One thing about Oakland, it’s a city that represents to the fullest. Want evidence of that? Just look at this show. Curated by a name you all should be familiar with, none other than Ken Harman, this is a show that celebrates and showcases artists from Oakland, Berkeley, and the greater East Bay area. They include the well-known, the emerging, and the soon-to-be stars. These include Monica Canilao, Skinner, Alex Pardee, Eddie Colla, and Mike Shine, just to name a few.
The exhibition can be viewed at 54 Washington St, Oakland, CA every Saturday and Sunday from now until Sept. 12. For more information, check out Spokeart.net
Upper Playground has just announced a surprise print release produced in conjunction with SA Studios and the Weinstein Company. “The Lost Art of Inglorious Basterds” will feature some of the heaviest hitters from the UP roster, including David Choe (featured), Alex Pardee, Jeremy Fish (featured) Sam Flores and many, many more. The giclee prints will be limited to an edition of only six per image, will also be signed by Quentin Tarantino and best of yet, all proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross for Haiti relief. Prints are available in person on a first come first serve basis this Thursday, February 18th at Upper Playground’s Los Angeles gallery.
Releasing later today is Alex Pardee’s “Digested Rainbow” giclee. “Digested Rainbow” was one of the standout pieces from his “Letters from Digested Children” show that we covered last year at FIFTY24SF. Limited to an edition of 50, the giclee comes signed and numbered and measures in at 17″ x 22″. Available sometime today through Hi-Fructose.
The motorcycle culture themed “Celeritasâ€Â show (previewed) and silent auction held last weekend at SURU in Los Angeles was a huge success, raising $66,000 for Riders for Health, a non-profit that funds the transportation of medical personnel to remote communities in Africa.
The centerpiece of the show was a 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa customized by Barry McGee coupled with a mannequin draped in styling Darren Romanelli fashioned motorcycle leathers. Accompanying this were a series of custom helmets from Alex Pardee, Audrey Kawasaki (interviewed), Estevan Oriol, Futura, James Jean (interviewed), Joe Hahn, Jim Lee, Jesse James, Jeff McMillan, Mark Dean Veca (interviewed), Mike Shinoda, Nathan Cabrera, Stash, Troy Lee and Usugrow.
We hope that the new owners of these pieces are planning to keep these purely for display purposes as they are much too beautiful to actually be used. Maybe a production series of artist-inspired helmets is in order? All the photos from the exhibition after the jump.
Motorcycle culture and fine art come together this Sunday, July 12 with “Celeritas,” a motorcycle culture themed art show for charity, opening at SURU in Los Angeles. The impressive lineup of artists will utilize elements from motorcycle culture as their canvases, including helmets, apparel and a 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa. All proceeds from the show will benefit Riders for Health, a non-profit that funds the transportation of medical personnel to remote communities in Africa.
Participating artists include Alex Pardee, Audrey Kawasaki (interviewed), Barry McGee, Darren Romanelli, Estevan Oriol, Futura, James Jean (interviewed), Joe Hahn, Jim Lee, Jesse James, Jeff McMillan, Mark Dean Veca (interviewed), Mike Shinoda, Nathan Cabrera, Stash, Troy Lee and Usugrow.
Get a peek at the rest of Jeff McMillan’s awesome helmet, one side shown above, and see what Alex Pardee, Audrey Kawasaki, Mark Dean Veca and Mike Shinoda came up with after the jump.
“Overdose” (previewed) opened this past Saturday at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica. Upon entering the gallery, you will notice several great pieces from “Overdose” on display in the gallery’s front room. The majority of the exhibition’s body of work is displayed in the gallery’s main room. A table was set up over in the smaller wing of the gallery for the Hi-Fructose Collected Edition 1 book signing. Artists Greg “Craola” Simkins, Gary Baseman, Attaboy, photographer Brian McCarty, and Joe Ledbetter were all on hand for the book signing. This was a truly enjoyable night for all that attended. Many of the artists stayed throughout the show opening to chat, sign books and even draw sketches. Copro Gallery even had an ice cream truck park outside and served complimentary mochi ice cream!
AM captured some nice moments of the opening. Click through and take a look.
After their highly successful group show last year, Hi-Fructose is back again with another exhibition, this time titled “Overdose,” opening April 4th at Copro Gallery. With a increasingly more respected reputation as one of the best publications in the scene, they been able to assemble a pretty amazing lineup. Sure to be one of the showstoppers is this huge 50 x 50 inch Chris Berens piece seen above. See some other preview pics as well as the full lineup after the jump.
“Movers and Shakers” (previewed) opened on Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles’ Chinatown at POV Evolving Gallery and AM dropped by to check it out. Some of the participating artists who also dropped by included Buff Monster, Johnny “KMNDZ” Rodriguez, Mia, and Tessar Lo, among others.
Ron English’s “Mythographic Vicissitudes” (previewed) and Alex Pardee’s “Letters From Digested Children” opened last night at Fifty24SF. English reinterpreted some “myths” with this body of work showing off his skills by utilizing different styles of painting. Alex Pardee took on the serious topic of missing children by creating a body of work showing children who are eaten by monsters. AM friend Rhinomilk was able to stop by and snap some pics for our readers.
The fifth installment of Vivisect Playset is opening up this Friday, December 5th at Gallery 1988 SF (7-10 pm). Luke Chueh (curator since 2004) has said this will be the second to last of this annual show (last one being next year). Also dropping will be the Greg “Craola” Simkins mini-print set that we had previously talked about - good luck for all those hunting the chase original drawings (example of this as well as full list of artists and preview images we have gathered after the jump)
Sam Flores, David Choe, Jeremy Fish and Alex Pardee were invited by Youtube in conjuction with Upper Playgroundto do some live-painting on a “cube” as a “pre-show” to the YOUTUBE LIVE concert in San Francisco a several days ago. The results were quite spectacular and unique. Check the video above and photos after the jump.
