On August 2nd, Marcas Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, CA, opened a show entitled “Perverse Foil” which features new works by Dan Quintana & Karen Hsiao. There isn’t a web gallery for viewing the work, only a pdf catalog. While the images are not as large and high-res as I would enjoy, the show is well worth checking out. If you are in the area, the exhibition closes on August 31st.
On August 2nd, 2014, Gauntlet Gallery in San Francisco opened a group show entitled “Contemporary Contemporary”. which features up and coming artists paying homage to artists from the past 50 years. It is no doubt that present day artists are inspired by those early contemporary artists such as Lichtenstein, Warhol, and even street artists like Banksy. The show features new work by Adam Ziskie, Bethany Marchman, Brooke Grucella, Cam Floyd, Christopher Blackstock, Dan Christofferson, David Blake, David Natale, Emily Burns, Epyon5, Famous When Dead, Gene Guynn, Graham Curran, Isaac Pierro, Jason Hernandez, Jimmy C, Johannah O’Donnell, JoKa, Jonny Ruzzo, Justin Hopkins, Kareem Rizk, Kieran Collins, Marcos LaFarga, Michael McConnell, MJ Lindo, Mr. Frivolous, Robert Bowen, Ruben Ireland, Serge Gay Jr., Shannon Freshwater, Syd Bee, Vincent Cacciotti & William Arvin. The exhibition will run until August 19th, take a look at the preview below and off to the gallery’s website for more: Gauntlet Gallery
For the past year and half, Tom Bagshaw has been working on a inspiring project entitled “The Black Lodge”, setting out to create a series of portraits that would only be available through his online shop. Along with the framed, one-off digital prints, there is also a limited edition book available with the collected series of portraits and additional complimentary works. The book is limited to an edition of 100 and is numbered, signed, and embossed. The following is an intro by Tom about this exciting series.
The whole project really came about as an experiment to see whether I could get some volunteer models for my work via Instagram. I had a rough idea that I wanted to produce some darker themed portraits, and finding suitable models always causes me no end of problems. So at the beginning of January 2013, I put up an ad on Instagram asking for some volunteers for the project. I was pretty amazed by the response; I ended up with 800+ people putting themselves forward over a weekend! After 48 hrs I went through every single picture and profile and selected a group of models, thanking everyone else for volunteering.
I sent each of the models a rough sketch of a pose and got them to take some basic photo reference shots. Then I went ahead and started working on one portrait at a time. Obviously, because it was a personal project I had to fit it in around commissions and exhibition work. To produce the 18 portraits, together with 5 complimentary pieces, it ended up taking a year and a half. The main idea was to produce one off portraits that would be sold via my online store rather than as a gallery exhibition, purely in an effort to create works that would (hopefully) be within reach of a wider collectors market. I also wanted to produce a show catalogue or book that would collate the series, essentially making mini prints available to those who could not afford or missed out on the framed works.
In the end I was able to produce a 7×9.25″ perfect bound book, with a soft velvet laminate and spot UV cover, more than I originally intended but hopefully people will like it! The framed works, along with the book will be launched on the Mostlywanted Shop on the 1st August, I’ve had a lot of fun doing this project and am really pleased to see how well things are being received so far!
Take a look at the preview below; order and see the rest of the series here: MostlyWanted
Opening this Friday, August 1st, at La Luz de Jesus in Los Angeles is a new solo show entitled “Profanity Pop” by José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros. As stated on the website “Mythology, Religion and the representation of power have manifested in all of the great works from antiquity. With Profanity Pop, Rodolfo pays tribute to specific historical works that have inspired many generations. Universal themes are once again narrated by beloved animated characters, but in the guise of the divine and with all the fragility of martyrs. Away from the paradise of happy endings, the pastel sprinkled drama takes on a vulnerability that juxtaposes subversively with situations never similarly interpreted.”
I believe this will be the third time Ontiveros will exhibit a series of works at the gallery. There will be a few works from previous shows, but the majority of paintings in this exhibition will be new. I love the tribute to Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, seen at the top. Here is a small preview of some of the works. New works by Allison ‘Hueman’ Torneros, JINX, Katherine Brannock, Frank Forte, and Sean Stepanoff will also have new works on view as the The Laluzapalooza Jury Winners. Take a look at the full show here, and if you are in the area make sure to stop by. This exhibition will run from August 1st – 31st, 2014.
Mikey Please is an animator working out of London, UK. He has created some amazing stop-motion animations for such clients as Zombigotchi, Brooklyn rock band TV on the Radio, DragonFrame Stop Motion Animation Software, and more. His 2011 thesis “The Eagleman Stag” won him a BAFTA Award, and he recently started Parabella Studios with award-winning animation director Dan Ojari.
His latest short film is entitled “Marilyn Myller” that I am happy to share. The blurb on the website reads: “MARILYN IS TRYING REALLY HARD TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT IS GOOD. FOR ONCE HER EXPECTATIONS AND REALITY ARE GOING TO ALIGN, PERFECTLY. NO, IT WILL BE EVEN BETTER THAN SHE IMAGINED. IT WILL BE EPIC. IT WILL BE TEAR JERKINGLY PROFOUND. IT WILL BE PERFECTER THAN PERFECT. NOTHING CAN GO WRONG.” At first read the viewer might guess that this short will have a great deal to with art, or the creation of art, and not just in the fact that Mikey Please is using creative lighting techniques and foam to make this short. Marilyn is the artist, and by the end of this short I felt quite a few moments that resonated with what it is like to be an artist, how it feels. The end was not as I expected, but again was a situation that many artists have talked about and have maybe dealt with.
if you check out the short on the Parabella Studios website, you can see some links to some reviews, one of which is by The Creators Project and even has some video showing how some of the effects were made.
I admit that I watched this short about 5 times. It’s not only impressive in how fluid the animation is, the fact that Mikey Please used foam, but the music and energy in this short is well worth watching many times. Excited to see more by Mikey Please and Parabella Studios.
Yang Xueguo is an artist out of Kunming, China. He uses Photoshop to create these intense digital paintings that is sure to make any fan of surrealism happy. I was able to find an interview with the artist from 3DTotal that mentions that along with creating art, he is also a teacher at an art university in Yunnan Province. Not surprising to fans of surrealism, Yang Xueguo states that the art of Zdzislaw Beksinski and H.R. Giger had a huge influence in his work.
See more of his work on CGSociety and Deviantart
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Erik Jones opened his debut solo show “Motion” on July 5th at Hashimoto Contemporary, a new gallery by Spoke Art’s Ken Harman. This show features a new series of works that “investigates form, both abstract and figurative, through a unique combination of hyperrealism and geometric expressionism.” Each painting employs the use of materials such as colored pencils, acrylics, oils, and wax pastel. Even in the photos seen below the texture of these materials is present, and is a nice juxtaposition against the photorealistic models intwined in color and abstract geometric patterns. I was happy to see that not only was there work with figurative elements, but also some abstract pieces that centered around color and shapes.
I would have loved to see this show in person, but I imagine after such a strong debut show, this is not the last time we will see Erik Jones showing work at this gallery. Keep with up with new work, prints, and social updates on Erik’s homepage Theirison.com, and check out the rest of “Motion” here: Erik Jones @ Hashimoto Contemporary
You may have noticed the Creep Machine has been redesigned. The website is now easier to navigate (hopefully), is responsive so that you can enjoy on it your smartphones, and continues our tradition of focusing on the artwork that inspires us. We hope this new layout aids in your viewing pleasure, and most importantly exposes you to some new art and artists.
First, we have a new custom-made logo by the typographic mastermind Chris Parks from Pale Horse Design. Chris was amazing to work with and exceeded my expectations of what the Creep Machine logo would look like. Since the beginning of the site back in 2007, I have relied on free fonts to create the logo for the site, and while some of them looked pretty good they were in no way unique or truly represented what this site aims to be. This new logo finally does this. You can now see it on all of the various social media outlets for the Creep Machine, and we will also have this logo available on apparel in the near future.
The other major graphics change is the background image. Previously we used damask patterns offered on free stock sites, or canvas textures we photographed. It was time for something unique. Joshua Harker created a pattern that fits the site perfectly and shows off that amazing style he is known for. Again, this exceeded my expectations and I hope you enjoy staring at it as much as I do. Love the ‘CM’ he was able to fit into the design.
If you have been following us on Facebook, Twitter, or the new Instagram profile, you might have seen a post talking about a magazine from the Creep Machine. This was a goal of mine years ago and I am now working on the first edition. I will have some more details later, in the meantime please enjoy the new site, share it with your friends, and check us out on one of the many social media profiles you can find us on.