Tes One (nee Leon Bedore) returns to Tampa for Repeat Offender, his first solo show in five years — which is now entering its final week on display. The artist, whose prints are a mainstay in galleries around the Bay area (and designer of CL's own Obama-inspired cover), creates a collection that contrasts "nature with technology, grime with grace" — the results of which are immediately striking and visually interesting, but require closer inspection to fully digest. More often than not, what's underneath the surface is even more important than the clearly visible — like a snarling grizzly bear screenprinted over a sign advertising "space available." Ironic, of course, because we're cutting down the trees in the grizzly's space to make our signs. (Pictured: “External Drive,” acrylic on wood) On display through Nov. 30, Redletter1 Gallery, 1510 E. Eighth Ave., Ybor City, free, 813-241-2435, tesone.net. – Franki Weddington
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2009.