My recent visit to Philadelphia brought me to the studio of Jeremy Hush who is in the midst of preparing for a new solo exhibition, At a Loss for Words. Jeremy told me that this particular series of works revolves around dispassion; a lying down and giving up. Human figures are depicted white-eyed and comatose, half-buried in forest ground-cover decomposing into the earth. More sentient animals are seen investigating and, in some cases, nesting inside these abandoned idle human husks.
At a Loss For Words could be seen as being politically-minded or personal. The subject-matter is painfully truthful, but the visuals are, as is always the case with Jeremy’s work, elegant and intricate; the creatures delightful and hopeful. This series of works is thus mindful and, to put it plainly, stunning.
Jeremy sent me some photos for me to share, but I also took a few of my own, published below. All shots of the artwork are details or works in progress – I wouldn’t want to spoil them for you before opening night.
Taking place simultaneously with Borrowed Memories, a two-woman exhibition with Stella Im Hultberg and Tran Nguyen, At A Loss for Words opens on September 29th and will be on view until October 20th at Thinkspace gallery in Los Angeles.
continue reading «Jeremy Hush’s “At A Loss For Words” Sneak Peek»
Coming this Saturday, September 8th, to the Varnish Art Gallery in San Francisco is the debut exhibition For Smoke & Mirrors by Ransom & Mitchell. This SF based art duo includes Jason Mitchell, photographer-director, and Stacy Ransom, set designer and photo-illustrator. Since 2004 the couple has Purebred Studios, a still and motion production studio in SF, that along with client work also serves as the studio they use for personal projects. Not only do Ransom & Mitchell create breathtaking images based on artist they respect, they also share how these photos were created in a behind the scenes website they call Fake Believe. Fans are able to see that what they believed to be photoshop illustration in the image was in fact part of the set, or even a full costume that was constructed just for the shoot. While living in San Francisco for a short time, I was asked to stop by the studio and hang out while the the duo and their crew worked on a new artist shoot with Scott Musgrove. Below is an exclusive image of one of the final photos from the Scott Musgrove sitting. Read more for a breakdown of the days events, and more images of this upcoming exhibition.
continue reading «Exclusive Preview: For Smoke & Mirrors by Ransom & Mitchell @ Varnish Art»
Dan May added a new limited edition print to his online shop today entitled Moonlight Meeting. The print is 11″ x 11″ on Hahnemuhle German Etching, 310 gsm, signed and numbered in an edition of 45. The great thing about this piece, is that is signifies a change in Dan May’s work. The monster to the left showcasing the style we have seen in his paintings for years, and the figurative foreshadowing on the right side. His paintings are becoming more figurative lately, so this piece in a way visually shows this transition.
Get it here: Dan May Online Shop
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Martin Wittfooth in his studio to see how the paintings from his upcoming exhibition Empire were coming along. It was wonderful to see his working space and to get an idea of how his art comes together. Seemingly the ideal artist loft, the high-ceilinged room was flooded with sunlight from huge industrial windows typical of the art-centric Bushwick, Brooklyn neighborhood.
For this exhibition, Martin has created a number of large format paintings – in some cases larger than he’s worked before – to challenge himself and to excite everyone who follows his works. Much closer to life-size, they are meant to be immersive. His concepts have always been powerful, but in this larger scale he’s been able to exercise his metaphorical muscles, so to speak, giving his statements much more impact. His color palette has also lightened and diversified with this series, although his animalistic symbolic language remains familiar as does his brushwork.
This series explores the notion of empire through a contemporary lens, exploring such issues as the Occupy movement and the opium poppy trade in the middle east, as well as more universal notions such as mass-consumption and greed. To quote Martin, “Despite the protests of naysayers of the idea that the world of today is still largely in the grip and command of the empirical model, it is hard to ignore the lingering sense that history is simply repeating itself.”
Check out the shots of Martin’s studio and details of the new works below.
Empire will be opening on September 15th at Corey Helford Gallery.
continue reading «Martin Wittfooth Studio Visit and Empire Sneak Peek»
Tim Biskup has released a new print to his online shop, and while it is not the most affordable print, it’s one of the more interesting ones I have seen for a while. Doom Loop #19 is a massive 40″ x 30″ on 255g Somerset Velvet Paper, signed and numbered in an edition of 20 for $500 each. The polygon style that Tim is known for in many of his works, is really striking with this skull.
Check it out here: Tim Biskup Online Shop
San Francisco artist Robert Bowen, who also happens to have a feature spread in the August issue of Juxtapoz, has just released two new limited edition prints to his online shop. N.I.M.H. and Lucky Strike #5 Turtle Power are both 13″ x 13″ on velvet rag paper, signed and numbered in editions of 50 for $30 each.
Get em here: Robert Bowen Shop
The sixth annual Crazy 4 Cult group show opened this past week; the big change is that this time around it is in New York. There is a new lineup of artists with a good mix of new and returning favorites. Looking around the net there are stories of the long lines, people camping out to see the show, and an overall amazing night of art and cult movie entertainment. Just a handful of the artists that graced the show this year are Aaron Jasinksi, Allison Sommers, Casey Weldon, Cate Rangel, Chris B Murray, Dabs Myla, Fred Harper, Jason Edmiston, Lora Zombie, Sam Wolfe Connelly, and Travis Louie.
continue reading «Crazy 4 Cult: New York»
1xrun currently has a print available by San Francisco artist Serge Gay Jr. The print is entitled Joe Blow and is 17″ x 20″ on 330gsm Fine Art Paper, signed and numbered in a max edition of 30. The painting this print comes from was first shown at his Absolute Happiness show that took place at Spoke Art December of 2011 (featured).
Get it here: Serge Gay Jr @ 1xrun.com
On August 2nd, Gallery 1988 in Venice opened a three person show with new work from Jeff Boyes, Joshua Budich, and Jay Shaw. While it’s a good show, the work I was most interested in was the Sistine Pop series of prints by Joshua Budich. Taking inspiration from the Renaissance, an area of study for Budich, he looked at the Sistine Chapel, specifically the sloping areas in which the Prophets and Sybils reside. 6 screen-prints, each one 18″ x 18″ were created with the layout drawing from Michelangelo’s masterpiece, and the figures pulled from Budich’s love of pop culture and toys. It’s an amazing idea, and not only does Budich’s style work perfectly for this series, but I am not wanting to see the an entire Sisten Chapel style re-imagining by the artist. If you check out the artists website you can see some detail shots, and even a sketch of one of the pieces (here).
See the Full Show here: Gallery 1988: Venice
Scarecrowoven has just released a new print for all the classic video game fans out there. Wack-Man Fever is 18″ x 18″ on bright white cold press archival watercolor paper , signed and numbered in an edition of 30 for $35 each. Free shipping in the US for a limited time. Amazing looking print, and can you imagine how cool a Scarecrowoven version of Pacman would be to play?
Since the new job is taking up a good amount of my time, I have been pretty late on posting about some amazing shows and print releases lately. So a new category called “Short Links” will help me catch up, while alerting the fans of some must see art.
Aug 2: Joshua Liner Gallery opened their Summer Group Exhibition featuring the work of Alfred Steiner, Clayton Bros, Cleon Peterson, Damon Soule, Daniel Rich, David Ellis, Ian Francis, Jean-Pierre Roy, Kris Kuksi, Mars-1, Oliver Vernon, Pema Rinzin, Riusuke Fukahori, Tat Ito, Tiffany Bozic, and Tomokazu Matsuyama.
Aug 3: Stranger Factory opened Spirits, the latest solo show by Travis Louie. Resin figures, drawings, paintings, and some prints are all all view until Sept 3rd.
Aug 4: Thinkspace Gallery opened three shows with new works by Brett Amory and Adam Caldwell for Dirty Laundry, Paul Barnes with Nocturne in the project room, and in the office new works by Sean Mahan.
Aug 4: Copro Gallery closed two must see shows. Second Skin, a tattoo artist group exhibition curated by Chet Zar, with works by Alex Garcia, Mike DeVries, Paul Booth, and Shawn Barber to name a few; and in Gallery 2 Keith Weesner with Heathens Den.
The featured artist for August is now live, and I am very happy to announce that it is Christopher Ulrich. I have been a fan of his work for some time now and along with showcasing over 30 images of his work, we also have a short interview that talks about his working style, inspirations, and peek into his upcoming show at La Luz De Jesus this December. I would also like to thank last months featured artist Mia Araujo, her feature can now be found in the archives. Check out Christopher Ulrich here.
