Preview: Purge gets RAW tomorrow night

Get ready to marvel at my citing skills: I'm pretty sure that someone important once articulately said something deeply profound about how a civilization's culture is only as important as how it's recorded in history. Or something.

My made up quotations aside, one of the best trends in Atlanta arts in recent years (aside from art parties!) has been the establishment of sources of local culture documentation; we now have a number of blogs, online magazines, and general loud-mouths who are hitting gallery openings, festivals, film screenings, restaurants, and literary events. Their footwork results in a record of creative occurrences, and provides a platform for discussion of not only the events themselves, but larger issues facing the artistically inclined in Atlanta, and the city as a whole. In short: commentary and documentation matter, to add to our dear Southern cultural annals, may they grow in breadth and esteem (or, at the very least, maybe to remind us what actually happened on many a drunken night. That's still something.)

The latest to burst into the game, with a spiffy website and a kickass team of writers and photogs, is PURGEATL. Since launching earlier this summer, Purge's goal has been "to cut through the mass produced, commercial, and mainstream to reveal the glowing underbelly of the city they know and love." Right on.

Tomorrow night, Purge is throwing their first gallery show at Picaflor Studio, featuring new work from local photographers and illustrators (and Purge contributors) Tim Song, Jason Travis (yeah, this guy!), Rob Bunda, Ryan James, and Christy Parry.