Coming up at Paul Booth's Last Rites Gallery:
May/June 2008
Cyberdine: Fred Harper and Christopher Conte
Opening Reception: Saturday, 5/17/08, 7pm-10pm
Show runs May 17th through June 29th
Last Rites Gallery, 511 W. 33rd St, New York City
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News from Chet Zar:
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"We Are The Shadows"
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 10th, 2008 (8pm - 11pm)
May 10th, 2008 - May 31st, 2008
2525 Michigan Avenue T5. Santa Monica, CA 90404
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"Ugly American"
Opening Reception: Friday, June 13th, 2008
65 Hanbury Street, London E1 5JP
MicroCoSM Gallery Press Release:
Fantastic Realism: Works By Robert Venosa
May 16 - June 18
Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 6.30pm - 8pm
Exhibited worldwide, Venosa's art is included in major collections, including those of noted museums, rock stars and European aristocracy.
"Bravo Venosa! Dali is pleased to see spiritual madness painted with such a fine technique." - Salvador Dali
542 W27th St.
4th Floor
New York
NY 1000
Tue - Sat, 11am - 5pm
Right: 'Castor' - Robert Venosa - Oil on Canvas - 28 x 39 inches
‘Carnivora: The Dark Art of Automobiles’ from Barany Books
Themed art books can be a tough sell: where do they fit on the bookshelf? When more than one artist is represented, it gets hard to determine the best way to market such an animal: exploit the better known names? play up the variety? promise a new and unexpected treatment of a certain aspect of art? provide a unique insight into the 'post-romodern' life that we all inhabit?
'Carnivora: The Dark Art of Automobiles' on the new imprint Barany Books (more on that in a moment), does a very fine job of covering all the bases. The layout and design are flawless, and decidedly clever; it will appeal to the aesthetics of the visually inclined, as well as to the gearheads out there (which, apparently, has a great deal of cross-pollination). The look of the book is impressive: the cover is eye-catching and has a list of all contributors printed on the back. The sheer scope of the book - stated purpose of which is to explore our societal obsessive love and loathing with the modern chariot on a variety of fronts - is incredible, featuring not just masters of the recent past, such as H.R. Giger and Robert Williams, but also an amazing list of other established - as well as up and coming - artists between pieces of prose ruminating on the way cars have impacted everyday life.
Some of those ways, as the title implies, are not for the faint of heart…
The book is a companion piece to the C-Pop Gallery exhibit in Detroit of the same name, now moving on to Los Angeles, to L'Imagerie Gallery. Les Barany (the editor, and Giger's agent for some time now) has done a fine job in bringing together over 100 different artists and writers (and their perspectives) and creating a coherent, cohesive whole. A wide swath of different styles and techniques are represented: a cursory flip through the tome reveals cartoon, literature, photo-montage, sculpture, mixed-media, acrylic and oil painting and digital imaging, to name just a few. While some pieces work better than others, there is more than enough material to satisfy even the most discerning palette, be it a preference for modern, edgy, surreal imagery, dark landscapes or bizarre machine/human juxtapositions. There is a smattering of eroticism, but only a few true nudes; the sexual elements (perhaps wisely) are left more to the imagination - in the guise of some very good written memoirs - rather than presented in purely graphic terms.
Exceptional written works abound, and will ultimately change from person to person (or, for some folk, moment to moment), but a few are worth pointing out. Notable remembrances are on display from William Levy (intense and poignant), William F. Nolan (historical and wide-ranging), Steven Cerio (concise and quirky; he also contributed an interesting illustration), Rick Manore (thought-provoking), Carlo McCormick (pensive and introspective) and Daphne Graham (grueling and sad). Harlan Ellison is also accounted for, with his excellent short classic Along the Scenic Route.
The imagery, though, is where this volume shines, and there is no disappointing; it delivers on the questions postulated in the first paragraph of this review, and then some. Standouts include, in random order: Gregory Brotherton, Marshall Arisman, Zdzislaw Beksinski (middle right), D. Hwang, H.R. Giger (below right), Jason D'Aquino, Coop, Andre Lassen, Tanino Liberatore, Stanley Mouse, Robert Williams, J.K.Potter, Winston Smith, J.U. Abrahamson, Tomi Ungerer, Vincent Castiglia, Demetrios Vakras, Hugo Schuhmacher and Chet Zar. Remember, this is just the tip of a very large iceberg, but a helpful mini-biography section in the back places the contributors in good context, as well as offering the casual reader insight into their personalities, via the inclusion of their personal vehicles (or lack thereof!).
Overall, Carnivora has tremendous impact: whether the interest is cars, modern life, sexuality, death, consumerism, anecdotes about personal experiences or just awesome art, it’s hard to put down, and impossible to go wrong.
Joshua Liner Gallery's Inaugural Group Exhibition, "Locked and Loaded", is now open. The show runs from the 12th of April through until the 5th of May. The exhibition features artwork by Shawn Barber, Crash One, Mike Davis, Ron English, Jeremy Fish, Blaine Fontana, Futura, Robert Hardgrave, Naoto Hattori, Kenji Hirata, Zach Johnsen, Jessica Joslin, Josh Keyes, Koralie, Kris Kuksi, David Choong Lee, Travis Louie, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Chris Mendoza, Aiko Nakagawa, Pat Rocha, Greg "Craola" Simkins, Damon Soule, Stash, Heidi Taillefer, Ben Tour, Mark Dean Veca, and Oliver Vernon.
A selection of work from the exhibition is now available to view online.
Joshua Liner Gallery, 548 W. 28th Street, Suite 334, New York NY 10001
News from Ron English:
"Abject Expressionism" by Ron English (hardcover, colour, 184 pages)Published by Last Gasp
"Abject Expressionism is a comprehensive survey covering 20 years' of English's career, from staged photography to neo-Surrealist oil paintings to street art."
"Son Of Pop - Ron English Paints His Progeny" by Ron English and Justin Garcia (hardcover, colour, 98 pages)Published by 9mm Books
"Son Of Pop …showcases the source of his own artistic inspiration being his 2 children Mars and Zephyr English. Ron English’s progeny have starred in over 100 of Ron’s funniest and most satirical paintings from clowns to kiss kids, and super heroes to cartoon characters."
Comes with a CD of Songs sung by Ron English and his son Mars and daughter Zephyr English.
News from Siegfried Zademack:
Siegfried Zademack's solo exhibition will run from April 20th until May 12th, 2008, at Kulturhof Heyerhofen. Twenty-nine paintings from four decades will be shown at the exhibition. The opening reception will be held on April the 12th.
Visit Zademack's site for his online catalogue.
Kulturhof Heyerhofen
Heerstedter Muhlenweg 13
27616 Beverstedt (near Bremen)
Germany
News from Jessica Joslin:
"Curiosa"
Opening Reception: April 3, 2008, 7-9pm
Lisa Sette Gallery
April 5, 2008
4142 N Marshall Way
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Book signing for new book Strange Nature: April 5, 1-3pm
Hardbound, 152pp., 140 full-color plates
Exhibition now online at Lisa Sette Gallery
News from Mike Libby:
On March 28, 29 & 30th 2008, Insect Lab will have a booth at the upcoming CraftBoston show. CraftBoston takes place at the Seaport World Trade Center in South Boston. Annually during the last weekend of March, the show is the premiere New England exhibition and sale of contemporary art, craft and design. The show features 175 of the most outstanding artists of our time, showcasing one-of-a-kind and limited-edition pieces in baskets, ceramics, decorative fiber, wearables, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, paper and wood.
Friday March 28, 2008 10am - 6pm; Saturday March 29, 2008 10am - 6pm; Sunday March 30, 2008 11am - 5pm
Seaport World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02210
General Admission $15; Senior Citizens and SAC Members $12; Children 12 years and under Free
Special Group Discount tickets are available to organizations or social groups that purchase 10 or more tickets at the same time.
Press Release from Barnaby Whitfield:
31GRAND is pleased to announce Barnaby Whitfield’s third solo exhibition with the gallery.
Barnaby Whitfield, "Little Deaths, All The Same", March 20 - April 19, 2008, Reception: Thursday, March 20, 7-9pm, front gallery
In what he views as the final installment in a trilogy for 31GRAND; Whitfield’s Episode VI has the Ewoks drunk and randy with no sense of the impending tragedy, as water licks at their treetop climbing toes (except in Barnaby’s world the Ewoks are more likely to be Abraham Lincoln clones.) Narratives woven through the last two shows crash and burn, then intertwine again to take on new life in this boisterous suite of pastel paintings. Barnaby Whitfield considers his works on paper, paintings, as defined in this beloved and oft cited quote from the Pastel Society Of America “Generally, the ground is toned paper - if the ground is covered completely with pastel, the work is considered a Pastel Painting; a Pastel Sketch shows much of the ground. When protected by fixative and glass, pastel is the most permanent of all media, for it never cracks, darkens or yellows.” However he requests you do not ask him to quote it at the artist’s reception.
From lovingly using his art dealer to anthropomorphize the ‘Bird Flu’ to finding fictional passion with Hernan Bas on a men seeking men website, we continue to get amusing and rather untrustworthy glimpses into Whitfield’s experience in the art world. And besides an over all theme the artist states as “sexualizing the environmental crisis within the context of American politics” we also see the end to Barnaby’s quest for his real parents (Whitfield was one of those children that always suspected they were adopted even though they knew quite well they were not), and a startling turn of events in his ongoing Clonie series (a character created when the momentarily impoverished artist decided to sell nudes on eBay inadvertently gaining the attention of 31GRAND and being welcomed into the fold).
Never one to ignore a good bandwagon, this show is rife with imagery of Mother Nature’s rapidly declining health. It all comes
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