In New York there were two simultaneous screenings of the film - one by Morgan Spurlock for about the same number of people - and one by the woostercollective. We were invited by Marc and Sara and Marc was so secretive about the film prior to it that he couldn’t even divulge where the screening was to held until we actually got the invites! So we figured something cool was going to happen. Only 99 guests were invited to our screening. The guests included celebrities, artists, weirdo’s and some really cool people. In the words of Marc - “it was like a very interesting dinner party.”

So, some of you might know of an artist that people have accused of “ripping off Banksy,” who recently had a series of shows in LA and NYC. I can’t tell you any more than this: the film might have something to do with something or someone that those shows involve. We really cannot say any more than that. You guys will have to check it out for yourselves.

Be warned, in true Banksy style, the first 10 or so minutes are a bit disorienting, and I think it was done deliberately. You’ll see what I mean when you see the film. I highly, highly recommend that you see it on the big screen.

Here is the synopsis from Banksy’s spokespeople:

OPENS IN CINEMAS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES BEGINNING APRIL 16TH
For Exact Theaters And Showtimes Check The Official Website: http://www.banksyfilm.com

Exit Through the Gift Shop, the first film by renowned graffiti artist Banksy, became the hottest ticket at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it made its world debut. Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post—hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the worlds most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview. As Banksy describes it, Its basically the story of how one man set out to film the un—filmable. And failed

TAGS: Events, Reviews, Film Reviews

SHRED FOR YOUR LIFE!!

If you’ve never been to a Shred event, do yourself a favor and check this one out on the 17th - it’s like a stage where modern day guitar gladiators go head to head; and there can only be ONE winner. This year the event is being presented by Dickies.

You can buy tix here.

Check out this footage from the previous Shred.

Shred For Your Life from All Day Everyday on Vimeo.

TAGS: Events

Jonathan LeVine Gallery

Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Five Year Anniversary Group Exhibition
Featuring work by 40 Artists

February 27th—March 27th, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 27th, 7pm—9pm

Since 2005, Jonathan LeVine Gallery has been an important venue for Street Art (ephemeral work placed in public urban environments) and Pop Surrealism (work influenced by illustration, comic book art, and pop culture imagery). As such, the pieces in this exhibition—comprised of paintings, drawings, and sculptures—will be primarily figurative with a strong sense of narration.

Artists in this exhibition have developed prominent creative voices for themselves as individuals, while also playing valuable roles within the historical context of the larger Street Art and/or Pop Surrealism movements. All of them have been influential in shaping the gallery’s program, creating work with a unique counter-culture point of view.

In LeVine’s words: “I believe that my program represents a generational shift, and that the artists who I work with will continue to define the evolution of this genre.”

Artists in the exhibition include: Adam Wallacavage, AJ Fosik, Andrew Brandou, Andy Kehoe, Blek le Rat, Chris Mars, Dan Witz, Date Farmers, Dave Cooper, Doze Green, Eric White, Erik Mark Sandberg, Esao Andrews, Gary Baseman, Gary Taxali, Invader, Isabel Samaras, James Jean, Jeff Soto,
Jim Houser, Josh Agle (Shag), Kathy Staico Schorr, Mark Dean Veca, MARS-1, Miss Van, Natalia Fabia, Nouar, Plankton, Ray Caesar, Ron English, Scott Musgrove, Shepard Fairey, Souther Salazar, Stephan Doitschinoff (Calma), Tara McPherson, Titi Freak, WK, and Xiaoqing Ding.

TAGS: Events

Clae at Stussy LA

The kind folks at Clae sent us this email recently:

“Hey folks,
hope this email finds you well…
if you happen to be in sunny LA on sat feb 20th
Stop by our shop in shop at stussy LA chapter from 6-9
there will be a book signing from All Gone,
sounds by DJ soulscape and king solomon,
photo exhibit from Lenard Smith,
and some invicta tacos and coronas to wash it down.
should be a fun evening,
see you there!”

Nuf Said!

TAGS: Events

Scion Presents: ‘THIS MUST BE THE PLACE’ from Scion ART on Vimeo.

If you’re in LA go check it out.

TAGS: Events

Scion Installation 6: Video - Los Angeles from Scion ART on Vimeo.

From our friends over at Scion:

Scion Installation 6: VIDEO

January 23 - February 13, 2010

Now in its 6th year, this revolutionary art tour kicks off 2010 in Los Angeles. The tour focuses on the video medium, which emerged in the 1960s and has since expanded galleries into more experimental, kinetic and interactive spaces. “Installation 6: Video” challenged 10 artists to create non-narrative video installations that will eventually transform five unique exhibitions around the country.

Featuring:

Dust la Rock (Brooklyn, NY), Eric Nakamura (Los Angeles, CA), Saelee Oh (Los Angeles, CA), French (London, England), Josh Graham (New York, NY), Ill-Studio (Paris, France), Monihan Monihan (New York, NY), Mark Mothersbaugh (Los Angeles, CA), PMKFA (Tokyo, Japan), and Sage Vaughn (Los Angeles, CA).

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 23, 2010 | 7-10pm
(all artists in attendance)

Scion Installation L.A.
3521 Helms Ave.
Culver City, CA 90232
Gallery Phone: 310-815-8840
Hours: Wed-Sat 11:00AM-6:00PM

scion.com/space
scion.com/installation

TAGS: Events

Photo courtesy Big Art Group

Cinema Fury, A New Performance by Caden Manson / Big Art Group
In Cinema Fury, organized by Nick Hallett, Big Art Group explores the idea of corruption in the information age, and the chaotic possibilities that arise through errors, glitches, and interruptions within digital transmissions. By reinterpreting models of data transmission and decomposition as performance strategies, Cinema Fury opens up new interpretive pathways to understand the process of contemporary “media-ization.”

Friday, January 15, 7 PM | $10 Members, $12 General Public

New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
212.219.1222

TAGS: Events

STREAM BALTIMORE

This is the first of a series - a bi-coastal photograph projection show, called STREAM, similar to the Night Vision project that happened in Vancouver in the Summer. The show will be playing in Los Angeles + Baltimore at the same time, the LA showing being outdoors and the Baltimore showing being indoors.

STREAM
a bi-coastal photograph projection show

Works by :
Ann Woo
Coley Brown
Daniel Gordon
Jaap Scheeren
James Nizam
Jason Nocito
Jesper Ulvelius
Jérémie Egry
Jinjoo Hwang
Marcelo Gomes
Marlon Rabenreither
Michael E. Northup
Mikaylah Bowman
Misha De Ridder
Nicholas Haggard
Nina Hartmann
Patrick Tsai
Paul Schiek
Sam Falls
Sol Hashemi
Tim Steer
Willa Nasatir
Young Kyu Yoo

Friday, January 22, 2010

STREAM LOS ANGELES, 8PM
Space 15 Twenty
The Courtyard (Outdoor show)
1520 North Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

STREAM BALTIMORE, 10PM
Pent House Gallery
Copycat
1511 Guildford Ave. B501
Baltimore, MD

Initiated and curated by Jennilee Marigomen (Vancouver) and Andrew Laumann (Baltimore)

http://www.streamexhibition.com

STREAM LOS ANGELES

TAGS: Events

Saelee Oh

Saelee Oh
Infinite Roots
Solo Exhibition

January 16th—February 13th, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 16th, 7pm—9pm

NEW YORK, NY (January 2, 2010) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to announce Infinite Roots, a solo exhibition of new works on paper by Los Angeles based artist Saelee Oh. As her first solo exhibition at the gallery, Infinite Roots features imagery created in a variety of mediums including paintings, drawings and hand-cut paper, all of which will be incorporated into a site-specific installation.

The theme of the work in this exhibition relates to the artist’s belief that everything in the universe is connected, and that no one is ever truly alone. Heavily influenced by nature, Saelee’s imagery portrays flora and fauna of land, sea, and sky. Her subject matter depicts a harmonious world, flowering and full of life. The narratives are told primarily through female figures as well as various animal species.

The artist has said: “The roots of a plant are what secure it to an interconnected underground where all life is nourished, as the buds and leaves bloom above. The show title, Infinite Roots, alludes to the deep reaches of our intrinsic inner desires. The tone of the work in this series is bittersweet with hints of nostalgia. The pieces appear delicate and frail but the stories they tell are about timeless strength.”

Many of Saelee’s pieces are delicately painted or drawn, while others are created in an intricate process where she constructs ornate compositions of interconnected flat shapes, imaginatively fabricated and cut by hand out of paper. In a textural play between positive and negative space, the paper overlay often forms subtle shadows beneath the silhouetted imagery, introducing added depth and dimensional layers to the organic line quality of the work.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Saelee Oh is an American artist of Korean descent who currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Her works primarily consist of drawings, paintings and cut paper, although on occasion she has also created sculptural installations and stop-motion animation. Through her delicate imagery, Saelee explores themes including: utopia, female empowerment, identity, connection, alienation, nature, and animal symbolism. In 2003, she graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA with a BFA in Illustration. She has given presentations at Saint Lawrence University and Harvard University, and her work has been exhibited in galleries and Museums across the United States, as well as in the UK and Japan.

TAGS: Events

Doze Green

Doze Green
New works in the Project Room
Solo Exhibition

January 16th—February 13th, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 16th, 7pm—9pm

Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present a selection of new works by Doze Green in the gallery’s Project Room.

Working in an array of mediums such as ink, gouache, metallic pigments, charcoal and collage, Green’s signature aesthetic creatively combines stylized letterforms and figurative abstraction with fluid continuous line work, resulting in an evolved approach to organic cubism.

Returning for what will be the artist’s third solo exhibition at the gallery, this show will feature a new series of original mixed media works on canvas, watercolors on paper, and black and white contour line paintings on cardboard.

The largest work featured in the show entitled Siddhartha, made it’s debut in December of 2009 during Chimera, an exhibition curated by David Hunt as part of the Scope-Miami International contemporary art fair. Siddartha is the companion piece to Green’s earlier Omega Bridge canvas, a collaborative painting created with the Brazilian street artist Fefe Talavera, which measured over thirteen and a half feet wide. The Omega Bridge piece was exhibited in Green’s 2008 solo exhibition N.O.O.N.—No One Observes Nibiru.

Green recently completed a set of two large-scale public murals commissioned by CityCenter in Las Vegas, Nevada. He named the project Crossroads of Humanity. The two murals, which contain muti-figure imagery, occupy the surfaces of 6 conjoined walls (3 walls each). Wrapping around several corners, the total combined wall distance measures 80 feet wide by 20 feet high, per mural.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Doze Green speaks in a unique creative voice from the collective consciousness, applying a symbolist approach to metaphysical concepts. A New York City native, and often compared to Basquiat, his urban background and involvement in the early hip-hop/graffiti movement of NYC in the late 70’s, early 80’s as one of the original members of the Rock Steady Crew, led him to transition from creating art in the streets and subways into the gallery setting. The artist’s genealogy inspires many of the themes explored therein, influenced by ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures, including his own Afro-Caribbean roots. Green’s totem-like human and animal figures are often conceptually based on polytheistic deities. These divinities represent sentinels, guardians of universal truths, immortal warriors warning mankind of the dangers contemporary society has manifested, looming on the horizon and threatening to destroy us.
Doze Green

ABOUT JONATHAN LEVINE GALLERY
Jonathan LeVine Gallery exhibits a genre of work influenced by illustration, comic books, graffiti and pop imagery. Our goal is to expand this genre beyond its Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow, or street art roots and bringing this movement to the forefront of contemporary art. With this in mind, we represent a mix of emerging and mid-career level artists with an emphasis on cultivating new talent and creating an environment where artists can further develop their work.

Jonathan LeVine Gallery is located at 529 West 20th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm. For more information, please call 212-243-3822, visit http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com, or email :

TAGS: Events