased Tonight at Graypants

graypants mural, image courtesy of the artist

It’s easy to miss the entrance for graypants, inc. design studio while walking past the crowded Pike/Pine Corridor storefronts on 11th Ave. But with the addition of local artist Mark VonRosenstiel's new painted mural on the wallways of the studio entrance stairway, the character and personality permeating throughout the space can be a little more accessible to those on the street. Or, in a reverse philosophy, the mural has “pulled the vitality and color of our Capitol Hill neighborhood right from the street and into our studio.”

graypants inc., whose architecture-inspired furniture, lighting and other pieces have been featured in a multitude of magazines, originally commissioned VonRosenstiel to do only the mural, and scheduled a launch party to celebrate its completion. Now the event has expanded to become an artist’s showcase for several of VonRosenstiel’s other projects, including video work, a "peep-show" piece and additional concrete sculptures, and plaster animals. Tonight the studio is inviting all to come: have a drink, possibly eat fortune cookies, look at art, talk to Mark, chat with the fellows at graypants, and revel in the atmosphere of bright young minds collaborating to create purpose through art and design. VonRosenstiel, whose background is actually in mathematics, has this to say about his work:

I think at the heart of it art is the process of creating theorems through a sensory process. Just like I can start with some simple ideas and come up with geometry, I think that art builds on itself through a set of ideas and vocabulary. I like to make things that people can relate to and understand in the context of their own lives.

If you are unable to make it, you can catch more of VonRosenstiel’s work currently hanging in the Downtown Ladro; it will be displayed at Capitol Hill newbie Bluebird come December.

"Prescriptions for Awe and Wonder" // 9 p.m.-1 a.m. // graypants, inc., 1506 11th Ave. // Free