California

New Puppy Gallery Presents: “Sniffin’ Glue” A Group Show (Los Angeles, CA)

March 17, 2011 , , , , , , ,

Sniffin’ Glue
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Who better than Nomadé, Eddie Colla, ABCNT, and Cryptik to poke the MOCA institutional bear smack in the nose on April 16th with their new explosive show “Sniffin’ Glue.”

Armed with intense imagery and a collective history of street credibility, this fierce

foursome dare to not only provoke but stand in front of MOCA’s

institutional tank, refusing to allow Jeffery Deitch be the only street

art voice heard on this night.

“Sniffin’ Glue” is a collective display of power from four of the most

provocative west coast street artists – ABCNT, Nomadé, Cryptik and Eddie Colla.

It is a manifestation of a street art revolution that cannot be ignored.

The themes of their work span from power, peace, individualism to protest.

Fueled by revolution, ABCNT’s work pierces into the heart of our deepest political establishments. Cryptik’s art comes from a place of spirituality and his zen visual mastery.

Nomadé are the warriors of creation, not powered by weapons but by intensity and a powerful visceral style. The world of Eddie Colla captures the consciousness of the individual and the relationship to the ever-growing environmental challenges to conformity.

“Sniffin’ Glue”

New Puppy Gallery

2808 Elm Street Unit #1

Los Angeles, CA 90065

323.439.3355

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Your Billboard Has Been Adjusted: Desire Obtain Cherish

March 16, 2011 , , ,

Billboard Hijack in Hollywood

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With projections and QR codes capturing the fancy of the out of door advertising world, it’s kind of retro to see subtle repurposing of messaging via good old wheatpaste and paint. In the tradition of Billboard Liberation Front, (a collective old enough to be their parents probably), LA Street Art collective Desire Obtain Cherish did a bit of message adjusting recently that actually ran for weeks in Los Angeles.  Rather than culture jamming or anti-corporate messaging in an activist vein however, the billboard features their name – in effect making one ad into another.

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Relative Street Art startups, the DOC have been outdoor wallpapering with blocked bold lettered black and white wheat pastes a la Revs/COST, a Marilyn wigged gas-masked militia officer, and staged public “installations” roped off on the street with branded police tape.  This custom color-matched billboard takeover is just the kind of work that makes advertisers nervous because of it’s subtlety. As street art and advertising techniques continue to go mainstream and become arrows in the quivers of a generation of artists, it’s going to be even more confounding to know what the message really is, and who it’s from.

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Desire Obtain Cherish

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Desire Obtain Cherish

All images copyright Desire Obtain Cherish

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MOCA Presents: “Art In The Streets” (Los Angeles, CA)

March 8, 2011 , , , , , , , ,

JR

brooklyn-street-art-jr-moca-arts-in-the-streetsJR “The Wrinkles in the City 2011”  Photo Courtesy © MOCA

Street artist JR has installed a new piece on the Alameda street side of our Geffen Contemporary building in Little Tokyo. The work is part of a 20 artwork project called The Wrinkles of The City that is currently being unveiled at locations around Los Angeles. It’s also part of MOCA’s upcoming exhibition Art in the Streets, the first major U.S. museum survey of graffiti and street art.

MOCA Press Release:

APRIL 17–AUGUST 8, 2011 / THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA

The Museum of Contemporary Art presents Art in the Streets, the first major U.S. museum exhibition of the history of graffiti and street art. The exhibition will trace the development of graffiti and street art from the 1970s to the global movement it has become today, concentrating on key cities where a unique visual language or attitude has evolved. Following MOCA’s presentation, the exhibition will travel to the Brooklyn Museum, where it will be on view March 30–July 8, 2012.

Art in the Streets will showcase installations by 50 of the most dynamic artists from the graffiti and street art community, including Fab 5 Freddy (New York), Lee Quiñones (New York), Futura (New York), Margaret Kilgallen (San Francisco), Swoon (New York), Shepard Fairey (Los Angeles), Os Gemeos (São Paulo), and JR (Paris). MOCA’s exhibition will emphasize Los Angeles’s role in the evolution of graffiti and street art, with special sections dedicated to cholo graffiti and Dogtown skateboard culture. The exhibition will feature projects by influential local artists such as Craig R. Stecyk III, Chaz Bojórquez, Mister Cartoon, RETNA, SABER, REVOK, and RISK.

A special emphasis will be placed on photographers and filmmakers who documented graffiti and street art culture including Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, James Prigoff, Steve Grody, Gusmano Cesaretti, Estevan Oriol, Ed Templeton, Larry Clark, Terry Richardson, and Spike Jonze. A comprehensive timeline illustrated with artwork, photography, video, and ephemera will provide further historical context for the exhibition.

Art in the Streets will feature several shows within the show. There will be a special section dedicated to the Fun Gallery, which connected New York graffiti artists with the downtown art community in the early 1980s. Co-curated by gallery founder Patti Astor, the Fun Gallery installation will feature the work of Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and the graffiti artists who shaped the gallery’s history. A section dedicated to the seminal film Wild Style (1983), co-curated by the film’s director Charlie Ahearn, will document its influence on the global dissemination of graffiti and hip-hop culture. The exhibition will also feature a memorial presentation of Battle Station, a rarely seen work by legendary artist and theorist RAMMELLZEE, and a display of graffiti black books and other historic works from the Martin Wong Collection presented in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York. A highlight of the exhibition will be a Los Angeles version of Street Market, a re-creation of an urban street complete with overturned trucks by Todd James, Barry McGee, and Steve Powers.

The exhibition will open with a skate ramp designed by pro-skater Lance Mountain and artist Geoff McFetridge. Skate demonstrations by the Nike SB skate team will be held onsite for the duration of the exhibition.

“Art in the Streets will be the first exhibition to position the work of the most influential artists to emerge from street culture in the context of contemporary art history,” said MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch.

“This quintessentially urban and dynamic partnership between the Brooklyn Museum and MOCA began with the 2005 Brooklyn-organized exhibition of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the consummate American street artist of his generation; continued with the MOCA-organized ©MURAKAMI in 2007, defining critical elements of worldwide street art; and now culminates with a groundbreaking exhibition devoted entirely to street art and graffiti,” said Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold L. Lehman. “The partnership has, in itself, provided a major record of public art over the past half century.”

Art in the Streets is organized by Jeffrey Deitch and associate curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose. Gastman is the author of The History of American Graffiti, which will be released in April 2011, and was a consulting producer on the film Exit Through The Gift Shop. Rose curated the exhibition Beautiful Losers and directed the related documentary film. Ethel Seno, editor of Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art, is the curatorial coordinator of the exhibition. The Brooklyn Museum’s presentation will be organized by Managing Curator of Exhibitions Sharon Matt Atkins.

ART IN THE STREETS CATALOGUE
A comprehensive catalogue on the history of graffiti and street art published by Skira Rizzoli and edited by Nikki Columbus, former associate editor of Artforum, will accompany the exhibition. The book traces the birth and dissemination of styles through the stories of graffiti writers and street artists all over the world. It features a foreword by Deitch and essays by Carlo McCormick, Greg Tate, and Diedrich Diederichsen. It also features interviews and discussions with influential street artists about wild style, cholo graffiti, and the art that emerged from skate and punk subcultures. Additional contributors include Fab 5 Freddy, KET, Caleb Neelon, Lydia Yee, Kathy Grayson, Cheech Marin, Bill Daniel, and Hiroshi Fujiwara. The book was designed by Conny Purtill, whose previous projects include Barry McGee: The Buddy System and Beautiful Losers.

RELATED EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH
An extensive program of educational and community workshops will complement the exhibition. As part of its exhibition sponsorship and ongoing community collaboration initiative, Levi’s® will host the Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA, offering a diverse schedule of programming that celebrates the craft of filmmaking and explores the exhibition’s subject matter. Access to the Levi’s® Film Workshop’s resources is open to all and free of charge.

Special versions of Associate Curator Aaron Rose’s Make Something!! educational project will also be presented at Culver City High School and at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in conjunction with Nike SB. Art in the Streets will include a graffiti and street art film festival presented in collaboration with the Cinefamily, and music and dance programs featuring some of the originators of hip-hop and break dancing.

Art in the Streets is made possible by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Sydney Irmas Exhibition Endowment.

Major support is provided by Levi’s®. Additional support is provided by Mandy and Cliff Einstein, Nike SB, MOCA Contemporaries, MOCA Partners, and Montana Colors.

In-kind media support is provided by Ovation, Los Angeles magazine, and KCRW 89.9 FM.

Saturday in the Streets is presented by Ovation.

MEMBERS’ OPENING
Saturday, April 16, 7–10pm
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Join us for another legendary opening party at MOCA as we premier Art in the Streets, featuring performances by the stars of the classic hip-hop film, Wild Style—Busy Bee, Cold Crush Brothers with Grandmaster Caz—and the award-winning B-Boy crew from Los Angeles, Killafornia. Cash bar.
INFO 213/621-1794 or membership1@moca.org
FREE for MOCA members, $25 for additional guests

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Robert Berman Gallery C2 Present: “REVOLUTIONS: THE ALBUM COVER ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY” (Santa Monica, CA)

March 6, 2011 , , , , ,

Shepard Fairey
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REVOLUTIONS: THE ALBUM COVER ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY

OPENING RECEPTION:

MARCH 12TH, 2011, 8-11PM

EXHIBITION DATES:

3/12 – 4/23/11

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY C2

2525 MICHIGAN AVE

SANTA MONICA, CA 90404

OBEY GIANT ART X SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS X ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY ARE PROUD TO PRESENT REVOLUTIONS, A PROJECT FEATURING THE ALBUM COVER ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY. ON EXHIBITION FROM MARCH 12TH THRU APRIL 23RD AT ROBERT BERMAN’S C2 GALLERY, WILL BE OVER 80 PIECES OF PUNK, ROCK, NEW WAVE, JAZZ, AND HIP-HOP INSPIRED ARTWORK BASED ON THE 12″ RECORD COVER FORMAT. TO MARK THIS OCCASION, TWO SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION ALBUM COVER PRINT BOX SETS WILL BE RELEASED FOR THE EXHIBITION. PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE OPENING CELEBRATION ON SATURDAY, MARCH 12TH, 8-11PM.

“LONG BEFORE I KNEW ABOUT ART GALLERIES OR EVEN STREET ART, I WAS EXCITED ABOUT ALBUM COVER ART, IF ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS THE VISUAL COUNTERPART TO THE MUSIC ON THE RECORDS I LOVED. ALBUM COVERS CONJURED A EUPHORIC ASSOCIATION WITH THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE. MOST OF MY EARLIEST HOME-MADE TEE SHIRTS WERE STENCILS BASED ON PUNK ALBUM COVERS. I’VE HAD SOME VERY MOVING ENCOUNTERS WITH ART IN MY LIFE, ESPECIALLY IN THE STREET, BUT ALMOST NOTHING CAN COMPARE WITH THE FIRST TIME I HEARD THE BOOTS MARCHING AND FIRST CHORD OF THE SEX PISTOLS’ HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN, OR THE AIR RAID SIRENS LEADING INTO “TOO BLACK, TOO STRONG” ON THE INTRO TO PUBLIC ENEMY’S IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK, OR THE OPENING GUITAR SCREAM OF BLACK FLAG’SRISE ABOVE. THOSE SONGS DID, AND STILL DO, MAKE MY ARM HAIRS STAND UP. MUSIC IS VISCERAL AND ACCESSIBLE, BUT ALSO HAS THE ADDITIONAL POWERFUL LAYERS OF THE LYRICS, WITH THEIR CONTENT AND POLITICS, AND THE STYLE, POLITICS, AND PERSONALITIES OF THE MUSICIANS THEMSELVES. NO MATTER HOW MUCH I LOVE ART, OR TRY TO CONVINCE MYSELF OF ITS RELEVANCE IN SOCIETY, THE FACT REMAINS THAT MUSIC IS A LOT COOLER AND WAY MORE ABLE TO REACH PEOPLE’S HEARTS AND MINDS’ BUT I’M A POPULIST AND I LOOK AT THIS WAY: I MAY NOT PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, BUT I’M GONNA ROCK IT HARD AS NAILS ANYWAY. WITH MY ART I TRY TO CAPTURE THE SAME ENERGY AND SPIRIT THAT MAKES MUSIC SO POWERFUL AND DEMOCRATIC. REVOLUTIONS IS A CELEBRATION OF ALL THE GREAT MUSIC AND ACCOMPANYING ART THAT HAS INSPIRED ME OVER THE YEARS.”

– SHEPARD

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Augustine Kofie in Studio

Augustine Kofie in Studio

March 1, 2011 , , , , , , , , ,

Graffiti writer and fine artist. Old Skool Bomber. Wildstyle. Mid-Century Abstractionism. American Modernism. Choose One and Stick with it, right?

You find the evolution of artists of the streets can go in many different directions with time. As the current generation of wild teens and art school grads claim a hip-hop birthright to get up on public walls across cities everywhere, we are reminded of 1970s New York train-writing graff artists like Lee Quinones and Futura who eventually evolved their skills into galleries, private collections, museums. And they are only two. It has happened enough times now for it to be identified as a natural progression for some artists ‘of the street’, and in many cases, to incredible effect. It is a worthwhile point to consider if not labor over; the street has proven a valuable training ground for an increasing number of our great artists; With or without, and sometimes in spite of, our participation.

brooklyn-street-art-augustine-kofie-todd-mazer-4-webAugustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

Augustine Kofie began as a writer in Los Angeles in the 1990s and has always had a deep love for illustration and linework. Today he has a studio doing markedly different work from what he developed on the streets – and it is a direct result of his evolution as an artist and as a person.

Todd Mazer recently visited the studio of Kofie and talks here about what he saw:

“Tucked away in the sleeping hills of Filipino town in Los Angeles, just a stones throw away from an Emergency Room entrance where Bob Dylan’s immortal words “He not busy being born is busy dying” are literal, you’ll find Augustine Kofie. This meeting of degradation and downfall with birth and uprising seem to be principle themes that play out in this ongoing story. It’s a story that eloquently eludes those who question the direction, proximity and order of the beginning to the end.

Kofie will be the first one to tell you that we are a product of our environment. Upon entering his work/living space it becomes nearly impossible to find the separation point between his environment and his work. A quick scan across the dimly lit room offers the realization that these aged manuals, endless sketchbooks and found artifacts are like records to a beat-maker and that Kofie is creating his own version of soul music on canvas”

~Todd Mazer

 

 

brooklyn-street-art-augustine-kofie-todd-mazer-1-webAugustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

Kofie talked with Brooklyn Street Art about his work and his inspirations;

Brooklyn Street Art: The clean architectural lines and shapes in your work fit together as if they were a floor plan. Have you had experience designing buildings?
Augustine Kofie: None at all. I’m inspired by preliminary design, drafting, architectural renderings and pre production concepts revolving around visual futurist design. I wouldn’t be opposed to an actual build out based on my work at some point but it’s not where my heads at right now… sticking to what I know.

 

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

Brooklyn Street Art: Why is it important to incorporate found items into your work, when you obviously could create them yourself.
Augustine Kofie: I’m taken by their texture, color and age, plus I enjoy the archeologist/ ‘digging in the crates’ aspect of collecting. Sampling is the best way to put it.. It is like finding a strange soundscape from a record or film, then twisting, manipulating and layering it with other found bits to create a new component, both audio and visual. They possess lost histories and past stories all their own so it feels appropriate and truthful to use such ephemera instead of recently produced papers. The up cycling and reinterpretations are endless.

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Brooklyn Street Art: What kind of object catches your eye and forces you to bring it back to the studio?
Augustine Kofie: Usually outdated garage and office items from estate sales make me geek out. Anything that ‘contains’. Old wooden boxes, metal file boxes and hand made cabinets from an old mans garage workshop. Drafting based items. Paper wise, the more fatigued and yellowed the better but not to the point of crumbling. Engineering and accounting paperwork is nice as well. Yardsticks definitely get scooped.

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

Brooklyn Street Art Your work is vintage and futuristic – vintage in that jazz modernist warm way, and futuristic in its 1960s complex precision.  Do you feel some nostalgia for that period and what does it represent for you?
Augustine Kofie: When I was a kid my parents played old jazz and soul records. This became the soundtrack to my life and I created my own perspective of a time-period that I only experienced as a child. That combined with the Futurist viewpoint of Syd Mead as well as the Futurist Movement set the foundation for what I do today and who I will become in the future.

 

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

Brooklyn Street Art Your studio working environment really parallels the clean lines and warm tones of your work. Could you create this same work in a different place (like a chaotic and messy one for example), or is it not important at all?
Augustine Kofie: To me my studio is a place of comfort, meditation and inspiration. I prefer a ‘workshop’ environment over a living room setting. I have been working on my aesthetic for long enough that as long as I’m given paint and a surface then I could create a style that is mine, anywhere. The energy and execution of the art is always influenced by my surroundings, though.

 

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

Brooklyn Street Art: Your earlier graffiti contained foreshadowing of the abstract approach you are using now. At what point do your pieces stop being called graffiti and start being Street Art?  Or does it matter at all to use terms like this?
Augustine Kofie: This is a strange place for me, this sort of limbo between titles. I just want to contribute my work as a man and as a whole, regardless of its contemporary title or standing. Confusing or not it is what it is.

My work and I are in constant progression. Evolution is mandatory. There is no seam that defines a beginning or ending to who I am and what I wish to produce. I do both the Graffiti and ‘art on the street’ depending on the moment and situation and especially moods. I’m a moody cat and I tend to gravitate to what I want to do to ease my restlessness. A different attention and energy is given to each form of expression here. Sometimes I want to blast on a crew production with classic characters/ letters & background scenarios. Other times I want to take a 20 year old can of outdated American spray-paint to a refused and abandoned surface and paint triangles, circles and lines without lettering, just getting loose on the foundations of line-work. I feel like Graff gave me a voice and I’ve contributed to this art form, now I have to contribute further and test my styles as well as change my own mindset and preconceived ideas of what this art form is as much as where its going.

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

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Augustine Kofie (photo © Todd Mazer)

On Saturday March 5th Augustine Kofie will be part of a group show curated by Indigo at the Becker Galleries in Vancouver, Canada. To learn more details about this show click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=18278

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Banksy Disappears from L.A.! Oh Oscar! Oh Oprah

February 27, 2011 , , ,

One of Banksy’s Latest Flights of Fancy: Exclusive After And Before Pics

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Up to the minute photograph of the wall in Boyle Heights, the east side neighborhood of Los Angeles where Banksy once was. (photo © John Carr)

Winner of the Golden Chainsaw award for balls, the citizens of Los Angeles have been using circular saws (something that everyone clearly has lying around the house) to help themselves to a slab of Street Art attributed to that international man of mystery, Banksy.  The Street Artist, who’s documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is nominated for an Academy Award this evening, has been attributed with the appearance of a number of pieces in the area in recent weeks.

brooklyn-street-art-john-carr-banksy-1 Banksy in happier days (photo © John Carr)

Banksy Removal Instructions, Good Grief! Watch Yer Fingaz

In this video a man appears to be cutting along an invisible dotted line around Banksy Brown. No one can say for sure who put it up but why take chances, right? A piece quite similar to it appears on the Fine Art Buyer website.

Banksy…. Oprah. Oprah…. Banksy.

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The rumor has been confirmed, the Best Documentary award will be given tonight by Oprah Winfrey, the talk-show host turned Queen of All Media. As the most famous anonymous hooded Street Artist in the universe contemplates the red carpet, we’re thinking about The Last Airbender, which dominated the 31st annual Razzie Awards last night as Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3-D.

Hadn’t heard of air-bending until this year. Sounds like a home competition among 14 year olds that involves farting. Anyway, here’s to all the awards show hot air you can endure and best of luck to all the nominees!

Image above a still from The Last Airbender from Nicolodean Movies.

With very special thanks to photographer John Carr for his on the spot Banksy photos. All copyrights John Carr.

MBW takes a Big Bite: “Exit Through the GiftShop” Opens in US 4/16

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Corey Helford Gallery Presents: D*Face “Going Nowhere Fast” (Culver City, L.A.)

February 23, 2011 , , , , ,

D*face
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The winter months and grey, grey short days have been kept busy harvesting creatures, painting pictures, approaching new themes and reoccurring dreams… and as Spring approaches it’s time to unveil this new body of work… I’m pleased to announce my solo show at Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City. LA. April 9th.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA
310 287 2340

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New Image Art Presents: David Ellis “Mola Salsa” (Los Angeles, CA)

February 2, 2011 , , , , ,

David Ellis
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OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2010

7 TO 10PM

Mola Salsa
David Ellis’s newest exhibition, Mola Salsa explores process with 15 new works on paper and a new motion painting. Reflecting on images from his childhood in rural North Carolina, David draws animals, trees, clouds and images dear to him. For this exhibition Ellis engages the idea of the animal spirit to depict his ideas of transformation. Ellis also makes imagery derived from plumes of smoke and steam originally inspired by witnessing an active volcano. These linear works he calls “flow” also describes rivers, both above and below the surface. This language embodies his belief that no condition is permanent.

In the project room Ellis will show his most recent motion painting “Animal.””Animal” is a 10-minute, high-definition, edition of 6, commissioned by Landmarks in Austin, Texas in 2010. Motion painting is a time based media technique that renders the process of painting into a cinematic experience.

In ancient Roman religion, mola salsa (“salted flour”) was a mixture prepared by the Vestal Virgins and used in every official sacrifice. It was sprinkled on the forehead and between the horns of animal victims before they were sacrificed, as well as on the altar and in the sacred fire. It was a common offering to the household hearth.[1]

In his explorations of movement, change, and rhythm David Ellis effectively combines his talent for visual representation. By utilizing various elements of music making-collaboration, improvisation, timing, and repetition- Ellis enlivens his creative process and thus his viewer’s experience through intricate experimental videos and complicated kinetic sound sculptures. David Ellis has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, PS1, and the MOMA, New York to name a few. He looks forward to a forthcoming solo show this June in New York City, a solo booth project at Pulse, NY in March 2011, and an exhibition with Agnes B. before the end of 2011.

Tues – Sat / 1-6pm

New Image Art

7908 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.654.2192
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Fifty24SF and Upper Playground Present: INSA “More” (San Francisco, CA)

January 31, 2011 , , , , ,

“More”
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FIFTY24SF Gallery in Association with Upper Playground presents:
“MORE” – A collection of new work by INSA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA [1.28.11] — Upper Playground and FIFTY24SF Gallery are pleased to announce London-based graffiti, conceptual, and fine artist INSA’s first solo exhibition in San Francisco opening on February 3rd, 2011. The exhibition is appropriately titled, MORE.

Within the new body of work in MORE, INSA explores themes of aspiration and expectation, wants versus needs, and happiness versus success in his most comprehensive study to date. Using exaggerated symbols of sexuality representing the commodification of both everyday life and underground subcultures, INSA examines the illusions of seduction while employing his own iconic brand of aesthetic allure to draw the audience in. INSA’s new work revels in lurid excess, embracing the insatiability of consumerism and highlighting the duplicity of morality and enjoyment.

Followers of the artist will be familiar with some of the themes displayed in MORE. INSA, constantly involved in interesting new projects, recently gained worldwide attention for his piece “Anything Goes When It Comes To (S)hoes,” (more commonly referred to as his “Elephant Dung Heels”) which were exhibited at Tate Britain in London. He has also been a pioneer in the world of graffiti on the Internet with his visually stunning, labor intensive “Gifitti.” This is all in addition to INSA”s continuing insatiable need to cover any surface with his signature “Graffiti Fetish” pattern.

MORE will feature 9 new provocative works, with INSA utilizing media such as sculpture and lights adding to the “glamour” of his work. The exhibition will also feature an exclusive SF edition of INSA’s classic “Heel” print and a selection of photographic prints.

MORE will run at FIFTY24SF Gallery from February 3rd, 2011 – February 28th, 2011.

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FIFTY24SF Gallery Contact Information:
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 12-6 P.M. and by appointment
Address: 218 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
Contact: Amanda Krampf / Phone: (415) 252-9144 / Email: Amanda@UpperPlayground.com

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Subliminal Projects and The Art Of Elysium’s Elysium Project Present: “The Big Picture” A Show Featuring Shepard Fairey and DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh

January 20, 2011 , , , , ,

Subliminal Projects Gallery
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Exhibition Dates:
January 22 – February 19, 2011

Subliminal Projects and The Art of Elysium’s Elysium Project are pleased to present a two-person show featuring work by artist, pop culture icon, and DEVO frontman Mark Mothersbaugh and artist Shepard Fairey.  This exhibition focuses on their work as artists and philanthropists.

As artists, Mark and Shepard create work that demand the viewer’s attention, drawing them into a world where scale is pushed to the forefront.  From several feet back, Shepard’s work tells one story while, up close, the intricate patterning tells another.  The symbols in a Shepard print provide a contextual framework and the elaborate detailing reflects a careful attention to craft.  Mark’s creative process begins on a small scale.  His postcard-size illustrations and paintings often serve as the initial step in his creative process, from which he then pulls imagery for his larger work.  These highly personal postcards are created on an intimate scale and, once enlarged into large-format works, the viewer is invited to step into Mark’s whimsical world.  In both cases, it is the carefully thought out details that make The Big Picture.

These two artists are keenly aware of The Big Picture when committing to a charitable cause.  Their influential roles as tastemakers and cultural icons serve as a bright spotlight on the charity they choose to support.  Thanks to their dedication to The Art of Elysium, both artists help bring attention to the charity’s mission, thus enriching the lives of gravely ill children in the Los Angeles serviced by the charity.  Shepard Fairey, the 2010 Art of Elysium Visionary, and Mark Mothersbaugh, the 2011 Art of Elysium Visionary, are celebrated in this exhibition for their art and their charitable spirits.

“I am so thrilled that Shepard has opened his gallery for this extremely special collaboration.  This is the first collaboration between two of our VISIONARIES.  It is our hope that the people that have been asked to join our VISIONARY CIRCLE share in creative collaborations not only to benefit The Art of Elysium and all of its various programs but that their joint endeavors inspire change in the world at large.  That is the BIG PICTURE that we are hoping for.”

— Jennifer Howell, founder of The Art of Elysium

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS GALLERY
1331 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
E: info@subliminalprojects.com
P. 213.213.0078
F. 213.213.0077

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