Art Basel Miami- Day 1 (Friday)

This was my first time seeing the craziness that is known as Art Basel, and also my first time in the state of Florida. I had a late flight getting into Miami the night before, and I guess I was still (and would remain) on California time. Scion flew me out along with a bunch of other artists for their big group show. They put us up in the Shelbourne hotel right on the beach. Woke up to this out my window:


Then 30 minutes later it was pouring. Such is Miami.

The first stop was an interview by Evan Cerasoli for the Scion project. When I was getting there Mike Giant was just finishing up and Blek le Rat was up next. Blek had an interesting story and they got an excellent interview from him. I don’t think mine was nearly as good, I'm still a little uncomfortable in front of the camera but I'm working on it.



Then off into the rain and humidity to see Mark Murphy’s booth at the Art Now fair.

Some work by Matt Haber.

Rob Bellm’s piece.

My favorite from Mark’s booth, A.J. Fosik’s piece.

An Esther Pearl Watson piece Jennifer and I bought.

Also at Art Now- Grant Barnhart at Limited Addiction’s booth. Never heard of this artist but like the work.

Ran into painter Oliver Vernon and artist/new dad Mars-1.

The staff at White Walls SF’s booth.

Before the Scion show I went out to the beach to check it out and take a breather from the noise and crowds. I was feeling a little over stimulated from seeing so much art. I think I had as much fun walking in the sand as walking around the art fairs.



The Scion show at the Ralegh penthouse....

Ron English Scion ride...

Blek Le Rat balloon

Debra Anderson and Ron English

My balloon swaying in the wind...

Some of the art in the show....

Kofie

London Police

James Jean


Blek le Rat

Freddi C. and Evan Cerasoli


Then off for some authentic Cuban food with James Jean and Mark Murphy. I think after not eating all day, we all ordered too much food. Good but filling.



Then there was a party curated by Francesco LoCastro, called Vanguard.



Another dope A.J. Fosik.


An older Barry McGee piece (I wonder if he was okay with them showing this??)

Alex Gross

Sas Christian


Grant Barnhart again.

Kirsten Anderson and Mark Murphy.

Colin Christian sculpture.

Then I went to the hotel exhausted. Had a nice intro to Miami...
Day 2 coming soon...

The Green Show pictures

This was before Thanksgiving so kind of old news. The show was cool, lot of fun people showed up- Kevin Christy, Martha Rich, The Chung, P Jay Fidler, Brandt Peters, Kathie Olivas, Mark Todd, etc. More photos from Mark Murphy’s blog.

Kevin Christy and I. I think his was my favorite piece, forgot to get a photo of it. Kevin is just an all around nice guy and great artist.

Robert Hardgrave, me and The Chung. I made weird faces in all the photos that night. I think cause Shannon is really into making faces right now.

David Choong Lee was there, super nice guy.

Martha Rich/Esther Pearl Watson collaboration.

Rich Jacobs’ piece.

Later on.... Shannon going off with the watercolors...



Next up, Miami Art Basel which I just got back from last night. I took 250 pictures so I'm gonna have to do a bit of editing before I can write about it...

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??!!)

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...