streetartlocator blog

Manifest Hope: DC just announced the Inauguration Art Gallery and Nationwide Art Contest, calling for entries of artwork from artists across the country in an online contest.
Building upon the success of Manifest Hope at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Manifest Hope: DC will, once again, gather under one roof the nation’s most talented visual artists and musicians to celebrate the unparalleled grassroots campaign that helped carry President-Elect Barack Obama to victory.
As we all know, art played an unprecedented role in this election. Therefore, Manifest Hope: DC celebrates that role, inviting artists to contribute to this remarkable moment in history by creating a forum for both artists and activists to use their powerful voices in maintaining the momentum that will bring about true change in the United States.
The contest calls for works that use positive messaging to convey the urgency and importance of encouraging a national dialogue about three themes – Heath Care Reform, the Green Economy and Workers’ Rights. We friggin love it when art and politics collide so beautifully.
The contest winners’ work will be shown January 17 – 19, 2009 at “Manifest Hope: DC Gallery" during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, DC.
We know you were inspired by Shepard’s Obama imagery, so show us what you’ve got and enter your own work at www.manifesthope.com

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from Juxtapoz

David Choe (Juxtapoz cover #72) has got to be one of our all-time favorite artistic bad-boys, but he proved he’s got a softer side as well when he created the doll Choe Gal. Mr Choe took the evening to sign Choe Gal at GR2 in Los Angeles last week, attracting fans from all over to get their sticky hands on one of the limited 1,000 pieces available for sale.
Choe Gal is his first wood figure: extremely detailed, totally hand painted, and featuring a head that rotates to expose three facial expressions (to express whatever mood your bi-polar ass may be in that second.)
If you couldn’t make it out to LA to get your own doll signed, take a peek at what you missed in photos right over here…

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from Juxtapoz

Get a look at this large-scale, 6-foot tall poster by Aurel Schmidt. That’s like door-sized. Supernatural, completed in 2006, marks the artists entrance into the prestigious Dakis Joannou Collection. The Foundation recently allowed the hip cats at O.H.W.O.W. to reproduce this seminal work in print form for your enjoyment.
Kathy Grayson, of Deitch Projects writes: "Supernatural greeted me when I arrived to do my first studio visit with Aurel and might still remain for me her greatest accomplishment. The piece was a life-size bizarro-world portrait of the artist as a young woman; as shy and unassuming as Aurel first seemed, her drawn alter-ego betrayed the fierce and wild woman that I would come to know later. That is not to say her boobs are be composed of snakes and maggots, but rather that her spirit is in touch with elements of the natural and the all-too-human in a way far more sophisticated than her twenty-five years should allow."
See more of this 34-inch wide by 72-inch tall wonder now here.

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from Juxtapoz

Illuminate, the group show featuring new paintings by three incredibly talented artists making their visual stamp in the new fine art movement through their illustrative works recently hit Corey Helford Gallery for a special one-week only showing.
Paintings by Mia (whose Down The Rabbit Hole is shown above), Robert Bellm, and Angelique Houtkamp (work shown below, alongside artist Gary Baseman who is helpfully acting out her Augusta piece.)
We love small group shows like this because they tend to offer a collective look at emerging artists working their way up in the fiercely competitive world of contemporary art. From the looks of this excellent showing, we’ll confidently place bets that you will be seeing much more of Mia, Robert Bellm, and Angelique Houtkamp in the future.
Although the brief exhibit is no longer on view, their works will live on in show photos we snagged from the Gallery. See more here.

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from Juxtapoz

Looks like the festive holiday spirit went to our collective heads, as we’ve decided to extend our offer of free shipping on all US orders over $75 for an extra month, now through January 31st! That’s a helluva lot sweeter than visions of sugarplums dancing in your head.
We still have some 2009 Robert Williams Calendars available (which you’ll want to snag before his next major solo show hits NYC this year, hint-hint) as well as a few of our wildly popular Illustration and Tattoo books, along with custom Juxtapoz apparel, prints, stickers, banners, and, oh yeah…magazines.
Check out our store for your perfect post-Christmas treat, and know that you’ll get your gear for free through the next month! 

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from Juxtapoz

Open publication

We’re taking it back to the Winter of 1996 today. That’s when issue #9 of Juxtapoz graced the world with features on Stanley Mouse (whose iconographic Grateful Dead imagery you see there on the cover), as well as RK Sloane, Gary Panter, Swastika, Niagara, and Ausang. Most of these cats are still very much active today, so get to know them way back in ’96 by taking a look at the full-length version of Juxtapoz Issue #9 online right here.

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from Juxtapoz

Remember when we told you about graffiti artist RISK’s massive show, Twenty-Six, at Track 16 in Los Angeles? If you forgot, RISK describes his exhibition in stating: "Twenty-Six is a collection of letters that I painted as if I were painting on the streets, using what paint and materials I had in my studio, while making sure they all had the movement and the energy of good old-school graffiti. It is a celebration of where I’m at today and where I have come from. Twenty-six letters of the alphabet, twenty-six years; I can’t think of a better way to define myself and my view of graffiti art."
Contemplating the arc of his career, RISK attributes his success to something deep inside him. “I think I was the first to do a lot of stuff because I was competitive. I always wanted to take things one step further.”
As expected, the show delivered all we’d hoped and more; but don’t take our word for it. Peep the show videos we have right here.
 

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from Juxtapoz

Fine artist and designer Blaine Fontana (Juxtapoz cover #67) is the real deal. Fontana has been around for over a decade, creating “work [that] has always been about juxtaposing 2 worlds, several unlikely mediums, or techniques,” as the artist says. “This is directly an influence of my upbringing and current interests and inspiration. I couldn’t imagine doing my work any different.”
Having been a staple of the Los Angeles contemporary art and gallery scene for the past 5 years, Fontana recently re-located back to his native Washington state. Learn more about this artist in an interview by our buddy Brian Sherwin here.

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from Juxtapoz

TITLE: There are Worse Things, 5 color silkscreen print, 22" x 30"
ARTIST: Jenny Shauger
More here…

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from Juxtapoz

Published the day before Christmas (when not much around here was stirring) David Hajdu wrote an interesting piece for the New York Times, focusing on illustrator Will Elder and Mad Magazine.
Now, if you’ve seen any of the artwork we cover, you’ll understand why this is of interest to us, as more of the artists we cover have devoured issues of the comic-book style publication than real food. “Half-butchered carcasses of hogs, a goat, a baby elephant, a lion and the requisite mouse, all dangling from meat hooks, gushing blood.” Yep, this is the kind of raw imagery Elder helped popularize for a generation of pre-teen boys (and girls) with a penchant for gore and humor, wrapped up in one mag.
“Will was the one who gave Mad magazine its look and style, which were different from any comic book that had been created before,” says Harvey Kurtzman, the founding editor of Mad. Read up on this legend in the full-length article here on nytimes.com

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from Juxtapoz