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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This past Saturday Yoshitaka Amano opened up his LA solo with us at LeBasse Projects and was also joined by LBP artist Yoskay Yamamoto who created a site specific installation for the occasion. Amano’s other show this month is a retrospective at MOCA Taipei so this was a great opportunity for us at the gallery.

Yoskay’s installation was also a huge hit as both his and Amano’s fans walked through the “rain” in the Project Room. Also debuting was Yoskay’s first fine art multiple sculptures which sold out quickly. More in this series will be showcased in June at Yamamoto’s solo exhibition.

The show runs through March 13th so make sure to stop by. More pics after the jump:

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LeBasse Projects is getting ready for our biggest show ever. You hear that cliche a lot in the art world, but in this case its true. We are hosting Yoshitaka Amano’s LA exhibition for ‘Deva Loka’ – a body of work created to show in the US. Amano is one of the most influential artists working today and you can clearly see his influences in the work of Takashi Murakami and others. Amano’s show in LA runs concurrently with his solo exhibit at MOCA Taipei.

To add to the excitement we have an incredible installation that Yoskay Yamamoto is putting up in our Project Room as an homage to Amano. We also have created our first collaborative edition of sculptures with Yamamoto which will debut this Saturday. Hope to see everyone at the show.

Yoshitaka Amano :: Deva Loka
Yoskay Yamamoto :: Tell Me a Story
Opening Saturday February 20th. 7-10pm
LeBasse Projects

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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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POVevolving Gallery in Los Angeles, CA presents “Hope Springs Internal,” a solo exhibition of  recent drawings by Artist John Casey, including a large cutout drawing on wood. In this show he continues his exploration of fictional human biomorphology through detailed and emotive pen and ink drawings. This show runs through February 6th.
In the back gallery John Casey curated a group show of artists whose work he finds inspirational, entitled “Odd Populi.” All of these artists create great character-driven works on paper. Participating artists include Martha Sue Harris, Billy Sprague, Kerri Lee Johnson, Bill Dunlap, and Mike Lay. Come on out Angelenos!

POVevolving Gallery
939 Chung King Rd
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 310.594.3036
Email: info@povevolving.com

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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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.

Black Maria Gallery in Atwater, CA presents it’s fifth annual Black Market at Black Maria: Skip The Mall show, which will feature several works by artists such as Adam Alaniz, Lydiaemily Archibald, Miss Withers, Danni Shinya Luo, Lauren Gardiner, Jane Gotts, Catia Chien and many more!!

LA artist Mike Stilkey gets featured on The New Yorker Online blog.  Article and interview from www.fecalface.com posted by Jenna Krajeski.   Here’s an excerpt:

Books are sacred objects which we are all free to worship in different ways. The L.A.-based artist Mike Stilkey, for example, paints all over them. His work on stacked spines and covers reworks books into a beautiful, albeit unreadable, library. I asked him a few questions:

What’s the ratio of books-for-painting to books-for-reading in your
house?

That’s a good question. I have collected many books over the years, and combined with my wife’s library. We have a pretty impressive selection of reading material. I would estimate that at this point in time, I have gotten my hands on about five hundred discarded books—these are what I use to paint on. Occasionally this number will be in the thousands, depending on the size and scope of whatever installation I’m creating. Our personal library consists of well over a thousand books and varies from art books to classics to Bukowski novels.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/11/mike-stilkeys-library.html#ixzz0XELiYYNV

A show of new work by the unstoppable Kiel Johnson opened Saturday at the Mark Moore Gallery  in Bergamot Station.  Johnson’s cardboard sculptures and beautifully detailed drawings are  guaranteed to put you in an excellent mood. Check em out!

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