Profanity Pop Enters the Pop Culture

On Friday, August 1st we opened our fourth solo exhibition of José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros' work, this time titled Profanity Pop. With each exhibition, we've seen his fame grow–from the Liberty Ross tweet of Drunk Love to Lady Gaga's re-postings of Cinderella McQueen & Meat Dress, to a veritable cavalcade of professional animators and celebrity fans (including Katy Perry and Britney Spears). His work has been featured in two museum shows; last year at the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum and next month at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos.

With elevated recognition there comes controversy. While the overwhelming response has been completely positive, local and international media selected this exhibition as a means of discussing equality, tolerance and acceptance–and we couldn't be happier.

Check out the Univision Network coverage below (or click here), and be sure to come see José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros' Profanity Pop exhibition and the Laluzapalooza Jury Winners (Katherine Brannock, Frank Forte, Hueman, Jinx, and Sean Stepanoff) this month at La Luz de Jesus Gallery.

Extended by Popular Demand: Disasterland!

Drunk on Love 2

 We generally open our shows on the first Friday of each month and end them on the last Sunday, but the overwhelming popularity of José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros' latest exhibition Disasterland has necessitated that we extend to the first Sunday of next month!

By now you probably know that his Drunk Snow White image (above) is at the center of the Twihard break-up between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. A scorned wife upon hearing of Stewart's affair with her husband tweeted the image just about a week before Disasterland opened. We were quickly flooded with press requests and international sales (and Perez Hilton hyped us –twice!), and now there are only a handful of pieces not yet sold . But if you think Rodolfo is in the only reason to rush in and check out the show, you'll be very pleasantly surprised by the steampunky exhibitions in Gallery II.

Christopher Bales

Ave Rose

 Christopher Bales sold three pieces in a single day last week to different buyers from his current feature in a show that highlights the jury winners form this year's Laluzapalooza. That tallies four displayed pieces sold over all, and while it's a common sentiment that the images on the site don't do justice to the works in person, his really is a collection that must be seen. The works are three dimensional collages with delicate and antique components. All are wall-hanging and quite beautiful.

Ave Rose is another of the jury winners whose work is on display, and her creations are so layered, intricate and complex that  we had to showcase multiple angle photos that still don't do justice to the movement of her mechanized butterflies that recall Fritz Lang's Metropolis by way of Victorian entomology. She recently gave a presentation of her work for a few lucky patrons on Thursday evening, explaining that she warmed to the idea of incorporating insects into her watchbot world after coming across a video of ChouChou, the Japanese electric butterfly –and taking it to the next logical (and slightly gothic) extreme. Her battery powered display stands allow 360° views, but her hand-cranked butterfly wing flappers really have to be seen to be believed.


Click Mort sold a great many of his pieces before the exhibition opened, allowing more pieces to be brought and displayed in their stead. His remixed novelty sculptures reveal a basic creepiness inherent in all table-top nostalgia pieces –but with a true surrealist perspective.

Many of Anthony Purcell's Victorian-style portraits look normal enough until you walk past them, and you realize the sausage pocket watch chains or miniature eyeballs adorning the frames. But even when the twist is as obvious as spaghetti exploding from a hole in the head, the technicality of his brush work keeps you lingering.

Byung's military animals, D.W. Marino's culture bombs, Heather O'Shaughnessy's beeswax reliefs, and Richard Meyer's perplexed pets all carry an element of awesome that demands a second look, too.

And they'll all be on display until September 2nd, so now you've no reason to miss them.

Check out our new Art in the Hallway Exhibit!

We've just added a new semi-permanent exhibition page to the website. It's called "ART in the HALLWAY."
For years, we've filled the hallway that runs from the east wall of gallery one to the restroom with pieces from previous shows and occasional, special pieces that our artists or patrons consign to us. Believe it or not, there are more pieces on the two walls of this corridor than in gallery one and gallery two combined! In fact, there are always between 90 and 100 individual art works exhibiting in this space, which is among the highest traffic areas on the premises. And to make this even more special, José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros delivered a new set of Kissing Prince and Kissing Princess portraits along with some original animation cels.

Since I received more requests for these portraits than I could keep track of, Rodolfo painted variations on the pieces included in his Sold Out August show just in time for the holidays! Click Mort delivered an entirely new series of his surrealist remixes of classic, nostalgic pop-sculptures, some starting below $200!


There are ninety-nine incredible selections, many perfect for gifting -whether for friends, family or for yourself. It's really a Who's Who, featuring new work by Nathan Ota, Jeff Soto, Joe Sorren, as well as some classic (and very risqué) Byron Werner erotic collages from the 90s and a Bill Ward color drawing from 1978.

We're turning the Gallery into a Sketch Theater!

This Thursday (August 11) from 6-9 PM, La Luz de Jesus Gallery will be hosting a special book signing event for SKETCH THEATER Volume 1. This fabulous collection of quick draw artistry is something of a who's who at the crossroads of commercial illustration and gallery exhibition. You'll recognize more than a few La Luz alumni, many of whom will be here in person to sign your books (which will be in stock and available for purchase).

A full list is below, with confirmed attendees marked with an asterix*:

Aaron Sims
Aimée Kuester*
Alex Alvarez*
Alvin Lee
Amy Botello
Ana Bagayan*
Apricot Mantle*
Axel #13*
Brandi Milne*
Brian Smith*
Cameron Davis*
Charles Hu*
Chet Zar*
Chris Ryniak
Christian Lorenz-Scheurer*
The Chung *
Corey Miller
Daphne Yap*
Dave Dorman
Dave Hill
Fred Harper
Gene Guynn
Greg "Craola" Simkins*
Gris Grimly*
Jeff McMillan
Jessica Ward*
Jon Beinart
Jon Schnepp
Jordu Schell
Kali Fontecchio
Lola*
Luke Chueh*
Marc Gabbana
Mari Inukai
Marshall Vandruff *
Meats Meier *
Michael Broom*
Michael Hussar *
Miss Mindy*
Molly Crabapple
Munk One*
Nat Jones
Nate Frizzell
Nick Baxter
Nicolas Villareal
Rick O'Brien*
Ron English
S. Fisher Williams
Sam Shearon
Shawn Barber
Steven Daily*
Sze Jones
Tara McPherson
Terryl Whitlatch
Tom Baxa
Travis Louie
Wayne Barlowe

This will give you a good excuse to pop in and see the exhibition that yielded the highest attendance record of any gallery opening this season. Lou Beach, Sam Lubicz & Alpha Lubicz turned in the quintessential collection of collage art in Gallery I. And in Gallery II, there seems to be a race to see whose work will sell out first! Miso has already sold ten of her eleven exquisite mini paintings; rabid collectors snatched up twelve of Rodolfo Loaiza's sixteen, socially-critical dissections of pop-culture iconography; eleven of fourteen pieces from Jasmine Worth have red dots on the labels; and Click Mort and Jessicka Addams are each halfway to gone (he having sold nine of his eighteen, she seven of fourteen). Not far away are Walt Hall and Derek Harrison who each turned in magnificent portfolios.
Call Matt to purchase art: (323) 547-3227
Call Wacko to reserve books for mailing: (323) 663-0122

Post Comic Con Previews Now LIVE!

August is almost upon us, and with it comes one of the most anticipated exhibitions of the year. I've recently received additional images from José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros and a near full set of pics from Jessicka Addams (pictured left, with more pieces to come) so that the entire selection of Kitschen Sync Jury Winners have previews live on the website right now! Gallery II will also feature never before seen work from Walt Hall, Derek Harrison, Miso, Click Mort and Jasmine Worth.

Lou Beach sent some new images for his Gene Pool exhibition with daughter Alpha Lubicz (left) and son Sam Lubicz. Father and daughter have previews online now, Sam's will be forthcoming. This represents over twenty years of La Luz de Jesus exhibition history, as Lou first showed here back in 1988. Expect a who's who of (very) special guest attendees for this one!

Freshly back from Comicon, I'll be attending a few local lectures by the hardest working man in heroic fiction, Grant Morrison, whose many groundbreaking highlights were featured in the Pop-Sequentialism exhibit back in May. While in San Diego I ironed out the plans to travel this exhibit to Europe (Tuscanny in October, Paris soon after), before bringing it back to Los Angeles next year -with an ever changing line-up of key pieces from the Modern Age. The seeds have also been planted for an all-star Bronze Age exhibition some time in 2013. Be sure to pick-up a Show Catalog, which features over 40 essays on pieces within the inaugural presentation. Special congrats to Danni Shinya Luo for landing in a story that appeared on the front page of the San Diego Union Tribune this past Sunday (the final day of Comicon). She's one of three artists (with and JJ Villard and Daniel Clowes) profiled in the currently-shooting documentary, "Comics Are Everywhere," which looks to reveal what motivates artists in their creative process. Shinya will be releasing her new book "The Girls of Danni Shinya Luo" this fall via Last Gasp Books, with a signing here at La Luz de Jesus planned to coincide with that debut. Most of her drawings will be in Rome (at the wonderful Mondo Pop gallery), but we hope she'll hang onto a few to display here while she signs. Kudos also to Karen Hsiao who earned a full-page photo feature in UK's Knave Magazine for her excellent photography tome, Rubber Duck. Karen is one of a very few people to have exhibited here under two different identities, producing wildly different artwork as each. We're thrilled to have her here next month, and we're sure that a few of her photography subjects will come to support her Miso show!

More news soon –including a sneak peek at the lineup of artists featured in La Luz de Jesus 25!

Did I mention that we're HUGE in Africa?

Mwari (pronounced Marh-ree, and translating as "Young Woman" in Swahili) Magazine is the only lifestyle publication created for women of the African Diaspora aged 18-24. Within this 152 page digital and print publication readers are exposed to captivating articles about politics, fashion, world affairs, gastronomic trends, personal finance, travel, college life, health and fitness, arts & entertainment, health, and other areas that will develop them into well-rounded leaders of our global society. In their most recent issue, Amber Stevens (pictured above) of the hit TV show Greek, selected her ten favorite places in Los Angeles, and we scored position #3!
Click the article page below to see it in context, or read the following extract:

"3. Wacko - Every once in a while I like to check out the latest artwork featured in the La Luz de Jesus Gallery at Wacko. They always have really cool, interesting stuff by Southern California artists. They also have a fun selection of books and novelty toys in the store. It's a pretty silly place but lots of fun to browse."

Readers can currently access the magazine via MwariMag.com/subscribe.html. The current circulation is 120,000, and they've recently partnered with Chapman University, University of Maryland, Northwestern University, Cleveland State University and Keuka College providing access to their entire student bodies.

Who knew?


We've also just recently posted the previews for several of the Everything But the Kitschen Sync jury winners who were brought back for expanded exhibitions in August. José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros has already sold half of his show to a lucky group of determined patrons, but there are still some extraordinary paintings available. Click Mort's recombined sculpture collages are now available for purchase as are Miso and Jasmine Worth's anatomical and gothic, oil mini-paintings and Derek Harrison's exceptional contemporary nudes. We'll have previews for Walt Hall and Jessica Addams in time for Comicon, so check back to the website or email me with preview requests and purchases. The previews for the Gene Pool show, featuring new works from Lou Beach and Alpha and Sam Lubicz will be available on August 1st.