Cheeseballs and Baby Doll Heads
Radioactive Future is not your Mama’s artist collective
by Jessie Duquette

Bill Pierce is changing the way San Diegans think about art.

Now, I know that sounds like a journalism cliché, but hear me out. I honestly believed that statement one hundred percent. Before discovering Pierce and his Radioactive Future artist collective, I didn’t think about art. At least not local art. I’d pretty much written off local art after checking out the galleries in La Jolla while waiting for a buddy of mine to get off work. (That’s enough to make you want to keep band posters hanging on your walls until you’re eighty.) Now I’m at the point where I’m considering buying a new rug because the old one doesn’t correspond to the colors in the painting that I just bought. Only, that’s just me, right? No biggie.

But I have to tell you, last weekend at a gallery show in Encinitas, my hoodie-wearing, skateboarding, video-game-playing, Eighteen-year old cousin Eric went nuts over work by the Radioactive Future gang. And THAT is a big fucking deal.

Which is why you need to know about the guy who runs this whole thing. First off, you’re gonna like him. And he's anything but an art snob out to make a buck. (I mean, come on, they served cheeseballs and MGD at their last gallery opening.) “The art business is definitely not the business you want to go into to make money,” Bill says.

Bill started Radioactive Future back in 2000 to give local talent in the underground art community another forum to display their work. He does this through gallery shows -- held anywhere -- and the two websites, the “dark, futuristic, quasi-apocalyptic” radioactivefuture.com and the “sweet, comically morbid” funeralsofdistinction.com.

Where does this cat come from? Bill made his way here from Vermont, by way of San Francisco. In 1987 he left San Francisco and headed down to San Diego in order to “experience more of California and make a fresh start in a new city.” He assumed San Diego was going to be like San Francisco but with better weather. Obviously, that’s not what he found. “I didn’t realize how much less culture there is here,” he says. “It’s ridiculous, you know? So that’s one reason I started this whole thing: to try to bring more to the area.”

Pierce has seen “different things come and go” in the San Diego art scene, but agrees that not much has changed. Although, it did face a major setback in 1999 when the Rita Dean Gallery/Museum of Death packed up and left for Los Angeles.

“I think when the Rita Dean closed, it left a really awful void in the San Diego art scene because the only gallery that was always supportive of non-traditional art was gone,” Pierce says. “You can’t go to any gallery in town and show them something that doesn’t fit into their preconceived notion of buyable art -- because there aren’t dolphins in it, there are no sea anemones, there are no pixies or wood nymphs. To have that space close really hurt the scene because there was nothing.”

Former Rita Dean owner, JD Healy says that one of the reasons he closed the gallery and moved the Museum of Death up north was because, “San Diego is a pretty conservative city and most people there are not interested in buying original art or supporting local artists.”

But just because the art community here wasn’t booming like the one he came from in San Francisco, Pierce refused to get discouraged. In fact, he thinks it actually works towards to his advantage to live in a less culture-clogged city. Bill says, “I think it’s better to have an art or music scene here in a way because you have some chance to compete, versus just getting buried before you leave your apartment.”

Still, having the scene grow and get more attention definitely wouldn’t be a bad thing.

"It saddens me that San Diego isn’t synonymous with art culture and that certainly is a goal of ours. If we can get “art” the tenth word in a sentence when you’re describing San Diego, I’ll be really happy, because there’s an enormous pool of talent here. Some of the best art I’ve seen has come out of San Diego,” Pierce says.

And if Radioactive Future is any indication, then the scene is growing. The collective started with a just few local artists -- including Bill Pierce, Douglas Thompson x, Perry Vasquez, and Shepard Fairey -- but it now includes over thirty artists.

“Basically I did this for people that needed recognition,” Pierce says. “That’s why I don’t work with a lot of bigger name artists as far as shows go. They don’t need more exposure. I like to keep them for people who need to get shows. I mean, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to the artists that I work with.I’m really lucky because I have such an amazing group of people to work with. Not only are they really talented, but they’re also awesome people.I don’t think I could do a show without the help of JW Caldwell, Jason Sherry, Douglas Thompson x, Tim McCormick, Anthony Lukens, Emily Coonce, Mike Maxwell, Andi Brandenburg, or Perry Vasquez. These guys are absolutely amazing. They’ve been there for me through so much, and they’ve traveled all over the place to help me and when we have a successful show, it’s the success of the group.”

Bill continues, “It’s a group effort. You know, everyone helps hang the work, bring beer and food, help spread the word, make flyers, you know … there’s no competition.”

Ok, so you get that the Radioactive Future gang is a big, happy family, but what’s the deal with the art? Well, basically the Radioactive Future brand of art is the complete opposite of the rank shit your mom has hanging in her living room that she bought in a fake log cabin in Julian after gorging herself on apple pie. This stuff is fresh, alive, and it sure as hell ain’t made up of nature and wildlife scenes.

And it’s not just the art that’s different. Bill has a very distinct attitude about showing art.

Radioactive Future artist Marco Almera explains, “Pierce's grassroots approach to the San Diego gallery scene has opened up a much-overlooked niche. Smaller, but very talented artists are getting exposure and showing their work to a new set of collectors: those tired of overpriced, overexposed, and over-hyped local art. And it shows. Radioactive Future shows are always full, always fun, and always sell art. As a grassroots artist myself, I’m very comfortable with their laid back, but professional, approach to selling art. The group shows and solo shows that I’ve been involved in have been a mix of great art, interested collectors, healthy sales, and a good ol’ party. And that is what I think showing art should be about.”

And the audience seems to be picking up on it.

Pierce gives most of the credit for the shows’ success to the artists. “They’ve risen to every single challenge that’s been given to them. We’ve had shows organized within 48 hours and it’s just … they amaze me. They absolutely amaze me. In my apartment, almost every piece of art is from a different artist I've worked with.”

And apparently the feeling is mutual. Perry Vasquez, also a Radioactive Future artist, has this to say about Bill: “Pierce is very dedicated to the idea of a community of like-minded artists in San Diego. He works incredibly hard to organize the shows, and in my opinion, he is generous above and beyond the call. It would be hard to imagine the underground San Diego art scene without his presence and vision.”

But doesn’t it get annoying luggin’ all that art from place to place all over the county?

“I operate at a disadvantage at the moment in terms of us not having our own permanent space, but I think in a way, that kind of makes it exciting because we kind of have a traveling circus. And you know, it kinda throws things around. It keeps it going.”

Pierce's top priorities right now are, as always, supporting the local scene and getting the artists some much-deserved exposure. And he has plenty of excitement planned for the next couple months.

“This summer’s gonna be another sort of crucial time period,” Bill says. “It’s gonna really come together.”

So skip the lame-o Ikea prints and the high-priced La Jolla garbage and check out some real art at one of the Radioactive Future gallery shows. Better yet, BUY some Radioactive Future art. Your house could use the makeover, and besides, you’ve been meaning to replace that funky-assed rug in your living room for ages.