Roa’s 2-part solo show Hypnagogia is on now in London. Half of the show is at Stolenspace, and half is down the street at The Stone Masons. Here are some photos from the portion of the show at The Stone Masons. Check over here for photos of the portion at Stolenspace, and over at Arrested Motion for more photos from The Stone Masons.

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The London Police are getting ready for their first solo show in Newcastle at Unit 44. A Night with The London Police opens on May 11th (6-9pm) and runs through the 18th. So it’s not actually just one night with TLP, but if their past openings are anything to go by, that will be the night to go and check out the show. In addition to prints and paintings at the show, The London Police will be painting a “huge” new mural while they are in Newcastle.

Photo courtesy of Unit 44

Roa’s 2-part solo show Hypnagogia is on now in London. Half of the show is at Stolenspace, and half is down the street at The Stone Masons. Here are some photos from the portion of the show at Stolenspace. Check back soon for photos of the work at The Stone Masons. And check Arrested Motion for more photos.

More after the jump… Read the rest of this article »

Retna‘s latest solo show opens on April 24th at Art Careyes Gallery at the Costa Careyes resort in Careyes, Mexico. And yes, I just repeated “Careyes” 3 times, but it’s not my fault that everything relating to this show seems to have that in the name. Anyway, the show is called Time Traveler. Here’s a beautiful video trailer for the show:

A huge fan of Veng’s larger-than-life signature character that surfaces frequently throughout NYC and beyond, I was delighted to discover another side of his talents in his small, delicately-rendered birds – largely fashioned with watercolor and ink on paper – at Mighty Tanaka.  Here are a few more images:

The exhibit, The Birds and the Bees, also featuring work by Gigi Chen, continues through May 4th at 111 Front Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO district.

Photos by Tara Murray & Lois Stavsky

If You Hate Me Live This Way, Don't Make Me Live This Way

Today sees the opening of Herakut‘s latest gallery opening at 941 Geary in San Francisco. Entitled Loving the Exiled, the show features new paintings by the German duo that examine the mythical relationship between humans and nature. The show runs until 29 May.

Here are some of my favorite works in the show. The full show preview is available on the gallery’s site.

Be A Caterpillar Again

What A Stupid Gift

All images courtesy of 941 Geary

ND'A in Bushwick

This week I’ve got a rather major correction to make. A few days ago, I wrote about a piece by Jeice2 where it looked like he went over a bunch of tags with with a poster. Turns out, the poster was just taped on for the purpose of a photograph, and so the graffiti was not covered.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been looking at this week:

• Some beautiful street in LA by A Common Name. Some of the best work I’ve seen done in LA without permission in a while.
• Another fantastic wall by Blu. This time in Morocco.
• Some spots in Germany and San Fransisco by Herakut.
• Pedro Matos has a show opening this month at Ivory & Black in London.
• Galleria Patricia Armocida in Milan has a great 3-person group show on right now with Swoon, Monica Canilao and Dennis McNett. Perfect combo.
• Shepard Fairey has done another digital animation artwork for s[edition].
• The City of Gold festival in Johannesburg seems to be going nicely.

Photo by Mike Pearce

Last Friday, Isaac Cordal‘s latest show opened up in Barcelona at RAS Gallery. Presented by SUBEN and curated by Maximiliano Ruiz, the show is a further look at the artist’s adaption of works into the gallery. Although still working outside, the artist (like most nowadays) are figuring out ways to adapt their works to translate indoors and on display. Using the environment around him, Cordal has successfully found his niche within a gallery, presenting his sculptures as commentary on the natural versus manmade in the form of interesting sculptural installations.

The show runs until 13 May at RAS. See SUBEN for more information.

All photos courtesy of SUBEN

A note from the editor: Yes, the Daniel Lahoda in this post is the same Daniel Lahoda who was investigated by the LAPD and complained about online on numerous occasions. While, to my knowledge, Lahoda has never been arrested and none of the past complaints have resulted in civil litigation, there were a lot of complaints about Lahoda being brought up consistently for a number of years. It’s impossible for me to say for sure what happened in Lahoda’s past. What I can say is that he does seem to be making an honest go of things with his current projects. I’ve had personal issues with Lahoda myself, but as far as I am concerned, this new gallery of his is a time for second chances. Since the last of the complaints against him surfaced, Lahoda has gone above and beyond with his noncommercial ventures like the LA Freewalls Project and involvement in changing LA’s mural regulations. If you asked me today, “Would you do business with Daniel Lahoda?”, my answer would be a cautious yes. If Lahoda did make mistakes in the past, I do not think he will make those mistakes again. Consider this aside as my way of publicly putting rumors and allegations from Lahoda’s past in the past and instead deciding to focus on the here and now. – RJ Rushmore

Daniel Lahoda’s L.A. Freewalls project has changed the face of the Arts District in Los Angeles. That much is inarguable. In fact, it’s getting harder and harder to imagine what the old warehouse district looked like without the rotating gallery at 7th & Mateo, ROA’s outdoor exhibition spanning Jesse and Imperial, HOW & NOSM, DABS & MYLA, Shepherd Fairey, and perhaps most indelibly, JR’s L.A. Wrinkles. Trust me, this is a good thing.

So what happens when these muralists that have transformed a neighborhood bring their work inside to the brand new LALA gallery? Can it maintain the same level of energy? The verdict will have to wait for the opening, but at first glance, you simply cannot argue with that lineup.

Up-and-coming artists like Anthony Lister, ASKEW, and ZES, all of whom have recently had some of the hottest shows anywhere, are in it. ZES’s mural partners in Little Tokyo and in L.A. Freewalls (alongside the incomparable PUSH, who is also in the show) UGLAR, are represented in the forms of Evan Skrederstu and Christopher D. Brand and possibly some special guests. On top of that, there’s HOW & NOSM. There’s Dan Witz. That alone is a killer group.

But throw in someone like, oh, I don’t know, Ron English–not to mention MOCA “Art in the Streets” vets like Shepherd Fairey, SABER, RISK, and SWOON? Well, let’s say that things just got serious. And they might get crazy too. In a good way. Here’s hoping, anyway.

Quite honestly, I haven’t seen this kind of excitement around in a while. Ever since Art Walk wrecked Gallery Row with its costly series of missteps, Downtown Los Angeles has been bleeding galleries. Upper Playground is gone. Mr. Cartoon’s shop is gone. Worst of all, Bert Green Fine Art, the originator himself, is gone too. The truth is, Downtown L.A. needs an innovative gallery–one willing to take risks, one unafraid to offend or prompt dialogue–more than people think.

Can LALA Gallery be one of those? Come April 21, we’ll find out. But on the evidence of the incredible show roster, it’s off to a very promising start.

Anne Barlinckhoff shot a great series of photos while spending a day with Laser 3.14. These are a few of my favorites, and you can view the whole set here.

Also, Laser 3.14 has a show, Let me know the rules so I can ignore them, opening on May 3rd at advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy‘s Amsterdam offices (Herengracht 258).

Photos by Anne Barlinckhoff