Coffee drinking will never be the same. Not with the Kunstallationists in town.
JASON JANIK/Special Contributor
The Dallas duo creates guerrilla-style art events around the city, with wild style, creative concepts and a raucous sense of humor. Mixed-media artist Andrew Tolentino and photographer Cara Michelle Smith bring mobile-art exhibitions and untamed displays to otherwise humdrum venues. The Kunstallationists started last year and have curated two shows, with more on the way.
Headquartered at Dunn Bros. Coffee in Addison, Tolentino and Smith have been given free reign of the space, transforming the shop into a landscape of local artists. The most recent show, "Pow! Zap! Kunst!" featured the works of 28 artists, including Mike Arreaga, Frank Campagna, Erica Felicella, Ange Fitzgerald, Kevin Obregon, Richard Ross, Hal Samples and Tyson Summers.
With a passion for visual art, interactive exhibitions and public spectacles, Tolentino, 25, and Smith, 27, are also a quirky couple. This "artnership" has spawned a following, and they are all about getting local art front and center.
We talked to the Kunstallationists by phone and by e-mail to get their take on art, life and the best way to sip a latte.
Q: Tell us about the birth of the Kunstallationists.
Smith: We were both fed up with the stale work on the walls of a mutually frequented coffee shop, and we put our heads together to concoct an art event at Dunn Bros. Coffee in Addison. After a few conversations with franchise owner Alan Geddie, the "Valentine's Day Is ..." show became a reality, complete with contemporary work from local artists, Sharpie tattoos and the destruction of old relationship memorabilia.
Q: How do you pronounce your name?
Smith: Koonst-ah-lay-shun-ists. It's always a nail-biting experience to see whether the word pronouncer accidentally switches up the order of the first "s" and "t."
Q: Complicated. What does it mean?
Tolentino: We're celebrating the unexpected results of "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art"), an exhibit originally designed to defame "unacceptable" creativity in Nazi Germany. ... The art that was shown at this intentionally derisive display received international acclaim from the international art world and gave a boost to the Dada movement.
Q: Do you have any upcoming events?
Smith: We're cooking up a smaller Kunstallation for the coffee shop, a residential show in North Dallas and a high-school-formal-inspired event in the near future. We're also in the early stages of planning a few Kunstallations at a few new restaurants and bars in the [Addison] area. ... Whatever the endeavor, we'll be blasting away on our blog [kunstallations.blogspot.com] and through our Facebook fan page.
Q: Are you revolutionaries?
Tolentino: We revolve around the sun just like everybody else. As for changing the art in these otherwise boring places, we take great pride in what we're doing, and we're excited to see what dreams may come with the help of a devoted core of local artists and friends. We totally aspire to curate experiences that defy complacency and embrace the creative endeavor – this can be a coffee shop, a restaurant, a port-o-potty or a parking lot. We want to transform any available venue into a site for progressive expression.
Q: Port-o-potties as art?
Tolentino: Why not?
Q: Eww. Other topic: What's the best way to sip a latte?
Smith: If it's Satanically hot like it should be, definitely not through a straw. Studies (all our own) have shown that superior latte sipping is achieved in the company of a good book, a busy agenda or while regarding a slew of thought-provoking art.
All About Andrew and Cara ...
Nickname ...
Tolentino: I've been called many things in my life, but I feel like I should use this opportunity to come up with something new and presidentially relevant to my first name. Quick readers, from this day forward, please refer to me as "New Hickory."
Smith: Andrew is keen on "devil woman" as a nickname for me. I think my feisty 'tude earns me that moniker.
Skill we wish we had: Definitely the ability to be 100 percent decisive ... maybe. Also, the ability to not crap our pants at inopportune times. Oops.
Movie we've seen dozens of times: The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, The Big Lebowski, Amélie.
TV show we can't turn off: Since we have started the Kunstallationist endeavor, neither one of us has had much time to watch television, but The Office, 30 Rock and most programming on Channel 13 tickles our fancies.
Guilty pleasures: Occasionally "norming" out and watching rom-coms. Together. Forever.
Song we wish we had written: "99 Luftballoons."
My last meal would be ...
Tolentino: I'm big into leftovers and recycling, so I guess if I could, I'd eat myself.
Smith: Andrew Tolentino. Apparently, he's tasty.
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