if you are reading this...

...then you are invited to the private Culver City Artwalk brunch this morning at the gallery. 10am-noon we are hosting press and collectors for some coffee, pastries and mimosa's. Kickin' off the Artwalk in style. Thats how we roll...

gearing up

The Culver City Artwalk is this weekend, and project:gallery is putting on an extremely impressive show - if I do say so myself...

But today was all business as we prepped the gallery AND a surprise one day group show called "Pop Up" at a super secret Culver City venue...

Here is the calm before the storm as Tessar, Nate and Yuta discuss the merits of interns:



Sneak peek into the "Pop-Up" show - 3000 sq/ft, 20 artists including Mari Inukai, Lisa Alisa, Yuta Onoda, Ken Garduno and newcomer Nimit Malavia.





Back in the gallery I kept wondering if it was fair if I just buy Nate Frizzell's new painting...



Please join us this Saturday at the gallery and at the "pop-up" show across the street (8540 Washington Blvd) - Don't forget you can see over 40 other galleries, all in walking distance. More info on the Artwalk here.

yoskay and kan tanaka

Gallery friend Ken Tanaka joined us a few weeks ago during Yoskay Yamamoto's opening show, and just sent us this video. Ken's English is not great, but its getting better, and he does have a nice review of both Yoskay's and Takashi Murakami's shows.

Check it out:



Thanks Ken!

the city

More from the weekend...

Spent Saturday in San Francisco and managed a pretty full day. We visited the Decorator Showcase, a mansion in the city that gets taken over by interior designers. They basically renovate the entire place and raise money for my high school's scholarship fund. We were not allowed to take pictures, but we got some shots on the roof deck. The place was amazing, though i am not sure who needs a 17,000 square foot house.



After the showcase we went to check out Mars 1 and David Choong Lee's show at Bucheon Gallery.

We had visited David and Mars a few months back in their studios, and it was pretty awesome to see some of the things they were working on in the gallery.



Mars is now casting bronze sculptures. This thing was incredible, and heavy...





Now we are sadly back in LA - working on the Culver City Artwalk for this weekend. Make sure to visit us this Saturday as we have some surprises in store...

oakland

Wifey and I are in the bay area for the weekend and were fortunate to spend a morning with the duo of gallery faves Deth P. Sun and Marci Washington. The couple was kind enough to let us intrude on their home studio and even more kind to let me take some pics...

Deth is working on some upcoming shows and a sketchbook project.





Deth and cat...



Marci was recently featured on the cover of New American Paintings - very impressive. Even more impressive considering she just graduated from CCA. More impressive still is her new work, including this mammoth piece in progress:



I cannot wait to see completed piece...Marci sadly already has a gallery lined up, but we do get to have Deth in a show this October.

vacation weekend

So we are off to SF tomorrow, but there are some great happenings in LA that I wish we were staying for.

One of my absolute favorites, and really one of the most talented painters out there, is having a show Saturday at Kinsey/Desforges. You really must visit Tiffany Bozic's show, I was lucky enough to catch a preview this afternoon and her work makes me insanely jealous I am not showing her.



I was fortunate to have spent a few minutes with Tiffany as well, and could not have been more pleased to find out how sweet she was. I was also fortunate to grab a piece. Yay for me.

If you like art and nice people - go see this show.

Here is a slightly dated interview from fecal face.

wallpaper

Tessar Lo just dropped a sweet freebie wallpaper with kitsune noir. Here it is in action:



Don't miss a few new pieces from Tessar during the Culver City Artwalk on the 31st. Word around the watercooler is we will have some new prints from him too...

studio visit - Dave Flores

Been a bit absent from the blog, but had a chance to meet up with Santa Barbara based artist David Flores on Saturday.

David has been working on an upcoming show in Japan later this summer, and we sadly just missed seeing all the work - as it has already shipped. Dave is really prolific, and besides painting has been designing toys, magazine covers, luggage and shoes...



A little peek into some of Flores' product line above, and below an imaginary image of some of the apparently huge Simpsons characters he painted for Japan.



More DF product...



David is really one of those guys that you cannot help but love. Tough guy exterior, but really just a softie. I really need to visit Santa Barbara more often. I got to head home with a painting and a stack of prints...and maybe more to come?

Cruising // Cerasoli. Copro. Scion

This Saturday night we took a little field trip with the whole project:gallery class. Edwin, Nate, Yoskay, Tessar, Scott, Wifey, Kim, interns, Bil and Deb...the list goes on.



We started at the Cerasoli Gallery to take in our friend Josh Krause's show. Great new work from Mr. Krause. Scott seemed to admire it...



Then headed out west to visit Luke Chueh and Mari Inukai at Copro Nason.





Nate (above) admiring Luke's work. We missed Luke, but the show was great.



Resplendent in blue, Mari Inukai had some fantastic new paintings. We cannot wait to have her in our gallery this September.



From Copro we rolled to the Scion gallery for the final show of the Installation Tour. There's Yosk with a bunch of the other artists from the show, including Blek le Rat, Kenton Parker, Andrew Pommier, Angela Boatwright, Tim McCormick and J. Shea...





Closed the night out at Mandrake. Good times were had by all...

takash and me

Prior to opening Yoskay's solo show we walked down the street to see Takashi Murakami's follow up show to his MOCA retrospective. Very impressive as usual, but it was an interesting chance to see a continuation of the work from the final room at MOCA.







Tessar grabbing a print, and snagging the last set of small prints. Below, Sybil was lucky enough to have my man Too Much sign and draw on her LV.



Certainly worth checking out the show if you are in the neighborhood: Blum and Poe

the upside of down

Well last night was pretty much just upside. On the eve of Yoskay Yamamoto's solo show we were able to check out the new Murakami show before we opened the gallery. Yoskay even picked up a print.



Once we got to our own opening we were joined by several people waiting to get in, and our friend Ken Tanaka.



The show was a huge hit with Yoskay's paintings sold out in short order. Below, Ning and Kim make Yoskay blush...



Some of the fans of Yoskay's work...



There are more show photos, including some process pics of Yoskay putting in his window installation on our flickr. The show is up until May 28th, so make sure to come check it out in person!

scott belcastro // new painting

Scooter has done it again. Scott Belcastro just sent me pics of his new piece "If you need me, Ill be in my studio."



I really love this piece, and if you know Scott or seen his studio, you will know how personal a piece this is. Keep it up...loving the new work Scott.