PRESS RELEASE: FRIENDS WITH KNIVES
Friends with Knives
On view from August 7th through August 29th, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 7th, 2010 from 6-9pm
Los Angeles, CA – Having evolved from the first stencils recorded in human history, where hands were placed on cave walls and spit upon with watered paint pigments, to the now more multilayered, complex, political, and emotional stencils of today; stencil graffiti and stencil art is making its way into the art world as a growing genre that is captivating art lover’s and collectors world wide. To showcase this growing genre for art lovers and collectors alike, Crewest Gallery is proud to present Friends With Knives, a cutting edge stencil art exhibition curated by PaperMonster, featuring a collection of outstanding and intricately detailed works by world class stencil artists: Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Dave Lowell, E.L.K, Greg Boudreau, HAHA, Henry Quiara, Joe Iurato, Koleszar, Leckomio, Mefee, Nathan Phaneuf, PaperMonster, Peat Wollaeger, Scotch and Shai Dahan.
A broad range of stencil graffiti styles including photorealism, political, pop, abstract, and those focusing purely on beauty will be on display. Emerging and established artists will be on view side by side as a testament of the history, evolution and future of stencil art. Artists in this exhibit form a collective that defines the power and beauty of stencil art which continues to drive one of the fastest growing street art movements throughout the world. In attendance on Opening Night will be exhibiting artists Greg Boudreau, Henry Quiara, Koleszar, Nathan Phaneuf and Scotch.
In the Featured Artist Room:
Chaz Bojorquez
Installation by the godfather of graffiti in LA, Chaz Bojorquez. Bojorquez’s symbol or “tag”, created in 1969, was a stylized skull called Senor Suerte inspired by Mexican folklore and especially by the cult of Holy Death, and is one of the first examples of stencil art applied to the street and it subsequently became an image for protection against death among the street gangs. Bojórquez was one of the first writers to employ special typographical characters, creating an original synthesis of psychedelic style, Fraktur and Chinese calligraphy.
Chaz will be present on opening night to autograph copies of his new book:"The Art and Life Of Chaz Bojorquez"
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About the Friends with Knives Artists:
• Banksy in his unofficial biography famously said of Blek Le Rat, “Everytime I think I've painted something original I find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well, only 20 years earlier'. Blek Le Rat often described as the Godfather of Stencil Art was the first to use stencils for silhouettes on the streets of Paris, he has been investigating the urban space for over 28 years and still continues to inspire urban artists all over the world.
• PaperMonster’s vivid and intricate pieces explore the beauty behind the eyes and facial expressions of women.
• Broken Crow's art features various animals and anthropomorphic humanoids in crazy colors and extreme sizes. Through painting they seek to reintroduce wild animals back into urban habitats, writing their own mythologies as they go.
• Chris Stain’s work and its themes find a kinship with the American social-realist movement of the early 20th century.
• Kolezar experiments with things like color, detail and scale to challenge preconceptions of what can be accomplished with stenciling.
• Nathan Phaneuf focuses on more minimal pieces that accentuate the women he photographs for his pieces produced using the underlying wood as the main skin tone and negative space for his stencils.
• Shai Dahan is recognized for his talent of hand painting skateboards as well as creating his animalguns designs on the streets of Los Angeles and New York using stencils, wheatpastes and other mediums as well.
• Peat Wollaeger (stenSOUL) is internationally known stencil artist famous for his signature EYEZ , raw colorful characters and stencil videos.
• Dave Lowell works with a combination of multi-layer stencils and freehand spraying.
• E.L.K is fast becoming well respected amongst his peers and in much demand nationally for his approach to photo-realistic stenciling.
• By using multi-layered stencils of up to 60 layers HAHA’s work is a reflection of Austrailian popular culture.
• Joe Iurato just launched a new series of portraits featuring a selection of musicians performing the famous song “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess.
• Henry Quiara is an artist/designer of lowbrow, urban contemporary and counter culture art.
• Greg Boudreau specializes in making the ordinary extraordinary.
• Mefee, a true definition of an anomaly. Mefee works as a scarification artists providing surgical implants underneath the skin in which his skill with a scalpol is easily transfered into his stencil work creating precision cut pieces.
• Leckomio’s works deal with street art and graffiti as a subject, as shown by B-boys or the hyper-realistic representation of urban landscapes tagged for sky to bitumen.
• Scotch! continues to push for new techniques/ideas that people of all ages & genres can enjoy.
Exhibiting Artists: Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Dave Lowell, E.L.K, Greg Boudreau, HAHA, Henry Quiara, Joe Iurato, Koleszar, Leckomio, Mefee, Nathan Phaneuf, PaperMonster, Peat Wollaeger, Scotch, Shai Dahan
Artist Websites
Chaz Bojorquez: http://www.chazbojorquez.com
Blek le Rat: http://bleklerat.free.fr/
Broken Crow: http://brokencrow.com
Chris Stain: http://www.chrisstain.com
Dave Lowell: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davelowell/
E.L.K: http://myspace.com/elkstencils
Greg Boudreau: http://www.gregboudreau.com
HAHA: http://www.regantamanui.com
Henry Quiara: http://www.artficionado.blogspot.com
Joe Iurato: http://www.joeiurato.com
Koleszar: http://www.koleszar.com
Leckomio: http://www.stefanwinterle.de/
Mefee: http://www.mefee.org
Nathan Phaneuf: http://www.nathanphaneuf.com/
PaperMonster: http://papermonster.wordpress.com
Peat Wollaeger: http://www.stenSOUL.com
Scotch: http://www.myspace.com/el_scotcho
Shai Dahan : http://www.Abztract.com
Important Dates:
Opening Reception
August 7th, 2010 from 6-9pm with Live music by DJ Phyz Ed.
Artwalk Event
August 12th, 2010 from 6-9pm with Live music by DJ Phyz Ed.
Last Day for Exhibit
August 29, 2010
Bios and images are available by request.
Crewest
110 Winston St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
ph | 213-627-8272
Crewest is a gallery that supports some of the most talented underground artists from the West Coast and beyond. The gallery's focus is on urban & graffiti art created through painting, sculpture, digital, and print medias. All of the exhibits housed at Crewest deal with what is current, and significant within the realm of the urban art experience. Hours of operation are Tues. thru Thurs.: noon – 7pm, Fri. and Sat.: 12pm -8pm, Sun.: Noon – 6pm and Closed Mondays (except by appointment only). Visit the gallery online at: www.crewest.com.
Curator: PaperMonster is a stencil graffiti artist who’s vivid and intricate pieces explore the beauty behind the eyes and facial expressions of women. Born in Puerto Rico, PaperMonster incorporates stencil and pasting techniques to create pieces of art on any surface by incorporating pop culture icons, Asian typography, patterns and texture to present vibrant emotions and stories. His work allows the audience to take his creations for pure face value or explore deeper into each piece. Visit PaperMonster online at: http://papermonster.wordpress.com .
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