Leslie Ditto is currently having a print sale over on her Facebook fan page. There is 8, 8″ x 10″ prints up for grabs at only $10 a piece or 3 for $25. The shipping for the prints is only $3 regardless of how many you end up getting. The sale will only last till the end of this week, Sunday November 13th, so make sure you head on over. Below is a few examples; Big Lebowski, Princess Bride, Alice in Wonderland and more.
On November 5th the Articulated Gallery in San Francisco opened the Spirit Board group show, curated by JL Schnabel. The show features a wide variety of artists all taking inspiration from the Ouija Board. Back in 20o8 Copro Gallery hosted Chet Zar’s “Taking Board” show and like many shows in Southern California, I wasn’t able to see the show in person. However, I do feel that the Ouija Board itself merits a few shows dedicated to it, so I was very happy to hear that Articulated would be hosting this show. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the reception night; I heard that many artists were in attendance and it was quite a night. I did stop by he next day so I could see the show, and took some photos and made another video walkthrough.
On November 3rd, Flatcolor Gallery in Seattle opened a duo show entitled MacDowell & Pagan’s Lowbrow Candy Store with new works by Dave MacDowell and Augie Pagan. This show is exactly as it’s titled, a caricature laden, pop-culture jabbing, color-filled lowbrow art fest by two brilliant artists. Dave brings more of his mash-up style paintings, with a new “Lebowski” themed piece, as well as another amazing Jack Nicholson portrait. Augie Pagan’s work focuses on individual characters, or a few at most. His colors aren’t as candy-themed as Dave’s work is, but it fits the content perfectly, and his style of caricature is very impressive. Just look at the Machete portrait seen below. The show will be on view until November 27th.
Over the past year, artist Paul Komoda has been dropping hints of his involvement in a new movie. Turns out that movie is The Thing, a prequel to the famous Carpenter film that gave me nightmares for the majority of my childhood. Since its recent release, Paul has finally been able to show to the world the creature creation drawings he did for it as well as some of the sculptures he and the crew worked on.
Paul is most definitely one of my favorite artists today. His imagination for monsters is hard to describe – they are beautiful creatures, either benign or horrific, that move on the pages on which they were drawn. It goes without saying that I was excited to find out what The Thing looked like before it hit the big screen where much of Paul’s designs had been animated into CG. This is really a perfect platform for Paul’s imagination. I excitedly contacted the artist to find out what goodies he had to offer to the blogosphere.
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Just a few days before Halloween, on October 28th, Last Rites Gallery in New York opened the 4th annual group show The 13th Hour. The gallery is known for consistently showing the best in dark and surreal art, and the 13th Hour is a show that focuses on dark surrealist works from a broad variety of artists. This year the list of participating artists included: Shawn Barber, Matthew Bone, Paul Booth, Colin Christian, Sas Christian, Jason D’aquino, Tom Gabriel Fischer, HR Giger, Fred Harper, Naoto Hattori, Michael Hussar, Joka, Sarah Joncas, Aunia Kahn, Michael Mararian, Chris Mars, Annie Owens, Chris Peters, Anthony Pontius, Dan Quintana, David Stoupakis, and many more.
Aside from the outstanding dark art shows the gallery opens month after month, I love the shows that feature dark works of art from artists that rarely contribute to these types of shows, and art from those you might not have expected, such as Self Deceased XXXII by Tom Gabriel Fisher — otherwise known as Tom Warrior of Celtic Frost fame and most recently Triptykon. Eli Livingston also created a sculpture, one that seems to be able to light up from the inside. leslie Ditto also created some prints from her painting Witching Hour, that might still be available from her Facebook page. If your in the area make sure to stop by and see these works in person, you have until November 27th. Otherwise the show is now online to view.
13th Hour @ Last Rites Gallery
Von Scaramouche added a new print by Saturno Butto to the online shop entitled “The Sisters”. The print is 22″ x 22″ Hahnemühle Fine Art Pearl paper with Epson Ultrachrome inks, signed and numbered in an edition of 50. The print will be $110 for the first day and then will jump to $125 the following day. This is an outstanding looking print, and it’s something that doesn’t come around very often as Saturno rarely releases prints. The bottom image shows a darker version of the print, but I am told that it is based on the photo of the print.
Check it out here: Von Scaramouche
Michael Ryan has been pretty busy in the past few months creating new work. He recently had a show at Modern Eden, and has also updated his webpage with new work. Head on over to his homepage to check out the new painting, three of which are seen below. I was very happy to see that he was still painting away, been a fan of his for a few years now.
Travis Louie will be opening an exhibit of new paintings at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles this coming November 12. Travis got the idea for this show of people with their extravagant pets a few years ago when he spied a book on tarantulas in a pet store. For those of you who know Travis’s work well, you’ll likely understand why the image of the book’s author in the back, proudly displaying his blue ribboned tarantula whilst donning a dapper blue tuxedo, inspired an entire exhibit of work. This exuberant-looking author was quite a character!
Don’t fret, Travis is still depicting Victorian-era portraits; there will be no leisure suits in this show. Perhaps you will see a fly with people eyes or a giant truthsayer toad…but I’m not allowed to confirm any of that.
Curious Pets will be on view from November 12 – December 10, 2011 with an opening reception on Saturday, November 12, 8-11pm. Travis is extremely excited about this exhibition. If you live in Los Angeles, don’t miss it!
On October 8th, Spoke Art in San Francisco opened the first solo show of New York artist Sam Wolfe Connelly. Having recently graduated with a degree in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design, it’s amazing that Sam already has a solo show, and a very strong one at that. He has previously shown work with Gallery Nucleus and Bold Hype, but this was his opportunity to show a series of works that will not only show his considerable talent, but the consistency, and cohesiveness. I stopped by the reception night, took a look at the works, snapped some photos, and was able to talk to Sam for a bit about his working process.
Dean McDowell has been a little quiet for the past few months, but he’s been busy creating new work and has just released a new limited edition print. Entitled “Autumn Shimmer”, this print is 13.7″ x 13.7″ on 350 gr Hahnemuhle paper, signed and numbered in an edition of 22. It is rare that Dean releases a print, so if you have been waiting for the opportunity to score work from this artist now is the perfect time.
Dean McDowell @ Little Gallery Amsterdam
1xrun is dropping a new print by Melissa Forman this Monday, October 24, entitled “She Who Flies With Cranes”. The print is 11″ x 15″, signed and numbered in a max edition of 45. Each print also comes with a certificate of authenticity. This is a beautiful print; I can’t remember a time when I saw a painting that captured the moment snow began to fall.
Get it here: Melissa Forman @ 1xrun.com
Metro Orange Art has just released two new prints by Leslie Ditto, that were released at the NY City Comic Con that took place this past Oct 11 – 14. The first print The Big Lebowski, is 12″ x 22″ on 100% cotton rag paper, signed and numbered in an edition of 100 for $60 each. The next print up is The Princess Bride which is 14″ x 22″ on 100% cotton rag paper, signed and numbered and also in an edition of 100 for $60 each.
Get em here: Metro Orange Art
