art shows & news

 
 
Street art pioneer Dan Witz now has a show on display at Carmichael Gallery that might just get you respecting street art if you’re a skeptic.
 
 
Inspired by Amsterdam’s Red Light District, the works feature human and animal faces and figures trapped behind dirty, shoddily painted glass panes and window frames, looking out as if trapped or curious about the world outside.
 
 
Dark Doings, which will feature recreations of pieces Witz has done on the streets of Brooklyn and elsewhere, shows just how cleverly overlooked doors and windows in alleyways can be used.
 
 
www.carmichaelgallery.com
www.danwitzstreetart.com

 
 
 
 
Now you can not only purchase a piece of vinyl collectible art from Frank Kozik, but you can purchase a framed photo print of Kozik’s work at Munky King.
 

The hilarious 44″ x 49″ photo taken by Frank Schaefer features a Chairman Mao figure wearing Mickey Mouse ears, set on a bed of white balls. A black and white piece, it is certainly an interesting one, but for $5,500, the print’s “value” is certainly debatable, even for rich Los Angeles residents who live in the Melrose District.
 

www.fkozik.com
www.munkyking.com

What happens when you mix the cutesy, yet often morbid, works of Luke Chueh with the literary texts of Dante Alighieri’s Dante’s Inferno? There seem to be no teaser samples of this upcoming show at Gallery 1988, but the premise certainly makes the show seem fascinating enough to check out when September 9th rolls around. And with some religious scholars thinking the mark of the beast is no longer 666, but 999, the date seems all too appropriate for such a show.

www.lukechueh.com
www.nineteeneightyeight.com

Artist and curator Jeremy Cross‘ fourth solo exhibit is now on display at the Hyaena Gallery in Los Angeles until the end of the month! With thirty plus works in the house, Cross examines the human condition and its relationship with faith, by placing religious symbols and iconography alongside human body parts. The above piece, It Swallows You, features mixed media and pyrography, the art of decorating wood with the controlled application of a heated object.

www.myspace.com/botchedcross
www.hyaenagallery.com

A documentary started by artist and art promoter Mark Murphy of Murphy Design, Scribble.08 follows the Los Angeles art scene by honing in on the works of artists like the Clayton Brothers, Camille Rose Garcia, Jeff Soto, Kevin Christy, Martha Rich, Tim Biskup, and Joe Sorren (pictured above). Newly edited and reworked, the film features interviews and takes a look into the creative process of these individuals. You can read more about the documentary on Murphy Design’s Blog.

www.murphydesign.com
www.claytonbrothers.com
www.camillerosegarcia.com
www.jeffsoto.com
www.kevinsayshi.com
www.martharich.com
www.timbiskup.com
www.joesorren.com
murphydesign1.blogspot.com

Bubblegum colors like baby pink and baby blue?
Check.

Images of torture, death, and sadism?
Check.

Leave it to Los Angeles artist Kill Pixie, or Mark Whalen (formerly of Sydney, Australia) to put hooded madmen in settings rife with geometric shapes and patterns. Pieces like Group Sessions (left) and Ill Do Anything (right) might seem nearly like vector art created for posters, but in actuality, are the result of a technique that blends acrylic, ink, and gouache on paper that’s then pasted onto wood panels and coated with resin. The resulting pieces seem to have a sense of smoothness and vividness that make them nearly print-like. His 2009 pieces are a step towards simplicity from his dizzying 2008 pieces, but they remain just as interesting.

www.killpixie.net

Redefine’s newest photographic contributor, Koury Angelo, had his first California solo show opening last night at the Loft 910 Gallery in the Santiago Art District. In a similar way to how the invention of the Polaroid changed the face of art photography, iPhone photography is now beginning to emerge as its own niche market; the ability of the iPhone to capture colors in a dramatic, yet grainy, way is unique.

Angelo’s statement on his solo show is as follows:

This photographic installation consists only of images I’ve taken using the iPhone as my camera. This new found freedom to explore and create has led me to some wonderful discoveries within the medium.

www.kouryangelo.com
www.santiagoartdistrict.com

Because m’girl, Swoon is in it.
And because artists are people, too. Sort of, not really.

Laemmle Music Hall 3
9036 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

www.ourcitydreams.com

Once upon a time, there lived a Redefine blog reader who had nothing to do.
Skipping rope and Freeze Tag were tasks far too complex for this reader to comprehend, much less attempt, for Reader’s ass was glued to a chair and Reader’s eyes glued to a screen.

“Oh, how I wish I could see the outside world,” Reader wept. “To do something other than sit and check my email is only but a dream…”

Suddenly, an alien-esque subject appeared before Reader’s eyes. Her hands, large and bold, were not at all threatening due to her eyes being closed in prayer. Or maybe her serenity was just a natural reflection of what surrounded her, dream-like sequences of untold places and colorful landscapes.

“Remove yourself from that chair, fair Reader,” she beckoned, “and visit Subliminal Projects next Saturday to see the new works of the ever-so talented Sam Flores. He will surely break this sorry curse you find yourself in every weekend.”

Reader Obeyed, realizing that this was where he was going to get his happily ever after.
And by jove, he is right.

www.samflores.com
www.subliminalprojects.com

On rare occasions, a gallery does such amazing things with its space that you kind of want to poop yourself with excitement. Gallery 1988, which has one branch in Los Angeles and one branch in San Francisco, makes me want to just that with their latest exhibits. They are doing such exciting things with their space that I kind of wish I was in California to be able to attend their openings more often. While tomorrow’s show will be about the current show at their SF location, this post will be about their current exhibit on display at the LA location, entitled Idiot Box. Prepare to be absolutely astounded by what these artists have managed to turn memories of your favorite childhood television stars into. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jem, Alf, Gumby, Ren & Stimpy, Urkel, and many, many more individuals are paid homage to, artistically, offensively, and ridiculously. Honestly, though, this group show is so amazing that this blog post CANNOT even come close to doing the show justice, so please rush over to the gallery’s blog about this show or to their website. Seriously.

Fan favorite Alex Pardee flexes his horror-art muscles yet again by turning Urkel from “Family Matters” into an infected (playful) beast in S.Urkel Jerk.

If all of the mishaps, misunderstandings, and formations of social circles from “Saved By The Bell” were present in this day and age, the playful high school television show might look a little something more like this bloody video game pixel mess. Raw as the idea for this piece is, Jude Buffum has managed to genius take on a classic television show.

Valued at $2,500, there’s a damn good reason this piece by Ewelina Ferruso has been sold. Waa, The Trash Heap Has Spoken is an oil on canvas exercise in patience. Brilliantly colored and masterfully textured, the piece is equally playful as it is technical, making it a solid tribute to “Fraggle Rock.”

“Schoolhouse Rock” has been parodied in many a television show, but it’s hasn’t been quite so present in the art world. Interplanet Janet Leaves The Boys Behind by Patrick Gannon features colored, cut paper marvelously arranged on wood.

Part of me thinks that Nickelodeon wouldn’t be too pleased at these plushies of Ren and Stimpy, but these 12″ tall plushies by Jen Rarey are just precious.

Believe it or not, there are 99 Seinfeld references in this piece by Kiersten Essenpreis. Ridiculous. The piece sold out quickly, as one might imagine, but prints will be available through Gallery 1988 soon. Keep your eyes peeled.

Although the real MacGuyver would have been equipped with some items more useless than duct tape and a Swiss army knife (such as a clothes hanger and some chewing gum), Wade Schin’s one-of-a-kind acrylic MacGuyver is a terrific creation. Kudos.

Lolcats meet Alf? Casey Weldon’s We Can Has A.L.F.? is horrific and awesome at the same time.

The sheer number of amazing pieces in Idiot Box is amazing and this post could honestly be three or four times longer, but I will close it out with Another Battle For My Affection by Roland Tamayo, which references Gumby, The Twilight Zone, Ninja Turtles, and many other lovable television shows.

Again, though, head over to Gallery 1988 now if you’re in the Los Angeles, or at the very least, scope out their blog and be prepared to be extremely amused by this remarkable group show, which is on view now until April 23rd and features one freaking hundred artists!!! (Although I’m sorry, for your sake, that you’ve probably by now missed the art opening, which was hosted by Dennis “Mr. Belding” Haskins, formerly of “Saved By The Bell”.)

www.nineteeneightyeight.com
idiotbox88.blogspot.com