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

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

As many of you know, the seemingly unstoppable Justin Giarla, has opened yet another space in San Francisco. Along with it’s sister galleries -White Walls, Shooting Gallery and Gallery 3- 941GEARY is a space designed to facilitate Giarla’s vision of nurturing emerging artists, furthering the careers of established artists and building an art centered community focused on support, engagement and investment. Judging from the success of artists whose careers Giarla has endorsed, as well as the growing list of top notch art spaces in his arsenal, I would say that the man is serving his vision well. 941GEARY is a 3000 square foot converted warehouse, and has already hosted two stellar urban contemporary exhibits in it’s nascent year. Building on this trend Giarla has curated a group show of some of the world’s brightest talents in the street art genre – creators “whose artistic careers were birthed in the street and have transitioned to the more formal exhibition space of the white cube.”

While the first two exhibits held at 941GEARY focused on urban contemporary artists whose work fell into the schools of abstraction and realism, “From the Street to the Cube” will serve as a “cross-cultural survey of street art.” The line up includes some of the most versatile and prolific street artists in the world including Above, Eine, Shepard Fairey, Rene Gagnon, Sergio Garcia, Greg Gossel, Casey Gray, Gale Hart, Jesse Hazelip, Hush, Hugh Leeman, Blek Le Rat and many more. Opening reception will be held Saturday August 7th from 6-9pm. The show will run through August 24th.

The streets a graffiti writer paints can lead in many directions. They can chart a path to creative self-expression, friendship and fame, but they can just as easily twist their way towards conflict and defeat. Of the thousands of youths across the world who are active in graffiti art every year, few is the number who translate their participation into an art career that grows out of the streets and into galleries and art institutions. In recent years the number has grown, with graffiti aesthetics serving as the foundation for so-called urban contemporary art, but it is still difficult for a writer to become a professional working artist. While art school is not the only road that leads to a successful career, it is often an excellent way for a writer to harness the potent competitive energy of street art and combine it with new skills and frame works. Adam 5100 started doing graffiti art in his home town of Albuquerque, NM. He followed the passion for art that graffiti gave him to California where he studied printmaking and illustration at the California College of Arts and Crafts (recently renamed California College of the Arts). There he excelled, beating the odds, to graduate with distinction, winning the Yozo Hamaguchi Award in printmaking along the way. Today he boasts an impressive exhibition history and a singularly recognizable style.

At CCAC Adam 5100 was exposed to the whole breadth of creative arts. He absorbed it all, and drew inspiration from a variety of mediums. From classic American photography he culled a candid approach to portraying history and the reality of the present. He distilled a sense of creative flexibility from the freedom of modern and contemporary painting. All in all, the lessons of art’s history were not lost on the young painter, and he emerged from school with a unique perspective through which to communicate his particular style. Uniting his mastery of printmaking with hard earned aerosol can control, Adam 5100 fostered an interest in painting with stencils, which he has developed to a virtuosic level.

The soul of the street, an intimate acquaintance to any graffiti artist, remains a major focal point of Adam’s work. Through hundreds of hours of meticulous work and detail, he crafts visions of the city “using spaces as a language to describe forgotten places.” His elaborate gray scale compositions utilize light as a story telling vehicle. Like classic film makers – Alain Resnair, John Alton, Alfred Hitchcock – Adam is able to use shadow and light to imply narrative in a single frame. His spaces are quite, but not silent. In a persistent, but war-weary whisper they tell their tales. Often using reflection and repetition his compositions are mind boggling in their complexity and yet the images remain accessible and relevant. He strikes a rare balance between hard and soft, portraying the concrete, wire and hard angles of the city in supple, lace-like visuals. He has amassed an impressive following and shows on a regular basis throughout America, as well as internationally. He has shown at White Walls and Carmichael Gallery and recently had pieces in the inaugural group show at the highly anticipated new space Guerrero Gallery in the Mission District, San Francisco.

Known Gallery, one of the top contemporary low brow galleries in Los Angeles featuring the works of David Flores, Ewok, Retna and El Mac amongst many other top names is at it again! Next Saturday May 22nd marks the opening of an exhibition presenting two Chicago based artists. The Chicago based graffiti artist Pose will be exhibiting along side photographer KC Ortiz. While the two artists work in different mediums and with very different thematic influences, there is one overarching theme here – bad ass art.

As the gallery writes: “In this exhibition Pose investigates a traditional style of comic book illustration and painting, infusing it with his own recognizable twist. Complexly layered, his work is bursting at the seams, often stunning and confusing onlookers with an intense amount of intricate detail…These new works explore imagery figuration in bold ways, with traces of his personality… the struggle, humor, sarcasm, love, hate, and always a feverish push towards the new.” In a teaser video of the event the artist puts it much more plainly, for him this exhibit is “the junkyard of my consciousness – the drugs, the sex, the hotrods … the shit, the vomit. In the teaser video the artist also speaks about his affinity for experimenting. “If you have the [foundation you should be] experimenting otherwise put that shit to bed.”

Concurrently KC Ortiz will be showing “Forced Rebellion.” Ortiz’ body of work focuses on photographing the over looked and forgotten people in society. His current series “documents the remaining Hmong’s daily lives and the desperate struggle faced from exposure to the never ending “Secret War” in the mountainous jungles of Laos. Check out Ortiz’ photographs to see an array of rebels, communists and CIA agents.