In the art game consistency is paramount. When your audience has come to expect the best you’ve got to keep it coming. Luckily, Yves Laroche Gallerie D’Art in Montreal seems to have a firm grasp on this concept. Since 1991 Yves Laroche has unfailingly brought quality artists and exhibits to Canada. Specializing in art stemming from the underground worlds of tattooing, graffiti, and comics Yves Laroche represents Canada’s best emerging and established artists as well as an impressive line up of international talent. Their roster of artists includes Canadian art stars Martin Whittfooth, Dave Cooper, Jon Todd, Timer, Juan Carlos Noria and Jonathan Bergeron. From further afield they represent Cuban artist Adonis Flores, Rotterdam based art duo Sauerkids, and France’s Turf One. And they must have their pick of the litter when it comes to the States, because they represent some of the best including Van Arno, Shawn Barber, Liz McGrath, Ron English, Blaine Fontana, Chris Ryniak, Mike Shine, Greg Simkins and Amanda Wachob.

Opening Wednesday September 1st, Yves Laroche will launch a monumental group show with the US’s famed graffiti family 7th Letter Crew entitled “Will Rise”. Formed by graffiti granddaddy Eklips as a commercial launch pad for his two legendary crews MSK (Mad Kings Society) and AWR (Angels Will Rise/Art Work Rebels), 7th Letter Crew reps some of the most talented and prolific graffiti artists in the game including Revok, Saber, Norm, Reyes, Rime, Sever and Krush to name a few. Eklips merged AWR and MSK under the 7th Letter umbrella in 1999 with the intention of making inroads for graffiti in the realms of corporate sponsorship and merchandising. By now, more than a decade later, 7th Letter’s artists have taken the world by force, painting commissioned murals around the globe, branding a widely distributed clothing and accessories line and landing solo and group shows at the world’s top galleries.

From Yves Laroche’s press release: “Held in conjunction with Norm AWR & Basta!, YL will be presenting The Seventh Letter crew’s first Canadian group exhibition. In September, Montreal will join the esteemed list of Barcelona, New York, Seoul, Miami, Milano and other select The Seventh Letter destinations. Eponymously, named after the seventh letter in the alphabet, these ‘Gods of Graffiti’ represent one of the world’s most inspired, racially diverse and prolific graffiti crew ever assembled. Yves Laroche Galerie d’art will be showing new and exclusive works by six of the most influent members of the collective: REVOK, PUSH, NORM, POSE, REYES and RETNA.

Los Angeles based, The Seventh Letter is an institution born from street culture and taking form as iconic graffiti-based visuals and street references. More so, The Seventh Letter is a powerful trademark known by every avant-garde connoisseur. The influence of the crew is tremendous, since they are multidisciplinary artists with roots in graffiti and beyond; including fine art, tattooing, graphic design, sculpture and music. Always pushing the traditional limits imposed by media associated to the graffiti. Demonstrating a consistent pride in their craft and foresight for future generations of young and upcoming artists, Yves Laroche Galerie d’art is proud to commemorate this visual representation of unique individuals.”

All are invited to the opening, scheduled for Wednesday, September 1st 2010 from 6-9 pm at Yves Laroche Galerie d’art- 6355, Boul. Saint-Laurent, Montreal CAN. Music provided by DJ Sagewondah (French Connection) & special guests. Artists will be present.

YVES LAROCHE GALERIE D’ART PRESENTS
WILL RISE – THE SEVENTH LETTER
From September 1st to 15th 2010
Vernissage : Wednesday, September 1st 2010, 6pm to 9pm

Norm Photo Credit: Luna Park on Flickr

Opening tonight in Culver City “Instant LA Summer” is a group show presented by Stefan Simchowitz curated by Esteban Schimpf. The show features work for a dynamic group of highly intelligent artists working in conceptual realms of installation, sculpture, performance and painting. From the preview images of the show I suspect that this will be a really engaging exhibit. Artists include Charles Irvin, Daniel Desure, Emily Mast, Emily Steinfeld, Eric Yahnker, Josh Mannis, Kenneth Tam, Los Super Elegantes, Maya Lujan, Mark Hagen, Margaret Haines, Orlando Tirado, Pascual Sisto, Sarah Sieradzki, Sean Kennedy and Simon Haas.

While all of the art is sure to be amazing, I’m particularly intrigued by the neon light sculptures by Pascual Sisto. Based on situationist-inspired graffiti lifted from the streets of Paris 1968, these industrial sculptures manage to be smart, witty and historically referential without being elitist or inaccessible – a tough balance to strike. Also be on the lookout for assemblage work by Sarah Sieradzki, and installation work from Kenneth Tam.

Opening August 19th, 7-9 PM

Carmichael Gallery
5795 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

Our friend PaperMonster is at it again, this time in the role of curator. This past weekend marked the opening of Crewest’s annual “Friends with Knives” group show featuring some of the world’s premier stencil artists. The featured artists highlight how diverse the world of stencil art has become, both in style and in subject matter. A work intensive style that requires an impressive level of concentration and commitment on the part of the artist, stencil art has become quite popular in recent years, and the stars of the genre have continuously challenged one another to step up the game. Featured artists include Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Dave Lowell, E.L.K, Greg Boudreau, HAHA, Joe Iurato, Koleszar, Henry Quiara, Leckomio, Mefee, Nathan Phaneuf, PaperMonster, Peat Wollaeger, Scotch and Shai Dahan.

Blek le Rat, the so-called “Godfather of Stencil Art” has been haunting the streets of Paris, and the world beyond, with his intelligent, and beautiful silhouettes for decades. Many of the world’s leading stencil arts site le Rat as their greatest influence. For more about the master read Jeffrey’s interview with him here on Curbs & Stoops. Amongst le Rat’s descendant’s are John Grider and Mike Fitzsimmons who form the collective Broken Crow, which produces nature themed pieces which seek to reintroduce the wild back into the urban environment. Chris Stain has a gritty, thought provoking style that evokes the emotional rawness of the American Social Realist movement of the early 20th century. E.L.K. employs a photo-realisitc style to his work. Mefee works as a scarification artist when he is not making stencils, and his deft handling of the scalpel transitions brilliantly between the two mediums.

Crewest is one of LA’s premier urban contemporary galleries. For almost a decade now they’ve been a the forefront of educating the world on the diverse talent of the street art world. Their exhibitions promote new, raw talent and exposes the art community to the wealth of skill that exists amongst graffiti artists, beyond the big names like Banksy and Shepard Fairey. The space also hosts events and has a retail space that sells everything from books and t-shirts to paint, caps and vinyl toys. Their roster of represented artists includes Sherm, Victor Sepulveda, Man One, Werc, and one of my personal favorites, Gregg Stone, who takes watercolors to a whole new contemporarily relevant level.

Friends With Knives
August 7th through August 29th
Crewest
110 Winston St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Opening this Friday at Gallery 1988’s San Francisco outpost “Raised on Hi-Fi” is a solo show from Chicago based artist/curator David “Netherland” van Alphen. Though his family hails from Holland, Netherland himself was born in Toronto, and has been living and working in Chicago about 8 years. A child of the 1970’s Netherland uses unique collage techniques to create nostalgic montages of groovy, musically inspired imagery. The vintage images in his compositions are all original. He neither scans, copies, nor resizes his appropriated images so each piece is one of a kind. Channeling the resurgent adoration of 70s pop incons with a distinctly modern flair, Netherland has had a number of successful shows in the past couple years, including a sold out first solo show in 2008.

“Raised on Hi-Fi” will run through August 28th. The opening reception will be held Friday August 13th, from 7-10PM at 1173 Sutter Street, SF.

Charmaine Olivia. You might recognize the name because, well, she’s everywhere. A perfect example of the kind of meteoric ascent that can be born from real talent and the right exposure, this self-taught Bay Area based artist is a star on the rise. Ms. Olivia paints and draws her way through a wonderland of nautical references, animals (in gym socks!) and babes with tattoos. Like fellow self-taught virtuoso Aaron Nagel, Olivia achieves a realism in her representational work that is downright mind boggling. She has copious styles up her sleeves. From her sketchy, vintage drawings to her svelte, natural paintings, and she has the skill to back up the scope of her work. A bohemian spirit who marches to her own drum, Olivia, who toyed with the idea of moving to Paris before ultimately landing in SF, paints unfettered women whose courageous spirits the artist says she lives through vicariously. From the looks of things, she’s doing just fine making brave choices on her own.

Ms. Olivia was born in a beach side town in California, where she describes her childhood as including “drawing on napkins with soy sauce.” Though she never went to college, and has never taken a single art class, she is obviously the type of soul that is good at learning through osmosis. Through dedicated practice and exposure to a large amount of art, and art lovers, since her move to San Francisco, Olivia’s work has not only matured in style, but grown in feeling. Since she never had the academic pressures that art professor’s are known to apply, she has been free to chart her own course. A quick study when it comes to the contemporary art climate, Olivia has made smart use of the internet in the promotion of her work, linking up with organizations like Society6, a collaboration that ultimately led to her prints being picked up by Urban Outfitters. In an interview with SF Station Olivia said, “My goal has never really been to have tons of art shows… With galleries your work is in a room. I want my work not just in one room, but on textiles, and on walls, and everywhere. Some people would call that selling out, but I don’t care.” Whether or not some people would chose to call her embrace of commercial art application “selling out” is a moot point. Not only has her work been picked up by a number of international clients, but her fine art has been shown in galleries all over. In July alone Ms. Olivia’s work has been exhibited in four group shows in San Francisco.

A quick perusal of her blog reveals an artist who is not only dedicated to her art practice, but refreshingly candid about her process. The blog is full of detailed process shots with notes about her trials, her triumphs and her materials (detailed enough to list the particular colors she blends to get a certain effect). It helps that she is also an avid photographer, so the images themselves are interesting in their own right. For her drawings she often employs multiple mediums, and enjoys mixing colors and textures. For her oil paintings on panel, the artist starts with extensive planning, including a lot of preliminary drawings created in Photoshop. What’s interesting is that despite the fact that she plans ahead her lack of formal training still leaves room for error, which she handles with plucky charm and that ever present sense of earnestness. Case in point, the blue halo from her latest work Nautical, a detail of which currently illustrates our “Featured Artist” banner at the top of this page. To get the halo to appear even on the raw wood panel, which would inevitably soak up the watered down paint in a potentially uneven manner, she had to MacGyver the paint she was using with bleached linseed oil (smart lady).

Next up for the dynamo is a spot in the inaugural exhibition at new San Francisco space Gallery Hijinx, alongside Brynda Glazier, Lisa Congdon, Pakayla Biehn, Ryan Riss, Jing Wei, and Morgan Blair. I can’t speak to what it means economically, but I find a sense of hope and happiness in the number of great new spaces opening. It may not reflect directly on the financial state of the nation, but it certainly seems to imply that people have cheered up enough to once again start investing their happiness in creativity. Thank goodness.