SunStorm Arts Fine Art Magazine Lake Placid Celebration of the Arts

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITES

Each day art exhibition, continuous music, poetry readings, books signings, demonstrations

Thursday Oct. 6 -
VIP Cocktail party, soiree, meet the artists with entertainment 6-10 pm

Friday Oct. 7 -
Exhibition space opens, Celebration of the Arts begins at Noon
Music in Hall 3 begins at 4 pm
Films run continually

7:00 PM LAKE PLACID’S GOT TALENT:
singers, musicians, bands invited to perform John Lennon’s music with prizes

Saturday Oct. 8 -
Book signings, special art demonstrations, films, art show
Dance Concert with Hylton Beckford’s Slickers and Montréal’s Boogie Wonder Band

Sunday Oct. 9 -
7:30 pm JOHN LENNON TRIBUTE CONCERT
Special guests to be announced

http://fineartmagazineonline.com/index2.php

The Wassaic Project Summer Festival THE WASSAIC PROJECT PRESENTS FOURTH ANNUAL SUMMER FESTIVAL Artist-Run Organization Offers Three Days of Free Art, Music, Dance and Film Events Wassaic, NY – August 1, 2011 – The Wassaic Project, an artist-run multidisciplinary arts organization located in a renovated mill in the hamlet of Wassaic, New York,is pleased to announce the fourth iteration of the Wassaic Project Summer Festival, a free multi-disciplinary celebration of art, music, and community from August 5-7, 2011. This year’s Festival—curated by guest jurors Eric Gleason, Risa Shoup, Ryan Frank, Nicholas Cohn and Wassaic Project co-directors Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, and Jeff Barnett-Winsby –will bring together over 100 artists, 23 bands, poetry readings, dance performances, film screenings, and much more. Housed in and around historic buildings in Wassaic, NY, The Wassaic Project’s annual Summer Festival aims to present art in a venue that challenges the white walls of traditional art spaces, focusing instead on site-sensitive installations and performances. As visitors climb through the vertical levels of the Project’s historic wooden mill-cum-exhibition space, they are able to explore the work of over 100 emerging contemporary artists, whose bold and intricate installations, paintings, sculptures and videos respond beautifully to the unique architecture that houses them. In 2010 over 4,000 festivalgoers shared in the three-day celebration. The 2011 Summer Festival, which promises to be even bigger, offers a unique weekend-long opportunity for the general public, as well as artists of all mediums, to come together, exchange ideas, learn new things, and engage in a thriving arts community—free of cost. This year, participating Visual Artists include: Ghost of a Dream, Lauren Adelman, Michael Aghy, Ben Bigelow, Lorne Blythe, Jade Boyd, Hannah Brenner-Leonard, Josh Bricker, The Bridge Club, Peter Brock, Benjamin Brown, Dana Bunker, Grant Cornett, Sena Clara Creston, Richard Deon, Danielle Durchslag, Ryan Frank, Joshua Frankel, Jamie Gaul, David Grainger, Jeila Gueramian,Sarah Hardesty, Gregory Hayes, Troy Herion, Janine Iversen, Kate Johnson, Jimmy Johnson, Ben Judd, Hyeon Jung Kim, Henry Klimowicz, Matthew C. Lange, JaeWook Lee, Guillaume Legare, Valerie Magarian, Tom Mason, Shepard  McCallum, Lori Merhige, Naomi Miller, Jackie Mock, Gala Narezo, Alee Peoples, Amy Podmore, Francis Rabkin, Steve Rossi, Lauren Ruth, Tomie Seo, Nicholas Shepard, Matthew Slats, Eliza Swann, Fabian Tabibian, Breanne Trammell, Clement Valla, Leigh Van Duzer, Brian Wane, Ian Warren, Christopher Wawrinofsky, James Weingrod, Audra Wolowiec, Angelo Womak, Michael  Woody, Rick Wray, Angela Zammarelli, Mario Zecca,and more. The Music Lineup features over 20 bands, including Free Blood, Delicate Steve, Patrick Cleandenim, The Acrylics, Cuddle Magic, Bobby, Electric Junkyard Gamelan, Caged Animals, This Frontier Needs Heroes, and more. The Film Program, organized by the Wassaic Project’s Director of Film Programming Liliana Greenfield-Sanders and guest curators Rowan Riley, Joshua Frankel and Amy Basil,is comprised of over 20 short films from emerging filmmakers and two outdoor midnight movie screenings during the Festival.  The line-up includes The Strange Ones (directed by Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein), The Substitute (directed by Talya Lavie), Suu and Uchikawa (written and directed by Nathanael Carton), Ten Years from Now (written and directed by Jordan Schiele), and Little Horses (written by Levi Abrino and Wa ssaic alum Luke Matheny, directed by Levi Abrino), among others. The Dance Program, co-curated by Charmaine Warren (Harlem Stage, The Ailey School) and the Wassaic Project Dance Committee, features performances by an all-star cast that includes Malinda Ray Allen, Jamel Gaines (Creative Outlet Dance Theater), Vincent Hardy, Helen Heinaman (Viewpointe), Maré Hieronimus, Earl Moseley (Institute for the Arts), Becky Sellinger, and Antonia Urzua. The performances will embrace the unique structure and environment of the Maxon Mills as the dancers interact with the art installations and audiences on the expansive renovated deck adjacent to the mill. ABOUT THE WASSAIC PROJECT The Wassaic Project is an artist-run sustainable, multidisciplinary arts organization that focuses on community engagement and facilitates artists and participants to exhibit, discuss, and connect with art, each other, our unique site, and the surrounding community. We seek to make connections between artists of all disciplines. We facilitate interaction and collaboration among artists and the public by utilizing our historic location to create new ways of working in the arts and to inspire new ways of seeing art. The Wassaic Project’s activities include an annual summer festival, a year-round artist residency, studio visits/critiques for artists involved with the organization by guest curators and visiting artists, artist workshops with community members, published catalogs, and fundraising exhibitions in Wassaic and New York City. Our programs intend to generate dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological and disciplinary boundaries. GETTING THERE: Maxon Mills and The Luther Barn are located within walking distance from Metro North’s Wassaic station. For schedules and fares, visit the MTA’s website at http://mta.info/index.html. CAMPING: Visitors are invited to camp at the Wassaic Project on the Luther Barn field. Tickets for the entire weekend can be purchased online in advance for $40 or onsite during the Festival for $60.  No camping equipment will be provided at the site. Please note that only gas camping stoves are permitted at the camping grounds. For more information on the Wassaic Project’s Summer Festival and its year-round programming, visit www.wassaicproject.org. Press Contact: Jessica Shaefer press@wassaicproject.org The Wassaic Project Summer Festival August 5th - 7th, 2011 At the Maxon Mills + Luther Auction Barn 37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic, NY 12592 Gallery Hours: Friday-Sunday, 12pm-7pm Art Reception at Maxon Mills: Saturday, 5pm-7pm

Copyright © 2011, The Art Dossier LLC, All rights reserved. P.O. Box 1456 New York, NY 10159 theartdossier.com contact@theartdossier.com

(e)merge art fair

Ai Kijima: Non Stop Everywhere

212GALLERY

Ai Kijima, Judgement, 2011 (27 x 31 inches, textile)

Ai Kijima: Non Stop Everywhere
1 August 2011 – 15 September 2011

212GALLERY is pleased to present the fabric collages of Ai Kijima.

Ai Kijima crafts patchwork extravaganzas out of American pop culture.  Following a generation of artists like Arturo Herrera, who began his career by using Disney character imagery as the raw material for a kind of subversive formalism, Ai Kijima combines the traditional hand-working technique of quilting with postmodern appropriation.

The nine candy-colored cartoonscapes on display at 212Gallery will range in scale from 20 inches to over eight feet and will absorb the viewer into their layered narratives of fantasy and subliminal associations that muse on consumerism, sexuality, superficiality and moral decay.

Scouring flea markets, garage sales and thrift stores from Asia, Europe and North America, Kijima uses disparate materials of varying iconography -  a Pink Floyd T-Shirt, a Kimono, childrens’ “Disney” bedding. Stitched together, Kijimas wall hangings juggle American pop culture icons with traditional Japanese symbols such as the chrysanthemum and koi.

Kijima’s process is painstaking. What begins as an intuitive layering of images is then ironed to a fusible web to which she adds backing; then the sewing machine.  The images bounce off one another suggesting connecting narratives. Kijima uses color-matched shiny polyester thread to sew minute stitches on the fabrics. When seen from afar, the large works, composed of hundreds of fabric pieces, appear as two-dimensional paintings. The intense, seemingly cacophonous imagery morphs into highly choreographed quilted collages. The end result is an astonishing array of beauty and intensity.

Tokyo born, Brooklyn-based artist Ai Kijima received her M.F.A. in Fiber and Material Studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. She has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the world and has permanent collections at the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC and the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL. She was recently awarded a residency at Miami, Florida’s Fountainhead Residency program.

Ai Kijima: Non Stop Everywhere
1 August 2011 – 15 September 2011
Opening Reception 2 August 6-9pm.

Images are available upon request. Please call 970-925-7117 for further details.

Click here for more images.

212GALLERY features innovative, established and emerging international artists working across media including, photography, painting, sculpture and mixed media.
 

Gallery Hours are Monday through Saturday 10-7 and Sunday 10-6.
212GALLERY 525 East Cooper Avenue, next to Ralph Lauren

Tornabuoni Art Brings Major Italian Figures to FIAC

New Acquisitions - Grotto of Curatorial Mysteries

NEW ACQUISITIONS Grotto of Curatorial Mysteries Braque  Chagall  Dine  Hockney  Johns  Kadar Kitaj  Maillol  Motherwell  Picasso  Rivers  Stella  Vuillard continuing through August 27, 2011 Jim Dine, The French Watercolor Venus, 1985, soft-ground etching in black overlaid with extensive hand coloring, 41 5/8 x 31 3/4 inches The works in the New Acquisitions show at Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Brentwood, span very nearly the entire history of modern art, from a Vuillard still life of 1910, and a stellar 1911 proto-cubist Braque etching, to a 2005 Kitaj charcoal portrait of the school of Paris master, Jules Pascin, whose passion for painting and parties lit up the Parisian avant-garde in the early 20th century. This show also includes a large, detailed Larry Rivers colored pencil drawing in art deco style entitled, Hollywood, a study from History of the Jews (right), which illustrates the creative Diaspora that led from Europe (more specifically London as indicated by the Savoy Hotel in the background, which was the gathering place for writers and entertainers in London in the 1930s), to New York (more specifically Broadway), and westward (ho!) to Hollywood.  In this image a showgirl, or perhaps a star of the day, cakewalks down the Great White Way, the New York skyline seeming to sway as though its skyscrapers were a conga line.   A period piece ca. 1930-1940 by the preeminent Hungarian modernist Bela Kadar reinforces focus on pre-WWII high style with a portrait on paper of a well coiffed woman wearing an intensely red hat, set against a deeper red background. This Kadar relates nicely to Hockney's Celia with Green Hat , which is not merely similar in subject but likewise colorful, with a European feel, and rendered in an almost cartoonlike style akin to certain mid-20th century Picasso portraits. There are also three truly elegant Hockney still life prints in the show: Pretty Tulips 1969 (left), Lilies 1971, and Potted Daffodils from 1980, the latter done in the artist's transitional style of that time, combining loose, evocative lines inspired by Matisse (which would inform much of Hockney's work in the 80s) with the tight yet equally graceful academic treatment of a draped tablecloth in quintessential Hockney style of the 70s. Suffice it to say, this man can really draw. New acquisitions from the 70s and 80s also include an extremely rare Jim Dine, which may well be his finest Venus print -The French Watercolor Venus (above) of 1985. This extensively hand colored image is from an edition of only 8 (plus 4 artist's proofs). One of Dine's most recent Venuses,Women and Water, also appears, along with Little Heart in a Landscape 1991 which is a superb example of printmaking, combining several types of etching and a crimson chine colle heart.   A classic Jasper Johns Corpse and Mirror litho (below) from 1976 and an equally classic, outrageously colorful Frank Stella print,Estoril Five II from Circuits of 1982 round out the selections from the 70s and 80s. Though Stella first earned his art historical stripes in the late 50s as the father of minimalism, his work since then has become increasingly complex and unrestrained; his use of color in particular going well beyond any art that came before, with the possible exception of the black light posters that hung in college dorms and head shops in the late 60s and early 70s. Also strewn about the grotto are ceramics by Picasso, a Chagall monotype and a large Motherwell lithograph and screenprint with collage, Hermitage (spelled out in Cyrillic on a "Motherwell red" ground). For summer fun or serious collecting, explore New Acquisitions: Grotto of Curatorial Mysteries, another roadside attraction in Brentwood, at Leslie Sacks Fine Art.

Beefcake Heroes

'Beefcake Heroes': Joe Phillips Brings Gay Superheroes Out Of The Closet - By David Moye

Exhibit at Alexander Salazar Fine Art -

Extended to October 2011

IN

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/25/superheroes-come-out-of-the-closet_n_906716.html#s313913&title=Gay_Comic_Artist

It's common for superheroes like Batman, Superman and Spider-Man to have secret identities, but there has long been speculation in certain circles that they have other secrets as well. The whispers began in 1954 when psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham wrote "Seduction Of The Innocent," a book that alleged, among other things, that Wonder Woman was a lesbian and that Batman and Robin were gay lovers. Although Wertham's allegations have been long been ridiculed by the comics community, some industry insiders like Joe Phillips see a gay subtext throughout the superhero genre. "It is there," he insisted to The Huffington Post. "Think about it: A guy develops the ability to do something incredible and the first thing he does is to wear something tight-fitting and colorful and tell the world, 'I'm going to fight crime'?" Phillips has illustrated heroes like Superman and the Avengers for DC and Marvel. He says he's fascinated by the underlying "gayness" of the superhero, and he's taking it out of the closet and into a series of paintings he calls "Beefcake Heroes," currently on display at a San Diego art gallery. The series shows classic characters like Batman, Dr. Strange, Superman and Captain America bearing their oiled, rippled physiques in either tight jockey shorts or skintight spandex and wearing come hither looks more common in gay magazines like Blue Boy than, say, the pages of "Superboy." He admits the pictures are provocative, especially because he's using iconic male characters, but takes a "what's good for the goose" posture. "There's a huge audience that loves seeing pin-up pictures of girls," he said. "I wanted to take the same approach with these iconic characters and have them them do the same sexy looks and poses." By design, Phillips makes his pictures perfectly suitable for publication in a mainstream comic -- except he has the character raise an eyebrow or stare provocatively at the viewer. "We are so used to seeing women as sexual beings, but we don't want to see men doing the same thing. Men are supposed to be stoic and distant," he said. "I wanted these works to show off these heroes' strength, but also their cockiness and competitiveness." Although the typical reader of a superhero comic is tagged as a heterosexual young adult male, Phillips says the characters have also had a big influence on the gay community. For instance, much of what is considered the ideal modern physique among that demographic is greatly influenced by the hyper-masculine illustrations of seminal artists like Jack Kirby and John Romita in the 1960s. "It really actually started with the California body building movement in the 1960s which promoted a more well-defined physique," he said. "But the superhero genre recognizes body-conscious clothing. Take Comic-Con: If a chunky guy knows he wants to wear a Batman outfit, he knows it doesn't look right unless he works out." Phillips sells his works for $1000 each and, so far, he has been amused by the reaction to his work. "I've seen some guys buy a piece for their girlfriend -- at least, they say it's for their girlfriend -- and I think it's because they realize, 'Hey, I've been looking at boobs!'" he said. Meanwhile, he says he's getting an interesting reaction from professional artists. "It's a mixed bag," he said. "It's not overwhelmingly negative, but different people have different comfort levels." Phillips is considering doing a similar series involving villains like the Joker, and he believes that will be even more provocative. "Villains would be interesting," he said. "They take power and have this attitude of 'Look at me! I don't play by the rules.'" Gallery owner Alexander Salazar, who is displaying Phillips' series, thinks his work is a sign of the times. "Comic art is finally coming out of the closet," he said. "The heroes and their fans can't ignore they are sexy." Although Phillips is openly gay, Salazar admits putting a gay-friendly spin on popular superheroes is an act of bravery since he still works in the industry. "We do have to play it safe in some ways, because he's still in his career as a comics illustrator," Salazar said. "He's long been doing this in some respects. All of his males have bulges. They're well-hung." Will Phillips' interpretation of Superman being super-sexy play to the mainstream? Well, the verdict is still out on that one. One Comic-Con attendee, a twenty-something male who asked not to be named, admits admiring Phillips' artistry, but not much else. "He's a good artist -- I'll give him that -- and I'm cool with guys who are gay, but I want to see superheroes saving the world, not picking each other up," said the man. Gay Comic Artist Brings Superheroes Out

 TO INTERVIEW ARTIST PLEASE CONTACT GALLERY AT

619-531-8996

Pittsfield Hoopla Festival Returns to Springside Park

PITTSFIELD HOOPLA FESTIVAL RETURNS TO SPRINGSIDE PARK
WORKSHOPS, HULA HOOPING CONTEST, SLACKLINING & MORE!


Press contact: Stefanie Weber, FounderStefanie@fertileuniverse.com or 413.281.6734

On Saturday July 30 from 10 am to 10pm, the Pittsfield City Hoopla festival will return to the public gardens of Springside Park, Pittsfield Massachusetts’ largest public park located at 874 North St, for its third year of festivities inspired by the craft, craze and creativity of the hula hoop.  Boasting a full day of hoop related classes, contests, jams, art, vending and performance, the Pittsfield City Hoopla is a unique family-friendly event that celebrates the value of the movement arts in our everyday lives and community.

In addition to free hooping workshops for all ages and abilities on the lawn with professional teaching hoop dance artists from the Boston Hoop Troop and Hooping Harmony between 12 noon-3pm there will also be more focused smaller workshops available for a fee.

Workshops with Pittsfield based movement professionals include:
10am: Openings: A Yoga Class for Entering the Hoop with Rachael Plaine of Berkshire Pure Movement and Yoga Depot
3pm Intro to HoopTap with festival maker and founder Stefanie Weber
6pm Hip Hop for the Hooper with dancer Marie Georgefils
7pm Sundown Stretch & Flow with Gillian Gorman of Radiance Yoga.


Workshops from visiting guest artists include:
11am Hoop Tutorial with Robin Rapture of Hoopium in New Hampshire
3pm Putting the Dance in Hoop Dance with Laura-Marie from Hooping Harmony in Greenfield, MA,
4pm On&Off Body Axis Flips & Twists with Lolli Hoops and Core Hooping: Navigating Between Waist and Neck with Rachel, both from the Boston Hoop Troop.

Space is limited for the above workshops and pre-registration is suggested. The cost is $10 per workshop and lower if you attend 3 or more.

Participants can begin the day by making their own hoop on site at 10am for $25 guided by Hoopla artists. Pre-registration is required and space is limited.

This year’s Hoopla will introduce some new activities for participants. ‘Yogaslacker’ Danielle Gismondi from Frog Lotus Yoga in North Adams will facilitate a slackline throughout the day. According to Slackline.com, slacklining is the sport of walking a small, flat nylon rope between two points. It is practiced in the backyard, on college campuses and city parks, and even 3000 feet above the ground. Some people do it for fun, others for the obvious athletic benefits, and others still for a meditative purpose, in seeking a higher state of mind. Since slacklining’s development in the late 1970s, slacklining has grown into an international craze, and is a common and popular pastime within the outdoor community. Also a part of the circus arts scene, slacklining is making it way back to the stage in more creative ways.

Artist Bridgit Noone will facilitate a table for coloring mandalas. The Mandala Project, founded by Lori Bailey Cunningham, explains a "mandala" as being from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit loosely translated to mean "circle”. “Far more than a simple shape, it represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds”, she states. Both Navajo and Tibetan cultures are known for their colorful mandalas.

Returning again this year, David Frazier from the Vincent Hebert Arboretum will be leading walks along the trails at Springside Park for any one interested in learning more about the trees, gardens, and history of the grounds.

At 5pm the Hoopla will offer its first-ever hooping contest featuring prizes from local businesses. Sign-ups for the contests will occur through out the day and are open to all interested.

Food will be available for purchase on site and vendors will be selling handcrafted hoops and other creative items.

The grand finale of Pittsfield City Hoopla begins at 8p with an “enchanted illuminated spin extravaganza” featuring live drumming by Aimee Gelinas and her Rhythm Keepers from Pittsfield, and fire hoop and dance performances by Lita Lundeen-Setchfield, Angyl Fyre, Maria Mariposa and more.

Pittsfield City Hoopla is created by Stefanie Weber/Creatures of Habitat in partnership with Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development and is supported in part through funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Pittsfield Cultural Council and Greylock Federal Credit Union. Additional community supporters and sponsors include Mark Tomasi, Day Mountain Sound, The Earth Shoppe, BerkshireGirl, Elm St. Barber Shop, New Image Salon, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Community Day, Lenox Community Center and Berkshire Dance Theater.

The 3^rd annual Pittsfield City Hoopla festival will be held Saturday, July 30^th, from 10am to 10pm, rain or shine. For more information visit www.pittsfieldcityhoopla.org. To pre-register for a workshop email Stefanie@fertileuniverse.com or call 413.281.6734.

Tiki Oasis '11

"Burros, Black Velvets and Other Delights"

group art show at Tiki Oasis 11  

to benefit WiLDCOAST

Fri. Aug. 19th  through Sun. Aug. 21st, 11 am - 4 pm     

Reception for the artists: Saturday Aug. 20th, 1 pm

Lahaina Room in The Crown Plaza Hotel  

as part of Tiki Oasis 11

August 18-21, 2010
San Diego, CA

www.tikioasis.com

 

Show preview available after August 1

  

Inspired by toreadors and jai alai, street tacos and warm summer nights on sandy beaches, "Burros, Black Velvets, & Other Delights" conjures up visions of tequila fueled visits to Tijuana when Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass were king. Contributing artists were asked to submit an original black velvet painting or modify a random Tijuana style Burro or Piggy Bank sent to the artist by show curators Baby Doe and Reesenik

All proceeds from "Burros,   Black Velvets, & Other Delights" will benefit WiLDCOAST, founded in 2000 to protect and conserve some of the most ecologically important coastal wildlands, lagoons, and marine ecosystems that remain in California and throughout Baja California. WiLDCOAST has successfully conserved more than 1.8 million acres of coastal wildlands and wildlife habitats. WiLDCOAST works with local communities in San Diego to protect and restore their beaches and open spaces through hands-on restoration projects, cleanups, environmental education and community involvement.

 

        

 Tiki Oasis is proud to feature the top tiki artists  

paying homage to Tijuana's past including: 

  

Atomikitty 

 Babalu
 BigToe
 Bowana
 Cass McClure (aka junkhauler)
 Crazy Al Evans
 Danny Gallardo
 Dave Lozeau
 Dave Warshaw
 Dawn Frasier Sophista-tiki
 Derek Yaniger

 Doug DoOr
 Doug Horne
 Eric October
 Erin Joy
 Jason Rodgers
 Jason Sallin
 Jennifer Kenworth "Juanita"
 John Mulder
 Joshua Ellingson
 Ken Ruzic/Little Lost Tiki
 Maya Rodgers
 Michael Fleming (aka Tweedlebop)
 MP
 Pizz
 Reesenik
 Thor
 Tiki King
 Tiki Tony
 Wendy Cevola

images: 

"Mai Tai" Piggy bank by Derek Yaniger

Piggy Bank by Doug DoOr   

Burro by Babalu  

For more information - please contact Lee Joseph at  

leejemail@gmail.com or 818-848-2698 (p), 818-415-5543 (f)

Jessicka Addams, Walt Hall, Derek Harrison, Rodolfo Loaiza, Miso, Click Mort, Jasmine Worth

Jessicka Addams, Walt Hall, Derek Harrison, Rodolfo Loaiza, Miso,   Click Mort, Jasmine Worth August 5 - 28 Opening Reception: Friday, August 5, 8-11 pm Also showing: Lou Beach, Alpha Lubicz and Sam Lubicz "Gene Pool" La Luz de Jesus Gallery 4633 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90027 323-666-7667 www.laluzdejesus.com  info@laluzdejesus.com Jessicka Addams "Little Grey Secrets"    "Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret." - Ralph Waldo Emerson What do you say to yourself when no one else is listening? No, not the good things that may be little white lies you fool yourself into believing.  The bad things. The ones that would scare others, the ones that are soft and rotted, the ones you poke at until they burst. Those are your little grey secrets: half truths you repeat over and over, that are intended to remind you of your shortcomings...and sometimes, of your complete and utter failure. With Little Grey Secrets, Jessicka Addams pokes at her characters' soft spots until they bleed.  They're unraveling, damaged: masks askew, nooses tightening, strings dangling. Their world is not black or white, only grey - a color that has no opposite. They have no clear moral value. They're stripped naked, but don't get Freudian - the naked truth has nothing to do with grey secrets. Armed with a glue gun and a dream, Florida-born, Los Angeles-based artist Jessicka Addams (also known as Jessicka) is also the founding member and singer of such seminal indie rock bands as Jack Off Jill and scarling. As a child, Jessicka was obsessed with masks because they represented a place to hide and an opportunity for those who gazed upon them to seek out what lay beneath. As an adult, she uses masks as a symbol to show the myriad of ways we hide behind our own faces in order to protect our true selves daily.  Jessika Addams Show preview forthcoming   Walt Hall "Neu"   Much like Barry McGee, to whom he is often compared, Walt Hall is deeply rooted in the street art medium of wheat pasting. As one half of the art partnership Lost Cause Society, Hall has become something of a staple in the downtown Los Angeles art scene. His style is neither strictly graffiti nor classical, making his mixed media and found material paintings an entirely new milieu. His pieces explore a theme of isolation within groups utilizing a set of characters that has evolved with his local fame. Walt has been an annual attraction in the Everything But the Kitschen Sync group show, but this is his first featured exhibition at La Luz de Jesus. Walt Hall "Neu" show preview    Derek Harrison "Warmth"   Derek Harrison first caught our attention in this year's annual Everything But the Kitschen Sync show with his distinct, painterly portraits of strong and vulnerable women. His friendship and work/study with fellow La Luz de Jesus alumni Shawn Barber has further enriched his  talents in the areas of foundation painting and composition. His unique blend of  technique and nostalgic eroticism combine to produce a stunning collection of femme fatales (and the objects of their mystique) captured ever more in moments of great candor. Derek Harrison "Warmth" show preview     Click Mort "Res Ipsa Loquitur, Baby!"  Click Mort is much more than a great collagist. His unique recombinations of nostalgic pop-sculpture show his lifetime fascination for oddity as well as his meticulous craftsmanship, and it's perhaps no surprise to learn that Click served a brief stint playing guitar for The Cramps earlier in his career. His exquisite alterations of antique Rockwell, Hummel, and other miniature gift statuettes require a jeweler's precision in the extensive cutting, scultping, sanding, and painting involved in creating these pop-culture chimeras. Like his contemporary Ron English, Click Mort's unique methodology is a prime example of art that transcends its origins, elevating kitsch and improving the source pieces, which are works of art in themselves. Click Mort "Res Ipsa Loquitur, Baby!" show preview      José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros "Disenchanted"   José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros' four jury selected paintings from the Everything But the Kitschen Sync group show this past March were among the first pieces to sell, and additional paintings from this young Mexican artist were requested to such a degree that we had to build a database to keep track of them.   His latest project, Disenchanted, seeks to demystify the modern fairytale. Rodolfo juxtaposes representations of animation's yesteryear with unexpected, almost antithetical situations. While his subjects (in another context) might embody the quintessential happy ending, Rodolfo reminds is that as individuals we are neither wholly immune nor entirely susceptible to viscera. We absorb a narrative that is neither truth nor lie, allowing elements of fantasy to become our reality, and so it should come as no surprise to discover elements of reality intruding on our richest fantasies. Even material that is created as an escape from waking life can be impacted by the real world, changing the original aesthetic completely.   During this visual journey, Loaiza attaches a human reality as embodied by perversion, voyeurism and addiction, evolving into the more complicated topics of homosexuality, rape and even faith. This art is intended to make the viewer question his or her own stance on the issues, while addressing the obvious omission of such discussion in the cartoon medium that provides the vehicle for the concept. This exhibition is half tribute and half social criticism. It's a re-contextualized artistic proposal on the strength of time-honored iconoclasm and the weakness of haphazard ideology. José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros "Disenchanted" show preview  Miso "An Introduction to Pathology"  Karen Hsiao has two completely different artistic identities. As Miso, she has populated an entire universe of fantastic creatures and landscapes, which she has sold successfully via Jonathan Levine and Corey Helford Galleries. For this exhibition she has developed a coroner's curiosity for the anatomical understructures of her ordinarily cuddly creations, and in no uncertain terms this is a darker, more scientific approach. Devoid of even a single sculptural work, An Introduction to Pathology continues the autopsy of "cute" begun with this past March's Everything But the Kischen Sync show. Each antique-framed oil painting comes with its own magnifying glass, which elicits exquisite detail while assigning a medical examiner's view. Here Miso has literally dissected her own art and revealed the living, breathing sentiment at its core -perhaps leaving viewers with the discomforting thought that art may only be as immortal as the artist allows. But how exhilarating that the dark underbelly is every bit as enchanting as the glossy, fluffy surface... Miso "An Introduction to Pathology" show preview      Jasmine Worth "Together Forever"  Jasmine Worth's latest collection is titled Together Forever. In this series she's focused on the obvious (and sometimes not so obvious) interconnectedness of people; the ways our associations shape our lives, whether beneficial or parasitic, enriching and fulfilling or codependent and detrimental. In many ways we are the sum of those we encounter. Sometimes these encounters lead to lifelong bonds, and sometimes the briefest connection can have surprisingly lasting effects. It is these interconnected relationships and intertwining of lives that pair the focus in Together Forever -works exploring the ways in which others shape who we are. Jasmine Worth crafts scenes from fairytales gone awry-swirling seamlessly between the sweet and surreal, inevitably dipping into the valley of the morbid. She studied formally at Watts Atelier as well as Studio 2nd Street in Encinitas, CA, and earned her BFA from the Laguna College of Art and Design. While she possesses the credentials, the product of her toils clearly pours from the cobwebbed corners of her mind, not the classroom. Her paintings-a cabaret of vibrant hues-are a blend of soft textures and colorful characters, juxtaposed against gloomy themes. Created in her home of San Diego, Jasmine combines dark influences and subtle-yet-serious undertones with raw artistic talent and a rarely seen creativity. Her work exudes a strong bearing of individuality, manifested through characters that speak almost vocally and give a new element of depth to an otherwise two dimensional medium. Each scene tells a story and every story is as diverse in emotion as it is in appearance. Jasmine Worth "Together Forever" show preview ###  La Luz de Jesus Gallery 2011  July Mark Todd "Force Field"   Van Saro, Simon Sotelo, Andy Steele, Hui Tan   August Lou Beach, Alpha & Sam Lubicz "Gene Pool" Jessicka Addams, Walt Hall, Derek Harrison, Rodolfo Loaiza, Miso, Click Mort, Jasmine Worth "Sketch Theater Vol 1" book signing  September Rob Reger Lauren Gardiner  Dr. Paul Koudounaris' "Empire of Death" book release party  October "La Luz de Jesus 25" Part One Beyond Eden Multi Gallery Event at LAMAG     November "La Luz de Jesus 25" Part Two" December Robert Burden: "Toy Box" New Works by Daniel Martin Diaz       Publicity contact for more info - interviews - images: Lee Joseph Publicity for the Visual Arts (o) 818-848-2698 - (c) 818-415-5543 leejemail@gmail.com - www.leejosephpublicity.com

Yago Hortal: Works on Canvas

 

YAGO HORTAL: WORKS ON CANVAS AT ROOSTER GALLERY, 190 ORCHARD STREET, LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC   OPENING RECEPTION: THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 6-8PM EXHIBITING FROM AUGUST 4 – 28   The exhibition at Rooster Gallery is comprised of canvases portraying Hortal’s exploration of the abstract. His works are characterized by plastically shapeless blobs of bright paint that mingle fluidly with one other, thus creating a psychedelic effect. In their violent yet harmonious twists and swirls, Hortal’s canvases resemble a Glenn McKay liquid light show or an acid-induced reverie. Sometimes vertiginously fast, other times smoothly slow, Hortal’s canvases seem to have a dual existence. But maybe it’s all in our mind and in the way we relate to the works. They change from day to day, reflecting our intimate connection with time. What sometimes appears to the viewer as a chaotic space can also, in a strange relationship between eye and psyche, appear perfectly ordered. We should not be surprised. Emil Cioran said, “Chaos is being yourself,” but ultimately by being yourself you realize how imperfectly everything is ordered. Yago Hortal was born in Barcelona, Spain (1983). He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Yago graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona in 2006, having already studied the 4th Course at the University of Seville in 2004/2005. In 2007 he won the art prize “Premi a la Pintura Jove de la Sala Parés,” sponsored by the Fundació Banc Sabadell.   For additional information please visit: www.roostergallery.com

Sponsored by Esporão Wines www.esporao.com

 

 

Alexander Slonevsky, Director            Andre Escarameia, Director

212.230.1370                                                    646.637.2097

alex@roostergallery.com                                andre@roostergallery.com

 

Pastorals and Portraits

“Pastorals and Portraits”
Duo Exhibition with Kevin Menck and Ken Pledger

On Display from August 4 – August 31, 2011

M Gallery of Fine Art is pleased to present a duo exhibition featuring
the work of Ken Pledger and Kevin Menck. The show, entitled “Pastorals
and Portraits,” will hang from August 4 - August 31st. The opening
reception will be held on Friday, August 5th , in tandem with the
First Friday Art Walk.

Born and raised in Wadsworth, Ohio, Ken Pledger began studying with
Jack Richard in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He then studied with Robert
Brackman for two summers before moving to Colorado. With age and
experience has come a much looser approach to the application of
paint, the “painterly approach” in essence. His latest body of work,
which will appear in “Pastorals and Portraits,” will consist of over a
dozen portraits and landscapes, and represents a move towards that
painterly approach. The painting he is most proud of in the collection
is “Janelle” for its “handling of paint and feeling of light.”

Kevin Menck was born and raised in middle Tennessee. In 2002, Kevin
met local painter Jason Saunders, who was instrumental to his artistic
development. Saunders introduced Menck to landscape painting and also
instilled the importance of painting "en plein aire." “Pastorals and
Portraits” will feature 15 landscapes by Menck, 98% of which were
painted “en plein aire.” The paintings Menck are the most proud of are
those that represent a challenge. On one occasion, he was asked to
point out just such a painting at an opening. At first glance, the
painting appeared to be simple but to Menck it was a masterpiece.

“Close values, waning moody light, a certain feel that was very
difficult to achieve. But after the dust settled I had nailed the look
and feel of the landscape at that moment. Those are the ones I am most
proud of. Those paintings that make you feel like you have pushed
through to another level in your development,” says Menck.

Both Kevin Menck and Ken Pledger have a background in illustration.
Pledger received his degree in Illustration from Cooper School of Art.
Menck graduated from The Harris School of Art and worked as a
self-employed illustrator for 15 years.  "Illustration for me was a
huge asset, specifically for my understanding of drawing and the
fundamentals,” explains Menck. “When I started this, I could draw if
nothing else, and when I see students and artists struggle with it I
take it for granted that that was something I had when I stepped into
this and it is the foundation to all of this. “

Both Menck and Pledger have a great love of the outdoors. Pledger
moved to Colorado in 1980, where he took workshops with several
artists such as Jim Wilcox, Howard Carr, Richard Schmid, and Len
Chmiel. “To paint a good landscape, I always try and remember what it
was that I Iiked about a particular scene. The wind blowing over the
tops of the trees, a sunset, a feeling of calm. The ability to paint
emotion seems almost unattainable,” says Pledger. While in Colorado,
Pledger spent much of the time in the mountains. Of his experience of
the Colorado landscape, Pledger says: “I lived in Colorado for a very
long time, and know the mountains well. The mountains are like nowhere
else except maybe the ocean, and if one can have both that would be
great.” Pledger now lives in Nebraska with his wife Robyn, but hopes
to return to Colorado with its majestic scenery.

Kevin Menck is an avid outdoorsman whose greatest inspiration is the
local landscape. Of his source of inspiration Menck says, “It's being
outside, afield, and walking and looking and listening. [It’s]
watching the sunset and sunrise, standing in a snowstorm, looking at a
fresh cut hay field from thousands of different angles. It inspires
me, and even with the creative energy and excitement ,it generates in
me. There are just not enough hours in a day to see and paint it all.”
When Kevin is not outdoors, he spends his time with his wife, Karyn,
and their two daughters, Mary Kathryn and Sarah Beth. He and his
family live in Nashville, Tennessee.

This is the first duo show for both Menck and Pledger. Both are
excited to see how their paintings will compliment each other and for
the potential new perspective on their work.

All visitors are welcome!
General Information: M Gallery of Fine Art SE, LLC 11 Broad Street,
Charleston, SC 29401.  Website: www.mgalleryoffineart.com.
843.727.4500.