Sunday, November 20, 2011

"Quick & Painful" Reception Saturday, Dec. 3rd at Art Basel Miami

The "Quick & Painful" Art Basel reception will take place on Saturday, December 3rd from 8pm-Midnight at Art Whino: 425 26th Street in Miami, FL.

They will be releasing special tattoo inspired flash giclee prints by the World’s most popular lowbrow artists: Greg “Craola” Simkins, Alex Pardee, Amanda Visell, Brandt Peters, Camilla D’Errico, David Horvath, Devilrobots, Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, Junko Mizuno, Kathie Olivas, Pete Fowler, Ron English, Sam Flores, TADO, Tara McPherson, and Tokidoki co-founder and Creative Director Simone Legno.

$40 Tattoos will be provided during the reception by industry elites Joe Capobianco, Jesse Smith, Eric Merrill, Christian Perez, Scott White, and Jason Stephan.

The Gallery will be open for viewing during Art Basel:
Friday, December 2nd, Noon-8pm
Saturday, December 3rd, Noon-8pm (Show Reception, 8pm- Midnight: Live Painting, Tattoos, Music, Open Bar)
Sunday, December 4th, Noon-5pm


Thursday, November 17, 2011

The CanMans!!!

I had the honor of being a part of my friend Tyke Witnes' toy project, "The Canmans". Pose, Revok, Dabs and Myla, Alex Pardee and myself each had a go at designing one of these badboys. For more info on the project click HERE


POSE show this weekend

Pose along with KC Ortiz has a show this weekend at KNOWN gallery. Read below for details. I love Pose's work and am looking forward to seeing what he has in store for this exhibition. For more info on the show, read below:

POSE & KC Ortiz | Whitewash

Opening Reception Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 8‑11pm
On View November 19 – December 10, 2011

Known Gallery
441 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
T: 310-860-6263

On Saturday, November 19, graffiti artist POSE and photojournalist KC Ortiz will unveil Whitewash, their second exhibition at Known Gallery, and their most cohesive to date.

For POSE, Whitewash references society’s attempt to eradicate graffiti and stifle human expression. “Shortly after I started writing graffiti, Chicago took an extremely hard-line stance on its eradication, outlawing the sale of spraypaint and implementing Mayor Dayley’s Graffiti Blasters program,” POSE explains.

With this exhibition, POSE will recall a time before the buff. “I am digging into my fondest childhood memories of riding the train and seeing all the colors, letters and cartoon characters along the lines. Making these paintings has been an incredibly rich process, and it makes me thankful that no city official can eradicate my memories.”

POSE will show 15 new works in the main gallery. The work is rendered in his signature style—aggressive, hand-painted collages of pop-culture icons and ephemera—but feature deeper abstractions and new mediums. “I have six paintings on Plexiglass that were kind of an experiment,” POSE explains. “I wanted to be challenged by a new medium and process.”

For KC, Whitewash is about the people and places he photographs. “Much of the work I do covers those who have been ‘whitewashed,’ so to speak, by history and policy,” KC notes. “Specifically, the work I will be exhibiting is from West Papua and Burma. You won’t find either of those ‘nations’ on the map, as both have been essentially ‘whitewashed’ away. Burma has been renamed Myanmar by its ruling junta in order to establish the fantasy of a unified nation, and West Papua has been occupied by Indonesia since 1963 after a very controversial handover from the Dutch that was orchestrated by the United States.”

In the project room, KC will show 12 photographs of West Papua and Burma’s armed struggles. “The struggles are unified in their nature under the theme of resistance, the victimhood of whitewashing by the world at large, the beauty of their people, and the strength of the human spirit and dignity,” KC notes.

About the artists:

POSE
Hailing from The Windy City, POSE has made an indelible mark on a multitude of cities around the globe. Best known for his progressive letter style and technical precision, POSE is an influential contributor to the contemporary graffiti movement, and his work has appeared in numerous magazines, books and films. POSE grew up a half block from the CTA’s elevated train line, and started sneaking out to practice graffiti there in 1992. Coming of age during the golden era of Chicago graffiti, POSE put in endless work on the streets. His prolific output led him to become a local legend, and the city’s most internationally recognized graffiti artist. In addition to his achievements in graffiti, POSE set out to conquer every medium visual art has to offer—both on and off the streets. His artistic exploration led him to become a jack of all creative trades, with successful endeavors in the commercial and fine art worlds. POSE currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the acclaimed West Coast artist collective The Seventh Letter, as well as a founder of his own Chicago based design and art firm We Are Supervision. He has traveled internationally on his own and with The Seventh Letter, specifically to showcase his skills as one of the best graffiti artists out there. Almost two decades into his artistic career, POSE shows no signs of slowing down.

KC Ortiz
KC Ortiz is an award-winning, self taught photojournalist with a split base between his hometown of Chicago, Illinois and Western Thailand. Ortiz’s work focuses on the world’s forgotten and overlooked people and issues. He has covered conflict throughout Southeast Asia, focusing on the human suffering and the policies that enable conflict, as well as humanitarian issues throughout the world. The aim of his photography is to bring awareness to the masses of those that are suffering most, often times completely unseen by the majority. His work has appeared in A-Magasinet, Global Post, Juxtapoz, Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications across the globe. Ortiz’s work has been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries including The Newseum, The Corcoran, The Frontline Club, Known Gallery, Rivera and Rivera Gallery, Guerrero Gallery, and others. In 2011, Ortiz’s work was recognized with a first place award from the prestigious Pictures of The Year International.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

LAST WEEK for "Cute & Creepy"



Participating artists include Kris Kuksi, Elizabeth McGrath, Marion Peck, Greg "Craola" Simkins, Chris Mars, Laurie Lipton, Christian Rex van Minnen, Ray Caesar, Martin Wittfooth and MORE...

Exhibition catalogues are available from University of Washington Press here.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Travis Louie Exhibition

I am stoked on having my good friend Travis Louie staying with me this week as he prepares for his Exhibition at the renowned Merry Karnowsky gallery in Los Angeles this Saturday. Here is a sneak peak and a description of this show in his own words:
Merry Karnowsky Gallery Opening
Saturday Nov 12th 8-11pm
I'm exciting about these new artworks featuring characters with their unusual pets and their unusual circumstances. I"ll have a few of my new Uncle Six Eyes busts there as well.
If you are in the Los Angeles area, come down and take a gander.

gallery is located at
170 S La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Some details below

Wilbur and His Hypnotic Gaze

(Detail)
14 x 11” Acrylic on board
Caldwell had a bulldog named Wilbur who possessed a hypnotic gaze that increased perception as well as causing slight bouts of madness. When Caldwell spent too much of his time staring at his dog, he went into a trance-like state, where he was able to see more than one dimension. He could see the spirits of the recently departed as well as visions of a possible future. He never made the connection that it was only through his dog’s gaze that he managed to see his visions. Convinced that it was his one eye that allowed for the “sight”, he took out an ad in the newspaper. He became an advocate for monocular vision and attracted a cult-like following.

Herman and Morris
20x15 acrylic on board

Herman found his prized huntsman spider in the basement of his parents’ house. It followed him where ever he went for most of his adult life. He named it Morris because it reminded him of his Uncle Morris, who had long spindly legs and a strange gait that often confused people as to which direction he was about to step in.
Although it was common to have large insects as pets in this town, it was frowned upon to have an arachnid as a pet. When they would go for a stroll or take in a show at the theatre, Morris would hide in Herman's stovepipe hat and watch through tiny holes near the top of the hat band. Herman could even hear him clapping at the close of the each performance. It made him laugh out loud every time.
Herman and Morris(Detail 1)
Herman and Morris(Detail 2)

Oscar and the Truth Toad(Ted)
20x16 acrylic on board

In 1895, a large toad broke into Oscar's house. This was not an uncommon occurrence for Devonshire in the summer of 1895. Fore there had been a plague of toads that season, thought to be brought on by a curse. There was always some curse or misplaced talisman causing mayhem in that town. This incident, however, was very unusual in that the toad was enormous. It was the size of pig and seemed to speak a kind of gibberish that sounded like a child trying to mimic a foreign language. It held Oscar hostage in his kitchen for several hours while it appeared to be trying to tell him something. As Oscar attempted to make his escape, the toad would “speak” louder and raise its slimy hands in fist-like gestures and a curious motion resembling throat slashing. As the sun started to come up, the toad threw its hands up as if in disgust and made itself a home in the study of the house. Oscar was both terrified and mesmerized by the experience and decided to keep the toad, . . .or more or less let it go about its business as he had no control over what it had in mind. He started to call it Ted because it seemed to utter that name at the end of every “sentence”.


As months passed, Oscar started to decipher the strange language that his toad was speaking. He also discovered that Ted had a very special talent. His presence compelled people to speak the truth. Oscar, who was not very trusting of people, began to carry Ted around on his head so that no one would be able to lie to him. From a distance it appeared that Oscar was wearing a large turban and passersby would be startled when the toad would suddenly snatch a bird in flight with its tongue. At first, Oscar was empowered by his new found ability to keep people honest and learn their secrets. It wasn’t long before Oscar became very lonely as his toad made everyone uncomfortable. Remorseful and tired of carrying around such a heavy load on his head, he convinced the toad to go back from whence it came, or so he thought. Ted was actually quite frustrated with Oscar and wanted to leave anyway. Ted was never heard from again and Oscar had to undergo a year of speech therapy to undo the strange gibberish that he acquired.

see you there,
Greg Craola Simkins
p.s.whats with this guy!