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April 14, 2014, 8:55am

Pow! Wow! Hawai’I Packs a Painted Punch

This past February, street artists and fine artists alike joined together for the fifth annual Pow! Wow! Hawai’i (PWH) festival in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founder of the site and painting festival PWH Jasper Wong and mega-art site Booooooom’s Jeff Hamada caught up with me to discuss the event, its history, and its future.


Lady Aiko
on Auahi Street| 2014, Courtesy of Pow! Wow! Hawai’I.

If you’re feeling like you missed out, check out PWH’s great video page and their mural page – and of course, consider attending Pow! Wow! Taiwan this year. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor

Listed under: Review

April 09, 2014, 9:39am

Lasting Impressions: Miguel A. Aragón at Tiny Park

Trauma permeates Miguel A. Aragón's very physical printmaking, both in subject matter (victims of Mexico's drug wars) and in process (depending on the intended result, he burns, abrades, or hand-drills the works). Aragón's return to Austin — his first solo here following the critically-lauded exhibition Fractured Memories, Assembled Trauma at Mexic-Arte Museum in 2012 — is both potent and bittersweet, as while the artist's bracing techniques continue to advance the compositional potential of paper, it also coincides with the final outing at eastside gallery Tiny ParkBrian Fee, Austin contributor


Miguel A. Aragón | De brazos abiertos, 2014, hand-drilled paper with layered Xerox, 72 x 192 inches. Image courtesy the artist and Tiny Park, Austin.

Listed under: Review

April 08, 2014, 11:14am

Dan Gluibizzi and the World Wide Archive

Combing Tumblr for inspirational sources, painter Dan Gluibizzi pairs scenes of friends, porn, swingers, and bongs to form groupings of perfect strangers in his watercolor compositions. In his show "Between Friends" at the Kopeikin Gallery, Gluibizzi explores and questions the social media bonds and the ties of voyeuristic “friendship” in this digital age. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor


Dan Gluibizzi | Story Sisters, 2014
, 33" x 40," Watercolor on Paper. Courtesy of Kopeikin Gallery.

Listed under: Review

April 02, 2014, 9:32am

MUST SEE PAINTING SHOWS: April

Back in December, I wrote an article in which I suggested that, after a number of years in which abstraction has been the dominant mode of painting in the “contemporary art world,” we might start to see an upswing in image-based painting. It is not exactly a Delphic prophecy given the way in which today’s market driven art world is constantly craving the next best thing, and, I might add, in ever more compressed cycle times. In conducting my monthly survey of commercial gallery shows this month I was struck by the amount of representational work on view, and even more so by the “academic” rigor much of it evinces. So what am I talking about? Have a look… – Steven Zevitas, Publisher


Deborah Oropallo. Courtesy of Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.

Listed under: Must-See

March 30, 2014, 8:32pm

Painting Backwards: Evan Nesbit at Roberts & Tilton

Painters and paint-lovers should flock to Evan Nesbit’s (NAP #99) current show /ˈkaɪˑæzəm/. Entering Roberts & Tilton, visitors are met by a group of large and brightly colored burlap canvases. The combination of acrylic paints and dye on brown burlap and of Nesbit’s painting on the opposite side of the burlap than the one facing outward has a contradictory effect on the colors: they are muted bolds and conversely, they are bright pastels.

The very act of painting backwards, though, is what interested me most—visually, aesthetically, physically, and quite psychically. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor


Evan Nesbit
| /ˈkaɪˑæzəm/ Installation View. Courtesy of Roberts & Tilton.

Listed under: Review

March 27, 2014, 9:31am

Hoodwinked: An Interview with Jonathan Hartshorn

In his recently opened exhibition hoodwinked by brand impersonators, malicious account spoofers and counterfeiters in the Roberts & Tilton Project Room in Culver City, CA, Albuquerque-based artist Jonathan Hartshorn's latest body of work references a variety of subject matter including Susan Rothenberg, Eadweard Muybridge and the boomerang. After a recent studio visit, we had the opportunity to discuss his new work and some of the other many aspects that make up his practice. – Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor


Jonathan Hartshorn | girl 1976, girl 1979, girl 1983, girl 1988, girl 1989, 2013-2014, mixed media assemblage, 32 x 28 inches; Courtesy of the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California

Listed under: Interview

March 27, 2014, 10:17pm

Mission Schooled: Jason Jägel at Gallery 16

If you’re a fan of underground hip hop then you’ve probably seen Jason Jägel’s (NAP #25) work. He’s produced album cover art for the likes of Dudley Perkins, Madlib, and MF Doom, including the cover of the 2011 reissue of Operation: Doomsday (originally released in 1999),  a classic in underground hip hop. If you’re unfamiliar with any of these names then you’re more likely to be impressed by the twenty years exhibiting that Jason has under his belt, half of those coming after he completed his MFA at Stanford University in 2002. His current exhibition, From the Sky, Rivers Look Like Snakes (through March 31), marks his first show in the expansive loft space of Gallery 16. It offers a glimpse at the narrative line drawings that have become Jason’s signature style. And it includes oil paintings -- a first for the artist since 1997 -- that seem to hint at the influences guiding his work. - Matt Smith Chavez, San Francisco Contributor


Jason Jägel | Hand/Eye, 2012. Gouache on paper. 81.5” x 60.5”. Courtesy of the artist and Gallery 16

Listed under: Review

March 25, 2014, 9:20pm

PDX Road Trip: New Work from Ellen Lesperance, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Wes Mills

Driving to Portland from Seattle is such an easy thing to do, most of the time I find myself there on a whim, without any concrete plans, experiencing the city in a choose-your-own-adventure style, with one experience leading into the next. When I arrived in such circumstances again last week, I ended up happening upon a survey of some of the city’s stalwart artists.  While the PORTLAND2014 biennial organized by Disjecta in a selection of discreet art venues across the city helped ensure a steady selection of shows, straying off the biennial track at times also yielded the most resonant works, with exhibitions by seasoned Portland artists Ellen Lesperance (NAP #97), Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Wes Mills representing some of the most exciting pursuits at the moment and reinforcing these artists’ positions as some of the city’s strongest voices. – Erin Langner, Seattle contributor


Ellen Lesperance, Do you know that one day you lost your way, man?, installation view. Image courtesy of Upfor Gallery.

Listed under: Review

March 25, 2014, 9:25am

Ecstasy and Eye Candy: Ben Weiner at Mark Moore Gallery

Ben Weiner’s (NAP #56, 68, 80, 98) solo show “MaximumStrengthAgeDefy” at Mark Moore Gallery is eye candy for the soul and soulful drugs for your eyes. The gallery space greets you with bright and tasty looking colors, alluring and welcoming you in. – Ellen C. Caldwell


Ben Weiner | installation view of “MaximumStrengthAgeDefy.” Image courtesy of Mark Moore Gallery.

Listed under: Review

March 23, 2014, 3:01pm

Homage to Exploration: Katia Santibañez at Morgan Lehman Gallery

As winter segues slowly into spring in New York City, Katia Santibañez's (NAP #104) latest suite of hypnotic investigations into the natural world instill warmth into our gray worldview and chilled bodies. Docere, Delectare, Movere, her fourth exhibition at Morgan Lehman Gallery, follows several months in Rome and a residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, imbuing this series with vitality and fearlessness in contrasting colors. — Brian Fee, Austin contributor


Katia Santibañez |
Interlude, 2013-14, acrylic on panel, 16 x 12”, image courtesy the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York.

Listed under: Review

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