Wednesday, November 14, 2007

GREEN Exhibit- This Saturday in L.A.



Here’s my piece for the GREEN exhibit, curated by Mark Murphy. From the press release:

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GREEN Exhibition : November 17 : 7:30 PM : Robert Berman Gallery
Over 40 artists were invited to participate in the upcoming exhibiton GREEN, curated by publisher/designer Mark Murphy : Green will feature original paintings, (24" x 24" and 24" x 36") that look to explore human interaction with nature : Green will be held at the Robert Berman Gallery, November 17th featuring traveling artists, inspired artworks, and the music of SSI and the Modlins : Check out www.robertbermangallery.com or www.murphydesign.com for more information and gallery show times : Green will be on display until December 22 :

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Featuring the inspired talents of :

Jason D Aquino + Jordan Awan + Andrew Brandou + Cathie Bleck+ Marc Burckhardt + William Buzzell + Luke Chueh + David Chung + Amy Crehore + Kevin Christy + Sas Christianson + John Copeland + Bob Dob + Andrew Foster + Douglas Fraser + P-Jay Fidler + Joseph Daniel Fiedler + AJ Fosik + Robert Hardgrove + Jody Hewgill + Michael Hussar + Tim Hussey + Jordin Isip + Rich Jacobs + Pamela Jaeger + James Jean + David Choong Lee + Anthony Lister + Jen Lobo + Mars-1 + Chris Mostyn + Mark Murphy + Scott Musgrove + Joel Nakamura + Christian Northeast + Martha Rich and Esther Pearl Watson Collaboration + Kathie Olivas + Nathan Ota + Brandt Peters + Jermaine Rogers + Kim Scott + Keith Shore + Jeff Soto + Damon Soule + Matt Stallings + Gary Taxali + Amanda Wachab + Justin Wood

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Location :

Robert Berman Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Avenue / C2 / Santa Monica / CA / 90404

310.315.1937 / www.robertbermangallery.com

Mark's Green Blog here

ExXtreme Gallery Jam '07!!- Los Angeles


Sorry for the title. Shaunna Peterson, Levon Jihanian and I made a trip into Los Angeles to see some art. Any given week there are a ton of shows to check out, and none of us get out enough. Living an hour’s drive outside L.A. has it’s good and bad points, but to be honest I’m pretty jealous of Levon (lives in Pasadena) who lives close enough to check out a good amount of shows. So when I get out there I try to hit as many galleries as possible. I don't have a lot of insightful things to say, my mind is tired right now and I didn’t take too many pictures, just didn’t feel like lugging around my big old Olympus. Shaunna took some nice pics of the day and you can find them on her blog.

First stop was BLK/MRKT to see the Kinsey show. Wow, awesome work. I’m always impressed with Kinsey’s paintings but these were beautiful and so cohesive as a group. Go see it before it comes down..



Next we drove up the street (que Missing Person’s “Nobody Walks in L.A.”) to Freddi C’s Lab 101 Gallery. Kill Pixie, Antony Lister and Kelsey Brookes had a group show going. I like the work of all three but there was something so simple, nice and raw about the Lister diorama. Good show...






On down the street we stopped to take in Joe Sorren’s new work at Billy Shire Fine Art. Nice work but only took a few photos.



Drove up La Brea to Merry Karnowsky Gallery where Camille Rose Garcia has her latest show. More nice work, Camille continues to explore her themes and her color pallette is changing. I like the purple...



Next we stopped by Gallery 1988 to say hi to owner Jensen, and Hi Fructose’s Attaboy and Anne. They were busy setting up for an opening that night and were nice enough to let us swing by and get a preview. Didn’t bring my camera... Shaunna has some pictures on her blog...

After that we were off to La Luz to see the work of Mark Todd and check out some books. I pulled these images off their web site because I left my camera. I love Mark’s work...






Then did some reminiscing at our old stomping grounds Art Center, and called it a day. I'm getting really lazy with the camera, gotta take more shots.

Next time gotta see the Takashi Murakami show, and Barry McGee at Redcat (if it's still up??!!)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Where the hell did October go?



Sorry for lack of updates, sometimes it just feels like there’s nothing interesting/important to write about. And sometimes blogs seem very self centered; like who really cares about what I have to say?

Then again, blogging is sorta fun.

Here’s some photos and stuff...

Babytattooville- This was a new art event they’re going to be doing ever year. The first one happened to be a few miles from me here in Riverside. It was held at the Mission Inn which is a famous hotel that’s been around for over 100 years in downtown. The place is kinda spooky, lots of ghosts have been reported.

The idea of this event was to invite a bunch of artists (people like Gary Baseman, Tara McPherson, Kozic, James Jean, Lola, etc) to do their thing and hang out with fans of their art. I was invited and for my portion of the event I had everyone over for a tour of my studio. The whole event was weird and cool at the same time. Like a mini Comicon. We got to stay in a suite in the fancy Mission Inn which was a pretty neat experience.

There are some good photo blogs of the event, here are a few...

www.vinylpulse.com

BAM POP

Juxtapoz

Ragnar

Winokur

And here are some of my photos....








I think they’re limiting the participants to 50 next time, so if this looks like fun, go to www.babytattooville.com

The following weekend, we went to an old fashioned pumpkin patch in Yucaipa with Shaunna and Mike. Shannon and Dylan had a great time- slides, bouncers, pony rides.... I was just amazed at all the pumpkin varieties. The rumor is that they’re going to tear the place down to put in a Target. Kinda sucks.... I mean... they had the best home made kettle corn ever. What a shame.













Halloween was fun but.. got a bunch of crap photos... need a new camera I think..









I started a new blog that I think is more interesting than this one. It’s all the Soto brother’s old toys I found in my parent’s garage. Somehow, some of this stuff survived. Have a look: Jeff’s Old Toys

Other random thoughts:

I keep seeing people throwing garbage out of their cars. Is this just a regional thing or is it going on all over the U.S.? It’s annoying the shit outta me..

I’ve been thinking about the upcoming presidential election. It’s mind blowingly awesome to think there is a pretty good shot that the next president will be either a woman or an African American. It’s about time. Our country needs to catch up with the times. I just hope the Democrats don’t blow it somehow.

I need a new digital camera. My 5 year old Olympus is not taking as nice of pictures lately. Plus it’s huge. I want one of those "fancy" pocket sized ones. Any recommendations??

Will try to post more haha...