Push/Pull's Mission
- Promote underground art and comics
- Foster community between those creating and viewing art
- Encourage emerging artists, illustrators and cartoonists
- Innovate the way art is consumed by presenting it in a unique environment with nontraditional events
- Stimulate Diversity by actively seeking out marginalized and under-represented artists
Underground art is work that challenges the viewer to feel something, to think about something. It's art that is made by professionals that learned all the rules about making art and then broke them. It's art that is made by professionals that never learned any of the rules about making art and made it up as they went along. It's creepy, weird, controversial, strange. Push/Pull exists to show the alternative possibility of what an art gallery can be.
Bal-Art
To further our mission we created Bal-Art , a not-for-profit community service branch of our business funded in part by community contributions through the Allied Arts Foundation. Our community work includes adult and teen education, community events, and cultural outreach. You can donate any time here to help support our work!
Push/Pull is a Cooperative Gallery
Push/Pull is a cooperative gallery. Each member participates in the running of the gallery. We don't have employees or bosses.
Why Push/Pull?
Push/Pull was named by Maxx. The name originally came from a dream in which she had already opened the gallery and was greeting people at the first opening. Here's her full story behind it:
The inspiration for the name Push/Pull began with screen printing. The motion of the squeegee across the screen. As I was printing the words would repeat in my head, "Push.....pull.....push.....pull." Gradually, I noticed these same two movements throughout my work; whether I was drawing or painting, the motions were always a push and pull.
I started to think about the relationship between art and the words push and pull. Art is created to push boundaries - personal, political, social. But art is also intended to pull you in to share an intimate experience with the creator. The experience may be humorous, angry or spiritual but it's one created uniquely by the artist. So there it is, Push/Pull - the two words that can be used to describe art from mechanics to experience.
