They don’t officially open until tomorrow (check out their First Thursday shindig from 6-10 tomorrow), but Chas and I just got to poke around the new Tender Loving Empire (1720 NW Lovejoy, Ste 109) store/small press/screen printing facility with proprietors Jared and Brianne Mees. It reminded both of us of the early retail days of Motel, with lots of indie goodies from journals to jewelry, to wallets to t-shirts. There’s also some crossover with the micro-press focus of Reading Frenzy—a mix that seems right up the Portland indy/DIY scene alley but a little different for the neighborhood they’re in. They’ll also be hosting art shows every month, and the first is by Sam Guererro, whose Be Afraid shows his cute/effed up artistic renderings of junior high and high school kids’ fears, from sticking a Q-Tip too far in your ear to being the victim of botched plastic surgery. Check the photos:

More after the break…

(fear of getting pregnant)

(fear of gun violence)

(blotched plastic surgery)

(amputation)

(fear of being racially profiled)