On Thursday night, Tomokazu “Matsu” Matsuyama (interviewed) opened his latest solo show, “In Case You’re Lost”, at San Francisco’s Frey Norris. The vibrant collection of paintings, sculptures, and installations, consisting of what we affectionately call the “2.0” era of Matsu’s exciting career, were welcomed by the enthusiastic bay area crowd. As hinted in our studio visit/preview, these new works boldly elevate Matsu’s already keen eye for colors, geometrics, and abstract concepts/characters to a new level. We also enjoyed the various mediums and sizes of the […]
Toronto-based artist Tristram Lansdowne (featured) opens his New York – and United States – solo debut “Refuge” this coming Saturday, February 13th, at Joshua Liner Gallery in the heart of Chelsea. The exhibition follows his recent solo show with LE Gallery in Toronto last year (see our coverage here) and we’re definitely enjoying Tristram’s vision of the defaced and derelict, along with the surprises that may lie within or beneath the surface. AM caught up with Tristram and put some questions to him ahead of the […]
We recently caught up with LUDO, a Parisian street artist we told you about last year, for an interview session to learn more about him and his work. We talked a little about his recent series of street pieces entitled “Nature’s Revenge,” his background and techniques, and some exciting news about his first solo show – all this and more after the jump…
Since 1975, BMW has commissioned many legendary artists to add their vision of automotive design to their renowned “Art Car” program, some of which we saw on a visit to LACMA. From Andy Warhol to Alexander Calder to Roy Lichtenstein, each iconic artist makes their own unique artistic twist on the “Ultimate Driving Machine”. And for the 17th edition, Jeff Koons was selected to participate in this storied tradition. To celebrate, Jeff opened up his studio for a rare peek into his Manhattan “factory” located […]
One month in and the art world is in full gear as we kick off the month of February. There are literally dozens of amazing noteworthy shows going off this weekend and next the world over. Two of the shows we’re most excited about here at AM is the return of David Choe (featured) to SF this Friday at FIFTY24SF and the west coast solo debut from Tomokazu “Matsu” Matsuyama (featured) at Frey Norris, also in SF… so needless to say SF is the place […]
As AM was perusing the various booths at Art Los Angeles Contemporary, we ran into a painting by a instantly recognizable artist, lusted over by many a street art collector. That painting you see above is a 36″x48″ by José Parlá and it was prominently featured at the Otero Plassart booth. After discussing the piece with the gallery representative, we learned that the gallery owners are friends with Mr. Parlá and luckily for Southern California denizens, there is a good chance his artwork could now […]
January jump started 2010 with a flurry of art that kept us busy and entertained. To get you caught up, the staff at AM picked some of the freshest stories for another edition of Second Helpings. Get served after the jump.
We recently stopped by Hiro Kurata’s studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to get a sneak peak of what he’s been working on for his upcoming two-person show with Tat Ito (featured), entitled “From Kojiki To Modern Heroism,” which opens February 13 at Joshua Liner Gallery. Kurata, who was born in Osaka, Japan, and raised in Tokyo and Chicago, has been based in NYC since studying illustration at Parsons in the mid-00s. Since then, he has shown steadily in Japan and the United States, most recently in […]
A new piece from Gaia recently went up around North Ave and Pennsylvania in Baltimore. Continuing his biblical-themed series of work, “St John” appears to combine a variant of his “Deny Me Three Times” rooster with the beheaded John the Baptist (not sure how Peter’s denial of Jesus relates to the beheading of Jesus’ cousin, but we’ll ask Gaia the next time we see him). We have been anticipating this going up as we’ve seen him working on this piece on his flickr for a […]
Los Angeles-based artist and AM friend Roland Tamayo is set to open his part of a four-person show at Gallery 1988 in SF this Friday night, February 5th (7-10pm). The show entitled “Whispers” will also include Tin (interviewed), Kendra Binney, and May Ann Licudine. We took some time to talk with Roland to learn more about him and this new body of work. He tells us that he finds beauty in both nature and in what man can create leading to a juxtaposition of both […]
This past Saturday night, AM had the chance to tag along with British contemporary icon Damien Hirst at his opening at the Gagosian Gallery (Madison Ave). As stated in our preview, the show titled “End of an Era” was exactly that – an end to a highly notable period of Damien’s infamously publicized career where he made headlines with awe-inspiring and highly controversial achievements in the art world. This show contained the last of many prime examples of the British Bad Boy’s most renowned and infamous works – important iconic achievements […]
Since the big LOST premiere is tonight for the 5th and final season, we thought we would take this opportunity to introduce you to some of Scott Campbell’s always entertaining work. Fans love his well thought out watercolors because the content often includes clever inside jokes and the fact that his work is so simply addictive. Take a look at this example from one of his most popular series, “Showdowns”, where he references pop culture, frequently from the movie or TV realm, and paints confrontations […]
