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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Congrats to La Luz de Jesus‘ own JAW Cooper, who has three great paintings in the Kitsch ‘N Sync show, the same week that her art graces the cover of the LA Weekly! Cooper’s got a featured exhibition here in June, too, so be sure to sign up for her preview list on our constant contact sign up box. She’s been dropping hints about what we can expect, and I’m feverishly anticipating another faux-fur rug, because I know some hard-wood floors that need a stylish companion.

We expected a great turn-out on Friday, but we could never have expected over 2000 people!

The folks from SinoTequila were working overtime to blend enough margaritas for the ravenous crowd, and several artists had complete sellouts of multiple pieces. Brandon Steen, Frijol Boy, Jasmine Worth, Tennessee Loveless and Walt Hall all sold three or more paintings each, and many of our newbies experienced the very first gallery sales of their artwork. That list is far too extensive to list, but you can check out what’s sold and what’s available by clicking on the Current Exhibition link.

The following evening, we said goodbye to Billy Shire Fine Arts.

The live, musical performance by Unextraordinary Gentlemen was off the chain, and we were able to give away some mementos from the past five years’ exhibitions. The aesthetic that was established at BSFA will be incorporated into the new La Luz de Jesus, which will soon have a second enclosed space behind the current main gallery. Take a look at the upcoming shows and you’ll see what I mean.

Next month, Scott Hove will be taking over the new, second gallery space at La Luz de Jesus with his installation of surreal, anthropomorphized cakes. The exhibition, called Iced Out has already received coverage from Hi-Fructose, Boing Boing, Planet Oddity and The Food Network. Ace of Cakes -eat your heart out, as the centerpiece of this show is a gigantic cake chandelier that will hang suspended from the center of the ceiling in gallery II. We’ll be coordinating some other special events around this opening on April 2nd, which will likely involve some edible sweets to accompany visual ones, so check back for updates.

Dennis’ work is 3D relief sculpted paintings in acrylic on canvas and paper. He was just covered by the New York Times for his part in the museum hosted New York Historical Society Grateful Dead Exhibition, coinciding with the release of his book, Startling Art: Revealing the Art of Dennis Larkins, which he’ll be signing at La Luz de Jesus on Saturday, April 3rd from 6-9PM as part of the west coast release tour. Max Grundy’s paranoid propaganda paintings of enamel on metal are a hellacious futurama meets constructivism. Larkins & Grundy are La Luz veterans, and their work will juxtapose nicely with Scott Hove. Each will have prints, too. You’ve never seen anything quite like this, I promise you!

It’s that time of year again, Oscar is all shiny and ready for his moment in the sun.  Right? While there’s plenty of glitz to the Acadmey Awards, D*Face has taken it upon himself to show the other side of Hollywood with two of his very own ‘Oscar’ sculpture installations – one on Runyon canyon (near the iconic ‘Hollywood’ sign) and one in the parking lot of Mel’s Diner close to the Academy Awards venue.  The pictured D*Face Oscar from Runyon Canyon is peeling or melting showing his mortal self underneath the golden facade and is accompanied by a plague reading “Beauty is one snip away”.  With a similar sentiment, Mel’s Diner statue’s plaque reads “Beauty is Skin Deep” [via Jetset Grafitti].

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One of the perks of this job is getting to work with truly amazing people all of the time. But occasionally, I get to collaborate with people who have had a direct impact on my life. Such is the case with Dave McKean.

Dave McKean is what we used to refer to as a “hyphenate.” He’s a multi-talented illustrator-photographer-comic-book-artist-graphic-designer-filmmaker-musician, who just happens to excel at each one of his specialties.

As an artist, Dave McKean changed the look of comic books when his illustrated-photo-assemblage works began gracing the covers of Neil Gaiman’s reboot of the Sandman character at DC Comics. He next tackled an incredibly ambitious Batman tale that focused not on the caped crusader, but instead on the mental institution that housed the more macabre among his rogues’ gallery. That story written by Grant Morrison was Arkham Asylum, and it quickly became (and remains) one of the best selling graphic novels of all time. His comic book works have won numerous well deserved accolades and awards, but he’s also won a World Fantasy Award for “Best Artist,” three Spectrum Awards in the categories of “Advertising”, “Book”, and “Comic,” A British Science Fiction Award in “Short Fiction” (shared with Neil Gaiman), and his film directorial debut, MirrorMask premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. His concept designs shaped the look and feel of two entries in the Harry Potter film series, and if your CD collection veers on the darker side of pop, metal, and avant-garde, odds are you’ve got a few Dave McKean images there, too. Did I mention that he’s an accomplished jazz musician and discerning foodie?

So it would be an understatement to say that I’m feverishly proud to welcome Dave McKean this weekend at two incredible events:

On Friday, February 12th, from 6-9 PM, Dave is signing comics, books, DVDs, CD’s and limited edition art prints at La Luz de Jesus Gallery (inside the Soap Plant / Wacko complex at 4633 Hollywood Blvd., LA, CA 90027). For every item that purchase at the signing, Dave will sign one item that you bring from home. NO EXCEPTIONS! So don’t bring your entire collection of Sandman comics for him to autograph unless you plan on buying 75 items at the signing. He’s a wonderful guy and he’ll be happy to speak with you and answer questions -especially about his new body of work, which is debuting on Saturday night at Billy Shire Fine Arts.

New Works from Early Cinema is showing in conjunction with Nitrate & Kinogeists, an event sponsored by Chicago’s Century Guild and includes highlights from their inventory of historically significant and undeniably beautiful silent film posters, most of which have been lost and unseen by the public before now. In addition to large format paintings, Dave has included a series of ten smaller ink illustrations that are priced for fans. Believe me -you can totally afford these, so check out the preview on Thursday evening. Whether you’re a comic book fan or a patron of the fine arts, if you’ve been looking to add a McKean original to your collection, this is your opportunity to do so. There are also some limited edition prints for which this will be a Release Event.
Since the exhibition references and pays tribute to lost films from the silent era, there will be Video Installation with two screens playing footage of recently unearthed and restored films previously thought lost.
The artist’s reception is Saturday, February 13th, from 7-10 PM at Billy Shire Fine Arts, 5790 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. A full and complete preview will be available by Thursday evening. The paintings and posters are live on site now.

Mastodon Maze opened at the Pacific Design Center January 29th.  It featured a labyrinthine group showcasing pre-existing pieces from some of our favorite artists: Philip Cameron, Christian Cummings, Michael C. Hsiung, Daniel Ingroff, Alison O’Daniel, Paul Pescador, David Maupin, Mike Metzger, and Donnie Luu.

Mastodon Maze runs concurrent to the Art Los Angeles Contemporary at the Pacific Design Center. The show will be up from January 29 – February 11, with an opening event at 5:00pm on January 30th.

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Mastodon Maze is a labyrinthine group showcasing showcasing pre-existing pieces from some of our favorite artists: Philip Cameron, Christian Cummings, Michael C. Hsiung, Daniel Ingroff, Alison O’Daniel, Paul Pescador, David Maupin, Mike Metzger, and Donnie Luu.

Mastodon Maze runs concurrent to the Art Los Angeles Contemporary at the Pacific Design Center. The show will be up from January 29 – February 11, with an opening event at 5:00pm on January 30th.

We went over to check out I Am Animal (Friday January 15th) at Black Maria Gallery. This group show, guest curated by Aaron Smith, featured the works of some talented female artists whose “imagery that is beastly and beautiful, funny and ferocious,” including Sarah Williamson, Mashanda Scott, Nicole Adee Dreyfuss, Connie Wong, Grace Kim, Brianna Harden, Saejean Oh, Alisha Amirkhanian, Shannon Freshwater and Daniaelle Simonsen.  I’d highly recommend seeing this collection of female artists before the show ends.

January 15th through February 13, 2010

Black Maria Gallery
3137 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039

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Over the past two nights, street artists M-City and Gaia painted this collaborative mural on Malcolm X Blvd under the auspices of Brooklynite Gallery. The mural turned out great, interesting to see how each artists style compliments the others so well.  If you are in NYC make sure you go check it out.

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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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Next up at Show & Tell Gallery is “From Me To You” a holiday group show featuring over 20 artists who span the globe. Stay tuned to the blog in the coming weeks for previews from the show. In the mean time you can check out the facebook event page here.

Steve Turner Contemporary is pleased to present China Adams: White Flags and Silent Chimes, Adams’ second solo exhibition at the gallery. With White Flags and Silent Chimes, China Adams continues to investigate recycled materials by creating art works from the detritus that accumulates at her home, including the junk mail that arrives daily in her mailbox. Using such material, which is generally considered “garbage,” Adams transforms the inherent worthless character of the material, while not concealing its origin, into something renewed, re-contextualized and reformed.

Also, Nothing New: Amir Zaki Selects Vintage Photographs of Southern California, 1870-1950. This marks the first exhibition in the gallery’s new program, Artists Select, in which contemporary artists curate exhibitions by selecting works from local private collections.

After visiting The Cloisters during Columbus Day weekend I headed over to view Tauba Auerbach’s HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE. The  exhibition explored philosophical conflicts including liminality, or intermediate state between two dimensionality and three dimensionality; the past and the present; Being HERE vs. Being THERE, and being both HERE and THERE at once; and Randomness vs. Determinism and the unpredictable order of chaos. Five bodies of work represented in the exhibition are crumple paintings, static photographs, fold paintings, and The Auerglass. The crumple paintings are perhaps the most mesmerizing and intriguing. The illusion of a crumpled surface is constructed from large Ben Day dots, and only visible upon standing far away from the work. This created an element of play for the viewer,  a visual sensory delight.  If you feel this amateur video making you dizzy, wait until the vertigo sets in when viewing the works up close and in person. The Auerglass, which is the central work in the show, is a two-person wooden pump organ designed by the artist with her friend Cameron Mesirow of the band Glasser. The instrument cannot be played alone. It requires two people to play. Performances are held daily at 5pm.

On view through October 27, 2009
18 Wooster Street, New York
www.deitchprojects.com

Title Wall - Human Pyramid Opening

Visiting Human Pyramids artist Pacolli (Brazil) was recently in town and invited me to attend this opening.  It was a great show with lots of nice works from an international group of artists.  The show opened on Saturday September 26th at GhettoGloss – 6109 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA.

The Human Pyramids Artist Collective is an international group of friends with a shared impetus for art and design. The collective is comprised of painters, illustrators, designers, film makers, and photographers, from countries such as Switzerland, Japan, France, The United States, Brazil, Sweden, England, and Mexico. Members regularly collaborate on group shows and a multitude of creative endeavors which can result in scrupulous harmony or projected chaos. – Press Release.

Check out the artist page
Pacolli
Teddy Kelly
Hovin Wang
Tiffany Liu
The Love Movement
Claudia Marclay
Pjota
John Mitchell
Noel Ill
Mari Araki
Ana Bagayan
Philip Evans
Soy Panday
Steven Burke
Teri Hendrich
Ben Brough
Nick Jensen
Karen Jonz

Photographs provided by Taylor Brittenham, Pacolli, and my crappy iphone.

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