‘Sodalicious’ Pop Art Show At Dirt Salon

In the ’80s, after graduating from Hartford Art School and Rhode Island School of Design, Beth Phillips worked as a photographer in New York. She documented artworks for gallerists, curators and artists, including Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Phillips worked with them when they were alive, and with their estates when they died.

Years later, when she was at a low point in her life — taking long walks with her head down, feeling sad — Phillips noticed smashed soda cans laying in the street. She thought of her old colleague, Warhol, and his soup cans.

Phillips’ took that idea and turned it into her latest art project, part of the pop-art exhibit “Sodalicious,” which is on view starting Saturday, Aug. 29, at The Dirt Salon in Hartford.

She gathered up hundreds of a wide variety of smashed soda cans: all brands, varieties, colors, some with straws sticking out the top. When she saw a can in a store that she wanted to add to her collection, she’d buy the soda, drink it and smash the can herself. Friends heard about her project and started sending her cans from all over the world.

She photographed each can individually and printed the photos on aluminum, to enhance the cans’ shine. Then she grouped them by color and arranged them in grids, like Warhol’s soup-can grid.

“The ones with white backgrounds are inspired by Warhol. The ones with black backgrounds are inspired by Basquiat,” said Phillips, who now lives in Berlin. Basquiat’s emphasis on street art jibes with her street-inspired project.

Phillips’ installation is colorful and energetic, a smashed-crushed-and-wrinkled collection of Hawaiian Punch, Schweppe’s, Monster, Red Bull, Dr. Brown’s, Welch’s, Fanta, Polar, Arizona, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, A&W. The red collection, of course, is dominated by Coca-Cola and the blue by Pepsi-Cola. The energy drinks are arranged in a rainbow.

Phillips’ exhibit is accompanied by work by Thomas Radovich and Katie Fogg.

Radovich, a resident of Branford who majored in painting at UConn, has created a charming series of 320 black-on-white linocuts of toys such as My Little Pony, Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, Care Bears, Pokemon characters and D.C. Comics heroes. He made sure that the prints reflected the flaws in the toy that he owns. “There may have been thousands of these toys made, but this is my toy,” said Radovich. “If there is a nick in the paint or something, I want it in there.”

Fogg, who lives in New London and graduated from Lyme Academy, keeps a studio in Brooklyn, N.Y., to keep herself up-to-date on street culture and fashion trends. Her oils and acrylics reflect her interest in fashion and “what it is that makes you you, your identity, who you are … what is someone’s true essence,” she said.

SODALICIOUS will be at The Dirt Salon, 50 Bartholomew Ave. in Hartford, from Saturday, Aug. 29, when it opens with a reception from 8 p.m. to midnight, until Sept. 17. Admission to the opening reception is $20, $15 in advance, which includes hors d’oeuvres and a liquor tasting. At the reception, June Bisantz of Willimantic will perform jazz music inspired by Chet Baker, with Alex Nakimovsky on piano and Norman Johnson on guitar. thedirtsalon.com