Thank you to all those who joined us for the opening reception of “Instruments of Change” and the closing party for Designer Con. It was a busy week for the Thinkspace Family and we appreciate all those who come out to support the artists we love.
Now through March 1, 2020, the entire Fullerton Museum Center is transformed for “Instruments of Change” showcasing site-specific murals and installation from 8 Latin American artists; Saner, Curiot, Poni, Fernando Charmarelli, Paola Delfin, Alvaro Naddeo, Zezao, and Fefe Talavera.
Thinkspace Projects is honored to present Instruments of Change at the Fullerton Museum Center, a groundbreaking exhibition that transforms the museum with site-specific murals by 8 Latin-American street artists. This will be the first time in history that a US museum has hosted this kind of art show. In mid-November, the Fullerton Museum Center will open its doors to Alvaro Naddeo, Curiot, Fefe Talavera, Fernando Chamarelli, Hilda Palafox (aka Poni), Paola Delfin, Saner, and Zezao, giving them 10 days to create a series of large-scale murals and installations. The new work will be revealed on November 24 with an opening reception from 6pm to 10pm, in tandem with the closing party of DesignerCon. Instruments of Change will be on view until February 23, 2020. In addition, the Instruments of Change: A Compendium exhibition will be on view up the street at the Fullerton College Art Gallery on the campus of the Fullerton College, from January 30 to February 19, 2020.
Dedicated to full-inclusion, all materials, signage, and advertising will be presented in both English and Spanish. “We really want to welcome in a portion of the SoCal community that is often overlooked and neglected by the area’s museums,” saysAndrew Hosner, co-owner and curator of Thinkspace Projects. “We are very excited and honored to have the opportunity to put together a show of this caliber for a Southern California based institution. The street art culture throughout Mexico and South America is rich with history and has so many varied styles. Following in the footsteps of the ‘Vitality and Verve’ exhibitions that we curated at the Long Beach Museum of Art, ‘Instruments of Change’ aims to shine a spotlight on some of the most innovative artists from Latin America.”
“Much like the featured muralists in Instruments of Change, The Fullerton Museum Center seeks to engage, inform, inspire, and, when necessary, challenge the viewer,” says Kelly Chidester, curator for the Fullerton Museum Center. “We are excited to partner with Thinkspace to bring this socially conscious and timely exhibit to Fullerton as a celebration of art, culture and powerful storytelling.”
Instruments of Change will feature a diversity of artistic styles, ranging from photorealistic black and white portraiture to colorful, abstract works with indigenous aesthetics. Some artists in the show, such as Paola Delfín and Saner, have a track record of crafting intricately detailed, building-sized murals, while others like Zezao and Curiot often create work out of the public view in obscure locations like sewers and jungles.
The birthplace of the low-brow art movement, as well as a nexus of many cultures’ creatives, LA has become a destination for street artists over the past few decades. The unique art scene allowed many Hispanic-American graffiti artists to transcend the streets and thrive in fine art settings—Thinkspace Gallery being among them. Instruments of Changemarks a new chapter in the story of street art’s evolution, and starts its next decade on a whole new level.
Instruments of Change will be on view at Fullerton Museum Center from November 24, 2019 to February 23, 2020. The museum is located at 301 N. Pomona Ave. Fullerton, California 92832.
Artist Shay Bredimus to do live tattoo demo: Friday, July 26, 5-9 p.m. Rock band Circa Survive to perform pop-up set: Saturday, July 27, 1 p.m.
In celebration of the summer exhibitions, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum will offer two special events July 26 and July 27; a live tattoo demonstration by artist Shay Bredimus in his exhibition Cartomancy-The Seni Horoscopes (Friday, July 26, 5-9 p.m.), and a stripped-down, pop-up performance by rock band Circa Survive in Esao Andrews’ exhibition, Petrichor (Saturday, July 27 at 1 p.m.). Both events are free admission, no RSVP is required to attend but capacity is limited.
The
July 26 tattoo demonstration event with Shay Bredimus is presented as part of
the Hack the MAC series, facilitated by Mesa Arts Center’s Creative Catalysts
initiative. Bredimus, who grew up in Phoenix, is a nationally celebrated tattoo
and visual artist known for his signature technique of incorporating tattoo ink
and wax crayon on drafting film. Bredimus’ Seni Horoscopes are
comprised of 72 unique works based on the 17th century German fortune
telling card system by Italian oracle Giovanni Battista Seni. The event will
also offer tarot card readings and temporary tattoos of the artist’s original
art.
The
July 27 pop-up performance is in celebration of the mid-career retrospective
exhibition by Esao Andrews, a Japanese-American artist and illustrator who was
born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. Andrews’ artwork is featured as the band’s
album covers and is an integral component of the band’s live performances. Andrews’
exhibition is presented by Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in collaboration with
Thinkspace Gallery.
Circa
Survive is performing at Disrupt Festival at Ak-Chin Pavilion later the same
day. “Our relationship with Esao has been symbiotic in every sense,” says band
member Colin Frangicetto. “It has easily been the most organic & pure
collaboration the band has ever known, so much so that we’ve referred to him as
our visual soulmate and sixth band member pretty much from the start. It’s hard
to imagine what Circa Survive would even mean to the world without Esao’s
imagery. We are his biggest fans and are so honored to be a part of his career
and this celebration of it thus far.”
In
addition to the iconic album cover artwork for Circa Survive, Andrews has also
created numerous comic book covers for DC’s Vertigo Comics, and deck designs
for Deathwish and Baker Skateboards. His exhibition features over a dozen
iconic works borrowed from private collections worldwide and including the
original artwork from the Circa Survive album releases.
From
the release of their 2005 debut, Juturna, to their 2010 major label
release, Blue Sky Noise, to today with The Amulet, Circa Survive’s
sound is often described as progressive. On The Amulet, Circa Survive
continues this legacy, but filtered through the unique lens of punk and
alternative roots. The Amulet’s mix of intricate guitars, muscular bass,
and interlocking drums creates a dynamic foundation for vocalist Anthony
Green’s voice.
Mesa
Contemporary Arts Museum is located at 1 East Main Street, in downtown Mesa,
AZ, 85201. Admission is always free.
About Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum at Mesa Arts Center
Mesa
Arts Center’s (MAC) mission is to invite all people to create and discover
entertaining, challenging and diverse art and arts experiences within joyous,
dynamic and welcoming environments. As part of Mesa Arts Center, Mesa
Contemporary Arts Museum (MCA Museum) showcases the best in Contemporary Art by
emerging, nationally and internationally recognized artists. MCA Museum
provides support and advancement to artists through solo, group and juried
exhibitions. MCA Museum’s free admission and strong engagement programs provide
visitors with free school and public tours, a robust docent program and free
artist talks.
Published by Thinkspace Editions in conjunction with “Petrichor” on view through August 4 at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, Arizona.
An artist monograph cataloging the works of artist Esao Andrews from 2001 to 2018. 296 full-color pages bound with a linen hardcover. And forwarded by Andrew Hosner (Thinkspace) and an essay by Marieke Treilhard (arts and culture writer).
Deluxe Edition | $200 Limited to 300 numbered copies Housed in a custom debossed linen slipcase Includes a signed & numbered 8×8 inch (20.3×20.3 cm) print on Canson Aquarella 310gsm paper
PLEASE NOTE:All orders will start to ship on Tuesday, June 18. Our hopes are to have all books arrive to their new homes by the end of June. We will be sure to share tracking details once your package is on the way. If you have any questions once June 18 has passed, please direct them to shop@thinkspaceprojects.com. Please do not check in prior to the end of June, as we will have NO updates prior to that. Thank you for understanding and for your support.
Thinkspace is pleased to invite you to Petrichor, a mid-career retrospective at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum dedicated to the surreal and darkly stylized work of Japanese American artist, and Mesa AZ native, Esao Andrews. Known for his minutely detailed and narratively suggestive paintings, Andrews brings haunting imagery to life through his uniquely mannerist distortion of subjects, both human and animal, and the strange undertow of his desolate, Gothically inspired landscapes. Themed around homecomings, departures, and afflictive transformations, Andrews’ works feel drawn from the same collective imaginary reserves as myth.
Andrews attended New York’s School of Visual Arts where he studied illustration and completed a B.F.A in 2000. An accomplished figurative painter, he participated in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2002. The artist has worked commercially in tandem with his fine art practice which has, in recent years, grown to include large-scale murals, and produced iconic album cover artwork for American rock band Circa Survive. He has also created numerous comic book covers for DC’s Vertigo Comics, and memorable deck designs for Deathwish and Baker Skateboards.
Petrichor will feature over a dozen iconic works by Andrews, borrowed from private collections worldwide, and will include the original artwork from the Circa Survive album releases. Also included in the exhibition are never before seen sketches and maquettes, objects and skateboard decks, and twelve new, never before seen works alongside a site-specific mural created for the retrospective.
Staging a world of unlikely combinations and unexpected tensions, Andrews revels in the surreal elasticity of the subconscious and its penchant for the poetically absurd. No hybrid is too unimaginable, no character too fantastic, no anthropomorphous invention too unthinkable. Objects, animals, and people are all dynamically animate and sentient, subject to the inexplicable rules of their living fictional cosmos. Always one for compelling epilogues, Andrews has revisited past characters and themes throughout his career, building on earlier works and weaving a sort of narrative continuity throughout his output. Though the tone of his imagery often borders on the grotesque or even macabre, a literary impulse links Andrews’ works to the fabric of fable and myth, its folkloric threads binding it to something vaguely archetypal and collective in its haunting resonance.
Andrews lists diverse sources of inspiration for his work, everything from art history to skate counterculture. The immersive manga fantasies of anime master Hayao Miyazaki figure prominently among his influences, as do French 19th-Century Academic painting styles, particularly its neoclassical revisitation of myth and the tenebrous cast of its moody contrasts. Andrews also cites the heightened emotional drama of Gustav Klimt’s Symbolist Art Nouveau style and Egon Schiele’s Expressionistic sensual grotesque as other stylistic sources. Contemporary painters James Jean and Inka Essenhigh list among his inspirations too, as does visionary cartoonist Al Columbia for his masterful, ghoulish reinterpretations of Americana.
“Petrichor” is said to be the fluid stone coursing through the veins of the Gods in Greek mythology, it is also the warm earthen smell after a downpour on desiccated land, the relief of rain on hot desert and dry air that signals a moment of elemental transformation and all the inexplicable micro-metamorphoses that attend a relieved and changing landscape. This is the dark but beautifully redemptive imaginary Andrews is continually bringing to life – one in which endings and beginnings are indivisibly bound.
