The carnival before the storm...

Congratulations to Fiddle Tim, whose entire debut exhibition Scumfuck, was completely SOLD OUT –and also made it into the Huffington Post!

There was a spectacular turnout for last night's opening reception, and the gallery line was ringing off the hook with long distance phone calls from patrons on the east coast and Europe maintaining late hours to secure their purchases once news of this show hit the wire.

Lauren Gardiner is also on the verge of a complete sell out, with only one painting from her exhibition, Unfit Saints, unsold as of this writing. This would be her second consecutive sold out show after last year's Royalty Before Surgery, and I'll be surprised if it's not off the market by the time the first bottle rockets whistle skyward tomorrow."St. Agatha: Patron Saint of Bigfoot" is actually quite large by Lauren's standards, but still only measures 8.25" x 9.5"
(with doors opened).

Damian Fulton seemed to be holding court with a constant flow of friends and colleagues from surf, animation and advertising circles and was offered a publishing deal right there at the opening! I promise to disclose the details as everything becomes more concrete, so meanwhile, you can follow the adventures of "Sue Nammi" right here on the gallery walls as part of Damian's latest magnum opus Surfploytation!

Robert Palcios' work complements it perfectly on the two opposing walls that house Gallery I. His Loteria themed show, Game of Life, garnered comparisons to both Mark Ryden and Jose Guadalupe Posada.

Frijol Boy and Cristina Paulos each drove in from Las Vegas to revel in the carnival atmosphere of the La Luz de Jesus Independence Day Weenie Roast. Each has explored different routes from animation to fine art, with spray acrylic and reclaimed paper playing a major part in their respective exhibitions. Michael Brown was unable to attend, but Alyson Souza was on hand to discuss her gorgeous oil on wood and multi-media constructions.

If you missed the opening, you've got just under 30 days to catch it!

In five days we welcome New Texture Publishing for the L.A. Weekly's Pick of the Week for Thursday, July 8th. Josh Alan Friedman will be playing guitar and reading from his book Black Cracker, the heartbreakingly funny four-year odyssey of the only white kid at the last segregated school in New York. He'll of course be signing copies of his book, and he's bringing along friends Chris D. (of The Flesheaters and Divine Horsemen fame) to read and sign his collection, A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die, and publisher/author Wyatt Doyle, who'll be signing his Los Angeles bus memoir, Stop Requested.

So there you have it: at least eleven reasons to get your tookus on down here!
See you soon.