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.

Laluzapalooza Closes This Weekend!

This weekend we'll be wrapping up the 28th annual group show. It's the most concise collection of works from multiple artists that we've shown in a long time. This in no way denigrates the stellar work we've presented in past Laluzapalooza or Kitschen Sync exhibitions–to the contrary, it showcases the heights that this year's group managed to reach.

Incredibly, some of the best work is still available:

From painterly neo-classics by A.S. Ashley, Chris Leib and Christopher Ulrich to modern pop art masterpieces by José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros and album art remixes by Graham Moore, there are still museum worthy pieces to be had.

We've already decided on a few of the artists we'll be bringing back in August to showcase in the gallery adjacent to our annual Ontiveros show:

                     

Katherine Brannock
Frank Forte
Jinx
Allison "Hueman" Torneros

We'll be adding a name or two soon, and we know that Christopher Bales and Michelle Bickford will be featuring again in the next year, too. This weekend will be the last opportunity to see all these works in context with each other, so make a point to come and see the show. CBS recently highlighted La Luz de Jesus Gallery in a report on the best places to buy affordable art, and so a relatively quiet middle-of-the-month gave way to a burst of sales this week–as smart patrons become aware of how much quality work is still ripe for inexpensive plucking. 

One of my favorite discoveries in this jurying process was Rose Freymuth-Frazier, who studied with Odd Nerdrum. While I had been previously unaware of her, she routinely sells-out in her native New York. The online jpeg really doesn't do justice to Rose's brushwork, which conveys her high pedigree and training. I've been predicting that the unironic unicorn is due for a comeback, and this painting could easily be the herald.