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Last Rites Gallery is pleased to announce its 5 Year Anniversary Show that will feature over forty works of art by a selection of its acclaimed roster of artists. April 13—May 18, 2013. Opening Reception: Saturday, April 13, 7pm – 12am Continue reading
beinArt Publishing is very excited to announce the release of Chet Zar‘s long-awaited art book, “Black Magick: The Art of Chet Zar” which is now available for purchase online via our distributor, Last Gasp.
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The Art of Dr. Seuss
RARE EDITIONS EVENT
Animazing Gallery
July 14th – August 19th, 2012
Exhibition Features Rare Editions from “The Art of Dr. Seuss” collection
NEW YORK, NY – From July 14th through August 19th, Animazing Gallery of SoHo will present “The Art of Dr. Seuss – Rare Editions Event.” Celebrating the artistic legacy of Theodor Seuss Geisel, twenty-four of the most sought-after artworks will be presented at the gallery with recent releases from The Art of Dr. Seuss collection, offering a rare opportunity for visitors to view and experience one of the largest selections of authorized estate editions ever assembled. This exhibition offers an insider’s view of the extraordinary imagery reproduced from Dr. Seuss’s private collection of paintings and sculptures created throughout his 70 years of artistic innovation.
About the Exhibition
For over 70 years, Theodor Seuss Geisel’s illustrations brought a visual realization to his fantastic imaginary worlds. However, his artistic talent went far beyond the printed page. Ted Geisel’s “Secret Art,” the paintings and sculptures created at night for his own personal enjoyment, were rarely exhibited during his lifetime. Seuss always dreamed of sharing these works with his fans and had entrusted his wife, Audrey, to carry out his wishes once he was gone. Audrey, too, believed the work deserved further recognition and that Ted himself would one day be evaluated not only as an author, but also as an artist in his own right. In 1997, this dream was realized when The Art of Dr. Seuss project was launched. For the first time, collectors were able to see and acquire artworks reproduced from Geisel’s original drawings, paintings and sculpture. Audrey Geisel (Mrs. Dr. Seuss) remarked in 2010, “It is with great pleasure that I share Ted, his art, his imagination, and his boundless creativity. I’m gratified to carry out Ted’s wishes and have these works revealed to the world.”
Since the historic launch of this project, over thirty editions of Arabic numbers have sold-out, fifteen others are quickly approaching sell-out. This exhibition presents the largest selection of rare estate editions ever assembled. Artworks from this collection have toured to galleries and museums around the world, establishing Dr. Seuss as a significant artist of the 20th Century.
About the Artist: Theodor Seuss Geisel (American, 1904-1991)
Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, began his career as a little known editorial cartoonist in the 1920′s. His intriguing perspective and fresh concepts ignited his career, and his work evolved quickly to deft illustrations, modeled sculpture and sophisticated oil paintings of elaborate imagination.
Dr. Seuss is currently best known as one of the most beloved and bestselling children’s authors of all time, having written and illustrated classics such as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and How The Grinch Stole Christmas! Geisel was also a political cartoonist for PM magazine during World War II, as well as a contributing illustrator for Vanity Fair and Life. He had a long, successful advertising career, he was an Academy Award winner for his wartime documentaries, as well as his animated short film, “Gerald McBoing Boing.” Today his paintings hang in fine art galleries along side Old and Contemporary Masters including Picasso, Warhol, Rembrandt, Miro and others.
His unique artistic vision emerged as the golden thread which linked every facet of his varied career, and his artwork became the platform from which he delivered 44 children’s books, over 400 World War II political cartoons, hundreds of advertisements, and countless editorials filled with wonderfully inventive animals, characters and clever humor. Geisel single-handedly forged a new genre of art that falls somewhere between the Surrealist Movement of the early 20th Century and the inspired nonsense of a child’s classroom doodles.
Opening Reception – Saturday, July 14, 2012 at 7:00-9:00pm. Ace Gallery Los Angeles.
“I fear death and oblivion the most, which is why I try to capture, on paper, the fleeting horror and wonder of being alive.”
- Laurie Lipton
Laurie Lipton thinks in images and renders her psychically rich inner world visible via detailed pencil on paper drawings. Throughout her work, Lipton complicates conventional notions of the grotesque by intertwining elements of beauty, domesticity, humor, horror, life and death. Lipton’s curious assemblage of characters, their expressions and her use of chiaroscuro settings re-articulate the knowable world.
Lipton reveals the ways in which typically mundane objects and relationships are rife with peculiarities and absurdities by imagining machines as living and breathing entities with functioning arteries and, conversely, by imagining humans as extensions of machines unable to function as simply human. When Lipton gives a conventional 1950s housewife a clown face or makes skeletons the drivers of automobiles that go nowhere except “Round & Round” she challenges superficial intelligence and conformist associations.
Ace Gallery is host to Laurie Lipton’s “L.A. Sous-Real,” an exhibition of the artist’s most recent drawings. With an understated elegance and savvy innocence, these works exemplify Lipton’s technical prowess and depict her bizarre encounters upon relocating back to the United States from London.
Laurie Lipton was born in New York and began drawing detailed images at the age of four. She was the first person to graduate from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania with a Fine Arts Degree in Drawing (with honours). She has lived in Holland, Belgium, Germany, France and London. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the USA.
On view through September 8, 2012
Ace Gallery – 5514 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (Between La Brea & LACMA)
One hour complimentary parking during the day with validation available from 10am – 6pm (immediately behind the gallery between Dunsmuir and Burnside)
“Beauty… It’s not pretty”, is a US National juried exhibition being held at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts in Tracey, California. Kris Kuski is acting as the grand juror for this exhibition and will hosting a gallery talk at the centre on Friday, July the 13th. The opening reception and awards takes place this Saturday, June 18th.
beinArt: “Beauty… it’s not pretty” is such an interesting title. What does it mean to you and what do you find beautiful?
Kris Kuksi: Beauty is very subjective. There are certainly typical beauty standards out there but I know I my experience I didn’t pay too much attention to them, beauty for me is the mystery, the rarity, and the intellectually induced. Which according to the mainstream beauty standards might be well considered ‘odd’. I would chose cloudy cold weather on a rocky cliff as more beautiful then a sun soaked beach in 100 degree plus weather. I’d notice a nerdy young woman with geeky glasses over a rail-thin model-like blonde woman. And I certainly like pinned insects on my wall rather than a bouquet of flowers. But what do I know about beauty?
beinArt: How did you come to be the Juror of this show and can you tell us about your experience doing this?
KK:I was contacted by William Wilson from the Grand Theater there in Tracy, California about judging this show he had in mind. Without any hesitation I agreed and after the call was announced I received the entries and chose the best ones I felt that best related to the theme of the show, and I was really entertained by the selections! It is very hard however to choose the best, and there were some that I felt didn’t make the cut not for any technical reasons but merely just from what I felt didn’t fit for the concept this show was about. There are also pragmatic reasons, the size of the venue, and the size of the works. So there are some real challenges as to who go about in a freely unbiased approach to judging a show.
beinArt: Can you tell us a bit about what is on the horizon for your own work.
KK: I’m always dreaming up new ideas and always feeling what is happening in the world and seeing it show up in my work. I try not to be too descriptive or be too hard on myself when it come to art. But I am trying new arrangement ideas and showing in some great spaces around the US and Europe here soon.
Copro Gallery presents “Motherland”, Annie Owens latest body of work inspired by the 
nagging desire to connect with her roots and the various encounters along the way. Here represented, are pictorial encounters with a great aunt’s hair exaggerated by the passing of time, the daily sarcastic mocking of crows, a wary seamstress or the excavations into humid southern origins. An affinity for old creaky houses stems from an early admiration of the stylings of Edward Gorey, Charles Addams and early Tim Burton animations. The nurturing mother is symbolized by the figure of a house, a thread which runs rampant in much of Annie’s work where the house is often shown as the iconic figure and not as background and often depicted floating through the air, ragged roots trailing behind. This is evident in the series “Dear Dario,” a tribute to Dario Argento’s film trilogy which loosely represents the Three Mothers otherwise known as the three graces or three evil witches: “Mother of Tears”, “Mother of Sighs” and “Mother of Shadows”.
THE ACE IS WILD – MU PAN – RICHARD KIRK – JOHN HAVERTY
Three artists – Mu Pan, John Haverty and Richard Kirk show us what they can do with a ballpoint pen, ink, watercolor, a few brushes and some paper. A very unique show with some drawings up to 12 feet in length ! WWW.Copro Gallery.com
Annie Owens “Motherland”
“The Ace is Wild” Web-Preview Exhibit runs; June 16 – July 7, 2012 Copro Gallery – Bergamot Station / 2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404 / Ph 310/829-2156
TABOO GROUP EXHIBITION
NEW YORK, NY (July 7th, 2012)- Last Rites Gallery presents Taboo, a group exhibit of works by artists in the beinArt Collective, guest curated by Jon Beinart.
Opening Reception: July 7th, 7-11pm Show Runs: July 7th thru August 1st, 2012
“Works featured in this exhibition explore the theme unashamedly, fearlessly and sometimes with humour. Breaking the “taboo” is usually considered objectionable by society, whether it be a violation of something held sacred or a threat against traditional beliefs. In a society run riot with political correctness, this exhibition has given an exceptional group of artists a forum to challenge, surprise and even confront the public.
Each artist has been selected for their ability to express themselves imaginatively with exceptional technique and uncompromising individuality. The beinArt Surreal Art Collective is testimony to a huge international movement of figurative artists who have resisted current trends in the art world and remained true to their artistic vision.” – Jon Beinart
Artists Include: Dave Cooper, Chris Mars, Chet Zar, Peter Gric, Saturno Butto, Turf One (Jean Labourdette), Carrie Ann Baade, Naoto Hattori, Gregory Jacobsen, Scott G Brooks, Barnaby Whitfield, Scott Scheidly, Dan Ouellette, Matt R Martin, Billy Reynolds, Bruce Eichelberger, Larkin, Lily Mae Martin, Sandra Yagi, David Choquette, Charles Pfahl, Vincent Castiglia, Hector Javier Ramirez, Beau White, Jana Brike, Jeffrey Richter, Dietmar Gross, Rachel Bess, Jeff Christensen, Sarah Petruziello, Alexandra Manukyan, Steven Kenny, Ville Lopponen, Jason Montinola, Lee Harvey Roswell, Karl Persson, Alejandro Barron, Erik Thorsandberg, Fred Harper, Stephanie Henderson, Macsorro, Heather Nevay, Craig LaRotonda, Caitlin Hackett, Ben Smith, Stephen Somers, Dale Keogh, Murielle Belin, Rory Coyne, Sean Chappell, Rodrigo Cifuentes & Kikyz1313
Last Rites Gallery
511 W 33rd Street, NYC
+ 1 212 529 0666
info@lastritesgallery.com
Dave Lebow’s End Time Visions opens at La Luz de Jesus Gallery on Friday, June 1 as part of a three-person show with Jason D’Aquino and Jaime Zacarias aka GERMS. End Time Visions is influenced by the biblical story of Revelations, which is a subject matter that he started exploring when he was recently commissioned to paint seven pictures for a popular TV show. Those seven paintings will be in the exhibit with many more paintings that follow this theme albeit a little more obliquely.
Dave answered a few questions about the show, his inspirations and process.
beinArt: You have a rich color palate throughout your pieces but of special note are your flesh tones. What inspires and how do you achieve these rich tones on the bodies of your subjects?
Dave Lebow: For years I’ve been painting from life and putting down on canvas the notes of colors as I observe them on the live model. For the End Time Visions paintings I had to draw on my knowledge and memory of the flesh tones as I used black and white photographic reference which I shoot myself from my models. I find that black and white photos free my mind when choosing color and help me make more creative choices. I also at times diverge from lifelike color and try to create an interesting color harmony, for this I make numerous preliminary color sketches before I begin the painting.
bA: Your pieces mix inspirations from old masters and surrealism. What and who, as far as the technical art of painting, are your influences?
DL: I look at many painters for inspiration; so many that I can’t list them all here. I look to many of the “golden age “illustrators like Harvey Dunn, Mead Schaeffer, Norman Rockwell, Frank Schoonover and Howard Pyle. I like a lot of the illustrators that did pulp covers as well, like Ward, Saunders and Rafael de Soto. I also love many of the 19th century painters — some of my favorites are Duveneck, Sargeant, Whistler, Chase, Sargeant, Degas and Tissot. I love many living painters;; Burt Silverman, Harvey Dinnerstien are big influences as well as James Gurney and Donato Giancola. Basically I love realism in a painterly style. For a macabre or strange feeling in subject matter I really love Heinrich Kley and Gustove Dore.
bA: What are your thoughts on Revelationsversus the end of the Mayan Calendar?
DL: I don’t really believe in Revelations or any of that doomsday stuff. I thought it was fun to imagine all this wildness but I don’t really think there are demons flying around or that the end is near in a supernatural way. I do have a hard time not imagining strange scenarios and images as they seem to well up out of nowhere for me at any time.
bA: Take us through your process; where do your pieces start? When you are doing a body of work, how much energy / thought do you give to the preparation? What is your average day like when working on a show? When do you know you are finished and ready to ship a show to the gallery?
DL: First I make lots of thumbnail sketches and notes of ideas I have for the piece. Once I have a sketch that turns me on in an abstract design way and seems to tell the story, I proceed to the next step which is to hire my models and shoot reference. I shoot hundreds of photos for one story telling picture. Then I create a charcoal comprehensive of my preliminary sketch using my reference. Basically this is the painting but in monochrome. I work out all the drawing and compositional problems at this stage. Then I create color sketches, sometimes three or four before I get my color idea set. Then I start the final painting. I usually work every day, except Sunday which is a family day. I was pretty obsessed with this show and worked all the time and pretty much drove my wife crazy with my ups and downs. I get really hard on myself when I’m painting. I basically decided to paint many more paintings than we needed for this show and I had (La Luz de Jesus gallery director) Matt Kennedy help me pick the best ones to illustrate the show theme.
bA: How do you conceptualize the play between foreground and background in your pieces.
DL: Well I try to make the scene look as convincing as possible. So I try to find reference for the background whether it’s a building, drapery, cityscape or landscape. Many of these pictures in this show have a dark void as the background; it’s just a foil to make the figure stand out.
Dave Lebow End Time Visions
Jason D’Aquino Phillumeny
Germs Jaime Zacarias Fo Sho
June 1 – 30
Opening Reception: Friday, June 1st, 8-11 pm
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90027
323-666-7667
info@laluzdejesus.com
Naoto Hattori‘s “Mind Portrait” is a series of painted portrait snapshots with a bizarre mixture of aliens, strange animals and classical art reinterpreted and rendered in painstaking detail. Naoto’s brand of surrealism is both captivating and fun and never disappoints. Check out the rest of the paintings and if your in Los Angeles May 19 stop by Copro Gallery to meet Naoto who has flown in from Japan to attend the opening!
Naoto studied graphic design in Tokyo before moving to New York to study at the School of Visual Arts where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration in 2000. As well as painting, he works in editorial, CD and book covers, flyers, posters, skateboard and snowboard design. Hattori has received awards from the Society of Illustrators and the New York Directors Club
Matt Dangler‘s “Center Flame” is a collection of new oil paintings inspired by a mixture of zen, old masters and surrealism. Check out the full online preview and if your in Los Angeles come to the artist reception.
MONZUKI observes “The beauty of his surrealism is captivating. There’s so much information and story behind Matt Dangler‘s characters. The environment, lighting, costume, composition, color, even down to the wrinkle on their faces, are all carefully and consciously planned.
Saturday, May 19 @ Copro Gallery – Bergamot Station - 2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404 Ph: 310/829-2156
Benefit Party to Rebuild The Morbid Anatomy Library
Date: Saturday, June 30
Time: 8:00
Admission: $30
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
On Good Friday, 2012, The Morbid Anatomy Library suffered a deluge; a fire in an upstairs gallery set off the sprinkler system, dousing the library below and destroying many books and artifacts.
On Saturday, June 30th, come join Observatory and The Morbid Anatomy Library for a star-studded resurrection spectacular featuring Evan Michelson of TV’s “Oddities,” cult writer and luminary Mark Dery, our friends at The Midnight Archive, Absinthe compliments of Le Fée, music from The Thigh Highs, and artful gifts from Kikkerland. There will be also be a scintillating silent auction of taxidermy, artworks, specimens and ephemera, music from the Thigh Highs, and much, much more. If you are interested in donating books or artifacts–or time and/or talent for the benefit!–please email morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.
If you can’t make it to NY for the event – you can donate here
Read more about the disaster here.
