LeBasse Projects is excited to present, Deva Loka: Los Angeles, an exhibition of work from Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano. Legendary artist Yoshitaka Amano will make a rare U.S. appearance with his newest exhibit, DEVA LOKA, created especially for a U.S exhibition and named for the ancient Indian land of God. As an ode to his childhood love for American comics, culture and automobiles, Amano’s latest breathtaking and vibrant pieces are boldly coated with auto paint and metallic glitter.

Amano is widely acclaimed for his work in animation and video games. He is renowned for designing the characters for the hit video game, Final Fantasy, as well as for anime films including Vampire Hunter D, Guin Saga, Final Fantasy, and Front Mission.

“Between the late 60’s and the 70’s, and during my early years in the art world, I was greatly influenced by American comic books and pop culture. I’d like to show my gratitude for the inspiration America gave me with this exhibit. With the theme of DEVA LOKA, all of my concepts and influences are able to come together, centered in one place. I hope everyone enjoys my show.”

Deva Loka will be Amano’s first major exhibition in Los Angeles.

“Deva Loka: Los Angeles”
Yoshitaka Amano
LeBasse Projects
Opening reception: Saturday, February 20th, 7pm-10pm

Saturday night was the kickoff of the 2010 calendar for many galleries and the neighborhood energy created an even larger than normal buzz around Andrew Hem’s opening at LeBasse Projects. Andrew put together a fantastic body of new work, featuring very personal paintings, some extraordinary charcoal drawings and a series of small sculptures all painted by Hem. The image above is a process picture of Hem working on a small mural in the gallery entrance.

The show will be up through the 13th of February so make sure to drop in if you missed the opening…or visit the work online here.

Also showing is Portland based artist Rebecca Artemisa Urias making a return to LA. Rebecca was also in attendance along with an entourage of family, friends and collectors who came to see her new work, which was featured in our Project Room.

More images after the break:

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As LeBasse Projects gets ready for Andrew Hem’s solo exhibition at the gallery, our neighbor blog “Erratic Phenomena” has run another in depth interview with the artist. Here is an excerpt from the rare well developed interview:

“Andrew was still at work finishing up a few sculptures for the exhibit when he sat down to tell me a bit about where he’s coming from right now.

Erratic Phenomena: In our last interview, you said, “I love creating worlds that do not exist. A world where people don’t care about others’ appearance, and nobody has to worry about fitting in or being an outcast. Where everyone is accepted… I’ve experienced and witnessed too many times where people are disgusted with the different.” Growing up as one of the few Asians in a Hispanic Los Angeles neighborhood was not a particularly pleasant experience for you, and you didn’t really find acceptance there until you began to paint graffiti in high school. Is this dream of a world without bias an idea you’ve contemplated all your life? Do you make a conscious effort to draw attention to our ingrained xenophobia in your work?

Andrew Hem: I just enjoy seeing different cultures in one image. Every time I’m in LAX, I spend extra time looking around in the international section. That’s the only place I know where you have so many races in one place. For some strange reason, I enjoy being there. Maybe it’s because everybody’s so busy trying to catch a plane that they don’t really pay attention to their surroundings. You could find any ethnicity at any time at LAX, and nobody looks twice. I just want to transfer that feeling into my work.”

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As posted on an earlier preview, Morgan Slade is opening his solo exhibition in SF this weekend. Word from Slade is that there should actually be a handful of models in character during the opening so do not miss it if you are in the area.

From Shooting Gallery: “Slade alters his digital photographs of scantily clad women wearing high school mascot heads with paint, pen and pencil. He transforms straightforward images to chaotic madness. His pieces prey on primitive natural instincts with a youthful aesthetic appeal and bright, vibrant colors. By defacing exceptionally striking people, Slade aesthetically changes his figures to appear flawed in some manner. He creates visual critiques of consumerism, advertising and technology by inventing his own symbols or by reusing familiar icons and assigning them a different purpose.”

Morgan Slade: “Fist of Fear, Touch of Death”
The Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA
Opening: January 9, 2010

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Melissa Haslam is gearing up for 2010 and just sent me a study of some new work she is developing for her busy schedule next year. I can’t share the other images, but I will tell you that Haslam has clearly been putting some hours in at the easel…refining her technique while working towards a photo-realistic style.

We should finally see some finished work from her this April for our SF exhibition and than in shows in LA and London. You can expect a new print from her to release early January on Paper Tiger as well.

Prior to the Christmas holiday weekend I had the pleasure of dropping by Andrew Hem’s studio to check on progress for his upcoming solo show this January. Hem has been working on a new body of work focused on his memory and study of his native Cambodia. The show is titled “One Leads to Another” and is driven by the mythical “Butterfly Effect” – in which the theory goes that any action creates consequences and new actions from anyone and everything around it.

In this case Hem considers the possibility of lives transformed had the Khmer Rouge never taken power in his native country. The idea is fantastically executed in his series of dark blue hued paintings – where a sense of the emotional resonance behind each central figure and the detailed environments behind them is evoked at first glance.

Hem is still working on a series of sculptures that will balance the new paintings and I expect it to be an incredible body of work all around. You can see the show open on January 16th at LeBasse Projects.

Andrew Hem
‘One Leads to Another’
LeBasse Projects
Saturday January 16th, 7-10pm

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The Torrance Art Museum has quietly launched and been building a very serious program of exhibitions. Recently TAM just closed a group exhibit titled ‘Zoom” and a solo show from NY based Jean-Pierre Roy. Zoom featured some exciting work from Andrew Schoultz, David Adey, Tony Maher, Nobuhityo Nishigawara and more. Schoultz had a very large piece and Adey impressed with both sculptural installation and collaged mixed media work.

Jean-Pierre Roy was also impressive with two massive paintings which featured unbelievably rendered worlds of futuristic detail. “Conjuring images from his imagination to create ‘internal landscapes’ ensures that Roy is constantly engaged with the discovery of the material relationships involved in world building and world destroying…”

Keep an eye on TAM as next year brings new work from KAWS, Damien Hirst, Chuck Close, Julie Heffernan and more.

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Scott Belcastro opens his first US solo exhibition with us this Saturday night. Belcastro’s landscapes and color washed paintings have an extensive level of minute details which contrast with the open abstraction of his ethereal skies and open canvases. After a very successful recent show in London we are getting very excited for the show with both Scott and newcomer Linda Kim who will be in the LeBasse Project Room, with her debut solo show after recently graduating from Art Center in Pasadena.

The preview is now online: LeBasse Projects but join us Saturday:

Scott Belcastro
‘Chasing the Last Glimpse of Light’
Saturday December 12th, 7-10pm
LeBasse Projects

While many people use ‘Art Basel Miami’ to refer to the whole constellation of fairs vying for collectors’ attention and dollars — it is in fact the granddaddy of them all, the most prestigious by far.  One of the few shows on the Beach side, this year’s Art Basel Miami features the creme de la creme of galleries including Blum & Poe, Deitch Projects,  Michael Kohn, Roberts and Tilton.  There’s simply too much here to show you every piece, but here are some of the pieces that caught my eye.

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Was fortunate to meet the legendary collector Mera Rubell in Miami at the Rubell Family Collection, courtesy of an invite from DD Contributor Annie Adjchavanich. The Rubell Family Collection is a permanent home for some of th hundreds of works owned by Mera and Don Rubell. The RFC is one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world  started in 1964, soon after Don and Mera Rubell were married. The family’s extensive collection of works dates from the 1960s to the present.

The 30,000 square foot building houses museum quality works from a who’s who of international contemporary artists. For Basel 2009 the Rubell’s curated a show titled “Beg, Borrow and Steal” featuring seventy four artists including Jeff Koons, Ai WeiWei, Zhang Huan, Mauricio Catalan, Marcel Duchamp, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami, Charles Ray and Richard Prince.

The kicker was a giant installation of fresh donuts hung in a grid outside…and available to eat…courtesy of the Rubells. Full image gallery after the jump…

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Retna and Mac have been on a tour of duty putting up massive murals. The duo recently posted murals in Orange County at the RVCA headquarters and another in Salt Lake City last week. Now they are in Miami putting up another behemoth at the Margulies Collection. The Collection is a massive warehouse of paintings, photography and some of the most impressive sculptural work around. Sculptures from Noguchi, Frank Stella, Michael Heizer and more are placed throughout the sprawling complex.

Outside Retna and Mac add a bit of the new contemporary flair…more pics of the Collection and Mac and Retna as well after the jump:

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Country Club and Shepard Fairey put on an outdoor mural project on the side of several shipping containers today. Titled “Public Works” the mural features some of Fairey’s iconic imagery. From Country Club:

As part of the programs surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach this year, Shepard Fairey will unveil a major new mural presented on shipping containers. Located at 2700 NW 2nd Avenue on an empty lot in the Wynwood District of Miami, Fairey’s project will continue the artist’s approach to urban explorations of neglected, unclaimed or interstitial sites. The blank facade of the barricade will provide a significant expanse for Fairey to develop a cohesive series of images. The project is being produced by Country Club, a gallery with locations in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, in partnership with The Fountainhead Residency and Miami Art Museum, where an additional component of the project is being presented. Additional support is provided by Smartwater®, Wyn Graham Bradley, Deitch Projects and Goldman Properties-Wynwood.

More images after the jump:

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Deitch Projects in NY is setting up for a massive Miami Basel party tomorrow night. At the moment artists including Futura, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Kenny Scharf and Os Gemeos are feverishly finishing massive murals for the upcoming exhibition and display. Got a chance to chat with Aiko as she has been on a world tour having just returned from Shanghai.

Futura was working solo on a giant wall while Fairey’s team worked on wheatpasting an equally large space. The old school Kenny Scharf was also putting the last touches on a mural. If you are in Miami stop by the exhibit in Wynwood.

Opening, Thursday December 3rd, 2009
NW 26th Street & 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL

AN OUTDOOR MURAL PROJECT PRODUCED BY DEITCH PROJECTS AND GOLDMAN PROPERTIES

Fifteen influential artists from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States have been invited to create outdoor murals on the warehouse walls of Miami’s Wynwood Art District. Tony Goldman of Goldman Properties, one of the major property owners in Wynwood, has made available a group of walls and buildings for artists to work on, concentrated in the area between 2nd and 5th Avenues and NW 22nd and 28th Streets. The project also includes an indoor space at 2550 NW 2nd Avenue where paintings by several of the artists and documentary photographs by Martha Cooper will be exhibited.

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