What: Hold Up Art and Work Magazine present Fist Pump, a exhibition of new work from internationally recognized, Los Angeles-based activist and street artist Homo Riot, whose highly charged, and sometimes sexually explicit imagery have became part of the city’s socio-political and physical landscape. Homo Riot’s message started out as a “fuck you” to the supporters of Prop 8, but has morphed into something larger and more profound; seen now as an emblem of pride and strength to the gay community. With drag queens, performance artists, and more eye-candy than a Weho Wednesday, this is the art event of the month and should not be missed.
When: Saturday, October 22, 2011
Arrivals 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Reception ends at 11:00 PM
Where: Hold Up Art
Little Tokyo District of Downtown
358 E. 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Convenient Parking Structure Next Door
Who: Music by club favorite DJ Chris Bowen.
Live Performance Art Installations by Rafa Esparza and Trenton Szewczyk. Special appearance by Lady Bear (wearing a Homo Riot-designed ensemble).
New Image Art is pleased to announce PURE LOGO, a group exhibition co-curated by Los Angeles artist Skullphone, which features the diverse multimedia artists Evan Gruzis, Curtis Kulig, Takeshi Murata, Cleon Peterson, Skullphone, Paul Wackers and Hugh Ziegler.
PURE LOGO explores the omnipresence, necessity, form and functionality of logos as they metamorphose to communicate within increasingly brief discourses. The trajectory of each individual artist informs the exhibition’s overarching investigation of logos, both literal and symbolic, and links the artists through investigations of representation.
Evan Gruzis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1979 and received his MFA from Hunter College. His technically rigorous ink and watercolor paintings are known for their combination of seductive light and absurd, vacuous pop imagery. In 2008, he published his first monograph, Dark Systems, in conjunction with a solo exhibition at Deitch Projects. Gruzis belongs to numerous collections, including that of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Currently, his work is on view in two solo exhibitions: Exotic Beta at The Hole and Shadow Work at Nicole Klagsbrun, both in New York. Abroad he is represented by DUVE Berlin and Galerie SAKS, Geneva. He lives and works in Brooklyn.
Curtis Kulig is best known for obsessively covering his canvases and the streets of New York City with the two-word phrase “Love Me.” An inversion of New York’s famous slogan, Kulig’s ubiquitous plea speaks at once to humans’ most primal desire and belies self-doubt and -criticism. “Whatever it’s become,” Kulig says, “It’s kind of my everything.” Kulig was born in North Dakota and got his first taste of creating in his father’s screen-printing shop at age 13.His work has been featured at Mallick Williams & Co, Leo Kesting Gallery, and NYEHAUS in New York; Subliminal Projects, in Los Angeles.
Multimedia artist Takeshi Murata‘s immersive, painstakingly hand-drawn animations exploit broken code and programming glitches to fracture video footage into hypnotic, pixelated distortions and flowing color fields. His evolving processes, visualized in computer-aided hand-drawn forms onscreen, shift and morph into organic forms that teem and pitch, creating images that at once gesture toward technological fragmentation and painterly abstraction. The Chicago-born artist received his BFA in Film/Video/Animation from the Rhode Island School of Design and his work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo; Peres Projects, Los Angeles; and Deitch Projects, New York; among others. Murata lives in Saugerties, New York.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Cleon Peterson currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Peterson paints an anxiety-ridden dystopia where corruption and injustice plague the social order. Deviance prevails, as desperate characters struggle for power and control over their environment. The indiviudual is displaced and forced to navigate this brutal world alone, finding hollow bits of pleasure and meaning in violence, sex, religion and drugs. In this show Peterson has evolved full circle creating utopian symbols that are uniquely unrepresentative of any past movement. The Los Angeles-based artist has shown at galleries internationally, including Alice Gallery, Brussels; Deitch Projects, New York; and Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco.
Los Angeles-based Skullphone first gained notoriety on city streets in 1999 for his iconic image of a black-and-white skull holding a cell phone. He drew attention once again in 2008 when his work appeared on the then-new digital billboards above the streets of L.A. Skullphone’s Digital Media paintings document our world – one which is increasingly communicating with brief encounters via technology – through a laborious painting process. Through painted pointillism on mirror-polished aluminum panels, these images dislocate when the artwork is approached. Skullphone’s work has been shown at Mallick Williams & Co, New York; Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles; the Riverside Art Museum; and was featured in MOCA’s 2009 FRESH Silent Auction.
Paul Wackers‘s work is rooted in inventive means of figuration. “My work is first a response to the world and then a reaction to what is has to offer,” notes Wackers. The formal quality and sensibility of his work is reminiscent of a 17th-century Dutch still-life painter à la Margareta Haverman or Willem van Aelst merged with atmospheric, broken-down geometric landscapes or a diptych-inspired composition on a single canvas. In these works, dreamlike non-places are populated by objects and elements that interact as part of another world that is jarringly similar to our own. Trained in fine arts at the Corcoran College of Art and Design and as a painter at the San Francisco Art Institute, Wackers’ works have appeared in solo exhibitions at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, in San Francisco, and group exhibitions in Los Angeles, London and Brussels.
Hugh Ziegler originally hails from Richmond, Virginia, and lives in Los Angeles. He received his BFA in painting and art history from the Rhode Island School of Design and was awarded an artist fellowship at the Ox-Bow School of the Arts in Saugatuck, Michigan. Ziegler has exhibited his work in Los Angeles; Providence, Rhode Island; Saugatuck, Michigan; and Richmond, Virginia. In addition to contributing to Pure Logo, he’s currently creating a body of work for a December exhibition Johansson Projects, in Oakland.
New Image Art Gallery
Since 1994, New Image Art has been the most influential gallery contributing to the underground art movement on the West Coast. Founder and director, Marsea Goldberg, has been responsible for launching and fostering many of the most recognizable and sought-after artists in the contemporary and street art genres, including: Bäst, Cleon Peterson, Clare Rojas, Date Farmers, Ed Templeton, Jo Jackson, Neck Face, Osgemeos, and Retna. New Image Art continues to push boundaries and grow its roster of both established and rising talent.
1. MONIKER in London
2. CASH FOR YOUR WARHOL with Garage
3. Dabs & Myla with Shea&Ziegler from London
4. D*Face with Stolen Space
5. Able and Baker Gallery from Cologne: Ben Aine. ROA. Pure Evil. Herakut. Rero.
6. AIKO with Andenken Gallery from Amsterdam
7. AIKO Solo Show at PURE EVIL (London)
8. Word to Mother solo show “Essence of Adolescence” Friday Stolen Space Gallery
9. “Ok, Enough, Goodbye”, film at MOMA
10. How and Nosm solo show “Achtung!” Saturday at Known Gallery (LA)
11. WRONA at Pandemic Saturday (Brooklyn)
MONIKER in London
Let’s all head to Shoreditch in East London this weekend for the Moniker International Art Fair, where there will be new stuff from a bunch of Street Artists . In addition, some of the galleries at the fair are having openings back home. Here are some of the exhibitors to help you find your way:
Word to Mother solo show “Essence of Adolescence” Friday Stolen Space Gallery
‘Essence of Adolescence’ is an enlightening glimpse into the artist’s visually obsessed mind. Word To Mother invites the viewer to take a glimpse of his inner mindscape. An outward manifestation that combines references drawn from his childhood and the visual stimulation that he absorbed; cartoons juxtaposed with more serious emotive thoughts and fears that face him as an adult living and painting in East London.
Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia will be on hand to answer questions when they screen their new film “Ok, Enough, Goodbye” at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City this weekend.
Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia. “Ok, Enough, Goodbye” Still from the movie.
The screenings with the Auteurs in attendance will be held this weekend on Friday and Saturday.
For more information about times and tickets please click on the link below:
1. Fountain LA This Weekend
2. NUART 2011 – Stavanger, Norway
3. “Bring to Light” in Greenpoint Brooklyn for the 2nd Year – Saturday Night!
3. “Rituals” on 14th Street, Art in Odd Places
4. Pantheon Projects at THE NEW YORK ART BOOK FAIR AT MoMA PS1
5. Art Platform Los Angeles
6. RETNA at Art Platform (LA)
7. Brian Adam Douglas at Art Platform (LA)
Fountain LA This Weekend
New York’s own specially warped outsiders are in LA this weekend, and BSA is happy to sport support for whatever madness they can stir up, including the Murder Lounge, which Dave Ill says will be in full effect. (Murder- .slang. To defeat decisively). When you are milling around the big LA shows this weekend make sure you stop by Fountain and say hello to Señor Kesting and check out the Street Art contingent doing their thing on the Left Coast ya’ll.
NUART 2011 has arrived and the streets and buildings of Stavanger are a heating up with all the artists getting up and doing what they know what to do best: Paint. Brooklyn’s own Dan Witz already hit the streets with his “King Baby” street installations on faux city street signage. Tonight (Friday) their is a panel debate with artists, Carlo McCormick and Juxtapoz Magazine that we wouldn’t miss.
Artists include DAN WITZ (US), DAVID CHOE & DVS1 (US), VHILS (PO), HERBERT BAGLIONE (BR), DOLK (NO), LUCY McCLAUCHLAN (UK), HERAKUT (DE), TELLAS (IT), ESCIF (ES), HYURO (ES), PHLEGM (UK)
For a complete listing of events and schedules please visit the NUART site:
“Bring to Light” in Greenpoint Brooklyn for the 2nd Year – Saturday Night!
“All manner of projectors blasted on the walls with myriad images, forms, and shapes, some breathtakingly beautiful. Other artists created sculptures and installations that worked as light vessels and amorphous creatures while collaborative dancers entertained groupings of appreciative observers.” from BSA’s review on Huffington Post
OCTOBER 1ST, 2011, Greenpoint, Brooklyn New York. 6:00 pm to Midnight.
Bring to Light is a free nighttime public festival of art in New York City that takes place simultaneously with “nuit blanche” events in cities around the world. Inviting emerging and established artists to make site-specific installations of light, sound, performance and projection art, the event creates an immersive spectacle for thousands of visitors to re-imagine public space and civic life. Bring to Light will transform streets, parks and the industrial waterfront of Greenpoint, Brooklyn set against dramatic views of the Manhattan skyline.
Nuit Blanche (French for “white night” or “all-nighter”) is a global network of locally-organized nighttime contemporary art events. Originating in Paris in 2001, the nuit blanche concept now involves millions of people in cities around the world.
One performance we will NOT miss will be Chris Jordan and Josh Goldberg, who have serious chops in public projection work, presenting CHRONO GIANTS.
Art in Odd Places 2011: RITUAL features a wide variety of actions, participatory performances, theatrical presentations, public installations, and small and large-scale interventions all of which revolve around the concept of ritual.
Art in Odd Places (AiOP) presents visual and performance art in public spaces with an annual festival each October along 14th Street in Manhattan, NYC from Avenue C to the Hudson River.
Opening Reception for Art In Odd Places Festival 2011
Friday, September 30, 6-9pm
Theaterlab
137 West 14th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
New York, NY
For a complete listing of artists and a full schedule of events and locations visit Art In Odd Places site:
This art book fair always rewards you – just walking around the floorplan of MoMA PS1 is a trip and the books are tripped out. This year we are in a new one – The Pantheon Catalog from Joyce Manalo and Daniel Feral;
“The street has always been the thumping beat that pumps the pulsing lifeblood through creative New York. Yes, there is a lot of action behind the walls in the offices and galleries and studios and stages and clubs and boardrooms, but everyone knows it is the kinetic electricity of life on the street that inspires New Yorkers to dig deeper and dream bigger and play hard.”
~ from the essay Street Art New York, The 2000s, Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo of Brooklyn Street Art.
If that is not enough to make you absolutely plow down crowds to get there, consider the real talents who are going to be there to SIGN YOUR COPY:
***Catalog Signing on Sunday, October 2nd, 3-3:45 PM featuring***
Join Pantheon Projects at The NY Art Book Fair
September 30-October 2, 2011, 11AM-7PM, at PS1/MoMA, Free Admission
Hours: Friday–Sunday, 11AM-7PM
THE NY ART BOOK FAIR
September 30–October 2, 2011
MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue
Long Island City, NY (map)
Art Platform Los Angeles
From their press release; Art Platform – Los Angeles will demonstrate the rich and vibrant cultural landscape of Southern California and underscore Los Angeles’ influential position within the contemporary art world. MMPI is one of the largest show producers in the world, including a growing portfolio of premium art shows. We have assured the continued development and enhancement of the Art Show division by bringing together some of the top minds in art fairs under one partnership”
For more information, location and a complete list of exhibitors please visit Art Platform at:
If you can’t wait to see the Retna spread as shot by David LaChapelle in October’s Vanity Fair you can check out these new pieces at Art Platform and see BSA’s photos from his New York show this spring.
New Image Art Gallery will be exhibiting at Art Platfrom Los Angeles Featuring new large-scale paintings on canvas and paper by RETNA Visit them at booth #108
Brian Adam Douglas at Art Platform (LA)
Andrew Edlin Gallery will exhibit Brooklyn Fine and Street Artist Brian Adam Douglas along with Henry Darger, Thornton Dial and Jeremy Everett. Visit them at booth 814.
Saturday, September 17, 2011 from 7:00PM to 11:00PM
Exhibit runs September 17, 2011 through October 20, 2011
Hold Up Art
358 E. 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fantasmas is the first solo exhibition by prolific Mexican street artist Kraken. Consisting of twenty-one pieces, ranging from giclee reproductions to handmade silkscreen prints and original drawings, Fantasmas showcases the unique style and voice of this talented artist. The exhibit’s opening reception will feature a live performance by Adrian Terrazas Gonzalez (The Mars Volta) with Jazztec.
Known for his dark, gothic and somewhat disturbing images, Kraken is a highly sought after commercial graphics artist in Mexico. His work has been used to brand products from alcoholic beverages to sneakers, from apparel lines to bands. As a member of Mexico’s E3 Collective, Kraken has been involved in numerous group shows around the world. His work has appeared in an Amnesty International art book to raise money for the cause in Darfur, and he has had his work featured in an installation by the Centro Cultural España. Kraken’s work is often recognized for his use of repetitive graphics and what could be called an obsession with eyes.
“I am inspired by different things when I work; comic books, movies, but mostly emotions. I get a lot of inspiration from reading psychological case studies of serial killers,” shares Kraken, “That’s where I got the idea of deforming humanity with unnatural light and dark colors, and repetitive imagery, like eyes. The eyes represent different things in my work, but lately they represent anxiety. I have this notion that your eyes see things differently when you’re having a panic attack; your stomach aches and your palms itch. It’s like those parts of your body are filled with eyes.”
For more information about this and other exhibits,
“REALITY BITES”Print Release & Website Launch Party Opening Reception: September 15, 2011 (7 – 10pm)Exhibition Runs: September 15 – October 2, 2011
Featuring New Exclusive Limited Edition Prints and Hand Finished Multiples by: Borf – Brett Amory – Kelsey Brookes – Mark Jenkins – Morley – Ravi Zupa – Sage Vaughn
POST NO BILLS: The term POST NO BILLS is commonly identified in stencil form – on barriers erected around construction sites in an effort to deter clean walls from being altered. Generally speaking, this practice produces a contrary effect. Our founders subscribe to the notion that breaking rules, generally inspires more ingenuity than following them. Which is why POST NO BILLS was created.
POST NO BILLS is an inventive print shop with a focus on hand made limited edition multiples. We are a singular destination where groundbreaking artists from around the globe can sell their wares directly to passionate collectors at all levels. Editions will be made on the premises with a true dedication to quality.
When Street Artist ROA hits your town with his aerosoled animal world, large swatches of walls, even blocks, become alive and are instant gathering places for new and old fans alike. The one man monochrome machine from Belgium depicts a curious mix of overlooked animals, sometimes in states of death and decay by way of commenting on human’s impact on the natural world.
Whether in rural Mexico or urban New York, his work is reliably riveting and a favorite for neighbors and Internet surfers alike. After catching the eye of LA MOCA this spring, his last minute addition to the “Art in the Streets” exhibit brought the collection up to the minute and cemented his place in the graff and Street Art continuum. BSA captured these images of ROA’s work this year on the streets of Los Angeles and Chicago this summer and we’re looking forward to his next stop at “Living Walls: Albany”.
ROA’s work in Chicago was done in collaboration with Pawn Works Gallery. Thank you to Nick and Brocke for their hospitality.
ROA’s work in Los Angeles was produced with Daniel Lahoda for LA Freewalls Project in The Arts District of downtown LA. Thank you to Daniel for his passion and his time with BSA. We wish Daniel a speedy recovery from a recent accident.
Parisian Street Artist LUDO brought “Nature’s Revenge” to the US this month and his eye-popping surreal wheat-pasted creations are now on walls in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. By combining weaponry with insects and plants into hybrids, LUDO is using this ongoing series to draw attention to how we are messing with nature in ways we never have in an unquestioning way and at our own peril. From biotech to nanotech to robotics to remote controlled drones, the face of war is sold with branding and a sizzling “wow” factor, accompanied by vague assurances that these developments are necessary to protect us good guys from the bad ones. From the perspective of this ongoing “Nature’s Revenge” series, our romance with all things shiny and futuristic is quickly morphing out of our control and it’s likely to come back and bite us, or worse.
Using a reliably greyscale, white, and acid green palette, LUDO’s high-tech hybrids are alternately frightening and amusing, and even super cool. While a Freddy Kruger facemask is obviously symbolic, it’s pairing with a mechanical daisy is unnerving. The wheat paste of a tarantular top-loaded missile delivery device is laughable until you see the video of unstoppable multi-limbed all terrain “big dog” robots being developed to do the same thing. Even the bunch of grape skulls seems sort of blunt until you think of what we’re now learning about irradiation, pesticides, and genetically modified foods. Taken as a whole LUDO’s work is one of the more message-driven on the street today and is another example of the new narrative-driven story telling we continue to witness in Street Art. Luckily, it’s also visually compelling.
In LA Ludo installed work with Daniel Lahoda for LA FreeWalls, C.A.V.E. Gallery, and with curation by BSA. Special thanks to Daniel for his total support, hospitality, and vision.In Chicago special thanks to Nick and Seth from Pawn Works Gallery and to Brock for making this happen and for providing the wheels and the good company.
Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bast, Chris Uphues, Cyrcle, Dain, Enzo & Nio, Ja Ja, LMNOP, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, Swampy, and Willow.
A bunch of light posts around the periphery of Astor Place have been tied with eye popping colors as part of a project by Animus Art. “Cable ties (or “zip ties”) are linked together in order to go around the circumference of the lampposts. This done thousands of times creates a brightly colored lamppost with thousands of little “hairs” (the ends of the cable ties), just like a cactus.”
This is a quick cell phone photo shot during this mornings wandering rush.
“Mind Control” at Peep Show Tonight (LA)
The Site Unscene curates “Mind Control” at the Peep Show Gallery with a hypnotizing theme! Featured Street Artists are Eddie Colla, Bughouse, Destroy All Design, Insurgency Inc, and DDS
For more information on this show please click on the link below:
Carlos Gonzalez shot this great video of Street Artist Vhils as he removed parts of a building to reveal the portrait inside. The Portuguese urban naturalist was in town in conjunction with the “European Bailout Show”, a print show at the Post No Bills showspace, across the street from the BSA/ThinkSpace show at CAVE next Friday “Street Art Saved My Life: 39 New York Stories“.
“Electric Projected” in Beacon, New York Saturday Night
Dan and Kalene run the gallery Open Space in Beacon, NY. They also love to bring the art outside in the summer and for the past few years they have been inviting many artists to come and paint on the abandoned buildings in this former industrial town along the Hudson River a little north of NYC. This year they are showing films and projections on the buildings and they invite you to come and watch and dance to live music from some local talents. Sounds like a great way enjoy natural and artistic beauty.
For more information about this event click on the link below:
Septerhead “Subversive Holiday” at Hold Up Saturday (LA)
“Subversive Holiday” features a closer examination of three of Septerhed’s most recognizable characters (The GEO-HEDs, Toxins and Wolves), explaining the existence and nuances of each style as a specific mode of design.
For more information about this show click on the link below:
SANER Edgar “Saner” Flores is an urban artist, illustrator and graphic designer. Raised by his parents in Mexico City and surrounded by rich color and tradition, Saner developed an interest in drawing and Mexican muralism early on. He began expressing himself on paper and through graffiti art, later going on to earn a degree in graphic design from the Universidad Autónoma de México. His creations are influenced by Mexican custom and folklore, color, mysticism, masks and skulls. A mix of these lifelong interests and passions has led him to become the artist he is today. Saner’s work has been featured in galleries in Mexico, the United States, London, Berlin and Barcelona. – Kidrobot
Friday July 29, 2011
Mid-City Arts in association w/ Montana Cans & 33third LA Present:
Sequestro Express (Kidnap Express)
Mexico City Street Artist
“SANER”
First Los Angeles Exhibition
Curated By Viejas Del Mercado
Mexico City Artist “SANER” brings the Outdoor Public Art Experience into a Private Gallery setting. All Artwork pieces will be given out Free to the Public.
In her latest mural, Faring Purth delivers a powerful reflection on connection, continuity, and the complexity of evolving relationships—a true …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
