Openings: Thinkspace Gallery @ Affordable Art Fair (Los Angeles)

Over the weekend, the Affordable Art Fair opened Los Angeles including a booth for one of the galleries exhibiting work – Thinkspace Gallery. The Culver City showspace presented work from a talented core of artists which they have worked with in the past and will certainly continue to do so in the future including Dabs Myla, Brian Viveros, Matt Doust, Linnea Strid, David Cooley, and Audrey Kawasaki to name a few.

Certainly, their booth was a stand out for those visitors who made it to the fair during this busy art weekend and if anything, this showing by the gallery gave the visitors a sign of great things to come for the next twelve months. In addition to showing works inside the fair space, Dabs Myla, who recently released a video documenting their December mural (covered), have once again painted a large scale wall specifically for the art fair.  Measuring 56 ft x 12 ft high, the project titled Just Breathe was among the event’s highlights and clearly a treat for those who attended for the event.

Check out pictures from the Thinkspace booth after the jump.

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“Fresh Kills” @ Anonymous Gallery (Mexico)

The Anonymous Gallery kicked off their Mexico City location with a bang with a recently closed group show – Fresh Kills. The title of the showing refers to the 2,200 acres in New York known as Fresh Kills Landfill that will be converted to a huge public park over the course of the next 30 years. The transformation of what was formerly the world’s largest landfill into something beautiful is a metaphor for the type of work the artists in this show do – taking materials that most would see as refuse or appropriation and contextualize those items in their artwork to create something new. With choice works from artists like Aaron Young, Barry McGee, David Ellis, Greg Lamarche, Richard Prince, Swoon, and Tom Sachs in this inaugural exhibition, the new showspace’s program is certainly one that AM will be following.

More photos after the jump…

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Streets / Update: Escif (Part II)

Guillotina

On a torrid pace since our update only a week ago, Spanish street artist Escif has uploaded many new walls for his fans’ viewing pleasure. Painting with imagery that possesses a simplicity yet curious touch that makes the viewer wonder what the back story is or what the artist is trying to get across, the Valencia-based muralist continues to plaster his homebase with his work, sometimes accompanied with a short phrase or word.

More photos after the jump…

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Streets: Shepard Fairey (Brooklyn)

After Shepard Fairey hit up the streets of Manhattan last summer, he made a stop in the borough of Brooklyn as well. AM rode along to catch Mr. Obey working spots both big and small while him and his crew went to work on their community beautification campaign. We saw him push through a number of mediums, from his detailed hand-painted wheatpastes to his newer stencils without tire.

Check out all the action captured for us by Joe Russo after the jump.

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Videos: Tim Biskup for Mastodon’s “Dry Bone Valley” Music Video

Continuing to show an appreciation for a genre of art that AM also appreciates, Mastodon recently released their Tim Biskup (featured) directed Dry Bone Valley music video from their album The Hunter (which featured cover design from A.J. Fosik). The video which premiered on Boing Boing, also featured animation and the signature pixelated creatures from the LA-based artist.

Discuss Tim Biskup here.

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Setup / Giveaway: Olek — “I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone” @ Tony’s Gallery, London

Olek is launching her first UK solo show this evening at Tony’s Gallery in East London. The wall-to-floor installation recreates living quarters, complete with bed, tables, picture frames and other domestic objects — all covered in brightly-coloured crochet. AM has been keeping track of progress over the last few weeks and we’re looking forward to seeing the finished result. The show’s title, “I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone”, quotes from an appliquéd blanket produced by Tracey Emin in 2002 and last exhibited at her 2011 Hayward Gallery retrospective.

We are rather fond of Olek. Whilst it may just be our outdated romantic notions coming to the fore, we’re drawn to passionate individuals who refuse to be slowed down by trifling matters like sleep deprivation and physical discomfort. Crocheting non-stop for hours on end, week after week, regrettably goes hand-in-hand with repetitive strain injury. Nevertheless, we do get inspired by the determination needed to push through such pain barriers to pursue and fulfil a creative vision. Artists, keep suffering.

We’ll cover tonight’s opening in a subsequent post. In the meantime, see additional setup and teaser photos, more rambling, and the details of Olek’s giveaway after the jump.

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Preview: KAWS – “Down Time” @ High Museum of Art

Continuing to raise his profile with each successive museum show (see The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth), Brian Donnelly, a.k.a. KAWS, moves on to his next stop – The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Down Time will feature a 22-foot-high, site-specific mural where visitors are invited to watch the street-turned contemporary-artist paint live over the course of a week in early February. Other highlights will include a 24-foot-long triptych hung in the museum’s Robinson Atrium, a gallery installation of paintings, drawings and sculpture featuring a grid of 27 tondo paintings, and of course his monumental Companion sculpture that has already traveled to Hong Kong, New York, and Connecticut.

Of note, the museum has added one of KAWS’ paintings to their permanent collection, which can be viewed as part of the exhibition when it opens on February 18th.  Down Time will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue and will also include a public program featuring KAWS and Michael Rooks in conversation at the Alliance Theatre. The program starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 16, as part of the High’s Conversations with Contemporary Artists lecture series. See you there!

More preview images after the jump…

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Releases: “Planet of the Apes” Print Series

Poster by Rich Kelly. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand Numbered. Edition of 320.

For the Planet of the Apes fans out there, Mondo will be releasing a series of posters created with this classic movie franchise in mind. Artists tapped to participate include Martin Ansin, Ken Taylor, Rich Kelly, Phantom City Creative and Florian Bertmer. The release (as a set) will happen online at a random time today, January 26th and individually on January 27th. As a bonus, if you purchase the entire set of five, you will also receive the “Go Ape!” poster by Jason Edmiston.

See the rest of the posters after the jump…

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Streets: Cyrcle. – “Winter” (Los Angeles)

Last time we saw the Cyrcle. crew working the streets, they created a large scale mural in Culver City (covered), the same spot occupied by such street art luminaries such as Herakut, David Flores and recently Dabs Myla. But now the trio of young artists have moved closer to the  Downtown area of Los Angeles and have finished another wall project which may not be as big as their previous one but one which strongly continues to uphold the strong thematic qualities they’re known for in their work. As part of L.A. Freewalls, this new project which took 3 days to finish is actually a long year project which they have begun by labeling it Winter and by featuring a young prince. We’re not really sure how the project and the wall will evolve over the next twelve months but it’ll be interesting to say the least.

More photos of the project and final look at the wall’s current state after the jump…

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Previews: “Resolve” Group Show @ Joshua Liner Gallery

Tony Curanaj

Tomorrow night, the Joshua Liner Gallery will host the opening of a group exhibition, entitled Resolve. The show consists of an impressive list of twenty-two painters, two sculptors and one photographer, personally selected by gallery artist Tony Curanaj with a focus on artistic skill and the realistic depiction of the figure, still life and landscape. Artists include such notable names as Shawn Barber, Kim Cogan, Jacob A. Pfeiffer, Michael Grimaldi, David Kassan and Kris Kuksi, among others.

Check out a few more preview images, after the jump.

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