:: SUNDAY SERVICE ::

CRYPTIK X CHOR BOOGIE | "HI-GRAFF"

See More Here

"HI-GRAFF" | HOLDUP ART | MAY 7th

“Hi-Graff” is an installation-based street art exhibition that explores the concept of Graffiti as a contemporary art movement…

The exhibition, which opens on May 7th 7-11pm, showcases graffiti in its most original form –collaborative murals applied directly to walls.  Though LA has seen hundreds of street art exhibitions in the past 5 years, there has always existed a growing disconnect between the artwork shown in the gallery shows and what these street artists produce on the streets. “Forcing a street artist to produce canvas or panel works as the only way of showcasing in a fine art gallery seriously compromises the quality of work, and direction these artists are taking.  We wanted to open up our walls to these artists so the final product will closely mimic the actual art production of these artists on the streets, in an in-door environment” (Curator Lee). This allows the audience to truly understand and juxtapose where their talents and aesthetic differences lie.  For “Hi-Graff”, Hold Up Art has brought together over 20 street artists to produce 10 separate collaborative murals highlighting unique trends and styles in Graffiti.

The artists that were selected for “Hi-Graff” embody a range of styles and techniques, showcasing the varying stylistic directions taken by contemporary graffiti artists.  As with any art movement, Graffiti has evolved much since it had truly taken a hold in Los Angeles back in the 80’s.  According to Curator Brian Lee,  “We are now entering into a high point, the embellishment period, in the artistic movement of Graffiti.  Not only are we witnessing the rise of a third generation of graffiti writers, a generation that actively looks forwards as much as it does backwards, but the public perception and reception of graffiti has grown increasingly warmer.  With the release and world wide success of the movie “Exit through the Gift Shop,” Museum retrospectives on Street art as a culture like at the MOCA, and the ever present force of street art designers like Shepard Fairey–designing for everyone and everything from album covers to billboards for the Grammys–street art has permeated into every facet of American youth culture”  (Curator Lee).

“Hi-Graff” Details
Opening May 7th, 7-11pm

On Display May 7th-June 2nd, 2011

Link

:: LORD GANESHA ::

@Angel City Brewing | DTLA

"STREET BREWED" | FRIDAY 29th

Street Brewed
April 29 through July 3, 2011

Angel City Brewery
216 S. Alameda
Arts District, Los Angeles

MOCA’s exhibition of Street Art is global and historical in context but just a few blocks away, at the new home of the Angel City Brewery on Alameda at Traction, there is a complementary exhibition of work.

Street Brewed focuses on contemporary street art, some by artists not featured in the MOCA exhibition, and by artists from around the world who have been drawn to LA by the MOCA show.  Many of the artists whose works are featured in this smaller but more playfully anarchic show have come to Los Angeles to enlarge on Art in the Streets by seeking out wall space to create commissioned and un-commissioned murals, one of the largest concentrations of which is throughout the area around Angel City, the downtown Arts District, where the works of JR, Shepard Fairey, Nomade, Dabs and Myla, Huglife, How and Nosm, Mister Cartoon, Swoon, Kid Zoom, ROIA, Saber, and others can be found

Street Brewed, which opens officially on April 29th, includes some remarkable works, including a billboard-sized work by New York based artist Ron English, “X-Ray Guernica.”   On the Alameda side of the Angel City Brewery building, Shepard Fairey has created a new mural, one of a new series that is a sly commentary on the apotheosis of Ronald Reagan in American political mythmaking.  Among other artists featured in Street Brewed are Aiko, Nomade, Cryptik, ABCNT, Phil Lumbang (aka Hug Life), Ernesto Yerber, Cern, Tanner (aka Racecar 13), Brek, Eye One and James Haunt.

The informal quality of Street Brewed (located in a classic industrial-era structure), and the democratic design of the exhibition itself (all the artists were given 10 foot by 12 foot panels) seem more appropriate to the essentially rebellious and anarchic character of street art than the sterile walls of a museum.  The works on display at Angel City flow out into a courtyard and there is an organic feel to their connection to the street art on surrounding walls that gives the show vitality and validity.

Link