Artillery For Pleasure

Keith Hopewell [Part2ism]: native from the UK. An aerosol O.G. forever transforming the boundaries of contemporary street art. Creator of the dauntingly large scale wall series [Tamara], naked babe with the gas mask ^above^ on a golden yellow emulsion, I'm sure grabbed the attention of alot of people. These street productions are hand painted using regular car spray paint.
Keith’s work challenges the perception and conception within a modern consumerist society often using religious and military imagery. The red and blue 3D lenses represent the need to see with a greater clarity and enhanced perspective. “My work is a critique of commodity as a religion and how religion and money are the principal conspirators of war”. The built up textures from the application of car spray paint are reminiscent of old black and white grained film. They say you can visually feel and smell it which enhances the sensual tones of his nude figures. The exhibition 'Artillery For Pleasure' featured large scale monochrome photo realist paintings.

"To be a Renegade in a rebellious culture that’s already divided by it’s own rules, traditions and internal politics is probably the biggest battle I’ll ever fight. it’s a war on all fronts because you’ve got the media & the masses that generally don’t know the real history of this art, never mind it’s fractions, derivatives and their internal aesthetics. People are fighting for acceptance on a huge number of levels from so many divisions just to produce art and then be labeled under one category that barely scratches the surface. Whatever it is that I create, it has to remain ambiguous to have any form of impact in this saturated world, that is quickly becoming desensitized to one of the most powerful art form’s of its time".

Off The Grid

"Show Support For YOUR Artists Who Support OUR City!"

Swizz Beatz... an Artist?

Some of us are lucky enough to be great at a few things, but This renaissance man they call Swizz Beatz is truly a jack of all trades. Swizz has been a master of music production since he was SIXTEEN-YEARS-OLD. (Yes, correct. When you were in middle school, high school, college... gettin gully with your friends, chanting "Stop! Drop! Shut'em down, open up shop!! The young man who produced that was in HIGH SCHOOL! Doing the samething you were doing... kinda.) Not only a producer, but also a decent rapper, with car knowledge and a collection that would make any male jealous.
Soooo... he sounds good... he rides good... and he dresses well, affiliated with KidRobot. He's a contributing artist for the clothing line (designed the logo).

From what I read, Swizz has always been a fan of art and a collector. But I was oblivious to his skillz!! His work is AMAZIN! Being a fan of Warhol, I'm not surprise to see the influences, and the piece with Jean Michel Basquiat (which is DOPE!!) And from what I understand, he debuted this new stuff over Twitter. How often does that happen. But he donates the money he earns from his paintings to the Children's Cancer & Blood Foundation.

Carefully Colorful Silhoettes

Danish artist: Johnny Madsen. Think blurred human forms in broad brushstrokes, anonymous and ghostly. All of this created from a palette of angry reds and blacks. At first glance it seems a bit subtle, but slowly, the confrontational aspect of his work begins to seep in. Thoughts of, "Why are they shaped that way?" start to run through your head. Purposely miss-shaped, carefully colorful silhouettes...

Currently exhibiting in London at the Mews 42 gallery.

Art Hotel Gallery Presents a gift to you!

Dallas artists Mike Arreaga, Shayne W. Ridenour, and Zach Saucedo share their inspirations with you in a one night only silent auction of their newest and finest works.
No to low reserves. You decide the price.
Power to the people.

Presented by Art Hotel Gallery, in association with DIAC.
Musical guest: Caleb Jones

Veritas Presents: HOPE

Art-Food-Wine-Music-Fashion



Don't miss the Sleeperstar concert at 9:30pm!

FEATURING: 5D Artists Group, DIAC Members, The Veritas Artists Collective

20$ Suggested Donation at the door
Cash and credit cards accepted

All proceeds will go to Naomi’s village PLUS:
20% of all fashion and accessories
30% of all art sold

Artists Showing at the Event:
Zach Saucedo
SAMO4PREZ
Bob Johnson
Sean Ellis
Hobbs
Justin Strickland
Katie Kader
Brent Richardson
*Check out their work by clicking each artist

Also, there will be a raffle with big ticket items! :)

Invite your friends, post this to your profile, spread the word!

After Party 11pm-2AM at
Tierneys Cafe and Tavern
208 E. Main Street
Old Town Lewisville

Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger present: "Brainforest"

Brainforest is the name of a piece by Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger, but I think it’s also a great way of describing the style that alot of their work has. Steiner was originally a wall painter and Lenzlinger was creating stalactite-like forms when they joined forces in 1997. The amount of detail in their large scale installations is incredible.

Brainforest is located in Kanazawa-hu's 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. People from Kanazawa (which is a ward in Yokohama, Japan) brought all of the materials together for this installation. It was sort of a community art project, directed by Steiner and Lenzlinger. Gardeners help in the search for various roots, and branches in the luscious forests. Three primary and secondary school classes made flowers out of plastic bottles and illustrated magazines. At a senior citizens' club members folded dice-shaped paper flowers, and a group involved in pressing flower petals gave them a present of birds. In the Kenrokuen Garden all the leaves are carefully swept up from the ground every day so that the moss can thrive. Art students then gild these leaves. They also gather abandoned telephone and computer cable from three different rubbish heaps. On the beach they found pieces of polystyrene, bits of nets, string and rope, and plastic of all kinds. And all of this was brought together to create something colorfully alluring.

Whitney Gallery Presents: THE VAULT

Roadsworth • "Graffiti" • Road Artist

^Intriguing Vandalism^

Roadsworth began painting the streets of Montreal in the fall of 2001. Initially motivated by a desire for more bike paths in the city and being a cyclist himself, he wanted to shine a light on the positive effects of alternate transportation. Politicians have been encouraging us for years to adopt unconventional modes of transportation as a palliative to the problems associated with smog and green house gasses, because he had something like an anti-car obsession. He continued to build a buzz around town with his street markings and other elements of the urban landscape using a primarily stencil based technique.

Around 4AM on NOVEMBER 29TH 2004 [FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY], Roadsworth was arrested by the Montreal Police after being caught spray painting a Christmas ribbon at a popular intersection. With all of his nocturnal projects, he was charged with 53 counts of mischief. Despite the threat of heavy fines and a criminal record he received a relatively lenient sentence which he attributes in part to the public support he received subsequent to his arrest.

The news of his arrest acquired a certain amount of public support, and what some might describe as “free publicity”. Chris Hand of Zeke‘s Gallery launched the first, and perhaps most significant "Save Roadsworth" campaign on his blog. [Thank God for the Bloggers! HAha]
Since that time, Roadsworth has received various commissions for his work and continues to be active in both visual art and music.

“To express oneself outside of the "accepted" context however is to risk a certain amount of criticism. After all, who am I to impose my opinions on others? I don‘t pretend to have answers for anything and the complexity of the world is beyond the scope of my understanding but I still believe that I have the right to ask "Who are you to push hamburgers on me?" or "Who are you to pollute my air?" or “Who are you to tell me to go to war?" Despite my cynicism, I feel that whether motivated through a sense of self-preservation or that of future generations, there is nevertheless a growing recognition that an industrial-age mentality is no longer adequate to the challenges that humanity is faced with. Though maybe not purely altruistic, there is an awareness that the interest of others could also be in ones own interest. Big words for a vandal.”

*After looking at this, I feel like these little clips that I've pieced together, so I could show alot in a little space, takes away from his work. I would highly suggest clicking on the ROADSWORTH at the beginning of the Post, so you can get a better example of his work.

ART: Kehinde Wiley

"Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them. This is my way of saying yes to us."

“Down”, Kehinde Wiley’s solo show at Deitch Gallery in New York City, opened this weekend, unveiling eight massive new paintings, and seals Wiley’s role as a master of figurative painting.
These pieces seem to be more feminine, alluring poses that challenge the idea of what is a “Hood Nigga”, or the ideology that is portrayed through mass media’s hysteria.

The paintings do have some focus on style, and brands. The choices of brightly patterned hoodies compliment the elaborate floral backgrounds, which all blends perfectly with the fashion. In “Sleep” and “The Veiled Christ”, the pieces reveal these perfect bodies in sort-of a super-human form. Which allows the figures to seem more saintly and heroic than the rediculously ghetto stereotypes widespread in our culture. Its like Wiley himself is a prophet, gifted with a paintbrush and foretelling the dramatic shift America will undergo with the first election of an African-American man into presidential office only several days after his show opened.

Kehinde Wiley is a New York based painter who is known for his paintings of contemporary urban African American men in poses taken from the annals of art history.

Wiley’s paintings often blur the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation. The paintings build a bizarre pressure between background and content; revolutions happen the same way, pulling a society apart and putting it back together again. He creates a fusion of period styles, ranging from French rococo, Islamic architecture and West African textile design to urban hip–hop and the "Sea Foam Green" of a Martha Stewart Interiors color swatch. Wiley’s slightly larger than life size figures are shown in a heroic way, as their poses signify power and spiritual development.

The portraits are based on photographs of young men who Wiley sees on the street, that begun last year with men mostly from Harlem’s 125th Street. The series now includes models from the South Central neighborhood where he was born. They are asked to assume poses from the paintings of Renaissance masters, such as Titian and Tiepolo; his references to this style compliment his embrace of hip–hop. Similarly, the poses of his figures appear to derive as much from contemporary hip–hop culture as from Renaissance paintings. The paintings are in turn tools for unpacking the clichés that constitute reality, reminding us that propaganda sends mixed messages to the public. Wiley’s paintings, as posters, quote pre-existing visual sources, calling out the discontinuity of subjects from their contexts while creating a realm where the two co-exist. As propaganda, perhaps they question America’s own need for a cultural revolution.

Until now the ideas behind Mr. Wiley’s paintings has often overpowered their visual presence, which took away from the illustrations. Like Norman Rockwell’s paintings they looked better in reproduction than in reality. So are these just a passing art-market fancy, with enough witty mockery, a bit of political correctness, plus some decorations to look good for a while above the couches of fake ass liberals with little taste and a lot of money? I hope his art is a classic brand that will renew with the upcoming seasons. This 31 year old man’s 15 minutes of fame is nearing a 10 second countdown, and that 10 second countdown will launch him into becoming a common name known world wide, or a Platinum Fubu magic trick (“Now you see it everywhere, aaand Now you DoN’t!")