This Saturday DIY Gallery launches their brand new space in Echo Park with collaborations by Aaron Williams and Zach Taylor.  The new venue has an incredible out door space for sculpture and they will be hosting a ton of bands in the near future as well – so stay on their radar!

Details:

DIY Gallery. 1549 Sunset Blvd. LA 90026

Echo Park Inaugural Reception: Saturday, March 20 7pm

Be there or be square!

Kinkead Contemporary and Heather Cantrell participated in VOLTANY, the Armory’s sister fair in New York this past week.  Cantrell installed another portrait studio at the fair which resembled a Rousseau jungle complete with mirrors, animal masks (which are handy if you’re shy like me – see above!) and live plants everywhere.  VOLTA served as the third installment in Cantrell’s project A Study in Portraiture which is curated by Caryn Coleman.

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On March 4th I’ll be in New York for the VOLTANY art fair, but here in Los Angeles is the opening of the first of 4 exhibitions for the newest batch of grads coming out of UCLA.  I hear Matthias Merkel Hess’ work is not to be missed. Other artists in the show include: Derek Curry, Abbey Dubin, Jennifer Gradecki, and Ian Pines.  Opening Reception is Thursday, March 4th from 5 – 8pm.

Alika Cooper "Runway (Grace Jones)", 2009 oil on canvas 8 x 6 inches

If you haven’t noticed, portraits are hot these days.  Case in point: “Fuckheads” – a group show at Kinkead Contemporary in Culver City curated by New York based artist Angela Dufresne.  This show includes over 30 artists and is sure to be a smash!  It opens this Saturday, Feb 20th 6-9pm and runs through March 20th.

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Last Saturday I stopped into Raid Projects at The Brewery for the opening of their current exhibition Default State Network, curated by New York based artist Ryan Wallace.  The gallery has recently shown new life since artists Ryan Callis and David De Boer have taken over programing.

Default State Network features work by Alex Dodge, Chris Duncan, Elise Ferguson, Glen Baldridge, Will Yackulic, Joseph Hart, Andrew Shoultz, Leslie Shows and Ryan Wallace and runs through February 27.  Be sure to check it out!

A must see show on portraiture is currently on view at The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.  “Gaze: Portraiture after Ingres” includes  works ranging from Van Gogh to Warhol.  One of my personal favorites is Marcel Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q. or Jaconde (1964, replica of 1919 original). Ever the trickster, Duchamp drew a mustache and goatee on a post card of Mona Lisa.  The title translates (phonetically) to “There is fire down below”. Rewr!

Now, if Warhol and Duchamp can’t get you out to Pasadena to see this show, I don’t know what can!

L.A. based Tracy Nakayama’s Swedish debut at The Crystal Palace Gallery opens on February 20th. If you aren’t able to hop on a jet plane to Stockholm, check out Nakayama’s work here from her latest show at Kinkead Contemporary in Culver City.