Sam Doyle's He/She

There are only five more days left until the first part of the La Luz de Jesus 25 exhibition comes down, and the gallery goes dark for four days of installing for the second part of this landmark show.

Pictured at left is Sam Doyle’s He/She painting, a visceral work of house paint on tin by one of the most important self-taught artists of the 20th century. Ed Ruscha has cited Doyle’s influence and Jean Michel Basquiat once traded an entire exhibit of his paintings for only two works by Doyle.

At the artist’s reception for La Luz de Jesus 25, Joe Coleman after seeing He/She remarked that “This is the best painting in here!” and he positioned himself in front of  it all evening. He/She, one of the artist’s best, was not shown in last month’s stellar  Simply Iconic exhibition and is currently the only Doyle artwork on public display in Los Angeles. It was previously featured in the High Museum’s Sam Doyle: Local Heroes exhibition catalog, and is included in the La Luz de Jesus 25 art volume published by La Luz de Jesus Press & Last Gasp Books. This is the first survey show ever undertaken at Billy Shire’s groundbreaking La Luz de Jesus Gallery, and the list of participants is quite literally a history of the pop surrealist movement. The inclusion of works by artists like Doyle further demonstrates that the gallery continues to be at the forefront of the contemporary art scene as it has been for the past two and a half decades.

La Luz de Jesus Gallery is located at 4633 Hollywood Blvd., and is open seven days a week.

We held the soft opening for Charon’s Pantheon last night, and tonight we hold the artists’ reception with Myron Conan Dyal and Jennifer Logan on hand to explain the origins of this heavily conceptual exhibition. There will be three performances of the 69 minute audio counterpart to the sculptures. Seating and standing room is limited, therefore RSVPs will be necessary. At least two professors attending the event on Friday evening intimated that this exhibition would become part of their mandatory curriculum this semester.

Since images alone do not capture the essence or mood of this incredible show, I encourage you to view the two videos below.
The images are taken from the exhibition catalog, which comes with an audio CD of the music. The book of Charon’s Pantheon is published by Last Gasp Books for La Luz de Jesus Press, and is available for $25.
Charon’s Pantheon: DEATH
Charon’s Pantheon: GODDESS of TREES

These promotional videos give a basic introduction to what is now on view at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, but missing from them is the relative weight and the atmosphere of mysticism that permeates the live setting. Each of these sculptures has been “danced” by Myron Dyal in a spiritual ritual. The goddesses of the Pantheon are products of Myron’s rebirth, as he terms it –a coma from which he emerged at the age of four that triggered a lifetime of visions, the result of his Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

The gallery has been completely transformed, and this will be a one month show, after which the entire exhibit moves to Grand Central Art Center as part of a rotating museum tour. The intimacy that La Luz de Jesus Gallery lends to the proceedings will be lost even if the grandiosity is enhanced.

In addition to tonight’s Artist Reception, there will be three more lecture-and-listening parties throughout the month. On each Saturday in February (12, 19, 26) from 6-9PM, Dyal & Logan will host a seated performance of the music followed by an informal discussion of the work, during which they’ll be happy to sign books and answer questions. I urge you to RSVP for at least one of these. This is no mere show, it is an experience. The feedback has been quite polarizing, with some attendees empowered and enlightened while others are utterly and completely horrified.

I offer you a chance to decide for yourself.

This Sunday (on Halloween) from 11 AM to 7 PM, we’ll be hosting a Studio Sale for Christopher Ulrich. This is a great opportunity for fans and collectors to buy large studies and completed paintings for less than you might expect to pay for prints! There are over 100 Illuminator Discovery Works, and they are priced to move so he can clean out his studio and get crackin’ on the final series in his Christ Chronocrator Cylce: The Reckoning, which will be opening on December 7, 2012 at La Luz de Jesus.

On Sunday, there will be pieces for $100! Check the site for a few special offers, too!

I know a few East Coast and International gallerists who will be using this opportunity to buy works for mark-up and resale, so call me to reserve your purchases before they grab the piece you want: (323) 547-3227.

The sale will be held on one day only at an off-campus location:
1223 Daniels Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90035.
Again, that’s on Sunday, October 31st from 11am to 7pm.

Ulrich will be in attendance and happy to discuss his work. Interviews can be booked with advance notice.
He’s opt to offer workshop-style advice to select patrons, too. This is a special release event for over 400 works never before offered for sale, ranging from sketchbook-paper life drawing studies to mural-sized paintings.

In case you couldn’t join us, here are some pictures –both before and during the opening reception for the Art of the Lowbrow Tarot and the Karen Hsiao, Christine Wu and Matt Wood exhibitions this past Friday. Incredibly, we were joined by an overwhelming majority of the participants who traveled from as far as China and England to be here.

Big congratulations to Lowbrow Tarot artist Brian Viveros who had a sell-out show the very next night at Thinkspace. We hope you’ll join us for the Beyond Eden Art Fair this weekend, where legend La Luz alumni Robert Williams will be presented with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the arts.

Christopher Ulrich gave a great lecture yesterday about his artistic process and regarding the impact of fables on art. Afterwards, most of the die-hard Ulrich fans headed over to Umami Burger for a tasty dinner and to reflect on the wonder and spectacle that was Illuminator: The Royal Wedding.

Today the work is off the walls, but if you didn’t get to see it, about half of the paintings from the series will be on display October 9 & 10 at the Beyond Eden Contemporary Art Fair inside the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery within historic Barnsdall Park. He’s also left behind some signed Demoneater books, which are becoming increasingly rare.

Right now, we are preparing the next installation of Nathan Ota’s An Unforeseen Homecoming. Nathan stopped by the shop today to help layout the show and let us know that American Illustration has included his work from this Friday’s show in their upcoming published annual. Earlier this morning I received a phone call from the Hollywood Arts Counsel requesting images from Nathan and also from Yumiko Kayukawa’s 49 Days series for print in their quarterly magazine, so this Friday (September 3rd) will be another great show. Don’t forget that we’ll be giving away FREE posters to the first 100 people here at 7PM on Friday night, and both Nathan and Yumiko will be signing them. They were produced specifically for this occasion, which is sponsored by Sino Tequila. I’d like to give a special shout out to our pal Spanky Stokes who will be celebrating his birthday that evening and is completely open to someone buying him a Nathan Ota painting as a B-Day gift.

Pre-sale options are available for these shows and many others on our calendar, and there are still works available from several of the recent exhibitions, so browse the site and give me a call on the gallery line: (323) 666-7667. Ask for Matt!

This Sunday (August 29th) marks the final day of exhibition for Christopher Ulrich’s Illuminator: The Royal Wedding. As a special treat, the artist will be discussing the work and signing books and prints, which will be available for direct purchase. Following the lecture, at 6 PM, if you purchased a painting or drawing or digital proof edition, you will be able to take it with you.

Ulrich’s paintings are steeped in allegory, and it will be a challenge to cover every aspect of each piece in the allotted time frame, so this is your chance to engage the artist with your own insight of his work and pick his brain about the piece that greatest embrace you. Christopher is incredibly easy to approach and talk to, and while some of the paintings are rather intense, this is a great opportunity to expose young people to fine art –presenting a rare opportunity for juvenile artists to ask questions about technique and integrity.

In just one week we’ll be opening solo shows for Yumiko Kayukawa’s 49 Days and Nathan Ota’s An Unforeseen Homecoming. Previews for each show are already posted, and work is beginning to sell. Yumiko is flying down from Seattle so both artists will be attending their opening on Friday, September 3rd, and in celebration of the occasion, we’re releasing posters free to the first 100 people through the door. The artists have agreed to sign them for one hour preceding the opening of the exhibit, starting at 6PM.

Nathan received preview coverage this, his first solo show on Hi Fructose’s website, and will be live painting on Thursday evening at Montana Cans paint shop on Sunset Blvd., from 7-9ish in a collaboration with L.A. graffiti legend Risk.

This is followed by a weekend of outta sight book signings. On Thursday, September 9th from 6-9PM, we welcome Brian McCarty as he signs and discusses his book Art Toys, an extensive photo-tome of the secret lives of designer toys. Then on Friday, September 10th, we welcome back author Mick Farren to sign his latest mind-bending, counter-culture non-fiction work: Speed-Speed-Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine, tracing the cultural and criminal use of this very dangerous narcotic. There will be a story contest and musical performances, so rush on over from 6-9PM! At the end of the month we’ll be welcoming back Dave Cooper, to kick off the tour of his new book Bent, which is much more than just the catalog of his sold out 2008 BSFA show. Info soon!

A special mid-month exhibition of the art of Dee Dee Ramone will debut on the punk rocker’s birthday of September 18th. A special Memorial poster will commemorate the show, and rare, classic photos of Dee Dee from the Jenny Lens Photo Archive will be made available as oversized, signed, numbered Museum quality prints. The very next weekend La Luz de Jesus pal Brad ‘Tiki Shark‘ Parker opens his Ocean Dreams exhibit at the Manhattan Creative Arts Center. That’s on Saturday, September 25th, and it runs through October 14th. We’re handling the sales, so let me know if you want to buy anything. The preview is posted.

Hi Fructose readers will also be familiar with the Art of the Lowbrow Tarot exhibition that guest curator Aunia Kahn has assembled in anticipation of a new book and tarot card deck featuring the art of 23 of the biggest name in pop-surrealism and the pieces they created specifically for this project: Carrie Ann Baade, Christopher Ulrich, Edith Lebeau, Cate Rangel, Kris Kuksi, Chris Mars, Christopher Umana, C.C. Askew, Brian Viveros, Claudia Drake, Heather Watts, Molly Crabapple, David Stoupakis, Laurie Lipton, Patrick ‘Star 27′ Deignan, Chet Zar, Jessica Joslin, Danni Shinya Luo, Jennybird Alcantara, Angie Mason, Scott G. Brooks, Aunia Kahn, and Daniel Martin Diaz (pictured left) have all brought their A game, and this exhibition is sure to be talked about for a long time after it’s over. This show opens on October 1st, but the preview is already posted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if everything sold before the opening reception.

Also on the walls in October is Art Center alumni Karen Hsiao, who’s been catching much press in the UK, Europe and Asia for erotic painted photography art and has just seen the publication of her first book, Rubber Duck, and recent Art Center grads Christine Wu (whose painting in the recent 100 More Artists See Satan exhibition sold pre-opening) and Matt Wood (whose Mom’s in Prison show warrants Art in America coverage).

I didn’t even get to mention the TIKI FARM 10th Anniversary show in October! Watch this space for more info soon!

“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” – Anais Nin

We just finished hanging the entire show, and it’s grandiose on an unsurpassed scale. This is the first exhibition of the New La Luz de Jesus, to utilize both rooms. This is a journey: a full gallery takeover by one artist. The front room has all of the drawing studies, which line the south and east walls. The print editions are lined in a double row along the west wall. And on the North wall…

You’ll just have to come and see.

It’s the perfect springboard for the doorway into the back gallery, which houses the rest of Illuminator: the Royal Wedding!

August 6 – 29, 2010. Opening reception, Friday, August 6, 8-11 PM.
Print release and signing from 7-8 PM.

We’ve also got advance previews posted for Laurie Lipton’s Machine Punk, and Yumiko Kayukawa’s 49 Days exhibitions, and we’ll be handling sales for Brad “Tiki Shark” Parker’s Ocean Dreams exhibition which will be on display at the Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center in September. Contact gallery director Matt Kennedy for more info:

(323) 666-7667
info@laluzdejesus.com

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90027
Hours:
11 to 7 PM Monday to Wednesday
11 to 9 PM Thursday to Saturday
Noon to 6 PM on Sunday

The gallery is located inside the Soap Plant/Wacko complex.

Congratulations to Fiddle Tim, whose entire debut exhibition Scumfuck, was completely SOLD OUT –and also made it into the Huffington Post!

There was a spectacular turnout for last night’s opening reception, and the gallery line was ringing off the hook with long distance phone calls from patrons on the east coast and Europe maintaining late hours to secure their purchases once news of this show hit the wire.

Lauren Gardiner is also on the verge of a complete sell out, with only one painting from her exhibition, Unfit Saints, unsold as of this writing. This would be her second consecutive sold out show after last year’s Royalty Before Surgery, and I’ll be surprised if it’s not off the market by the time the first bottle rockets whistle skyward tomorrow.”St. Agatha: Patron Saint of Bigfoot” is actually quite large by Lauren’s standards, but still only measures 8.25″ x 9.5″
(with doors opened).

Damian Fulton seemed to be holding court with a constant flow of friends and colleagues from surf, animation and advertising circles and was offered a publishing deal right there at the opening! I promise to disclose the details as everything becomes more concrete, so meanwhile, you can follow the adventures of “Sue Nammi” right here on the gallery walls as part of Damian’s latest magnum opus Surfploytation!

Robert Palcios‘ work complements it perfectly on the two opposing walls that house Gallery I. His Loteria themed show, Game of Life, garnered comparisons to both Mark Ryden and Jose Guadalupe Posada.

Frijol Boy and Cristina Paulos each drove in from Las Vegas to revel in the carnival atmosphere of the La Luz de Jesus Independence Day Weenie Roast. Each has explored different routes from animation to fine art, with spray acrylic and reclaimed paper playing a major part in their respective exhibitions. Michael Brown was unable to attend, but Alyson Souza was on hand to discuss her gorgeous oil on wood and multi-media constructions.

If you missed the opening, you got just under 30 days to catch it!

In five days we welcome New Texture Publishing for the L.A. Weekly’s Pick of the Week for Thursday, July 8th. Josh Alan Friedman will be playing guitar and reading from his book Black Cracker, the heartbreakingly funny four-year odyssey of the only white kid at the last segregated school in New York. He’ll of course be signing copies of his book, and he’s bringing along friends Chris D. (of The Flesheaters and Divine Horsemen fame) to read and sign his collection, A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die, and publisher/author Wyatt Doyle, who’ll be signing his Los Angeles bus memoir, Stop Requested.

So there you have it: at least eleven reasons to get your tookus on down here!
See you soon.

On Friday night Rick Araluce debuted his latest collection of painstakingly crafted miniatures -his first area exhibition in over a decade and a half. There hasn’t been an art event this important in a good long time, and the names that come to mind by way of comparison are Koons, Hirst, Murakami and Ruscha.

If you haven’t visited the New La Luz de Jesus, you really need to get in here!

Rick’s miniature masterpieces are crafted with a level of detail that would drive lesser (ie. most) men mad. Handwritten letters are rendered in nano script. Wallpaper, tiles and bricks are each designed by hand to maintain the illusion achieved in these micro-scale decors. Araluce has built working light switches, bulbs and clocks that wouldn’t dwarf an insect, and designed end pages for books stacked 42 high, barely thick as a thumbnail. He makes everything -including the boxes that house the pieces, by hand. Inside the opened doorway of the piece pictured is a microscopic painting, that can only be seen from the extreme left side. Rest assured that tiny is the next big thing!

Click here, if the video player doesn’t work.

Christopher Ulrich is a painter of surreal, iconographic images. He is influenced by the richness of ancient mythology, the mystery of alchemy, and the vastness of cosmic reality. Illuminating this dark journey with insight, heart and determination he strives to understand the unraveling revelation that reveals itself in the work. Christopher began his exhibition life with the first of three major experiments, The Demoneater Series,

"Demoneater" opens May 1st @ GCAC, Santa Ana

which has been published as a prestige edition, hardcover book. Demoneater consists of 15 “Keys” to 15 “Doors,” all of which depict black, mirrored reflections of a single character. This alchemical allegory was first shown at the Bergamot Station on November the 2nd (Day of the Dead) 2007, exhibiting through January 2008. The series is being presented again at the Grand Central Art Center Museum at CSUF, and this time the works are available for purchase.

These works are puzzle pieces to a greater whole: a grand tapestry called The Christ Chronocrator Project. After creating new works for a monthly series of group showings, Christopher opened a new exhibition of large format paintings and small illustrations in conjunction with new works by Carrie Ann Baade and KS Rives at Billy Shire Fine Arts. “The Fourth Enochian Key” ran from June 14th through July 4th, 2009. Ulrich has since begun work on the second series of his alchemical masterwork entitled, “Illuminator: The Royal Wedding,” (study pictured left) which debuts at La Luz de Jesus Gallery on August 6, 2010.

All Doors measure 48″ x 96″; all Keys measure 24″ x 24″. All paintings are oil on framed panel. The frames add an additional two inches around the art surface. Contact La Luz de Jesus Gallery for availability and purchase info: (323) 297-0600

These masterpieces have all been published and now have museum pedigree. Ulrich’s work is in several very prominent collections, making these few available paintings an absolute steal. With the Demoneater retrospective opening on May Day (May 1st), and Illuminator debuting on August 6th, this will be the summer of Ulrich!

Also showing at the Grand Central Art Center at CSUF is artist in residence, Laurie Lipton, who will launch her “Machine Punk” exhibition (see image at right) at La Luz de Jesus Gallery on November 5th. We’re super excited to be working with Laurie who will also have a piece in the Art of the Lowbrow Tarot Project, premiering in October at La Luz de Jesus. The exhibition will feature sculpture, assemblage, painting and illustration while presenting the Major Arcana of the classic tarot deck. The opening weekend will also herald a book & deck release party!

This landmark project features several La Luz de Jesus alumni, like Christopher Ulrich, Chris Mars, Jessica Joslin, Daniel Martin Diaz, Carrie Ann Baade, Danni Shinya Luo, Jennybird Alcantara, Heather Watts, Scott G. Brooks, and Patrick “Star27″ Deignan. The additional talent is composed of Matthew Bone, Brian Viveros, Kris Kuksi, Chet Zar, Molly Crabapple, Cate Rangel, Edith Lebeau, C.C. Askew, Claudia Drake, Angie Mason, David Stoupakis and guest curator Aunia Kahn.

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost been a week since we completed construction on the New and Improved La Luz de Jesus Gallery, but here we are in the first week of Eastertide. If you haven’t seen the Scott Hove “Iced Out“ exhibition, you need to drop what you’re doing right now and come check it out. This is a show that warrants a “live” perspective.

If you missed the opening reception, you missed an extravagant assortment of delicious desserts from the Nickel Diner. With all those Scott Hove cakes on display, we knew the crowd would be hungry, and they voraciously vacuumed the maple bacon donut holes and potato chip and peanut butter cupcakes. The refreshments, supplied by Nakhon Brewing, were much appreciated and paired well with the savory and sweet snacks.

The best surprise for Scott Hove fans of was the chance to pass through a gallery of Dennis Larkins and Max Grundy paintings before arriving at the cakeland sculptures. Dennis was also on hand Saturday to sign copies of his latest tome of three dimensional relief paintings, “Startling Art,” published by Last Gasp and available for sale in the gallery.

Max Grundy was similarly busy this weekend -welcoming a beautiful baby daughter into the world! Congrats to proud new parents Max and Candace! Of course, LA Weekly readers got a preview of Grundy’s “Out of Order” show when his title piece accompanied the Easter Sunday spotlight in the Go LA section.

Families flocked to our expanded Los Feliz digs and bought Bruce Eichelberger’s etched eggs and other Eastery delights.

The three exhibitions are up all month long, and the work is extraordinary. Just in time for your Tax Refund check!

And speaking of tax, the Rogue Taxidermy Exhibition is coming soon, so be sure to sign up for the online preview by joining our email list.