Sour Harvest

Brendan Monroe, one of our favorites artists (not to mention the creator of our logo), has his new book coming out next month, simply titled b.monroe.

Published by Paper Museum and designed by Brendan’s friend Jordan Stark. The book consists of 176 pages on wood free paper that has then been bound in a soft cover, complete with a poster fold out jacket (see above). Included are images of more than 70 paintings, 15 sculptures and a various installation shots. The book also features an introduction by Mike Kelley from Junc Gallery, a glossary of terms by writer Shana Nys Dambrot and an interview conducted by microbiologist Simon Park.

Big news is that Brendan will be signing the first 30 books ordered through his site, so get to it: http://www.brendanmonroe.com/

If you are interested and patient, there will be a special edition box with an intaglio print and a screen printed accordion zine. This is currently in the works and will be released throughout the month of March by Park Life. They will be limited, signed and in a numbered edition of 55.

ALSO, mark your calendars now for a very special event:
Brendan will be having a book signing and mini show up at the Park Life store in SF. There will be a book signing party on Thursday, March 12th. The show will be up for only one week and be closing on March 18th. This will be his first show in the SF area in almost 4 years.

Monroe will have works in the upcoming NYC art fairs as well. He’ll be featured with Richard Heller at The Armory Fair and with Galerie L.J. Beaubourg at the Bridge Fair. These both go down March 5th-8th, be sure to check it out if in NYC for all the fairs that week.

If you haven’t been to Brendan’s site in a while, he recently updated the paintings and sculpture sections. Be sure to check it out if you get a chance: http://www.brendanmonroe.com/

The press love for Amy Crehore‘s debut Los Angeles solo show with us continues to stream in.

Juxtapoz just posted a nice re-cap of the opening night and a link to the show pieces here.

Juxtapoz also did a cool ’20 Questions’ feature with Amy just before the show. In case you missed that, check it out here.

Additional press of note includes:

Pop Drawer , Arrested Motion, The Rumpus, boingboing , Metromix L.A. (the newspaper version, too), Fabulist, Format Mag, and even a nice mention on KPFK radio via Ali Lexa’s show.

If you missed the interview I posted with Amy here on Sour Harvest leading into the opening of her solo, be sure to check it out here.

Amy also posted some nice pics on her blog of the show all hung in the gallery here and we have a slew of shots of the opening night reception and the works all hung in the gallery as well here.

In addition to our photo set, Amy has a nice set up on our her flickr too of all the works here.

For those that missed it, a great interview was also posted with Sadie Magazine leading into the show and a great ful-page preview / mini-interview with both Amy and myself is featured in the new issue of Inked Magazine (which is now on news stands nationwide).

‘Dreamgirls and Ukes’ is on view through March 6th – don’t miss it!

Thinkspace Gallery (4210 Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles / 323.913.3375 / Open Thursday through Sunday from 1-6PM)

View the works from ‘Dreamgirls & Ukes’ here.

Also, since the works in the preview don’t feature the ukes strung up and ready to play, Amy’s also posted pics of all the ukes ready to play, after her husband Lou, a professional luthier, strung them and tuned them – they look fabulous – check out the images here.

Upon entering the gallery you were met by a huge pile of “The Crap Of Life” (the show’s title) – made up of handmade stuffed plush items of everyday objects ranging from Sharpie pens to VHS cassettes to all matter of food packaging… just stunning the detail and time that went into this.

The show was exceptional and showcased Whitmarsh’s numerous talents. Her trademark needlepoint works (seen above) were on display, as were works from her new plush ‘bling’ series (see below) and several works on paper as well…

Megan Whitmarsh was in the house (seen below with Shawn from Thinkspace) and had autographed copies of her new book with Rojo, Yeti Logic, on hand for patrons to pick up. As we were leaving, Megan’s trademark lifesize cardboard robot was about to make it’s appearance during the special performance from Dolphine Force… alas, we had to get going and hit the road…

To get over to the Beautiful/Decay ‘A to Z’ show over at Kopeikin Gallery that helped to celebrate the release of issue Z. In celebration of reaching issue ‘Z’, Beautiful/Decay curated a special show featuring 26 artists including the likes of Robbie Conal, Gary Taxali, Skwak, Aya Kato, Aaron Noble, Jacob Magraw, Suntek Chung and many more – see some of our favorites below, of note the epic piece from Robbie Conal that greated patrons in the main window facing Melrose Avenue (in some places, the paint was well over 2″ thick on the canvas)…

Robbie Conal

Gary Taxali

Jacob Magraw

Aaron Noble

Ended the eve running into a bunch of good friends (seen above L-R: artist Andrew Hem, Shawn from Thinkspace, aritst Michael Alvarez, collector Amanda Erlanson, and artist Tessar Lo).

After taking in the KAWS show up the road, we headed out to the take in the opening night of Natalia Fabia‘s Hooker DreamEscape. This new series of paintings are another huge step forward in Natalia’s ongoing evolution as a fine artist. Just stunning.

The one and only Natalia Fabia with Shawn from Thinkspace (above).

View from up top in the loft, looking down on the crowd through the sea of laser-cut acrylic chandeliers that Natalia created for the opening (these too were available for sale)…

While we were getting ready to leave and continue our art adventure (more on that in the following post), we noticed that Tyra Banks made her way into the show. I tried to grab a shot, but she saw me and quickly ducked behind her entourage. She wasn’t accepting any photos, not even with Natalia for the gallery, as she felt under dressed/without makeup… (got the above somewhat blurry shot off though)… pretty crazy having someone like Tyra attend.

Congrats to Natalia on an amazing new series of work!!!

“Hooker DreamEscape” featuring new works from Natalia Fabia

On view through March 14th @ Corey Helford Gallery

(8522 Washington Blvd in Culver City)

KAWS’ solo show at Honor Fraser, “The Long Way Home”, went off in fine form last night. Fans were not let down as KAWS unleashed an arsenal of new works, spanning several different styles. One of the highlights was a full room full of ‘Kurf’ styled works, as well as a 90″ tall day-glo green Chum, six 20″ tall bronze chums (each a diff. color) and three of his painted bronze head casts (including one that had ‘fallen’ on the floor).

Opening night crush… place was packed from the onset with a line over three blocks long (a good 200 people deep) the whole night long… sadly, sure many were shut out. But don’t worry, the show is up through April 4th. I’ll be headed out to take it in one more time for sure, as the place was packed to the gills all evening.

KAWS’ own head sculpted in bronze.

Ahhh, to have gotten one of these packaged gems of ‘Kurf’ goodness…

‘Kurf’ package painting close up… all had sold out prior to show ($10K each)

More ‘Kurf’ goodness…

Check out a preview of the show that the LA Times ran here. Great article.

A whole row of 20″ tall bronze chums… you want one? Well, cough up $30k!

With the man of the hour himself (above).

Honor Fraser @ 2622 S. La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles / 310.837.0191

“The Long Way Home” from KAWS (On view through April 4th)