SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS GALLERY
1331 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
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P. 213.213.0078
F. 213.213.0077
Gestalten x Subliminal Projects
Book Signing & Reception
Beyond the Street: The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art
September 16th / 7-8pm
Gestalten and Subliminal Projects cordially invite you to the Los Angeles signing and presentation of the book Beyond the Street: The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art.
The book signing will include featured contributors Amanda Fairey and Shepard Fairey, Dave Kinsey, Jana DesForges of BLK/MRKT, Marsea Goldberg of New Image Art, Patti Astor, Retna and Saber.
By Shepard Fairey
Opening Reception:
Thursday, September, 16th, 2010 / 8-11pm
Exhibition Dates:
September 16th - October 9th, 2010
Subliminal Projects is pleased to present Printed Matters, a solo exhibition featuring the work of renowned artist Shepard Fairey. Printed Matters, which focuses on the importance of printed material, will be on view September 16th through October 9th, 2010 and incorporates every variety of Shepard's printed works, works on wood, metal, album covers, and fine art collage papers. As co-owner of Subliminal Projects, along with his wife Amanda Fairey, this is Shepard's first experience exhibiting at the Echo Park location since the gallery moved in 2008.
We would like to invite you to attend the opening reception of the exhibition on Thursday, September 16th at 8pm. At the opening, in collaboration with Gestalten Books, we will be hosting a public reception and book signing for Beyond the Street: The 100 Most Important Figures in Urban Art starting at 7pm. Contributors and Artists will be in attendance.
Artist Statement
Printing has changed the world. With the invention of the movable type printing press around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg created arguably the most important instrument for the global democratization of knowledge. Not only did the printing press facilitate the spread of text-based information, it also spread images. Prior to the invention of the printing press, artwork had to be viewed in person, limiting the influence of styles and specific images to local audiences or those wealthy enough to travel great distances.
The printing press may have begun the democratization of art, but another printer evolve it both conceptually and practically. Andy Warol made art based on accessible products and personalities from pop culture. In addition to his attempts to democratize art through his subject matter, Warhol used screen-printing to produce multiple versions of his images. Where elitism, preciousness, and scarcity had been the ruling principles in the art world, Warhol embraced commercial reproduction techniques and mass culture. Further down the line, two of my biggest street art influences - Barbara Kruger and Robbie Conal - used printed posters to spread their artwork and messages in public spaces.
I'm a product of the era of mass production and the mass culture it has created. I can't imagine my art practice without the influence of, and the use of, printing. Some of my biggest art influences were not paintings, but printed things like album covers, skateboard graphics, punk flyers, and t-shirt designs. When I discovered stencil making and screen-printing in high school, I used them to make t-shirts and stickers, but by college I began to use screen-printing to make art. I enjoyed illustration, photography, collage, and graphic design separately, but with screen-printing I could synthesize those techniques into an integrated final product. Screen-printing also provided latitude for experimentation and the ability to make multiples, and my style began to evolve as I explored the graphic nature of the medium. I tried to make images that would translate well to screen-print production. A harmony of beauty, power, and utility was my goal.
I always believed in art as a part of public dialogue, and my Obey Giant street art campaign aspired to arrest visually and provoke intellectually. With the need for me to compete with well funded advertising, screen-printing posters myself was the only way I could afford to create large quantities of materials to share on the streets. My theory was that I could print an image on thin paper for the streets and on thicker paper to sell. I was broke, so I needed a process that was affordable and efficient. I printed my posters in a consistent size and color palette so I could build modular grids of images and constantly expand my image library for large outdoor installations.
Repetition, consistency, and persistence over the years yielded a growing audience for both my outdoor art and gallery art. As people started to request more "fine art" of my images, I began to embellish upon my utilitarian printing techniques by printing on wood, metal and canvas, as well as incorporating stenciling back into the work. Some of these pieces began to function as one-of-a-kind mixed media paintings. To keep my work affordable and accessible, I also made screen-print-on-paper editions of my fine-art pieces.
The Printed Matters show incorporates every variety of my printed works, including prints on wood, metal, album covers, and fine-art collage papers. Some people say print is on its way out, that it will be wiped out by digital media, but I say you can never replace the provocative, tactile experience of an art print on the street or in a gallery. Printing still matters.
If you are interested in acquiring Shepard's artwork from the Printed Matters exhibition, please email preview@subliminalprojects.com for more information.
We will be closed on Saturday (7/24) and resume normal gallery hours on Tuesday. In the meantime, check out the new print Jim produced with Poster Child Prints in our store and the interview he did with Juxtapoz.
Jim Houser's limited edition signed vinyl record is now available for purchase online. We have it on loop in the gallery so stop in to get a sample of what it sounds like. You can also catch a bit of it on the video posted in the current section and on Youtube.
New Paintings by Jim Houser
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 10th, 2010 / 8-11PM
Exhibition Dates: July 10th - August 7th, 2010
Subliminal Projects is pleased to present The Homebody, a solo exhibition of new original works by Jim Houser. Through his paintings, installations and mixed-media pieces, Houser tempers earnest introspection with whimsical characters, warm colors and organic materials.
Known for his hand-lettered abstract poetry and quilt-like grids, Houser explores the act of transforming lifeless panels and objects into vehicles for expression. His "canvases" have included skateboards, guitars, flowerpots and basketballs. Each of his pieces seems to capture the catharsis he finds in the art-making process, displaying both his exhalations of angst and uptake of joy. Though light in color and line, Houser's images are swathed with heaviness, the toll of chronic emotional and physical pain, as the artist explores two sides of blame: guilt and anger. Yet amid that suffering Houser also explores the impact of love, channeling his feelings surrounding the recent birth of his son, Seamus. The emotional tension, coupled with the stylistic consistency, gives the body of work an undulating rhythmic quality, cycling through despondence, escapism, hope and bliss.
On display, Houser's aesthetic vernacular consumes the entire gallery space, with installations and murals throughout. In recent years, he has taken to integrating music into the experience, often with an original score he composes to complement his visual pieces. The Homebody marks the first time Houser will be releasing his soundtrack as a recording, with a limited-edition vinyl record available for purchase.
The Skullphone show is now closed and we are in the process of installing our next exhibition by Jim Houser opening on Saturday, July 10th. In the meantime, check out the LA Times article about Skullphone and the use of technology in art.
This Wednesday, June 30th, we will be having an Official Skullphone Prints Release from 7-9pm. Special guest DJ Chris Ziegler (LA Record, Big Freak) will be spinning and limited skullphone prints well be available for purchase. Come spend the evening with us and see the show before it comes down on July 2nd!
For all of you out-of-towners who can't make it to the Skullphone show you now have the opportunity to have a piece of it shipped to you. Skullphone made four new prints especially for this show as well as some hot looking t-shirts. Check them out in the prints, fine art, and collectibles.
In case you weren't excited enough, here's a little something extra to get you going...
By Skullphone
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 5th, 2010 / 8-11PM
Exhibition Dates: June 5th - July 2nd, 2010
Digital Media, the new solo exhibition by Skullphone, brings the playfulness, obsession, irony and anxiety of the Los Angeles-based artist's renowned street installations into the Subliminal Projects gallery space. In Digital Media, Skullphone examines the contradictions inherent in outdoor digital signage, demonstrating cause for both wonder and concern over the increasingly ubiquitous medium. The artist explores advertising, government and private enterprise signage, and the California landscape on which outdoor media proliferate, making permanent on panels what is removable and reprogrammable in outdoor space.
Although of the same spirit as his past work, Digital Media marks a distinct visual departure for the artist. His use of mirror-polished, black-painted aluminum panels is a cold and slick leap from past works on found wood, weathered metal, and wheat-pasted paper. Skullphone's painting technique employs a deliberate dot grid system, and his painted color is expanded to a limited palette of red, green and blue. This shift corresponds to the artist's recent inspirations and exploits with outdoor digital media. Through painted pointillism, the imagery dislocates as the artwork is approached.
© 2008 Subliminal Projects