New Audrey Kawasaki Print from Pressure Printing

Do you like this print. Get it now. Seriously. NOW. It will be gone shortly. We can almost guarantee it. It may be gone by the time you read this. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Pressure Printing opened the floodgates today for Audrey Kawasaki fans, but only 50 of them. Their newest release is "Okimiyage" by the talented and popular Ms. Kawasaki. Okimiyage means "a parting gift" in Japanese, and as such is a very apt title for this print that will be leaving Printing Pressure's site shortly (when it sells out). The framed print is 8 3/4" x 12 3/4", embossed, and signed and individually hand-colored by the artist. The price is $1500

Audrey Kawasaki's "Okimiyagi" at Pressure Printing

Thank You, Matt. And Joe.

I cannot explain why, but this video posted on Joe Sorren's blog renews my hope in the human spirit. Watch. It's fantastic.



Where the Hell is Matt

London Under Water

Via Boing Boing and de zeen design magazine comes a link to this great photographic exhibition created by film and media production house Squint/Opera that is part of the London Architectural Festival. The exhibit imagine London in 2090, where due to global warming rising waters have flooded most of the city. The images look like part of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, and are stunningly beautiful.







Flooded London

Tigerlilly and Tim Biskup, Keeping It in the Family

John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Francis Ford Coppola and Sophia Coppola. Fernando Lamas and Lorenzo Lamas. All great pairs where the talented parent passed on their prodigious skills to their children. Especially the Lamas family. And now we have Tim Biskup and Tigerlilly Biskup. (NOTE: We are only leaving out mention of Tigerlilly's mama, Seonna Hong, since she is not participating in the show about which this entry reports).

On Thursday July 3rd, Grass Hut Gallery will be premiering the collaborative micro-mini show T'n't, featuring the work of father-daughter virtuosos Tim and Tigerlilly Biskup. According to Bwana Spoons (artist extraordinaire and co-founder of Grass Hut Gallery), new originals and prints and tiny surprises will be forthcoming. The show runs throughout July, and as usual will most likely be available for seeing and buying online.

Did we mention that Tiger is in elementary school? Behold and be awed.

T'n't at Grass Hut Gallery

T-Shirts from Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Jim Houser

"Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" hires innovative contemporary artists to design exceptional and wearable pieces that combat the troubling possibility of artwork losing its presence and power in our image-saturated society. In an epoch of grand technological advances, the reproduction of art need not sacrifice quality nor relinquish its ability to provoke large-scale responses on an individual level. Art in the Age is setting the bar for quality work that can indeed exist and thrive in the spheres of originality and reproducibility."

Phew, that's a mouthful! But I guess with a company name as long as "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," you better damn well back it up with a thoughtful mission statement. I'll boil it down for anyone who just wants the skinny, well... skinny. Art in the Age makes some darn fine t-shirts (and hoodies) designed by some darn fine artists. Like? Alex Lukas and Jim Houser, to start. And so many more. Art in the Age sells clothes for women, men, and mini-women and mini-men (aka BABIES). The prices are in the $30-$45 range.


Tim Gough

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

All Print Show at Bluebottle Art Gallery

Jen Lobo

Bluebottle Art Gallery in Seattle has an intriguing show online right now. Titled "Creatures, Creeps & Critters," the show is presented by BlueFlip Art, "a diverse, global collective of underground and emerging artists that are connected by a unique, skewed view of the world around them." On their own website, BlueFlip offers an insane roster of incredible prints at very low prices, and to boot 10% of the purchase price is donated to charity. The show at Bluebottle features work by Jen Lobo, Sauerkids, Si Clark, Alberto Cerriteno, and all prints are available for purchase (between $90 and $120) online.


Sauerkids


Si Clark


Alberto Cerriteno

"Creatures, Creeps & Critters" at Bluebottle Art Gallery

BlueFlip Art

Joshua Petker Print at A Paper Tiger

Hollywood-based artist Joshua Petker has a new print available from A Paper Tiger. Mr. Petker's portraits of women are almost impressionistic in their style, yet thoroughly modern in subject, and "Chasing Butterflies," his print for A Paper Tiger, is no exception. Available in an extremely small edition of 25, the giclee is 12" x 18" and priced at $100.

Joshua Petker Print at A Paper Tiger

Summer's Here at Tiny Showcase

Andrew Holder

Tiny Showcase today announced its Summer Collection, a group of four larger than usual (about 8" x 10") prints by four separate artists that will be available only for the summer, and then they are gone forever. in our opinion, this is one of their best seasonal collections ever. The artists are Amy Ruppel, Andrew Holder, Ryan McLennan, and Julie Morstad. Each print on its own is just $30, but you can buy all four for $100. And now Tiny Showcase is offering an option to frame each one for a reasonable price (around $80 apiece).

If that's not enough for you, 10% of the profits will be going to Clean Water Action, a national organization working to assure the supply of clean, safe and affordable water.


Ryan McLennan


Amy Ruppel


Julie Morstad

Tiny Showcase's Summer Collection

Coverage the Juxtapoz Retrospective

Joe Sorren

Mike at Sketchypad has a great post about the Juxtapoz Retrospective at the Laguna Art Museum. He attended this weekend and took some great photos. Check out his report here.

Sketchypad: The Juxtapoz Factor

Josh Keyes - Side Effects

PopDrawer favorite Josh Keyes has an amazing new show at the Joshua Liner Gallery in New York featuring his incredibly detailed, almost photo-realistic paintings of nature and the man made world clashing in surprising and surreal ways. It runs through July 26th. Appearing in the other gallery at Joshua Liner is the great Jeremy Fish. Here we present pieces from the Josh Keyes show. It's probably entirely sold out, since his waiting list tends to be long. But you never know! If you see something you like, contact the gallery, and fast.



"Side Effects" at Joshua Liner Gallery

New Mark Ryden Print!

This Wednesday, June 25th, Mark Ryden's art publishing company, Porterhouse, will be offering a new Mark Ryden etching, called "The Tree of Life." According to Porterhouse, "The print is exquisitely embossed with Porterhouse Fine Art Edition's signature bee. This limited edition print is floated and encased in an Italian gold-gilded frame with museum quality acrylic glazing."

The edition size is only 40, the print size is 22" x 15", and the price is $4000. The print goes sale right at 9 AM PST, so if you want one you'd better jump on the order page right at 9. These will go in minutes, if not seconds.

"The Tree of Life" Etching

Awesome Prints from A Paper Tiger

Deth P. Sun

What kind of prints does a paper tiger have? Limited edition prints it turns out. We're not talking about a large game cat and its footprints, but rather a publishing company called apapertiger.com open since January that specializes in limited edition giclees from an awesome roster of artists, including Lisa Alisa, Tessar Lo, Yoskay Yamamoto, Jen Corace, Jeana Sohn, and Derek Albeck.

Apapertiger's newest print is from Deth P. Sun, whose work has been growing quickly in popularity. The print, titled "I Will Crush You," is 12" x 12", from an edition of just 25, and goes for $100. Other prints on the site sell from $40 to $150. And they plan on offering limited edition t-shirts soon as well.

The editions sell out. Make sure you don't miss out.


Tessar Lo

apapertiger.com

IVoteForArt.com has Noferin!

PopDrawer fave Noferin has two prints available at ivoteforart.com, the website where you can vote for the art you like best, and buy prints of anything on the site. Noferin, the partnership of Candy and Nicho featuring the pill-shaped creatures of a mysterious island, has two prints available on the site. Each comes in an edition of 75 -- one is $57 and the other is $104.



Noferin on ivoteforart.com

Amanda Visell - Tic Toc Apocalypse

Amanda Visell's newest show, opening this Saturday, April 21st at Palm Springs' excellent M Modern Gallery, has got to have one of the best show titles ever -- Tic Toc Apocalypse. And what an appropriate name it is. In Ms. Visell's bold and colorful paintings, storybook creatures are for the most part blithely and sweetly destroying the world. Ms. Visell's work is sometimes kind of a modern, ironic take on Golden Books and their ilk, and sometimes simply wonderfully innocent in subject matter, while rich in color and texture. Put simply, it's hard to look at her work without smiling or laughing. In addition to paintings, Ms. Visell creates toys, sculpture, books and clothing. You'll be wearing, consuming, reading, and enjoying many things brought to you by Amanda Visell in a utopian future.

Her first solo show at M Modern is an excellent one. Giant unicorns attacking metropolises, griffins attacking medieval knights (the knights are actually lizards or alligators, just to be completely accurate). Some of the works are still available. See the show here, and if you want to purchase contact the gallery right away. Meanwhile, more interested in a collection of her work in book form? Buy the book "Popping Through Pictures" here.



Amanda Visell's Official Site

"Tic Toc Apocalypse" at M Modern Gallery

Not Safe for Work!

We like to consider ourselves a family-friendly art blog. But family-friendly for Europe is good enough for us. Apparently this fantastic James Jean poster commissioned by a European AIDS awareness charity (AIDES) is for public consumption in Europe, and just won the bronze medal at Cannes, according to Boing Boing. This is just a portion of the image. Click on it for the full version, and click this link to see the "boy" version as well.

Boing Boing link

Gary Baseman Interview and Studio Tour

What can we say about Gary Baseman that hasn't already been said? Probably nothing, but what the hell, let's do an interview anyway. Last week we visited with Gary over lunch and a visit to his studio in Los Angeles. He was in the midst of... well, a million things; preparing for his new show in Barcelona, designing new toys, looking over prototypes of future toys, sending out products to fans, doodling, and probably a bunch of other things. But he kindly took a little time out to speak his mind on a few subjects.

So without further ado, here is the interview, along with some pictures of the studio, and some of Gary's amazing work.


Prototype of Baseman toy

PopDrawer: Tell us about your new show.
Gary Baseman: “Knowledge Comes with Gas Release,” is the title of my new solo exhibition, opening July 3rd in Barcelona at the gallery Iguapop. We’re releasing a hardcover 44 page catalog of the work from the show. The title comes from my mishearing the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, David Bowie’s “Quicksand.” The chorus is “Knowledge comes with Death’s release.” I misheard Gas for Death. But is there a real difference?
In Latin culture, I have been told that there are Spanish phrases that releasing gas is a metaphor for coming up with ideas. And, a little Death is a term for orgasm. My little spheres in my art represent Manifestations of Desire. I imagine them in the atmosphere all around us. Desire morphing all around.



It was an interesting challenge with this show being the first solo, since my Hide and Seek in the Forest of Chou Chou. In the “ChouChou” exhibition, I had been working on a visual narrative with strong character development. I found myself, actually living in the world of Chou Chou. I love to explore my own parallel surreal universe and introduce it to this world, where the themes are all about the human condition.

But in the “Knowledge” exhibition, I wanted to challenge myself in a different way, and I found myself trying to understand the aesthetic nature of what I’m painting, dealing with a sense of abstraction. So I maintained the iconic nature of my work, then removed the environment, the background, the narrative and concentrated on the portraiture. I, then, had the icon interact with the abstract elements of my “manifestations of desire” of the painting. My art has been all about longing, desire and lust, control or loss of control.
I challenged myself to see how far I could take the M.O.D.s and interact with the portraiture. The bubbles become part of the figures themselves,– becoming the hair, a hat, flowers – and then let the viewer interpret it.


Manifestations of Desire

PD: You talk about narrative in your paintings. Could you give an example of a story behind one of your paintings?
GB: Fuck you. I mean, sure. They’re not necessarily written story narratives, but more like visual interpretive narratives. For example, the last big LA show, Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou, I created a world run by these demons that love to keep chaos, hate and fear in this world of my nymph girls. The demons have maintained order by keeping all the girls fighting with each other and feeling out of control. One day, a chouchou shows up in the world. They seem to have the power to remove all the girl’s negative energy, all their hate, all their insecurities, all their fear, and absorb those elements into their own bodies, and turn them into creamy gooey love that oozes out of their bellybuttons. As you would think, the demons are not too fond of the chouchous and thus the conflict begins.



PD: The nymph girls are the only morphologically human characters in this world. Do they represent all people? Are they even people at all?
GB: They’re girls. [laughs].

PD: So you’re representing the emotions that women are displaying, their fears, their anger…
GB: Either that or my perception of their fears, their anger. Or my visual representation of my perception of their emotions. You know. I don’t even remember what you were asking. All I know is that this is a world that I want to be in. I want to be their chouchou. I want to be their savior, I want to live in a world where I work hard and play hard, and be able to enjoy life in the moment. It’s my view of the world. It maybe fucked up. I may need years of therapy. But the chouchou’s create a non-malicious world of feeling how it is to be alive to its fullest potential.


Baseman's design for Carnivale costume

PD: In moving from paintings that have narrative and allegory to paintings that seem more to be an aesthetic exercise, what is it that you are trying to accomplish, artistically?
GB: I always need to push myself. I think it is important for me to concentrate on the esthetic nature of my work as I move into my next phase. I’m looking deeper into the paint itself, the layering. to refocus on how I understand the new relationship I have with my canvas. How to advance the sophistication of my own visual vocabulary.


Baseman's hand hiding his new work

PD: Let’s talk about “Pervasive Art,” a term that you created for the broad artistic movement that some call Pop Surrealism or Lowbrow. For you, what is the difference between the term Pervasive Art and these other labels.
GB: I feel PopSurrealism and Lowbrow are too shallow of a term to describe this art movement. They both seem to try to describe the content of the work. The content alone isn’t why I find our art movement interesting and important. The term Pop Surrealism isn’t descriptive of this group of artists. What does it describe? Why don’t you just call it “Big-Eyed-People Art?” Is it called Pop Surrealism because it’s about pop culture, and it’s surreal? To me that’s not that interesting. Pervasive Art describes the strength of the artist as a visual message-maker and the success of the artist to spread their art and message over a number of mediums. The traditional fine art community hasn’t been able to come to grips with the fact that we’re an underground art culture, but we’re more well-known than 90% of the fine artists out there. Do some of us come from commercial art? Yes. Mark Ryden did, the Clayton Brothers, Eric White, Joe Sorren, we were all top illustrators at one time doing work with every major magazine and newspaper, painting with our own visual voices but working within the confines of an editor’s and publication’s boundaries. We all sacrificed the security of day to day assignments. We all gave it up to paint. But 85% of time when someone writes an article about us now, they still call us illustrators. I don’t mind that if I’m illustrating something, you call it illustration, but if I’m not illustrating something, it’s a painting.



PD: Is there an aesthetic that ties all Pervasive Art together?
GB: Absolutely. Not.
PD: So how do you know a Pervasive Artist when you see one?
GB: By the tattoos on their arms. (smile)
PD: What other media do you want to pervade?
GB: Your momma. (smile) I mean Everything! I want to do TV again, but in a way that I can have more control of the images in other media. Film, products, fashion, publishing, public projects, amusement parks, spaceships and furniture and homes. Bomb shelters. Deep warm crevices a women’s body. Anything and everything that’s interesting.




Gary Baseman's Official Site

Art That Clings

PopCling's getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. With a roster of great artists and a cool new product, PopCling will have some serious staying power. Just like their high-quality vinyl art that clings to your walls.

PopCling has created wall art by almost 20 artists. Wait, isn't almost all art "wall art?" True, but in this case you don't need a frame. The print becomes part of your wall for a super-clean, slick look. These are vinyl stickers that you apply directly to the wall. PopCling sells a fairly permanent type of sticker and a sticker they call "foolproof" which is a simpler peel and stick print that you can peel off the wall without any damage whatsoever.

The artists available include Junko Mizuno, Attaboy, Mitch O'Connell, Jeremyville, Zeptonn, and more than a dozen other great choices.

In addition to the adhesive prints, PopCling also offers t-shirts, skate decks, and will soon be adding wallpaper! Meanwhile, the prices for the wall adhesives are more than reasonable (e.g. - Rock On by Zeptonn, size 20" x 23" is only $47.50.) Did we mention these are all limited editions?



PopCling

Carlos Ramos - King of the Jungle

Early in this century (wow, that sounds weird and disturbing) artist Tim Biskup and gallery-owner Caryn Coleman created the Burning Brush auctions, where they brought together up-and-coming and established artists with excited buyers and held an auction of original art a couple of times per year. The art was great and the prices were low. It was a great place to "discover" new talent, to expand one's horizons, and to establish new obsessions with exciting artists. It was at one of those auctions that I met Carlos Ramos, an animator and friend of Tim's. That year I got into a small bidding war over a piece of Carlos' art. I lost the bidding war (and kept a friend), but have been hankering for a piece of art from Carlos ever since. I will finally get my chance Next Saturday June 28th at the wonderful Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA. And so will everyone else, if not at the gallery, than at the gallery's website.

Carlos Ramos apparently grew up fascinated with the awe-inspiring nature dioramas prevalent at natural history museums, and his show "Natural History Museum Part I" is his entertaining and artful take on those glass-enclosed slices of the natural world. The paintings in the show are enormous, often as big as five feet by 6 feet, and depict, in his inimitable animated style, epic animal battles and gorgeous habitats. It's a show that in my opinion not only evokes Carlos' childhood memories, but also will remind you of your own. For more gorgeousity, see this link, which will show you what is still available.



Carlos Ramos' Blog


Natural History Museum Part I at Corey Helford Gallery

Juxtapoz (and Pop Surrealism) Get Its Due

Starting this Sunday, June 22nd, the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, CA will give props to the seminal art magazine Juxtapoz in a new exhibtion featuring work from 14 years of the publication. The exhibit will feature work by Pop Surrealism (just pushing Gary Baseman's button here) luminaries such as Mark Ryden, Joe Sorren, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Glenn Barr, Camille Rose Garcia, the Clayton Brothers, Eric White, Shag, Von Dutch, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Robert Williams, Niagara, Barry McGee, Alex Gross, Frank Kozik, R. Crumb, Shepard Fairey, Seonna Hong, Jim Houser, Liz McGrath, Chris Mars, Takashi Murakami... Okay, this is going to take forever. Basically, LOTS AND LOTS of remarkable artists.

According to the event literature, "for the last decade the art establishment (collector, curator, and critic) has argued that the idea, or construct, of an art movement is outmoded. This exhibition explores the idea of a “Juxtapoz Factor.” Is it an organized movement operating under a singular manifesto? Or is it a wave of talented overlooked artists who decided to reach out to the public and create their own canon?"

Sure to be a great show. It runs until October 5th.


Mark Ryden


The Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor at Laguna Art Museum

Four at Corey Helford Gallery

Melissa Forman


This weekend is your last chance to check out four intriguing emerging artists at the wonderful Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA. "Four" showcases work from Melissa Forman, Jason Shawn Alexander, Karen Hsiao, and Sarah Folkman. The only connection I can find amongst these four is that they are all frighteningly talented.


Sarah Folkman


Mr. Alexander is an award-winning illustrator and Eisner-Award-nominated comic artist whose dark and brooding images can produce fear and awe simultaneously. Karen Hsiao is a commercial and fine art photography whose work is... did we mention dark and brooding? Why not add sinister and sensual to the mix? Painter Karen Folkman's detailed work on wood skip effortlessly between idyllic portraits of birds in their habitat and unsettling images of bizarre, malformed creatures or mysterious, possibly troubled women.


Karen Hsiao


I've saved Melissa Forman's for last because she somehow moves me the most. Her faux portraits of women in period dress are done in a classical, almost photo-realistic style and framed in gorgeous ornate frames, giving the impression that they are Victorian portraits somehow rescued from the storeroom of a manor plagued by tragedy and insanity. (The horror writer in me rears it's hideous head). The titles alone are worth the price of the pieces (for example -- "She Who Was Engulfed By God's Wrath").

Many of the pieces in this show are gone, but go here to see the show online and you can find what might still be available. Good luck -- these artists are all on their way up, including in price, I bet.


Jason Shawn Alexander


Four at the Corey Helford Gallery

The Endless Summer of Remi Thornton

my love for you is a stampede of horses has a post about the gorgeous photography of Remi Thornton. The work reminds me of summer fairs and school breaks and late hot nights in my old Ohio neighborhood. What will it remind you of?

Remi Thornton's Official Site

Etsy Shop of the Week

Ah, the internet. There was a time when one had to leave one's house and troll the flea markets or local art fairs to find porcelain plates featuring dogs playing musical instruments, beaded gowns for Barbie dolls, and crocheted cupid jar toppers. Thank goodness we can now get all of that from the comfort of our homes on the internet with Etsy.com. There are literally thousands of artist-made items on Etsy, from jewelry to clothing to housewares to toys to zombie bowler pins. There's also art. And thankfully, some good art. So for as long as we can stand it, we are going to sift through the multitude of crap on Etsy so you don't have to. Welcome to our new feature Etsy Shop of the Week. This week featuring:

boygirlparty, art and illustration by Susie Ghahremani. Ms. Ghahremani specializes in folksy animals and settings, and she produces lovely original paintings, prints, clothing, and paper goods. She describes boygirlparty as "the first party you go to as a kid that has boys and girls at the party, it's strange and new and exciting and full of childhood wonderment. It's also my pseudonym as I hope my artwork expresses those same sentiments!" In addition to her Etsy store, Ms. Ghahremani has a dedicated site called boygirlparty, which features her art, music, and a store.



boygirlparty Etsy Store

Joe Sorren's Painting in Progress

Joe Sorren's wonderful experiment detailing the creation of a new painting from start to finish is up on his blog. Wow... It's gorgeous, of course. But also fascinating. Go see for yourself.

Joe Sorren's Blog

Zeptonn Attacks!

We know it sounds like the title of a 1950s sci-fi movie, but it actually describes the work of urban illustrator Zeptonn of the Netherlands. Zeptonn (Mr. Zeptonn?) has worked with Greenpeace, Playstation, Threadless, and designed t-shirts, skateboards, wall decals and more. His work is populated by colorful, cheerful (or enraged) creatures and monsters done in a bright, animated style. Some of his prints are available in limited editions here.

But Zeptonn's newest project is more black and white. In fact, it's only black and white. He has just released a book titled "Black and White Freedrawings" that is a collaboration amongst over 40 international artists. Each artist worked with Zeptonn, drawing in a style he refers to as "collab tennis," where the artist would draw or doodle a portion, then send it back to Zeptonn, where he would add more, and so on until the work was deemed completed. According to Zeptonn "the collaborations are called "freedrawings" to highlight the lack of restrictions, themes and guidelines, giving the participants free reign to experiment and explore. At the same time these drawings are not a preliminary sketch, but the final artwork. They are shown in their pure form, without any editing or polishing." It's fantastic stuff.

The book features work of people like Jon Burgerman, DGPH, Philip Tseng, Hello Brute, Hicalorie, Jawa, Mulheres Barbadas, Nick Deakin, Peskimo, Meomi, Von Glitschka, Shin Tanaka, Meni Tzima and many others. An the book was created in a very environmentally-friendly manner, using a waterless printing process, vegetable-based inks, and 100% recycled paper.

The first edition is limited to 450, and is available for 47 Euros here. Hurry, before the dollar drops any lower!




Zeptonn's Official Site

Black and White Freedrawings