Over the weekend I check out a couple of shows in San Francisco, one of which was Kista Huot’s solo show “Nepenthe” at Gallery 1988. I wanted to see the work in person like I always do, andI had a feeling that Krista’s work looked different in person. Her colors are far more vibrant in real life, and you can really get close to see all of the drybrushing found throughout her work. She also varnishes each painting so photos often wash out the painting, and doesn’t show the gloss that is achieved. Krista was there for the reception, so I was able to talk with her a bit about her work, materials and inspirations. I won’t go too into detail as I will have an interview on the site with Krista in the coming weeks. So hit the more link and see more images, and a little bit of what Krista had to say.

This past Saturday, December 12th at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City the “Multi-Plane” group show opened up. For the past few weeks I have been seeing some previews of some of the pieces in the show, one of the great reasons to check out artists blogs now and again. The idea of the show is that “Each of these paintings is an original work created on two layers of glass and a masonite panel background, emulating the multi-plane process developed by animators in the 1930’s to create depth in animated features. Each surface is separated by 3/8 of an inch and the entire painting is housed in a custom-made frame.”

Click the read more to see more images and short review of the show. After that head over to the site and check out the rest of the show:
Multi-Plane @ Corey Helford

Over the weekend Roq La Rue opened “Requiarium” with new art from Brian Despain and “Saints and Angels” by John Brophy. This is one of those shows that makes me wish I either lived closer to the gallery, or was able to take a quick trip there. Both artists are exceptionally talented, Brian Despain’s robots are uniquely his own and John Brophy’s portraits and the Flemish style method to his paintings had me hooked from the start.
Ever since I first saw the “Madonna and Horsefly” print at the gallery I have been a big fan of John’s work. His art is a perfect blend of classical and surreal, these new paintings are just another example of why he is an artist to keep a close eye on. It’s hard to pick which one out of the amazing lineup of paintings is my favorite, but “Nessarose” (which happens to be the name of the woman who becomes the wicked witch of the east in Wicked) is the painting that mesmerizes me to the most.

Roq La Rue keep son churning out some of the best shows you can imagine, make sure you stop by the site to see this months offerings. Brian Despain & John Brophy @ Roq La Rue

On Friday Eclectix Gallery opened it’s Fourth Halloween themed group show, “Dementions”. There were 50 artists participating in the show, Dan Harding, Scott Hove, Sean Chappell, Brooke Kent, Jackie Gallagher, Buddy Nestor, Dean McDowell, Isabel Samaras and many more. This was the first time that I had been to the new location of Eclectix. The space is much bigger with the shop downstairs and the gallery space upstairs. The weather that night wasn’t that bad, but upstairs in the gallery the temperature was that of a hot summer day. So it was a good idea for me to take a break outside, get some fresh air and wait for the crowd to cool down anyway.

Just this past month Sylvia Ji had a solo show in London, and of course I wasn’t able to go to that one no matter how much I would have wanted to. Emma Mount attended the reception, and I was able to get some pictures and a little write-up from her. Thanks Emma!

‘Nectar’ is LA artist Sylvia Ji’s first show in the UK running 03.09.09 – 27.09.09

Stolen Space Gallery is sited in the Brick Lane area of London, a vibrant East End hub of fashion and art, the area has an eclectic mix of many curry houses (thanks to its Bangladeshi community) alongside vintage bric-a-brac and retro clothing stores.

I have long been a fan of Sylvia Ji, and not sure I would ever get to see her paintings first hand I was full of anticipation. After a couple of wrong turns in which we discovered some outstanding graffiti, we finally happened upon this tucked away gallery. The gallery is a very basic small open white space, but as such all the better for being able to take in all these works in one glorious view on entering, and we felt we’d found the Holy Grail.

This past weekend I made my way down to San Francisco to cover the Zine Fest at the County Fair Building for SFWeekly. I had a blast at the Alternative Press Expo last year, and was looking forward to seeing more independent zines as well as some new art. It was a lot smaller than the A.P.E and I was told the turnout was pretty low this year. It only took about 30 minutes for me to quickly check out every booth. Just by canning the work I could see what I wanted to take a closer look at, and get a feel for what the Zine Fest was all about. I have a full rundown of the event over at SFWeekly.com.

Zine Fest @ SFWeekly.com

During that weekend I checked out the Shawn Barber and Moki exhibitions, I was also able to swing by Fifty24 SF and see the solo show of El Mac. I had seen the work online and being a fan of figurative art I was quite taken with it, as well as interested in how he creates these amazing portraits with spraypaint. The Fifty23 blog has a few videos of El Mac working on the outside mural here. Each one of the burlap paintings took up most of the height of the wall, it was pretty striking to see the art consume that much of the gallery space. There were also two prints for sale in the back, the largest one “Songs of Songs” was sadly all sold out.
I was definately an impressive series of paintings, if you happen to be in the area I recommend stopping by and taking a look.

Additional photos @ Upper Playground
Videos of El Mac painting

Right after seeing the Moki exhibition I swung by the Shooting Gallery to check out Shawn Barber’s “Tattooed Portraits” series. His last solo show was the “Tattooed Portraits: “Los Angeles” at the Billy Shire Fine Arts over a year ago. In that show he had a few watercolor paintings of artists hands, I was looking forward to seeing some of those here, but regardless I was happy to see these new works.

I took a break for the weekend the visit some family as well as prepare for the next semester of school that is quickly approaching. While I managed to miss a couple of show openings, I was able to swing by and check out the art on my way home. The first show that I saw was the solo exhibition of German artist Moki at the Jack Fischer Gallery.

This was the first time that I have been to this gallery, it looked nice inside the building it was in but the whole setup was not as laid back as many of the galleries I visit. I was looking forward to seeing this artists work in person, as the pictures I have seen on the net look amazing, but I wanted to see in person how good these paintings really were. I have read a few criticisms that state that Moki needs to mature a bit more in her work, and possibly become more cohesive, I couldn’t disagree more. This body of work was not only extremely impressive, but was also better than many of the shows I have seen this past year.

Ben Tour’s latest solo show “Crash & Burn” opened at the Joshua Liner Gallery this past July 11th. I have always been a big fan of his work, and have to admit that his use of the materials has played a role in the development of my own little artworks. In an article over at Toonhound, the author states that ink in Ralph Steadman’s hands was a life giving fluid. While I agree with this, I also feel that Ben has the same ability with the variety of materials he uses. Whether it is spray paint, ink, markers or crayons, Ben seems to be using them less a means to simple place an image onto paper or wall. The materials are more like components, each one fills a specific role and all work together to permanently embed the emotion you see in these figures.

The work for the show is online, and available to pick up. Ben Tour @ Joshua Liner
Images of the show can be seen on Fecal Face