Who’s there? The art. The art who? The art of wit and whimsy. Okay, stupid joke but I love it as the name for an art gallery exhibition by Livermore Valley Arts at the UNCLE Credit Union Art Gallery in Livermore, California. The show ran from October 23, 2025 through January 3, 2026.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to make it up to the gallery during the run of the exhibition which is in the bay area, southeast of Oakland. My photo, Horrified B-Movie Victims was featured and I can imagine, fit into the show perfectly.
Check out all the photos in the series here.
My Horrified photo has been shown in many exhibitions in the past fourteen months. One of them is coincidentally, another exhibition that has the words ‘whimsy’ and ‘wit’ in it: Imagine That! Wit, Wonder and Whimsy. For this one, they added one more “w” word, wonder. The exhibition is currently running at the View Arts Center in Old Forge, New York. It opened December 12, 2025 and goes through March 7, 2026.
The gallery must enjoy pummeling the pupil’s of their patrons as they’re also showing my self-portrait, My 80s Clothes: Call of the Argyle. Believe it or not, the argyle sweater vest and socks I’ve had since high school. Don’t ask me why I still have them. I don’t know. I don’t know why I even had them in the 80s as I was never a fan of argyle. Yet here I am 40+ years later, and I still have the garments.
The idea for the My 80s Clothes photo series was to shoot self-portraits where I’m wearing my clothes from the 80s that I still have. Offensive to the eyeball? Yes, but you have to admit it’s fun and most definitely whimsy!
The full background of the Call of the Argyle –
The story of the argyle starts with socks. Two pairs purchased when I was in high school in 1982 or 1983. One pair features hopeful shades of greens and tans and the other reassuring earthy browns, oranges and dark red tones to make the wearer feel grounded, sturdy and connected to earth. Only five holes can be found across the four socks.
I usually wore the socks with a pair of light tan leather shoes I bought at The Wild Pair in the Northland Mall north of Detroit. When asked why I still have socks from high school the only answer I can come up with is, “they don’t take up any room”.
Moving up you’ll find a pair of beige shorts. I bought these specifically for the photo shoot as only a couple of my pairs of shorts from the 80s have survived to this day. Although they’re not my clothes from the 80s, I was assured of their 80s authenticity when a couple of old men with terrible taste complimented them after I came out of the fitting room at the thrift store where I bought them.
And then there’s the top: with a brand name like Boat House Row, you know you’re in for some serious boating clothes. Purchased in 1984 or ’85, this pink highlighted argyle pullover sweater vest screams, “I’m the king of the world!” Always worn without a shirt underneath, this was my go-to garment when captaining my dad’s boat, the Jimmy Mac.
Made from 100% cotton, I wore this one boating trip in the summer of ’85 when I swerved the port side into a docked boat while headed back toward the slip after a day of drinking on the water. I was never so happy to be wearing an armless garment after generously pitting out thinking the boat was going to sink. Turns out, the damage to the boat was equivalent to a flesh wound.
The only time I wore the sweater and socks together was once when I went to Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour for a Pig’s Trough.
The boat background I shot on 35mm around 1995-96 on my dad’s boat while heading south on the Detroit River.
Check out the My 80s Clothes photo series here.