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Category Archives: Studio Visits

Studio Visits: Retna

AM rarely experiences the sensation of studio envy, but the pang certainly hit us upon arriving at Retna‘s abode and work space. It was pretty much a “Holy Guacamole!” moment. And we don’t even like Robin. The studio in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles apparently measures some 3,500 square feet. We immediately knew it would be perfect for the AM team training sessions in preparation for the international synchronised hula hooping championships. Unfortunately, Retna wasn’t very keen on the idea of subletting to […]

Studio Visits / Preview: Ernesto Yerena Montejano – ‘GANAS 2020′ @ White Walls Gallery

Some weeks back, AM spent time with Ernesto Yerena Montejano at his garage studio in Los Angeles. Over the course of three and a half years, until summer 2009, Yerena worked as an artist assistant for Shepard Fairey at both Studio Number One and Studio Number Two (featured). We were able to have a look around as he now prepared for GANAS 2020, his debut solo show which opens this Saturday, November 13th at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco and runs until December 4th. The exhibition is named after a fictional community-based movement Yerena has created […]

Studio Visits: Hush – “Found” with White Walls in New York

Hush (interviewed) has been locked away in a brand new, and as you can see from our picture above, pretty cavernous studio space preparing for his debut New York showing next month. “Found” is a new body of work building on the themes revealed at his sold-out exhibition in San Francisco with Shooting Gallery which was entitled “Passing Through”. AM called into the studio to see the work in progress earlier this month and we were impressed by the variance in scale of the work […]

Studio Visits: Greg “Craola” Simkins @ Gallery 1988

With Greg’s exhibition opening this Friday night at G1988LA, we decided to drop by Greg’s studio two weeks ago to see how everything was coming along. Greg was finishing up one last painting and everything else was pretty much complete and AMAZING. In addition to a great new body of work, there will be a new print release along with an exclusive release and signing of Greg’s new book “Drawn from the Well”. This is definitely going to be a great one. We will see […]

Studio Visits: Faile – “Bedtime Stories” @ Perry Rubenstein Gallery Part 2

In part one of our studio visit to Faile’s Williamsburg workshop, we showed you the digs where the magic happens and also took a close look at the uniquely crafted building blocks that form their new works. In part two, we dive deeper into the imagery for their Perry Rubenstein Gallery show “Bedtime Stories” opening this Thursday. The studio seemed like a children’s playland as everywhere we looked there were stacks of beautiful square and rectangular blocks dissected from completed paintings/silkscreens. The Patrick’s affectionately called the […]

Studio Visits / Preview: Brian Donnelly – “Obedience & Savagery” @ Show & Tell Gallery

Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto continues its program of exhibitions exciting to us at AM with local boy Brian Donnelly’s second solo exhibit with the gallery opening on November 5th, 2010. “Obedience & Savagery” picks up where 2009’s “Blasphemies, Monstrosities and Other Perversions” left off, with Brian’s unique grafting of animal appendages onto human forms forming the basis of the work. Brian’s beautifully rendered figurative works hang in a background environment of negative space, which establishes an indication of the duality that the work […]

Studio Visits / Preview: Faile – “Bedtime Stories” @ Perry Rubenstein Gallery Part 1

2010 looked to be a light year for the Brooklyn collective known as Faile (featured). Initially it was just a simple show at a “little gallery” known as Gagosian. Then in Feburary, a hand crafted arcade experience popped up in London. By Spring they created a new arcade show in NYC. Summer brought them to PortugalArte ‘10 where they installed an iconic “temple” in vintage Faile fashion. Between all that, they somehow found time to put together a book and hold a popup shop in the […]

Studio Visits: Nick Walker – “In Gods We Trust” @ Art Sensus Gallery

The time is almost upon us for the opening of Nick Walker’s latest London solo exhibition “In Gods We Trust” at Art Sensus Gallery. AM almost spat our tea when we opened the envelope containing the invitation to the exhibition this week – the lavishly produced document is printed in gold leaf and apes the style of what is surely the most widely dispersed of books familiar to many a traveller – the Gideons Bible. Expect political and religious satire to run throughout the show, […]

Studio Visit / Preview: Augustine Kofie – ‘Retrofitted and Other Forms of Vintage Futurism’ @ White Walls

Last month, graffiti writer, illustrator, designer and fine artist Kofie’One / Augustine Kofie kindly granted AM access to his studio spaces in the Filipinotown district of Los Angeles. Kofie was preparing for “Retrofitted and Other Forms of Vintage Futurism”, his debut solo exhibition at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco which opens on Saturday, October 9th. Those familiar with Kofie’s work will immediately recognize his new canvases. They’ve retained the style which has become his trademark: an architectural feel, an emphasis on precision and balance, […]

Studio Visits / Preview: Deedee Cheriel – ‘Abracadabra’ @ Merry Karnowsky Gallery

AM recently had the pleasure of dropping in on Deedee Cheriel at her sunny home and studio in the Echo Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles.  Her latest exhibition, ‘Abracadabra’, opens Saturday, October 9th at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in LA alongside the new show by Mark Whalen (Kill Pixie), ‘Paralleled Opposites’. Cheriel uses animals to portray emotion, and the characters in her narrative pieces are often reminiscent of the anthromorphic deities depicted by the ancient Egyptians.  She describes the exhibition’s title as referring to the transformation […]