Late Show Blue Light

These days, new-realist painter Greg Eltringham is the chairman of the painting department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. But back when Late Show Gallery curator and Pitch Mastermind Awards laureate Tom Deatherage hosted exhibitions out of a house on Charlotte Street, Eltringham was his second-ever featured artist. "He amazes me," Deatherage says now. "He gets better all the time. They sell the shit out of his stuff in Savannah, Georgia — or is it North Carolina? Where the fuck is Savannah?" That's Georgia, where Eltringham has refined an evocative aesthetic of eccentric portraiture and figure paintings. Today's 5 p.m. opening at the Late Show (1600 Cherry, 816-474-1300) is Eltringham's latest in Kansas City, and he shares space with illustrator and Deatherage favorite Nora Othic. Also on display are the stunning nudes of Lou Marak, pierced-metal sculpture by Asheer Akaram and paintings by Jesse Christopher. "He's a pop painter," Deatherage says of Christopher. "He does organic-looking oil paintings. They just pop. Crackle and pop. I call him my Rice Krispie painter." He adds, "It's going to be a really hot show. We are also going to do some crazy blue-light specials over the evening. We'll holler out, Hey, we've got a blue-light special. Grab it in the next five minutes, cash and carry!" Greg Eltringham
Fri., Dec. 5, 5 p.m., 2008