Tag: carmichael gallery

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Aakash Nihalani x Sean John

When a ground-breaking artist collaborates with a cool brand, the result is often amazing. That was the case when Aakash Nihalani teamed up with Sean John. It’s not necessary to add but it should be noted that Diddy, the clothing brand’s creator, is one of the world’s most influential urban taste makers, and Aakash just significantly upped the coolness factor of the clothes. Check out the results below.

Keep in mind that Aakash left for Miami literally the day after his solo exhibit On & Off (Often On) opened at Carmichael Gallery in LA to get working on this- this guy is on a roll.

More info on the new Sean John Miami shop here. All images courtesy of Aakash Nihalani.

– Elisa

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Mark Jenkins and Aakash Nihalani

Aakash Nihalani

Aakash Nihalani and Mark Jenkins’ solo shows at the Carmichael Gallery opened last week. Both Mark and Aakash have really pushed forward with these shows. Aakash was able to show that he doesn’t just a one-trick-pony and that he is more than just his tape pieces, and Mark continues to amuse and amaze me with his new sculptures.

Aakash Nihalani
Mark Jenkins
Mark Jenkins
Mark Jenkins

Photos from the Carmichael Gallery flickr

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Mark Jenkins at Carmichael Gallery

This Thursday, LA is in for a treat: The opening of Mark Jenkins’ solo show Meaning Is Overrated at the Carmichael Gallery.

In January 2010, Carmichael Gallery presents Meaning Is Overrated, a solo exhibition of new hyper realistic conceptual works and site-specific installation pieces by Mark Jenkins that reconsider the aesthetic and practical qualities of the human body. Works range from those in which the human is recast as a specialized object, such as Spokes, which features a tape cast sculpture of a girl fashioned to function as a bike, to those in which human posture is contorted to resemble that of another animal. Each piece is “an exploration of evolution within the realm of the absurd,” says Jenkins.

There will be an opening reception for Meaning Is Overrated on Thursday, January 21 with Jenkins in attendance. The exhibition will run through February 18, 2010.

Mark Jenkins is an internationally acclaimed American artist known for the mixed media sculptures and street installations he places throughout urban and environmental settings, sometimes with, but often without, permission. Playful and enigmatic, his work successfully transforms the ordinary into the unexpected.

Jenkins’ process involves dry-casting everything from fire hydrants and toy ducks to baby dolls and people, often himself or his assistants, with box sealing tape, the latter often dressed to appear scarily life-like. When placed outside or slipped indoors, announced or otherwise, these sculptures have the ability to both camouflage into their surroundings and elicit spectacular amounts of attention from viewers.

Jenkins’ works have been observed lounging atop billboards, slumped over on cafeteria tables,
panhandling in the streets, emanating from street poles, drowning in bodies of water, clinging to statues, overturning street signs and more in locations such as Belgrade, Vienna, Washington D.C., London, Barcelona, New York, Moscow and Seoul. By situating his pieces within such peculiar contexts, the artist brings cities, landscapes and interiors to life in a unique and thought-provoking manner. Whether indoors or out, his work engages its viewers and provokes a complex examination of self and surroundings.

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Aakash Nihalani Video

Babelgum just released a short video shot by Radar Twenty-One about Aakash Nihalani. I like to watch videos in which artists step back and talk about their work and as much of this footage, which follows Aakash through New York and films him at work on the street, is interspersed with his thoughtful commentary, I enjoyed this one.

Aakash is in LA right now prepping for his upcoming show here at Carmichael Gallery – it’s going to be a fun week leading up to the opening!

– Elisa

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Aakash Nihalani at Carmichael Gallery

Aakash Nihalani’s solo show, On & Off (Often On), is opening in a few weeks at the Carmichael Gallery in LA. I’m a fan of his public work and indoor installations, and I’m really curious what sort of pieces could be for sale and what the metal sculptural pieces will be like.

In January 2010, Carmichael Gallery presents On & Off (Often On), the first West Coast solo exhibition of Aakash Nihalani. In addition to a characteristically arresting site-specific installation comprised of brightly colored tape, Nihalani introduces a new artistic direction by using metal and plastic to create sculptural objects.

There will be an opening reception for On & Off (Often On) on Thursday, January 21 with Nihalani in attendance. The exhibition will run through February 18, 2010.

Aakash Nihalani is fast becoming recognized as one of the US’s most striking emerging installation artists. Celebrated for his ephemeral modifications of the urban landscape, the young Brooklyn-based tape specialist wields an abstract narrative of isometric shapes and flamboyant hues grounded in quiet irony and idiosyncratic precision. The fluidity of his simple, colorful style, which employs familiar shapes to produce unexpected visuals, initiates an inviting, living dialogue that traverses the chaos of city streets, the white walls of the gallery and the constancy of home.

Nihalani has built a global fan base by selectively placing his artwork on sidewalks and public spaces around New York. His squares, rectangles and cubes, which are constructed from strips of instantly identifiable fluorescent tape, give three-dimensional qualities and a new, often humorous, perspective to the windows, doorways, cement pavement, floor tiles, chain-link fences, bricks, building contours and

subway spaces within which they are embedded. Nihalani completes all public art pieces on site with little to no advanced planning. His style readily adapts to the interior gallery space and into individual works of art, thereby escaping its customarily fleeting existence while continuing to fuse his aesthetic and conceptual objectives.

Nihalani has fashioned a visual language all his own. The neon in his work highlights details that might otherwise go unnoticed, while his minimalist patterns form self-contained pockets which encourage examination both within the isolated space and of the world at large. His work often engages the public by creating three-dimensional environments that can be physically entered, transforming passersby or gallery visitors into participants and offering them a momentary escape from daily life.

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Inti

We currently have a group show of all Chilean artists on the walls here at Carmichael Gallery, which was curated by Pablo Aravena. I particularly like Inti’s work (that image above is part of a big mural he painted with Cekis) so I thought I’d share some photos of past projects.

Malmo, Sweden

Almagro, Spain (collab with Lag1)

Ronneby, Sweden

I really like these unusual, ghostly characters he paints – there’s something strangely captivating about the absence of regular facial features that creates an interesting expressive quality – but I think I like his more abstract style even more. Versatility is always a good thing to see in an artist. The images below are from a show in Vina del Mar, where Inti was born.

To see more of Inti’s work, visit his flickr. (Or stop by the gallery if you’re in LA)

– Elisa

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Welcome to Miami

Nina

Seth and I haven’t even been in Miami twenty-four hours yet, but I wanted to quickly share a few of the things we’ve seen so far. There’s still time to buy a plane ticket if you haven’t already – this year is going to be one of the best yet and you don’t want to miss it. The piece above is by Nina, one of the artists participating in Deitch’s Wynwood Walls. osgemeos are beginning their work alongside her below (that’s Otavio in the pic).

Nina and osgemeos

A block away is the Barry McGee building.

Barry McGee

Barry McGee

Then Shepard’s wall, the first of several he’ll be working on in Miami.

Shepard Fairey

Then there’s the main complex; when we were there last night, Nunca, Aiko and Clare Rojas were hard at work.

Nunca

Nunca

Aiko

Clare Rojas

Then there’s SCOPE, not too far down the street. This is the Vandalog fair! Gaia’s piece is looking amazing outside.

Gaia

And here’s a peek at our booth, #127. Just waiting for Nunca’s piece to come back from the framers, then we’re ready to hang!

Carmichael Gallery - booth 127

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See you at SCOPE-Miami

It looks like the whole Vandalog team will be together in Miami in a few weeks for the art fairs.

Congratulations to Gaia, a fellow blogger here on Vandalog, for not only being included in SCOPE-Miami with Irvine Contemporary, but also for getting the opportunity to create a 40 foot long mural the the fair’s entrance.

Elisa Carmichael will also be at SCOPE at the Carmichael Gallery‘s stand where they will have artwork from Boxi, Hush, Mark Jenkins, Nunca, Simon Birch and Sixeart.

And I will be in Miami to check out SCOPE, Basel, Primary Flight and all the other events and fairs.

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Dan Witz at Carmichael Gallery

Dan Carmichael

Thursday night was the opening of Dan Witz’s Dark Doings show at the Carmichael Gallery in LA. At first I wasn’t sure how Dan’s street work (especially from this particular series) would work indoors, but then I realized, the one piece of art in my house that my mom bought is an old Moroccan door and it’s great. So why should Dan’s door-sized work be any different? Maybe you don’t get the same element of surprise that spotting one of his pieces in the wild would have, but they still look damn cool and the man can paint. Can anybody who has seen this show in person shed some light on what it’s like to see these pieces in a gallery?

Dan Carmichael

Dan Witz

Dan Carmichael

Dan on the street in LA
Dan on the street in LA

Dan Carmichael