Mark Ryden Hypes La Luz de Jesus!

On Monday, LA WEEKLY ran an interview with Mark Ryden in which he discussed his new album cover for Tyler the Creator, and sent a little love our way with this comment:

Mark Ryden photographed by Liz Huston

"For the longest time La Luz de Jesus was the only gallery that showed this art," wrote Ryden. "Then there was Roq la Rue in Seattle. At a certain point the movement exploded and now there are 'pop surrealist' or 'lowbrow' galleries everywhere. It seems like there are dozens just in L.A. now. I do think it is still growing, but not at the explosive rate of the last decade."

The article's writer, Eva Recinos, also wrote:

Ryden has displayed at La Luz de Jesus, an alternative Los Angeles gallery known for showing artists with varied styles, usually in the vein of pop surrealism, which draws from popular culture. Like Ryden, many artists who showed in the space -- among them Shag, Matt Groening and Don Ed Hardy -- later reached considerable success. The gallery exposed their distinct styles to the art world and Ryden witnessed the trend grow beyond the gallery.

It's always great to be recognized for one's achievements!

Incidentally, Don Ed Hardy will be returning to La Luz de Jesus Gallery on Wednesday June 26th from 6-9PM to sign his autobiography, Wear Your Dreams: My Life in Tattoos.

The Gary Baseman Sale!

The Door Is Always Open
April 25 through August 18, 2013

Gary Baseman got his start right here at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, so in honor of his hometown career retrospective at the Skirball Cultural Center, we've dug deep into the archive and collected all of the Baseman goodies we've got onto one page. We've got rare books, show posters, some super limited edition toys, stationery, and even some original art. Advance word is that this show is shout-from-the-rooftops incredible, so be sure to check out the Gary Baseman Sale on your way to his The Door Is Always Open exhibition.

Original Exhibition Pamphlets!

Try to find this on Amazon!

Only one or two of these left!

When's the last time you saw
a Toby Stuffed Toy & print set?

What exactly is Potpourri?

Tony Fitzpatrick and Peter Frank at THE BUS

This past Friday we opened two completely different exhibitions that drew an impressive crowd of Los Angeles art scene elite. In Gallery II, we invited Tony Fitzpatrick to curate a show featuring some of his favorite colleagues from Chicago in an exhibition called THE BUS. Many of the guest artists made the trip out to Los Angeles to see their work on our walls and discuss their processes with each other and patrons alike.

Fogelson's "Bouquet No. 3"

One of the most impressive among them is artist Doug Fogelson.

At first glance it would be easy to mistakenly dismiss Doug's pieces as digital manipulations of still life photographs–two things that we don't normally showcase. It turns out that Doug's work involves a richly textured and high-concept procedure in which he starts with a 4x5 photo negative and uses the subjects of the photo sessions (the petals of the floral bouquets) to rub color into the film and distort the images naturally and viscerally. The flowers are not only iconic images, they are tools of production.

THE BUS features only two Bouquets from Doug's full Potpourri body of work. Viewed in total, it is a multi-media installation that documents the decay of the bouquet and addresses the connection of flowers as a celebratory object, used in some of mankind's most important rituals (birth, marriage, funerals, etc.) with the very non-conservationist aspect of their being: disposable, living representations of beauty, which are often killed to offer temporary enjoyment. Flowers very much mirror the life events that they decorate, and decay is the final, visible result.

Fogelson's full "Potpourri" installation

The 59th day of Fogelson's "Potpourri"

Fogelson's "Castrato No. 4"

Fogelson breaks the work into separate divisions. There are the "Bouquets" (as featured on our walls currently), and there are dark, macro-portraits of decaying flowers called "Corpus," and there are overlaid close-ups of the plant's reproductive organs called "Castrata," and finally, there are details of multiple divisions combined called, "Potpourri."

Doug Fogelson is part of Tony Fitzpatrick's THE BUS: 29 Hooligans from Chitown, currently on view at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. Though not on view, the additional pieces from Fogelson's Potpourri exhibition can be purchased. Contact gallery director Matt Kennedy for details.

 

The AUGUST Group ANNOUNCED!

Saturday night at the Laluzapalooza closing party, we announced the winners of the jury who will be given expanded exhibition space in August. The selection process was difficult but we're extremely pleased with the eight artists who will share the white walls of Gallery II in August when José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros shows solo in Gallery I.


Congrats to (top then bottom, left to right):

Edward Robin Coronel
Horacio Martinez
Harold Fox
SAGE
David Natale
Josh Stebbins
Michelle Bickford
Emi Motokawa

How DOES she do it?

To call J.A.W. Cooper multi-talented is to belittle the term. Daniel Rolnik recently caught up with Miss Cooper and captured the artist building the armature for her three-dimensional Mourn sculpture, included in her Laid Bare exhibition which opens this Friday.
Below is the finished piece.

Happy Easter!

Christopher Ulrich
The Last Supper
Oil on wood
192" x 96" in 202" x 106" frame

Recently requested for extended exhibition this September in Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.

Kardashians

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian on their first visit to Soap Plant, Wacko and La Luz de Jesus Gallery. As one might expect, they were hounded by paparazzi until we escorted them safely into the shop.

Once inside, Kourtney headed straight for the gallery, and Khloé followed shortly after. An E! TV crew recorded their every step.

I gave them a brief rundown on the Laluzapalooza exhibition and Khloé commented specifically about the work of Erin Burrell, "Look Kort, they've got Lamar's shoe!"

As Kourtney admired Lindsey Kuhn's silkscreened paintings,  Khloé confided, "Kourtney LOVES skulls!"

Both girls went Gaga over José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros' Cinderella McQueen painting, proclaiming almost in unison, "I love those shoes!"

The ladies spent about half an hour shopping and opted for some small toys and a few books, before exiting to entertain the patient paparazzi on the sidewalk out front.

We don't have an air date yet, but look for us soon on an upcoming episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E!