Arrested Motion

Joe Ledbetter kicked off his “Amalgamation Tour” last week at the London Miles Gallery.  During this five city European event, Joe will be showing at five different galleries in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Istanbul (details here).  For his UK fans, he brought a mostly new body of work which encompassed paintings, drawings, prints, and various art products - including the release of the European variant of his new Terror and Magnus toy.

More photos after the jump…

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Gary Baseman, Ron English, David Horvath, and Joe Ledbetter gathered together for a special live-drawing event during STGCC (Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention).  These are all artists we follow here at AM, but are recognized as toy designers in this setting, so fans were out in full force to watch them draw and reprise some of their favorite characters.

More images after the jump…

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AM dropped by Copro Gallery this past Saturday night to be at the openings of our friends Joe Ledbetter (above) and Nathan Spoor (below).  Ledbetter’s “Death & Taxes” show opening drew an impressive crowd. In addition to displaying a wonderful new set of paintings, Joe unveiled his new book “Creatures of Habit.” As an added bonus, Joe also offered his fans many of his older art prints and vinyl figures. This was no secret however, as fans lined up outside of the gallery as early as 8am for a chance to purchase some of these highly sought after items. Spoor presented his newest work just a few feet away in the gallery’s other room. Upon entering this room, you will see the ominous glow that much of Spoor’s work always seems to have.

You will see all of this in the pictures we’ve included after the jump!

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“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.

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“Nobody walks in LA” is a show that will be exposing some Los Angeles based emerging artists to the Barcelona art scene put together by our friends over at Daily Dujour and Tina Ziegler from Atticus Gallery BCN. Artists include Amanda Visell, Derek Albeck, Edwin Ushiro, Jack Long, Jeremy Lynch, Joe Ledbetter, KMNDZ, Mike Shinoda, Nate Frizzell, Nathan Ota, Randy Noborikawa, Scott Belcastro, Tessar Lo (seen above), Tiffany Liu, Tom Haubrick, and Yoskay Yamamoto. Take a look at the full list of artists after the jump as well as some preview pics.

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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)

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Palm Springs will play host to Joe Ledbetter’s solo show “Hunters and Gatherers” tomorrow night at M Modern Gallery. His usual cast of characters play out the multiple stories and interactions that he creates for them. He seems to have moved away from the lighter faded linework that he had been experimenting with in previous shows and again is painting with stronger silhouettes. Some selected pieces after the jump.

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Day 2 of Baby Tattooville kicked off with a presentation by Murphy Design and then moved on to a talk with Bob Dob and Joe Ledbetter about the process of art toy making.

Bob Dob described his toy as having three different expressions and holding three different vices.  Once of which was getting drunk…on milk LOL.  His contribution to the “goodie bag” for participants were a special customized “black eye” Luey toy one lucky recipient gets a Luey with TWO black eyes).  He also let us in on a little secret project that he was working on which was a clear Luey with a visible skeletal version of Luey seen inside.

Joe Ledbetter’s contribution to the event was his vivisect playset toy that was a collaboration with Craola. He will also be signing each box personally for us.  Most artists have seperate sculptors who do their 3D work for them but Joe related that he does rough sculpts HIMSELF to help with the turnaround images that they have to produce to help make each toy.

More photos after the jump.

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The second annual Baby Tattooville is fast approaching (October 3-5). This unique event, billed as a “limited edition retreat for artists & collectors,” has grown on us and Arrested Motion will be on hand to cover the event. The idea was for 50 paying attendees to spend the weekend participating in scheduled activities (panels, workshops, etc) and to socialize with the event’s artists. This year’s featured artists are Ana Bagayan, Glenn Barr, Dave Cooper, Bob Dob, Joe Ledbetter, Brandi Milne, Daniel Peacock, Shag, Amy Sol and Michael Whelan. Some of last years artists such as Luke Chueh and Jeff Soto should be returning as well.

Last years artists with their collaborative painting. Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Luke Chueh, Gris Grimly, James Jean, Frank Kozik, Lola, Tara McPherson, Ragnar, Jeffery Scott (1019), Jeff Soto and Amanda Visell.

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