40 Below presents pop-up art gallery

Cute and creepy don’t seem to mix, but Charlie Sam has merged the two concepts into his personal artistic style.

The Syracuse-based artist, whose signature character is a bug and octopus hybrid called “Bugtapus,” describes his work as “cute, cool and creepy designs for kids and odd people.”

“I don’t like when it’s too much of something, if it’s too cute by itself or too creepy — I like something in the middle that has both,” said Sam, who has been an artist for more than 40 years.

Sam is one of 16 artists whose work will be featured at the Snow Show Pop-Up Gallery, which will take place Tuesday at the Red House Arts Center from 5-8 p.m. The free pop-up gallery, which will last only one night, is a result of a collaboration between the Red House Arts Center and the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force.

Ryan Wood, a graphic designer for the Rosamond Gifford Zoo and a volunteer with the organization, is transitioning into his new position as co-chair of the PATF, which is entirely volunteer-run.

Wood, who has been involved in the organization since last August, said he was just looking for opportunities to get exposure for his artwork when he came across the PATF’s summer art show. Months later, he is now getting ready to help lead an organization that will give artists the same opportunities it gave him.

Tuesday’s show marks the fifth year of the pop-up gallery, which will feature works by artists around the Syracuse area. Wood said some of the different mediums featured this year include paintings, illustrations and stained glass. They’ve also limited the number of artwork to one per person, so that more artists could be featured, Wood said.

Sam’s artwork in the pop-up gallery is called “Strange Ride,” an acrylic painting that he describes as an “unconscious train of thought.” He heard about the pop-up gallery through Facebook and said he submitted his work because he was intrigued by the idea of the show.

“(The painting) started out as just a sketch,” he said. “I was absentmindedly doodling, and I ended up with Humpty Dumpty, an eyeball and a bluebird all riding on the back of a cartoon lizard with wheels for feet.”

Courtesy of Ryan Wood

For Renee Fair, a local freelance artist, Syracuse’s art shows are sometimes limiting. If she can get access to this sort of show, she said she tries to submit one of her pieces.

So when she heard about the Snow Show through her artist network — Fair is friends with one of the organization’s former co-chairs — she submitted “Esprit,” an acrylic painting of lotus flowers.

“‘Esprit’ is kind of just getting to the root of yourself — a French word for life, vigor, spirit, essence,” she said. “It’s really getting to the pit of a person.”

Courtesy of Ryan Wood

Fair started painting “Esprit” about a year and a half ago. She played around with it and liked the idea, but “life happened” and it fell to the background. Then, she picked it up again when she found out about the pop-up gallery and filled in what she felt was lacking.

“It’s kind of funny how things can be cyclical,” Fair said. “You can start something and it might not feel right after a while so you set it aside, but then you come back to it and you’ll say, ‘This makes sense to me again.’”

Also featured in the gallery is Alexis Emm’s 3-piece series of photographic prints on canvas. A photographer of eight years with her own business, Emm took a Bruce Lee quote and made it her inspiration for the three photographs.

“Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Courtesy of Ryan Wood

“I’m a Pisces, a water sign, and I have always been completely at peace with water. The idea that this quote relates to water was really important to me,” Emm said. “Essentially, it just describes that if you’re fluid like water and adaptable in any situation, then you can empty your mind and live a peaceful life.”

Emm originally created the photographs for the Symphoria Spark Series: Live Design show at the House of S. Jaye, an art studio located in downtown Syracuse. That show is how she actually met Wood, the transitioning co-chair, and heard about the PATF. To create the photographs, she and her husband took a road trip to Tinker Falls in Truxton, New York, to produce images that reflect the quote’s meaning.

For Emm, the quote is more than artistic inspiration — it signifies how she lives her life.

“I worked pretty hard on (the photos), and I’m pretty excited,” Emm said. “I just wanted to say the message that’s behind the quote, and I feel like it is great for anyone to read.”