Once again, it’s my favorite time of the year, and a new edition of the Creep Machine Halloween feature. This year we have art by Jason Edmiston, Travis Louie, Dan Harding, Ego, Scarecrowoven, Ken Garduno, Jackie Gallagher, Tom Haubrick, Matthew Bone, Chris Mars, Jacob Bannon, Darwin Enriquez, Matt Buck, Patrick Fatica, Tom Bagshaw, Chet Zar, Apricot Mantle, Brian Smith, James Groman, and Fernando Carpaneda.
On October 6th, the WWA Gallery in Culver City opened a group show entitled “The Noise In the Basement”. Overall the work in the show is good, however what stood out the most for me was the art of Joka. I have seen his work for a while now but was really taken with these new pieces. Every painting by Joka is created with the use of toothpicks, so in the style of the pointallists during the late 1880s, Joka goes even further and uses toothpicks in a technique he calls “hyperpointallism”. The works are colorful and have multiple layers. Pointallist works tend to blend smoothly when you are at a certain distance, and then break into the dots that create them, but with Joka’s work the closer you get you see the dots, but there is so much more there that it ends up creating this dense texture. In a way it reminds me of the grain found in certain types of films with a high iso. It looks amazing. Head on over to Joka’s Homepage for more, and then over to the gallery for the rest of the show.
Philadelphia artist, Paul Romano, previously mentioned on The Creep in 2011, just opened an exciting solo exhibition of new artworks at Articulated Gallery in San Francisco. Entitled Little Battle, it is a series of pieces that utilize an eclectic combination of symbols to explore the day to day challenges we endure. It is an exhibition of love and loss, hope and growth.
LEVELER Media created a wonderful video of Paul working in his studio. It’s quite lovely, complimenting the mood of Paul’s artwork quite well. Go check it out here and, if you’re in San Francisco, don’t miss seeing the show which will be up until November 1.
Mike Correll currently has a Kickstarter campaign going in order to raise the funds needed to make his documentary on artist Chet Zar. Entitled “I Like to Paint Monsters”, this introspective look into the life and art of this inspiring artist, will give fans a closer idea of what drives him to create the work he does, and what it took to get there. The campaign is doing very well, and has around 21 days to go, with a closing date of October 12, 2012. Take a look at the video, and then head on over to the page to see how you can help.
Alix Sloan of Sloan Fine Arts and AFA Gallery are about to open their newest group exhibition entitled Awakened with an absolutely amazing roster of artists. This exhibition’s focus is on the powerful and positive impact pets have on our lives and in our homes. Prints by Nicoletta Ceccoli, Tom Everhart, Shepard Fairey, Camille Rose Garcia, Daniel Merriam and Marion Peck will be available in a live auction, led by celebrity pet advocate Pia Salk, during the opening reception. To boot, this exhibition will be celebrating the release of Alix Sloan’s new book, Pet Sitter: A Jenna Stack Mystery, which she wrote with writer and journalist Amy Eyrie.
A portion of all sales from the show, including book sales, will be donated to AdoptApet.com, North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption website, to help support the organization’s mission of finding homes for wayward creatures.
Scroll down for a little peek of the artwork that will be on view. Participating artists include:
Jennybird Alcantara, Jessicka Addams, Nicole Alvarez, Nana An, Jean-Pierre Arboleda, Carrie Anne Baade, Rebekah Bogard, Mia Brownell, Tim Burton, Bill Carman, Bryan Cunningham, Jason D’Aquino, Michelle Doll, Peter Drake, Nicole Etienne, Tom Everhart, Eric Finzi, Marc Finzi, Erik Foss, Camille Rose Garcia, Theodor Geisel, Kady Grant, Leontine Greenberg, Linda Griggs, Gris Grimly, Evan B. Harris, Jason Holley, Anthony Iacono, Kate Javens, Lisa Lebofsky, Travis Louie, Julia Marchand, Elizabeth McGrath, Daniel Merriam, Gabriela Mesa-Jonassen, Scott Musgrove, Kathie Olivas & Brandt Peters, Joshua Petker, Ransom & Mitchell, Kirk Reinert, Martha Rich, Paul Richard, Ron Richter, Chris Roberts-Antieu, Jean-Pierre Roy, Jonny Ruzzo, Isabel Samaras, Charles M. Schulz, Ryan Scully, Maurice Sendak, Heather Sherman, Nathan Skiles, Sally Sloan, Aaron Smith, Owen Smith, Nathan Spoor, Jonathan Viner, Melanie Vote, Lindsey Way, Casey Wedlon, Eric White and Brad Woodfin.
The show opens this Thursday the 20th, however the opening cocktail reception takes place on the evening of the 22nd. If you plan on attending, RSVP is required: rsvp@afanyc.com. Hope to see you there!
Michael Hussar has dropped his second limited edition print of 2012 since Modern Devotional back in February (featured). This print entitled Red King is 12.5 x 9.5″ inches, signed, numbered, and titled in an edition of 88 and also comes with a certificate of authenticity. As with most prints I have seen by Birdbath Publishing, this print is sure to look outstanding, is on top-notch rag paper, and presented and shipped in the best way possible.
Also, for fans that happen to live in London — or can simply fly over there — on Sept 28-30th, Michael Hussar will be at the 8th International London Tattoo Convention. On Saturday, Michael will be giving an “Alla Prima” painting demo, so if you have ever wanted to see Hussar paint in person, and paint in the Alla Prima fashion which is simply “at once”, make sure you are there. Otherwise he will be at another location following the convention. Full details on the site here: London Tattoo Convention.
For the Red King print, that can be found here: Red King print by Michael Hussar
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.
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.
I tend to be a bit of a hermit, and even though I lived in San Francisco I didn’t make it to as many art shows as I would have liked. If I remember correctly Stacey Ransom contacted me, stating that she had been a fan of the site for quite some time. Coincidentally Stacey has her own art blog entitled Ransom Notes that I have read on many an occasion. I was excited to act as a fly on the wall, and see how this dynamic duo worked to create these images. I am no slouch myself when it comes to photoshop, and am a big fan of photography, so this seemed like a great chance to observe as well as learn. However, it is days like this when you learn, maybe you aren’t as good at photoshop or photography as you thought. While Jason Mitchell is the photographer/director, and Stacey Ransom is the set designer and photo-illustrator, there is a also big team that goes into these shoots. Make-up, assistants for set design, assistants for lighting, etc. I think in this age of people using photoshop, people tend to think that many simply shoot photos, make sure they are ok, and then go into photoshop and make them better. That is not the case here, and I was very happy to see that even though Stacy is an expert level user of photoshop, what you think might be digital illustration in the images, is in fact part of the set, or part of the costume. It was very clear shortly after I arrived, that the goal of Ransom & Mitchell, is achieve a high level of production from beginning to end.
When I first showed up on the set I met Stacey and Jason for the first time, both very nice, and the crew was happy and very excited to be working on these shoots. Luckily for me there was a great spread of food, which was good since I didn’t eat. When I walked into the set I could see two separate setups, and after an explanation by Stacey, these two sets would soon become one in the final image. Lighting equipment surrounded the area, and Scott Musgrove was being prepared, make-up and costume, for the beginning of the shoot. Stacey took me on a tour of the studio, which included the offices upstairs and a small museum in progress of artifacts, costumes, and accessories that have been featured in previous shoots.
After the initial setup, there was a round of photos taken to see if everything was going to be in the right position. Even in these beginning shots the lighting was perfect. Scott was brought to his seat, and then a round of photos to make sure a perfect images was taken. In between these shots there was constant tweaking, of the lighting, the set, additions the set such as more moss on the books, or moving frames so that they line up perfectly. It was a pretty long process. I was impressed that while it was a very long day, the energy was still there, Scott was a champ about sitting there so long, and everyone was onboard for the goal of having the best images possible so that the the final could be produced. Once the shoot was over, Scott Musgrove would fly back to Seattle, and it would be too hard to fix anything that was not captured that night, besides just the set. So it was important to get the best images they could while Scott was there. Along with the large image of the two sets, as seen, another photo was taken that was more of a personal photo. Closer, and included two of the animals found in Scott’s work.
Seeing how meticulous the art duo of Ransom & Mitchell are, I knew the solo exhibition at Varnish Fine Art was going to be amazing. This Saturday fans will not just see photos, but images of well respected artists rendered in environments that their own art and the minds of Ransom & Mitchell have created, The gallery itself will be transformed, with details added on the walls specific for this show. Images of artists such as Jl Schnabel, Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins, Alex Pardee, and more. The reception is from 6-9pm, and the show runs until October 27th. Cartwheel Art has a great interview to read (here), and make sure to stop by the artists website for more work and info.
Ransom & Mitchell
See more images, and even setups of the gallery over at the Varnish Fine Art Facebook Page. All behind the scenes images courtesy of Shaun Roberts.
