February 16th, 2012
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Quentin Jones is a London-based artist, illustrator, and filmmaker taking the fashion world by storm with her signature brand of cheeky chic. It’s no wonder clients like iconic design house Chanel have fallen head over double C  clad heels for her work — a mixture of collage, pop art, fashion photography, and impressionistic painting. With an uncanny ability to transform bunny ears, cats, and Disney characters into symbols of high fashion, Jones’ playful vision is a much appreciated reminder that fashion is supposed to be fun.  Read more »

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February 13th, 2012
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Martine Johanna is a Dutch artist with a beautiful portfolio of illustration work. While being heavily influenced by Art Nouveau, Johanna’s work is decidedly modern, juxtaposing organic, undulating waves of hair with geometric shapes, and delicately wrought shading with surprising peeks of color. Her drawings often depict seductive modern muses in fantastical worlds, proving that fairytales aren’t just for children anymore.  Read more »

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February 7th, 2012
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To call Clark Goolsby a multi-media artist almost seems like an understatement. Indeed, the sheer volume of materials and techniques he expertly employs is staggering, often combining spray paint, acrylics, pencil, wood, foam, plastic, string, and even audio into one finished product – but even that far from represents the impressive span of Goolsby’s “multi-ness.” He seamlessly transitions between different styles, from abstracted, multifaceted geometric forms to realistically rendered objects, crisp lines to more impressionistic strokes and drippings. As if that wasn’t enough, Goolsby tackles a seemingly endless mix of iconography, juxtaposing rainbows and antlers, inverted crosses and trophies, pyramids and statuesque faces. Oh, and by the way, it’s all in technicolor.

The result is just as overwhelming as you might imagine, and that’s exactly the point. Goolsby’s work parallels the milieu of stimuli we are constantly barraged with every day of our lives – a combination, he suggests, which poses a persistent, sometimes surprising threat to our survival. Goolsby’s most recent solo exhibition, Strange/Love at POVevolving Gallery in Los Angeles, focuses on “how we maintain optimism in a world that is so full of potentially life ending situations.” At the center of this exhibition, an 18 foot long skeletal form made of wood and foam entitled “Dead Man” lies horizontally, suspended from the ceiling by hundreds of neon-colored threads. Goolsby’s work reminds us that, even if we are all essentially dead men grasping onto life by the threads, at least those threads are bright, illustrating a sense of playful joie de vivre which urges us to live larger than life, finding beauty in the unrelenting stream of chaos while we still can.

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February 7th, 2012
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Peruvian artist Cecilia Paredes gives new meaning to the term “wallflower.” In her recent collection of photographs, entitled “Landscapes,” Paredes seamlessly disappears into a dizzying array of patterned wallpapers, using only paint and, in some cases, simple costumes to complete the transformation. Paredes’ self-painting is so precise that, oftentimes, the only hint of her presence is a flash of sleek brown hair or a pair of gleaming white eyes peering out from the background. Through this disappearing act, Paredes explores themes of displacement and migration, illustrating the difficulties of blending in to new surroundings without completely casting off one’s roots.  Read more »

January 27th, 2012
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Kira Leigh‘s website comes with a warning: “Many pieces deal directly with the symptoms and sisters of depression and are therefore triggering.” While on the surface, Leigh’s work may seem fun and fantastical, it is also highly personal and psychological, addressing subjects of anxiety, body dysmorphia, life obstacles, and feminist issues. Taking inspiration from gaming culture, Leigh turns the escapist pastime on its head, creating a “surreal fictional gaming universe” in which she courageously battles her real-life demons through “a self-insert mage/ alchemist” named KUURA THE STRANGE. The result is a magical mystery tour through Leigh’s psyche, where the cute meets the grotesque in the form of distorted human figures and oozing intestinal forms, turning the often difficult parts of human experience into captivating, colorful adventures.  Read more »

January 23rd, 2012
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Derek Albeck has a magical way of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Using only pencils, a bit of paint, and masterfully honed traditional portrait techniques, Albeck creates pieces that are anything but traditional.

Frequently working from snapshots taken in his daily life, Albeck amplifies the expressions and motions of his subjects, revealing the completely comfortable, unguarded, and usually hilariously unflattering parts of ourselves that manifest most intensely in candid photos taken seconds too soon, or when chemically compromised. In fact, much of Albeck’s work is characterized by a sort of “magic brownie effect,” turning mundane, common symbols, people, and objects into mesmerizing sources of irresistible humor. His eye for details — like the logo on a beer can, the crinkle of a flag, or the cover of a book by Aleister Crowley – capture escapist fantasies, moments of carefree bliss and rebellion that appear at once precious but fleeting, intensely personal but universally familiar. In Albeck’s world, a pile of dirty laundry becomes an eerily expressive smiley face, a cheeky rainbow forms the frown of an aptly titled “Sad Murderer,” and a skull with hypnotic eyes, comprised of the floating heads of the happiest, goofiest people you’ve ever seen, leaves you giggling in a trance-like state for hours. This happiness proves contagious as you find yourself smiling back at the bearded, flannel-clad man collapsed in a joyful stupor beneath a rainbow in a drawing called “Have a Great Day Forever.” And with an attitude that makes us want to do just that, Albeck’s work provides a fresh viewpoint with which to view, and laugh at, everyday life.

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January 23rd, 2012
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If ever a designer could be labeled Cult Couture, Aoi Kotsuhiroi would be it. Kotsuhiroi’s “body objects” blur the line between fashion and fine art, with each handmade, one-of-a-kind piece embodying a sense of primal energy, like relics of an ancient gothic warrior tribe. Through her juxtaposition of precious materials like cherry tree wood, phantom crystals, and pit-fired porcelain with once living, borderline grotesque elements like human and horse hair, lacquered horns, and elephant, buffalo, and crocodile leathers, Kotsuhiroi breathes animalistic life into her wearable sculptures, imbuing the wearer with a spirit of strength, mystery, and a little bit of danger. Her most recent collection, entitled “Exotic Regrets,” is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, featuring talon-shaped rings that could double as primitive weapons in an end of the world showdown, and a pair of sinewy, scorpion-like shoes which give new meaning to the term “killer heels.”

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January 19th, 2012
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This week, The Shooting Gallery in San Francisco debuted “Ritual,” a solo exhibit by painter Charmaine Olivia. For “Ritual,” Olivia shrouds her signature female portraits with a veil of mysticism and magic, citing astrology, druidism, and the goddesses of ancient Greek mythology as inspirations. The beautifully haunting, almost spectral quality of Olivia’s female subjects is a result of her signature blend of realism and fantasy. While maintaining intensely realistic elements, many of the women are stripped down to their innermost layers, and further, into the paintings themselves, as translucent skin drips into bare bones, and tousled tresses fade into abstracted lines, revealing the grain of the wood surface beneath. “Ritual” presents these portraits as altars, flanked with offerings of flowers, candles, bones, and bottles, transforming the gallery into a place of worship, inviting us all to partake in a sacred ceremony to Olivia’s dreamy deities. View the show at The Shooting Gallery until February 4.

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