The name of the art show started off as a joke- a twist on a Facebook post by a friend of Acamonchi, one of the artists showing work in No Hope For The Manicured.

“Just like Dada and Fluxus,” Acamonchi said via email, “taking the elements of chance and the accident.”

“It goes a lot further,” another artist in the show, Matthew Land, said over the phone.

“It means a polished prim way of life is coming to an end. Doers and people who get dirt underneath their fingernails are going to come out on top.

“[Acamonchi and I] touch on that idea in our artwork, using that metaphor in a literal term for our art show.”

Land describes his art as a “construction of metaphorical walls that people put up between themselves and the harsh society. The masks they wear... to protect themselves.”

“On paper it’s an art show,” Land goes on to say, “but in the grand scheme of things we really wanted to involve various parts of the community we’re connected with and we like.”

Enter the bands scheduled to play:

Batwings

Gloomsday

The Lumps

Acamonchi, whose art is a “mix of graffiti [and] pop culture-inspired textures with a Comtemporary Mexican Urban twist”, designed the newest Batwings CD and The Lumps used to practice next door to his art studio.

“I am inspired by music,” Acamonchi said, “and it’s almost natural to want to work with [my friends]… to share the culture we love.”

Which is why Land, a dispatcher for a bike messenger company, decided to also organize a messenger-style alley cat bicycle race before the art show.

The race will start in Downtown at 401 B. Street at 3:33 p.m. and end in Barrio Logan in the hopes that the bicycle community will stay and enjoy the art and music.

By holding the art show in this way, by involving different aspects of the community, Land is hoping to “change people’s perspectives on what an art show is like.”

"The Life and Times of Burnt Reynolds" by Matthew Land and Acamonchi

The art exhibit will not only feature Acamonchi and Land but also Nacho Chincoya who is based out of Chiapas, Mexico.

The show will also serve as a farewell to Acamonchi’s art studio of 11 years which will soon be bulldozed to accommodate a swanky new apartment complex designed by Jonathan Segal.

“No Hope For The Manicured” opens at Voz Alta (1754 National Avenue) Saturday, Feb 2 at 6 p.m. and runs until February 15.