I just wrapped an interview with Our Food host and London Times food critic Giles Coren, who was absolutely gaga over Scott Hove's cakeland installation, My Own Private Apocalypse. The clip, which compares and contrasts the food and culture of East vs. West LA, will air later this year on Giles' new BBC America show, the title of which is yet to be confirmed.
I got Coren to admit that the east side is better (off camera, of course), but it probably didn't hurt that a couple of our patrons recognized him from his correspondent gig on The F Word. Congrats to Scott Hove and much thanks to the BBC America folks and especially Giles Coren for singling us out to represent the cool quotient on the East Side.
The LA Weekly just ran an article on the Top Ten Weirdest Places in the city of angels, and we made the list!
From the article:
9. Wacko/Soap Plant
This Hollywood-based shop is another trip through the mind of an
eccentric Angeleno -- store proprietor Billy Shire. The assortment of
unique books, bizarre sundries and limited-edition toys at Wacko/Soap Plant actually inspired an adjoining art space called La Luz de Jesus, which exhibits lowbrow and pop-surrealist art from the likes of Gary Baseman, Camille Rose Garcia and others. 4633 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323-663-0122, www.soapplant.com
Come join the weird party tonight at Fish Fry #3 (8-11pm)
In the latest issue of Elle Magazine, Grammy Award winning artist Norah Jones takes readers on a tour of her favorite places in Los Angeles –and we are one of them!
If you take a real close look in the right margin you'll see my photo credit (which ought to make my mom happy). I've definitely noticed a rise in couture-clad clientele of late, but that may have more to do with Billy's Thursday Night Fish Fry and Community Social concert events.
This month's Fish Fry features performances by Bob Forrest (of Thelonius Monster fame), Dylan Dray and the Diamond Back, and the Poubelle Twins in their Cabaret Slap Booth! There will also be a puppet show and other acts, with surprise guests aplenty. A previous concert highlight was an incredible collaboration between Inger Lorre and Human Drama. With Johnette Napolitano's art exhibition currently on the gallery walls, this could be a Fish Fry for all time! Just sayin'...
This is also the last week to catch the Joe Sorren and Scott Hove exhibits, so make it a point to visit La Luz de Jesus Gallery between now and Sunday night because next week the gallery will be dark as we install the biennial Rogue Taxidermy Show.
Two weekends ago we opened two amazing exhibitions, each in their own space. In Gallery II we've got a Cakeland extravaganza from Bay Area artist Scott Hove. This is becoming something of a biennial April show. Here's some great footage of Scott on the Cooking Channel:
In the front gallery we debuted our first new Joe Sorren show in seven years! When the Rain Comes features seven new paintings (most of which have already sold), each of them museum worthy. I just received a set of work-in-progress shots from Joe, with his commentary beneath each image. The finished work, "Entwine" just happens to be available (as of this writing).
There was this one cool stage where it was all these fluid but crushed, broken hands; unfortunately no shots were taken of that stage, because, at the time, I thought it was ruined… Here is the start. On the far left you can see two figures, kinda… I just realized that the piece starts with two figures entwined, and also finishes that way. Weird.
(detail of the loose, two figures i was talking about, backs to us, looking out at the sea)
Then this:
then this, I felt like I was approaching where the painting needed to go, but …
… after taking a trip overseas with super painter, Eric White; when I got back, I couldn’t find my way back into the piece. Thus, the forest of broken-hands period of the painting, mentioned at the top. Then, after a little while of drying and some sandpaper to knock back the peaks, it shifted sideways to here:
then playing and developing…
and then... here it is finished:
Many thanks to Joe for letting me borrow this series from his excellent blog. The show will be viewable until Sunday, April 29th. We've also got some rareprints from his last exhibition at Billy Shire Fine Arts.
I just posted the new Art in the Hallway exhibition in time for our annual Tax Refund Sale. There are more pieces than are posted on the site, so get in touch with info on secondary market masterpieces from our very own Joe Sorren, Eric White, Danni Shinya Luo, Miriam Wosk, and many others. We'll be paying all the sales tax for you from today through Sunday on original art purchases, and we've issued a $50 shipping credit toward mailing pieces purchased out of state, so it's easier than ever to spend that Refund Money wisely. Call or email for info!
La Luz de Jesus presents Wayne Martin Belger BORDERLANDS: Journeys from Destruction to Creation Curated by Matt Kennedy
Runs through May 12, 2012 at Artspace Shreveport, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council exhibition space under the directorship of recent Academy Award winner Bill Joyce. Special thanks to manager, Megan Porter, for helping to facilitate Wayne Martin Belger's residency. The clip above aired on local Louisiana TV station KTBS, and I was told that Wayne's show was the most positively received event in the museum's history! There's a great photostream archive here.
This is the second La Luz de Jesus / SRAC joint exhibition. The first was Scott Hove back in 2010. Scott Hove returns in April with Joe Sorren as part of two tandem solo exhibitions.
This past week we hosted the debut of Billy's Thursday Night Fish Fry, and it was off the hook! Images can be found on the Friends of La Luz de Jesus Facebook page. But I don't have time to reveal any of the amazing revelations that exploded from this event, because an even more explosive event is happening right now as I type this: the LALUZAPALOOZA Preview Page is NOW LIVE!
I worked through the night to get the preview images and descriptions up for all the pieces we've received thus far. There are still a few on their way, but the overwhelming majority are online now. I'll be checking the info@laluzdejesus.com email tomorrow, and answering inquiries in the order received. We will NOT BE ACCEPTING PHONE ORDERS until after noon on Monday, so click the link above and skim through the index for the work you've been waiting to see. But I should warn you that we've got more new names than ever before and there are some superstars in the making among them.
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
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.
