Opening tonight, July 24th at the Congregation Gallery in Hollywood, CA is a group show entitled “The Black Plague Art Show”. Curated by Cam Rackam, this show has a very impressive lineup with new works from: Jason Soles, Buddy Nestor, Cam Rackam, Chris Peters, Christopher Conte, Dan Harding, Ian Ward, Sean Chappell, Terry Wolfinger, Vincent Castiglia, Lacey Bryant, Karl Persson, Nikko Hurtado, Larkin, and many more. Of course we all know the Black Plague to be one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, but one of the elements you will see in many of these works is the outfits the plague doctors would wear. It consisted of a wide brimmed hat (a signifier of being a doctor), a long black overcoat (to minimize exposure), a cane for examining and ushering people around, and most notable the bird’s beak shaped mask. This mask worked similar to a gas mask, as impure air was thought to spread the disease. The mask had red eyepieces, thought to block the doctor from evil, and the beak would be filled with herbs or spices that would reduce the smell and again block impure air.

It’s an outstanding show, and had me surprised quite a few times. Dan Harding’s new piece “La Bella Morte Nera” (or The Beautiful Back Death), is so amazing, his work just keeps getting better. I also liked Jason Soles “Bell Jar Baby” and various masks. Lacey Bryant also has some great, illustrative pieces that really take the idea of the Black Plague as inspiration. “A Surprise for Mum” has the rats that helped spread the plague, and “Pocketful of Posies” is pretty creepy as well. Take a look at the preview images here, and then head over for the full show.

Black Plague Art Show @ Congregation Gallery

This past Saturday at the Last Rites Gallery in New York, the Second “Flesh to Canvas” group show opened up. This years features work by Paul Acker, Alex Adams, Guy Aitchison, Nick Baxter, Aaron Bell, Paul Booth, Joe Capobianco, Joshua Carlton, Mike DeVries, Chris Dingwell, Little Dragon, Alex Garcia, Goethe, Gunnar, Anil Gupta, Ryan Hadley, Robert Hernandez, Phil Holt, Nikko Hurtado, Brian Murphy, Roman, Juan Salgado, Stefano, Toxyc, Kurt Wiscombe and Phil Young.
I was especially taken in with the paintings by Nick Baxter, Juan Salgado, and Nikko Hurtado’s amazing Medusa inspired piece.

Check out the show here: Last Rites Gallery

Here is the rundown of exhibitions opening this weekend. Ton of excellent shows.

Friday:
CAVE Gallery will be opening “Curious Oddities” with new work from Josh Taylor, Paul Chatem, Amy Botello, Apricot Mantle, Matthew Ryan Sharp and more.

Thinkspace Gallery has three big shows taking place. “Beneath The Seams” by Sarah Joncas, “The Conservatory” by Kelly Vivanco and in the project room “Portraits Of The Unknown” by Tran Nguyen. The shows are online and look fantastic.

Strychnin Gallery will be opening “Midsummer Nights Madness”, with new work from Brian Horton, Leslie Ditto, Edith Lebeau, Angie Mason, Kristen Ferrell, Oksana Badrak and many more

Roq la Rue will have “Best Loved Tales of Misery and Woe” by Travis Lampe and “About:Face” by Chris Crites

Saturday:
Exhibit A Gallery is opening “The Detournements of Wynn Miller”, in which the artists photos are reinterpreted by Shepard Fairey, Shawn Barber, Greg Gossel, Nate Frizzell and more.

POVEvolving will open “A Touch Of Evil” featuring new works and an installation from Attaboy

Cerasoli Gallery will host “Out Through The In Door” by Matt Phillips, “Some Are Here and Some Are Missing” by Mario Wagner and “Beyond A Shadow” by Seth Curcio

Black Maria Gallery has “Nights and Hunters” with new work from Ken Garduno, Jason Hernandez, Michael Hsiung and Sam Saghatelian. And the “Swoon” group show with works from Andrew Bell, Jeremiah Ketner, Julie West and many more

Billy Shire Fine Arts will be opening “Intemperance” featuring new works by Carrie Anne Baade

Last Rites Gallery will open “Flesh to Canvas”, a show featuring fine art from “a renowned group of tattoo artists” such as Shawn Barber, Paul Booth, Alex Garcia, Nikko Hurtado, Kim Saigh and many more

Shooting Gallery will open “Happy Endings” with new works by Greg Gossel. Right next door at White Walls will be “There’s Aliens In Our Midst” with new work from AJ Fosik as well.

Here is the rundown of shows this weekend:

Friday:
Rotofugi will be opening “Strange Happenings”, a group show featuring new work from Kelly Vivanco, Juri Ueda and Rudy Fig. The work looks amazing, Kelly Vivanco continues to impress me.

The Corey Helford Gallery will be opening “From Light Cometh Darkness” the latest solo show from Luke Chueh. “Dirty Pretty Things” by Thoman Han will be in the loft area.

Saturday:
Fabric8 will host “Back in the Day”, a group show about “reminiscing on their days of old” featuring Reuben Rude, Grant Gilliland, Ursula Young, Peabe and many more.

Lebasse Projects will have “Vous Avez Ete Juste Serve”, a group show featuring new work from Tessar Lo, Yoskay Yamamoto, Nate Frizzell, Edwin Ushiro, Melissa Haslam, Ryuichi Ogino, Jason Redwood, Brian Donnelly, Eric Fortune, Amanda Visell, Scott Belcastro, Jack Long and more. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this show has to offer, so many great artists.

The Gnomon Gallery as featured a bit back, will have “The Art of Sketch Theatre”. This show is going to be killer, raw sketches from Michael Hussar, Travis Louie, Gene Guynn, Nikko Hurtado, Shawn Barber, Greg “Craola” Simkins, Chet Zar, Mari Inukai and many more will be there to gawk at. If you get pics of the show make sure to share them with me.

Coming this Saturday, March 21st 7pm to midnight at the Gnomon Gallery in Hollywood is “The Art of Sketch Theatre”. This is a group show featuring work by all of the talented artists that have been seen in the videos on the Sketch Theatre website. This is really a unique website, as you get to see the way that each of these artists work; as the video goes by you see the artwork unfold right before your eyes and are reminded of just how skilled these artists are.

The exhibit will feature raw sketches by Michael Hussar, Travis Louie, Ana Bagayan, Chet Zar, Greg “Craola” Simkins, Monk One, Gris Grimly, Shawn Barber, Nate Frizzell, Nikko Hurtado, Luke Chueh, Gene Guynn, Jordu Schell, Molly Crabapple, Jeff McMillan, Mari Inukai and many more. Click the “Read More” link to see the rest of the preview images. Also, Michael Hussar has a new video on the site, of the sketch seen 1st below, it’s a great sketch and will be at the show as well. Check it out Here

Gnomon Gallery