Congratulations to Danni Shinya Luo (pictured, left) for selling over 50 of her Soft Candy illustrations –and there are still 10 days left for the rest of her gorgeous drawings to go! We've also got a mere handful of the signed and numbered bookplates (from an edition of only 100), so call me to reserve a book or a drawing. All of the artwork on display in this exhibition carries the additional provenance of appearing in a published art book.
Likewise regarding the paintings from last May's Chaotic Harmony exhibition (also published in Soft Candy & currently on exhibition in Europe). If interested in buying one of those, please call ASAP, as Italian collectors are sure to gobble them up, but La Luz de Jesus has right of first refusal!
This latest show has seen many, very prominent collectors add her work to their walls, so Shinya's drawings will soon be hanging next to paintings by Mark Ryden, Joe Coleman, Robert Williams and Shepard Fairey. This could be the tipping point for Miss Luo, whose private commission waiting list has recently expanded to six months. Commissions are available, however, so contact me to set something up.
We've also got the photostream posted for the opening night celebration of our February, First-Friday extravaganza: Matthew Bone, Soey Milk, Bonni Reid, and Christine Wu. Matthew and Bonni's work is featured in a program shot last week for the National Geographic Channel, and Christine's art is now in the hands of a rather well know Pirate of the Carribean. As the images reveal, there were a lot of movers and shakers in attendance, so check it out and then come down to see the shows (on display through February 26th). Pictured above is a shot of Soey Milk and I babysitting the bowl of heart-shaped Valentine's Day candy while the documentary crew from Comics Are Everywhere conducts an interview with Danni Shinya Luo at her Soft Candy signing.
Contact me (gallery director, Matt Kennedy) for purchases and information: (323) 666-7667 or info@laluzdejesus.com
Last August the crew from the Travel Network series The Layover paid us a visit and let us know that host Anthony Bourdain would be profiling the gallery and the shop and interviewing a few of us for our recommendations of the best bars, shops and things to do in Los Angeles. That episode has finally aired, and we found a link on youtube. At the 14:20 mark in the video above you can catch the cool clip that has seemingly run 100 times already, announcing La Luz de Jesus Gallery and WACKO as must stops in any visit to LA. We're all big Bourdain fans over here, so it was an honor to be recognized for a job well done. The clip above features art work by Jessicka Addams, Lou Beach, Alpha Lubicz, Miso, Click Mort, Jasmine Worth, Derek Harrison and Walt Hall as well as pieces by Danni Shinya Luo, Nathan Ota and Christopher Ulrich.
At the 9:25 mark of this second clip, you can see yours truly standing in the art hall in front of a group of paintings by Glenn Barr, with additional pieces by Van Saro, Simon Sotelo, Christine Wu, Frijol Boy and Lyle Motley also visible beside and behind me.
And speaking of Christine Wu, her sophomore exhibition, "Shhh..." opens Tomorrow (Friday, February 3, 2012). She's in the white room withSoey Milk, who'll be making her feature gallery debut after garnering some high profile coverage in Hi-Fructose and Blue Canvas.
The front gallery features 4 time feature artist Bonni Reid and local hero Matthew Bone, who has been building a name for himself among in-the-know celebs and collectors for quite some time. This is his first show with us, and we've already got him on the hook for future collaborations.
If Drew Struzen worked for Hustler Magazine instead of Lucasfilm, it might look something like this, but it wouldn't have Matthew's heart-on-his-sleeve love of comics, sci-fi and horror, which is what makes his paintings so alluring. Well that and his incredible technical skills.
The shop opens at 11 AM, but the gallery doesn't open until 8 PM. Sino Tequila will be making tasty cocktails and a crowd of the best looking, most talented people in Los Angeles will be here to appreciate the best damn show in town. So come join us!
And also mark your calendars for Valentine's Day (February 14th) at La Luz de Jesus. We've got a special book release, signing and exhibition for Danni Shinya Luo who will be celebrating her birthday with the release of her very first mass-market, hard-cover art volume.
Soft Candy: The Girls of Danni Shinya Luo (from Last Gasp) features an all new collection of pin-ups which we'll be displaying (for sale!) in the gallery for the remainder of the month. All of the drawings in the exhibit are published in the book -lending added provenance, and the first 100 books ordered will come with a signed book plate created specifically for this special occasion.
Nothing says "love" like a naked lady –am I right?
Whenever I wait more than a couple of weeks, I end up having to relate a TON of info in a relatively short space, so I'll apologize NOW for a slightly long update, but trust me –this is worth it!
That video above was just delivered to me by director Thomas Mignone. It is the latest promotional clip from seminal Florida Death Metal band, Morbid Angel, and it features set decoration from Krystopher Sapp. Mignone contacted Sapp shortly before the opening of "When a Good Man Goes to War," and incorporated several of the pieces from the exhibition into the art design of the video. More than half of the art in Krystopher's current show is sold, but several of the pieces highlighted here are still available. The film is quite good and the band is in top form, so congratulations, Krys Sapp! We're proud of you!
Yesterday, Wayne Martin Belger completed a marathon session of work from his new series of photographs called Bloodworks utilizing his "Untouchable (HIV)" camera. Kim Saigh and Shawn Barber's Memoir Tattoo Shop supplied the backdrop (doubling as studio space) for this landmark shoot. The Bloodworks series portraits will reflect the Los Angeles HIV+ community in the thirty years since the disease’s appearance. Los Angeles is only one of the U.S. cities Belger is visiting as part of his photo essay of HIV+ populations. Belger has already photographed over 60 men women and children in Grand Rapids, New York, San Francisco, and Tucson for the series.
The pinhole camera designed and built by Belger for Bloodworks pumps HIV+ blood through filters across the pinhole aperture, producing ghostly and luminous portraits. “This camera was designed specifically for ‘Bloodworks,’ which is an ongoing photo series of people living with HIV/AIDS. The portraits create a vital, artistic record of the epidemic 30 years after its start, with the camera as the window,” Belger explains. “Each pinhole camera I build to be sacred bridge of a communion offering between myself and the subject.”
The images captured for this series will be featured in a prestigious exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada as part of an exhibition that also includes Joel Peter Witkin, Steven Gregory, Mark Prent and Marc Quinn.
It's not often that a curator can premiere an artist with the full knowledge that they are already on track to become the next big thing, but there is only one Soey Milk, and the anticipation for her featured gallery debut next month is astronomical.
Miss Milk is still in school, but is already the stuff of legends. She's been featured in the Hi-Fructose Blog, within the pages of Blue Canvas Magazine and will have a limited edition portfolio released in time for Comicon through Éditions Panik. Her ability is top notch and her subject matter interesting.
Such mature composition and raw talent made here a perfect pairing with Christine Wu, whose previous body of absolutely stunning work recently entered the collection of a certain Pirate of the Carribean. During Wu's October 2010 exhibit it was quite common to see other artists nosing up against her paintings to try and figure out her technique. I can count on one hand how many times I've seen that happen. Wu's newest series (above) is absolutely stunning. I've seen the pieces in her studio and as soon as I have a set of images, I'll post them, so be sure to get on the preview list by shooting me an email or calling.
In addition to their individual concepts, both Christine and Soey have incorporated each other into their individual exhibitions, so Soey has painted Christine, and Christine has painted Soey. Both, incidentally, have painted La Luz de Jesus gallery assistant Mia Matsumiya, so I expect nothing less than a complete sell out from each of them.
Bonni Reid and Matthew Bone will be sharing the four walls in the other room next month, and Bonni has already delivered a complete preview of her show, Cartes de Visite. More top notch work from one of our most requested Canadian artists –and at incredibly affordable prices. One of my favorite photos that I ever took is a shot of Robert Williams standing in front of Bonni's work at her last show.
Last week I had the privilege of a studio visit with Matthew Bone, where our conversation traversed comic books in the 80s and 90s, the benefits of using adult film stars as models, and the pros and cons of building one's own studio. I've already had people asking me for a preview for weeks and you can see some works in progress behind him in the picture I took below, but finished works won't be previewing until just before showtime –so stay tuned. To use the vernacular from my home town, I am wicked excited about Matthew's show and look forward to an ongoing relationship between he and La Luz de Jesus because the guy is as cool as he is talented. Excelsior!
I'd say we're off to a fine start in the new year, and each month seems to be taking the 25th Anniversary another step further. If you haven't been to La Luz de Jesus Gallery in a while, now is a good to time to do it!
4633 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027, United States
La Luz de Jesus Gallery was established in 1986 as the brainchild of entrepreneur and art collector Billy Shire, considered largely responsible for fostering a new school of California art and prompting JUXTAPOZ Magazine to dub him "the Peggy Guggenheim of Lowbrow."
Showcasing mainly figurative, narrative paintings and unusual sculpture, the exhibitions are post-pop with content ranging from folk to outsider to religious to sexually deviant. The gallery's objective is to bring underground art and counter-culture to the masses. Past shows have been groundbreaking, launching unknown artists who have since become famous, such as Manual Ocampo, Joe Coleman, and Robert Williams. A new exhibit opens on the first Friday of each month, with an opening reception that Details Magazine calls "the biggest and best party in Los Angeles."
Gallery Director Matt Kennedy first came to work for Billy Shire in 1991, and managed the gallery until 1995. It was during his tenure at the original Melrose location of La Luz de Jesus that the Kustom Kulture movement exploded. These years are now recognized as the Golden Age of Lowbrow. Kennedy returned as Gallery Director of La Luz de Jesus in March 2009.
Congratulations to Danni Shinya Luo (pictured, left) for selling over 50 of her Soft Candy illustrations –and there are still 10 days left for the rest of her gorgeous drawings to go! We've also got a mere handful of the signed and numbered bookplates (from an edition of only 100), so call me to reserve a book or a drawing. All of the artwork on display in this exhibition carries the additional provenance of appearing in a published art book.
Likewise regarding the paintings from last May's Chaotic Harmony exhibition (also published in Soft Candy & currently on exhibition in Europe). If interested in buying one of those, please call ASAP, as Italian collectors are sure to gobble them up, but La Luz de Jesus has right of first refusal!
This latest show has seen many, very prominent collectors add her work to their walls, so Shinya's drawings will soon be hanging next to paintings by Mark Ryden, Joe Coleman, Robert Williams and Shepard Fairey. This could be the tipping point for Miss Luo, whose private commission waiting list has recently expanded to six months. Commissions are available, however, so contact me to set something up.
We've also got the photostream posted for the opening night celebration of our February, First-Friday extravaganza: Matthew Bone, Soey Milk, Bonni Reid, and Christine Wu. Matthew and Bonni's work is featured in a program shot last week for the National Geographic Channel, and Christine's art is now in the hands of a rather well know Pirate of the Carribean. As the images reveal, there were a lot of movers and shakers in attendance, so check it out and then come down to see the shows (on display through February 26th). Pictured above is a shot of Soey Milk and I babysitting the bowl of heart-shaped Valentine's Day candy while the documentary crew from Comics Are Everywhere conducts an interview with Danni Shinya Luo at her Soft Candy signing.
