Tag: Esao Andrews

Video Tour & Opening Reception Party of March Exhibitions featuring B. Robert Moore, Marissa Reyes, Roja, & F CANCER Charity Benefit Group Show at Thinkspace Projects

Here is the opening night recap video from this past Saturday’s reception for our March exhibitions. (Opening night photos BELOW for F Cancer Group Show, Marissa Reyes’ and Roja’s solo exhibitions!)

Many thanks to everyone who came through to support and a big round of applause to b. Robert Moore, Marissa Reyes, and Roja on their new bodies of work.

In Gallery I, strong, evocotive work stirred the non-stop full house for b. ROBERT MOORE ‘Out the Mud: A Black American Rite of Passage’. A museumesque exhibition that had our patrons deeply engaged all evening. (Opening Night photos for b. Robert Moore HERE!)

In Gallery III, YeeHaws and bananas 🍌 helped to lift spirits in MARISSA REYES’s deeply personal body of work for ‘Fighting Fickle Feelings For You.’

In Gallery IV, the textile based work by ROJA in ‘Asco’ wowed the crowds with its intricacies and wild narratives.

And finally in Gallery II, the emotions were deep and the support was strong surrounding our ‘F CANCER’ Group Show to raise funds for cancer research and awareness, in honor of one of our own. CLICK HERE to see the roster of participating artists.

THANK YOU so very much to all the artists who took part and literally dropped everything in their busy schedules when we put this show together a mere six weeks ago. I can not thank you all enough. Still in awe of the special works you all submitted. ❤️

THANK YOU to everyone that has supported this show by purchasing a work, has shared word about it, taken the time to send us a note of support, shared your own painful stories of loved one’s battle with this evil disease, and shared alternative remedies, as we are open to any and all.

This art community is our family and you all really have made Shawn feel so very, very loved and it’s rare to get your flowers, as they say, before you pass on to the next plane of being. Last evening was special on so many levels.

We simply cannot thank you all enough. It has put some much needed extra fuel in our collective tanks for the battle ahead. Now to fight like we have never fought before. Shawn forever.

F*ck you, cancer. F*ck you. To learn more about all the American Cancer Society do, or to make a donation, please check here: www.cancer.org

Shout outs to Venice Beats, Goopmassta, The Roll N’ Bunn,  Digital Debris Video Gallery, B9RK, Gonga, Roshi, Made Fresh Shop, Society of Shadows and Timeless Brand for helping provide great vibes for all in attendance.

All four exhibits remain on view until March 25, 2023.

Open Tuesday to Saturday from 12-6pm. Viewing Rooms for each show are now live on our website.

Video + photos courtesy @BirdManPhotos

Continue reading Video Tour & Opening Reception Party of March Exhibitions featuring B. Robert Moore, Marissa Reyes, Roja, & F CANCER Charity Benefit Group Show at Thinkspace Projects

Live Tattoo Demonstration and Circa Survive performance to be held at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

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.

Join Us in Mesa, AZ for Esao Andrews mid-career retrospective “Petrichor”

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.

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (Mesa, AZ)
1 E Main St, Mesa, AZ 85201
https://www.mesaartscenter.com

Opening Reception with the Artist(s):
Friday, May 10, 2019 / 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Exhibition runs May 10, 2019 – August 4, 2019

Esao Andrews mid-career retrospective “Petrichor” opens at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum this May

ESAO ANDREWS
PETRICHOR
May 10 – August 4, 2019

Thinkspace is pleased to announce 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.

It’s Install Week for ‘Flourish’ at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

Installation week in underway for Thinkspace Gallery’s latest curated exhibition ‘Flourish’ at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum. The exhibition will include an installation from Felipe Pantone and murals from Nosego and Esao Andrews, along with a collection of works from the various artists a part of the Thinkspace family. For more information on ‘Flourish‘ visit the Thinkspace Gallery website.

 Pipes for Filipe Pantone’s Installation