If you’re anywhere in the SF Bay Area you might wanna swing over to the East Bay (or the “Beast Aye” as they say in fashionable Pig Latin) to check out the “Oakland NOW” exhibition opening tonight, curated by Ken Harmon of Spoke Art. This weekend things should be particularly frisky as it’s tied in with the 12th Annual Art and Soul festival. This guy will be looking for you –
“Wize” oil on wood panel
“Oakland NOW will feature some of our favorite East Bay emerging and established artists. With mediums ranging from illustration to sculpture to painting, this show is intended to serve as a cross section of the diverse art community living and working in Oakland and beyond. Some of the prominent lineup of artists include: Aaron Nagel, Andy Witrak, Brendan Monroe, Brett Amory. Deth P Sun, GATS, Gina Tuzzi, Isabel Samaras, Jason Munn, Jeremiah Jenkins, Jesse Hernandez, John Casey, Justin Lovato, Kelly Allen, Ken Davis, Lucien Shapiro, Marcos LaFarga, Monica Canilao, Nicomi Nix Turner, Rich Jacobs and Scott Hove.”
Opening weekend:
Friday August 3rd (First Friday) 6pm-10pm
Saturday August 4th (Art & Soul) 2pm-midnight
Sunday August 5th (Art & Soul) noon-6pm
Show on view through Saturday August 25, 2012
What: Oakland NOW
Where: lOAKal art gallery and boutique – 1423 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Website: http://www.spoke-art.com/
Depending on who you listen to this is either a man’s world (James Brown), or girls we run this mutha (Beyonce). This is what was trickling through my mind when Tara McPherson asked me to contribute to the second Tiny Trifecta show at her Brooklyn gallery, Cotton Candy Machine. So while I’ve feathered some paint around honoring some of my male musical favorites…
“It’s Like That” oil on wood panel, 11 x 14
… this time I decided to honor the ladies and this fine flock of females appeared in my sketchbook.
But who are those birds? Up at the top we have Da Brat, (Shawntee Harris) who was discovered after winning a rap contest on Yo! MTV Raps in the early 90′s, and went on to become the first female rapper to go platinum with her album Funkdafied.
She was promoted as kind of a girl version of Snoop Doggy Dog but she rolls pretty hard (convictions for assault, misdemeanor conduct). This bird is flying free again now.
“Da Brat”, watercolor on Medioevalis paper, 8 x 6 inches (framed)
Dana Elaine Owens picked the name Latifah out of an Islamic name book when she was eight, but though the name meant “delicate” she went on to be a power forward on her high school basketball team, and put her out her album “All Hail the Queen” when she was just nineteen.
Queen Latifah went from rapper to actress, where she’s racked up a couple Golden Globes, a Grammy, and nominations for an Emmy and Oscar. She’s owned that whole regal queen thing from the beginning.
“Latifah” watercolor on Medioevalis paper, 8 x 6 inches (framed)
I saved my favorite lady rapper for last. Melisssa Arnette “Missy” Elliot — she’s got everything going on, songs I can never shake out of my head and terrifically wacky music videos.
The only female rapper to go platinum six times, I don’t even know how to pick a favorite song. She’s done pretty well for a girl who grew up in a “vermin infested shack.”
“Missy” watercolor on Medioevalis paper, 8 x 6 inches (framed)
All this goodness and much, much more is currently on display at Cotton Candy Machine‘s exhibit “Tiny Trifecta”, in which over 80 artists have each contributed three pieces, all of which are for sale for a mere $100 each. (Yes you read that right.) The Wall Street Journal was kind enough to write the show up (read it right here), and with artists like Eric White, Josh Keyes, Natalia Fabia, Doze, James Jean and a host of others, it’s easy to see why. Shows like this are great because they allow people without deep pockets to become art collectors, and I think buying art is sort of an addictive process — once you do it, you start looking at art a little differently, maybe a bit more acquisitively. I’ve had some collectors who’ve grown with me over the years, starting when we were basically still students and continuing the relationship as we all became a little more “solvent.” It’s a great thing. Buy art, people!
Tiny Trifecta runs at Cotton Candy Machine thru August 5th, so trot on over to 235 South 1st Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Lots to catch up on, lots going on, but if you’re in the Bay Area you will not want to miss the opening this Friday of Shinkansen Conspiracy, a group exhibition presented by Last Gasp. Featured artists include: Rogelio Martinez, Mark Bode, Isabel Samaras, Lee Harvey Roswell, Mark McCloud, Shawn Barber, Justin Green, Michael Hernandez de Luna, Clayton Bros, Jennybird Alcantara, Wilfred Satty, Kevin Taylor, Nicole Buffett, Junko Mizuno, Nora Rodriguez, David Choong Lee, Henry Lewis, Jay Howell, Don Ed Hardy, Doug Hardy, Horitaka, Hal Robbins, Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Paul Mavrides & Kyotaro.
Opening reception w/ DJ Captain Kerf from 5pm till late, Friday July 6th, 111 Minna Gallery, conveniently located at 111 Minna St, San Francisco, CA.
Unless you’re hiding in my studio supply cabinet you probably don’t get to listen to me rattle on about the things that obsess me — but now all that can change with the simple click of your index finger! Layla Lyne-Winkler came over from Varnish Fine Art to record an interview which spans everything from when all this art stuff got started, how I think there’s a connection between an Ingres “Odalisque” painting and the TV show “I Dream of Jeannie”, and why I feel compelled to constantly re-write pop culture history in my paintings to bring the romance and the happy to fictional characters. Give a listen right here.
Juxtapoz magazine launched in 1994 (why does that suddenly sound so ancient?) and tomorrow night they will be celebrating their Porcelain Anniversary (that’s right – the appropriate gift for the 18th anniversary is something made of porcelain). And what better way to celebrate than with a big monster show at Copro Nason gallery in Santa Monica? If you’re in the area come say hi — I’m heading off to airport right now, following on the heels on my painting which left a few days before me!
“By The Light Of The Silvery Moon”, oil on wood panel, 20 x 16 inches
I’ll rattle on a bit about this image, how it came to be, and show some progress shots as well as a few snaps from the opening as soon as I get back. Hopefully see some of you soon!
Juxtapoz Turns 18
Copro Nason Gallery – Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404
Opening Reception, Saturday, March 24, 8:00 – 11:30 p.m.
Live Music from: Radioactive Chickenheads
Food from: Don Chow – Chinese/ Mex fusion tacos & Grill Em All – hamburgers
Dates: Exhibit runs; March 24 – April 14 , 2012
If you’re in the Miami area next weekend you might most definitely wanna check out what looks to be an awesome event: “The Devil & The Artist: From Lascaux to Robert Williams to Isabel Samaras”. This will actually be a lecture/book signing and art show, which is a lot of bang for you buck — but wait, it’s FREE! Matt Dukes Jordan, author of “Weirdo Deluxe” and “Weirdo Noir” is going to talk about the entire history of dark art and the devil as a carnivalesque figure of rebellion. What better way to recover from St. Valentine’s Day than to spend an evening contemplating the Devil!
What’s got big fishy lips and looks like a piece of rubbery walking sea coral? Give up? Pygmon, the “pygmy monster” (get it?) from Ultraman. I was obsessed with Ultraman when I was a kid and one of my earliest crushes was on Shin Hayata, leader of the Science Patrol.
Kinda dishy, right?
He was also Ultraman but somehow nobody ever noticed that whole “Hey where was Hayata when Ultraman was kicking that monster’s ass back to the radioactive outer reaches of space? Oh hey there you are, man did you ever miss an amazing fight!”
Okay so one day the Science Patrol went to the Lawless Monster Zone, a part of Japan that had somehow escaped notice until 1960, and being the Lawless Monster Zone you can imagine what kind of things were stomping around (how they missed it for so long is a real puzzle — it would be kinda tough not to notice creatures prancing around San Francisco that weighed 20,000 tons even out in the Excelsior neighborhood). Anyway, the only creature there that wasn’t bent on death n’ destruction was little Pygmon, who befriended the humans and got his rubbery little self killed trying to save them.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? That’s right — he totally martyred himself! And what happens to martyrs? They get assumpted up into the heavens by gaggles of cherubs in big billowy clouds, ‘natch. (Sometimes all this stuff bubbles up from my past in weird ways. Actually that applies to pretty much everything I’ve ever painted).
"The Assumption of Pygmon"
You can see this, as well as many other fine and fabulous interpretations in “Garamaniacal!”, a homage to the clunky, crusty, fish-lipped, oil-belching, high-rise-wrecking, meteorite monster Garamon and his “recycled” alter ego, the friendly and excitable Pygmon. “Garamaniacal” will look at kaiju culture through the lens of these two iconic creatures, with background on the TV shows that spawned them and info about the visionary artists who created them. Check it out!
Garamaniacal
Opening February 10th, 6-9pm
Show runs Feb. 10 – March 4 Foe Gallery
28 Pleasant Street
Northampton MA 01060
