“Disambiguation” with Carlos Mare, Rae Martini, Remi/Rough & Sixeart at Carmichael Gallery

Rae Martini, Shots in the subway, mixed media and collage on canvas

Carmichael Gallery is once again featuring artwork by some of my favorite artists. Opening Saturday evening is Disambiguation with new works that reinvent traditional graffiti forms by Carlos Mare, Rae Martini, Remi/Rough and Sixeart. The exhibit continues through October 6 at 5797 Washington Blvd in Culver City, CA.

Remi/Rough, The colour of love, acrylic on canvas

Photos courtesy of Carmichael Gallery

Weekend link-o-rama

Awer in Berlin. Click to view large.

It’s a mega link-o-rama this week because I’ve been traveling from last Saturday until Thursday morning.

Photo by Awer

My Turn: Group Show at the Carmichael Gallery

Bumblebee, Sleeping Child Stencil

As Lois mentioned, “My Turn” (curated by L.A.-based Bumblebee) opened at the Carmichael Gallery recently, showcasing global artists deserving of wider audiences. Although the show’s title and theme failed to carry through to the works on display, it’s worth noting that Bumblebee showed admirable range in selecting fellow artists from the UK, Colombia, Argentina, Italy, and the Ukraine.

Interesni Kazki stood out as capably transitioning indoors without losing the magic that makes their large-scale work so spectacular. Building on their solo opening at Mid-City last year, the duo contributed separate pieces this time (each attributed to either WAONE or AEC), employing acrylics, rather than aerosol, in all but one piece.

Moneyless also showed strongly, with geographical works that utilized similar techniques to his yarn sculptures. (In fact, I’d be very interested to see what Moneyless could do if given free range in an entire gallery.) Though I love the idea behind Jaz’s animal transformations, they weren’t nearly as impressive on a smaller scale. However, what was impressive about the show was the diversity of work on offer–from Hyuro’s detailed pen work to Klone’s watercolors–bringing a solid perspective on where street art is going, and how it might continue to transition into gallery spaces.

“Play Me” runs through April 7 at the Carmichael Gallery, 5795 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232.

Bumblebee, "Black"
Interesni Kazki's AEC, "Star"
Interesni Kazki's WAONE, "Portal"
Moneyless, "Untitled"
Jaz, "Lions"
Klone, "Sabbath Bride"

Photos by Ryan Gattis. More photos available here

“My Turn” at Carmichael Gallery: Jaz, Hyuro, Klone, Stinkfish and more

Although I have yet to make it to its Culver City space, I became an instant fan of Carmichael Gallery after seeing its astoundingly beautiful 2010 Recreation II exhibit in collaboration with Ogilvy & Mather in New York City.  If I were anywhere near the West Coast, I would definitely make it to its upcoming exhibit, My Turn. Curated by Los Angeles-based artist Bumblebee, it opens this Saturday evening featuring work by some of the most provocative and passionate artists working on the streets across the globe today.  Personal favorites include Jaz, Hyuro, Klone and Stinkfish. Here are a few images:

Jaz, based in Buenos Aires
Hyuro, based in Valencia
Klone, based in Tel Aviv

Photos courtesy of Carmichael Gallery

Playing Field group show at Carmichael Gallery

Carmichael Gallery‘s next show is Playing Field, a group show of secondary market works. It opens this Saturday, June 18th and runs through August 9th. The line up hits most of the big names you’d expect to see as well as a few surprises: Banksy, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Sixeart, Os Gêmeos, Mark Jenkins, JR, KAWS, Barry McGee, José Parlá, Judith Supine, Swoon, Titi Freak, Dan Witz.

These sort of shows tend to be either really good or really bad. I’m liking the above piece by Barry McGee, so I’m thinking this should fall on the really good side of things. But LA residents can see for themselves starting on Saturday. The opening is from 6-9pm.

Photo courtesy of Carmichael Gallery

Martha Cooper gets remixed at Carmichael Gallery

Mare 139

Carmichael Gallery in LA has a pretty crazy show on right now. Martha Cooper: Remix has street and graffiti artists giving their takes on classic photographs by Martha Cooper, one of the photographers behind the classic Subway Art book. Here’s a bit of the show, but check out Arrested Motion for many more photos. Remix runs through May 7th.

Anthony Lister
LA II on a photo of Keith Haring

Photos courtesy of Arrested Motion

Kosbe on the Streets of NYC and the Walls of the Carmichael Gallery

I’ve always loved Kosbe’s zany characters and somewhat esoteric messages. Mostly on stickers, they occasionally make their way onto wheatpastes, as this recent addition to NYC’s East Village.

Photo by Lois Stavsky

Yesterday, Kosbe shared with me — via his iPhone — a photo of his piece currently on exhibit in Martha Cooper’s “Remix” at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, CA. A recreation of Cooper’s iconic 1980 photo of Dondi sketching in his room with friends in East New York, Brooklyn, it uncovers another side of Kosbe’s flair.

Photo courtesy of Kosbe

Remix: Martha Cooper and friends at Carmichael Gallery

Martha Cooper is one of graffiti’s most influential photographers, particularly for being half of the duo (the other half being Henry Chalfant) who photographed and wrote Subway Art back in the 1980’s. For many street artists and graffiti writers, Martha is a large part of how they got started not just painting outside, but with art in general. Martha Cooper: Remix is the next show at Carmichael Gallery, and I just love the idea – Some of street art and graffiti’s greats from the 1980’s through today have reinterpreted Martha’s photographs in their own style and Remix will show the original photos alongside these reinterpretations. Remix opens April 9th and runs through May 7th, so it is timed to coincide with MOCA’s Art in the Streets show, which Martha Cooper is also included in.

Artists in Remix include Aeon, John Ahearn, Aiko, Bio, Nicer & B-Gee, Blade, Blanco, Mark Bode, Burning Candy, Victor Castillo, Cey, Cekis, Claw, Cosbe, Crash, Dabs & Myla, Anton van Dalen, Daze, Dearraindrop, Jane Dickson, Dr. Revolt, Shepard Fairey, Faust, Flying Fortress, Freedom, Fumakaka, Futura, Gaia, Grotesk, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm, LA II, Lady Pink, Anthony Lister, The London Police, Mare 139, Barry McGee, Nazza Stencil, Nunca, José Parlá, Quik, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Sharp, Skewville, Chris Stain, Subway Art History, Swoon, T-Kid, and Terror161. So yeah, this should be interesting.

With most other photographers, I might quickly right this idea off as gimmicky and I think artists might half-ass it, but there is so much respect for Martha Cooper, the line up is so strong (and varied) and the photos are so interesting that I think this has to be a success.

All the LA galleries are really pulling out all the stops for this April and Carmichael Gallery is no exception.

Photo courtesy of Carmichael Gallery

Weekend link-o-rama

Galo, 2051 and Ottograph

So much going on behind the scenes this week for a couple of upcoming events. Can’t wait to say more. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to write about one of them. Here’s what I didn’t have a chance to post about this week:

Photo by Galo

Some NY art fair suggestions

EVOL will be at the WILDE Gallery booth at Volta

With two midterms exams tomorrow, I’m rushing this post, but here’s a simple list for some of what to check out at the art fairs in New York this week.

I won’t be in NYC for the fairs myself, but I’ll hopefully have some photos to post. Otherwise, the places I will be getting my art fair news will be Hyperallergic and Arrested Motion.

Photo courtesy of Volta Art Fair