Tag: gaia

Posted on

How I met Justin Lovato

While in Miami for Art Basel last month, I went to more than a dozen different fairs or exhibitions of one kind or another. And I barely scratched the surface of what was there. One night, I was out with a big group including people from Babelgum, Arrested Motion and a few other organizations. We were more or less wandering around Wynwood looking for any fairs that were still open. We ended up at Art Whino. I’d heard of Art Whino, but frankly hadn’t planned on going to the show. There was just so much going on that I didn’t think I would be able to find the time. Turns out, it was one of the more interesting exhibitions in Miami. There was artwork from Chris Stain, Billy Mode, PaperMonster and a whole assortment of others.

But for me, one artist stood out. This guy who had a sort of low-brow illustrator style, but not the kind that I normally hate. There was some substance to these paintings. I was absolutely loving all the paintings by this artist. His name was Justin Lovato. I happened to see Gaia nearby, so I rudely interrupted whatever conversation he was having with somebody I didn’t recognize and told them about how I had just found this amazing new artist called Justin Lovato. Turns out, the guy Gaia was talking to was Justin Lovato. Even better, Justin does paint the occasional piece outdoors, so it gave me an excuse to mention him here.

Here’s what Juxtapoz.com has said about Justin:

Here’s what we have to say: his art looks neat. The linework is nothing groundbreaking, reminiscent of a mix of Andrew Schoultz and Ferris Plock, but he has a distinctively rich, earthy palette and subtle use of stenciling incorporated with hand painting that makes us smile.

(oh, and make sure to click on these pics of his indoor work so that you can see them much larger and in the detail that they deserve to be seen in)

More after the jump… Continue reading “How I met Justin Lovato”

Posted on

Collaboration with No Longer Empty

A couple of weeks ago, I linked up with Keith Schweitzer from No Longer Empty, to paint a pull down gate in Chinatown that is right around the the corner from the D*Face mural that he created through the organization as well. It was a wonderful night and the documentation of the process was impeccably on point. Here is the final video. If you want to check out NLE and all of the amazing things they do, check out their site http://nolongerempty.com/.

Posted on

Dark Pop 2.0 at Last Rites Gallery

In fall of 2008, Andrew Michael Ford curated Dark Pop, a show at Last Rites Gallery which challenged artists to create a piece of “dark” art. It was a big hit. Since then, Andrew has begun working at Last Rites, and now Dark Pop 2.0 is almost here. Looks like a very interesting show.

Last Rites Gallery has again decided to find out what several of today’s brightest art stars are capable of when asked to create ONE piece of what could be considered truly ‘dark art’. Many artists find themselves in a nice groove of creating a certain mood or emotion through their work and have, understandably, become quite comfortable following this path in their art-making. We were curious, however, what would happen if things were to get a little uncomfortable, as the artist challenged themselves to search through new or buried feelings and emotions, the kind which might find their place on the ‘darker’ side of the artistic spectrum. With that in mind, Last Rites Gallery proudly presents “Dark Pop 2.0”: A collection of truly ‘dark art’ from an incredibly talented and diverse group of artists who would normally never get anywhere near this stuff! If the first Dark Pop was any indication, Dark Pop 2.0 is guaranteed to astound.

Participating Artists Include: AIKO (Aiko Nakagawa), Lisa Alisa, Esao Andrews, John Cebollero, Benjamin Clarke, Joshua Clay, Molly Crabapple, Amy Crehore, Yoko d’Holbachie, Leslie Ditto, Mickey Edtinger, Mark Elliott, Eric Fortune, GAIA, Stella Im Hultberg, Sarah Joncas, Aya Kakeda, Ben Kehoe, Dan-ah Kim, Daniel Hyun Lim (Fawn Fruits), Danni Shinya Luo, David MacDowell, Mike Maxwell, Simone Maynard, Dennis McNett, Tara McPherson, Michael Page, Nathan Lee Pickett, Leslie Reppeteaux, Mijn Schatje, Tin, Dan Witz, Jaeran Won and more.

Posted on

Primary Flight

My highlight of Art Basel was almost definitely Primary Flight, the huge mural project in the Wynwood district. They had over 100 artists painting murals, from big names like Shepard Fairey and Nick Walker to local graffiti writers. Here’s some of what they did.

Joe and I made a video about the project:

NohJColey
NohJColey. Photo courtesy of NohJColey
Pose
Pose
Ron English
Ron English
Jeff Soto
Jeff Soto
Jeff Soto
Jeff Soto. Photo courtesy of Jeff Soto
Gaia
Gaia

Many many more photos on Jeremiah Garcia’s flickr

Posted on

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

Posted on

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.