Art Hound

Dear Japan, a one-night benefit show, came and went this Saturday. Works by 170 artists sold for less than $200.

Untitled by Yoskay Yamamoto.

Anyone make it out?

How much would I like to see this show in person? A lot. Realms opened April 16th at Giant Robot’s LA location and features the work of three fantastic West Coast female artists: Yellena James, Ako Castuera, Elsa Mora.  While these three artists might not appear to have that much in common, there is an interesting, if unexpected, visual dialogue that I tried to capture here.

(clockwise from top left: Yellena James: Lola, Ako Castuera: Floating Temblor, Yellena James: Particle)

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(clockwise from top: Ako Castuera, Elsa Mora: Without Face, Elsa Mora: The Wound)

(clockwise from left: Elsa Mora: A Forest In Her Mind, Elsa Mora: La Espalda, Ako Castuera: The Foundry)

Source: All photos from Giant Robot 2 (where artwork is also available for purchase).

Gallery Hijinks is a gallery out in LA that I really admire. Right now they have a show called The Letter Collector which runs through March 26th and celebrates typography (specifically letters) in artwork. A bunch of cool artists are participating including Ryan De La Hoz, Lisa Congdon, Morgan Blair, Erik Otto, Catherine Ryan and many others. Most pieces are small and on the cheaper side. Definitely check it out.

Clockwise from top left: Andrea Wan, Bo Heimlich, Louise Chen, Ryan De La Hoz.

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Clockwise from top left: Pakayla Biehn, Catherine Ryan, Seth Neefus, Catherine Ryan.

I came to Pulse with low expectations and was surprised by how relevant and fresh the show was. Granted most of the work was out-of-reach cost-wise, but I liked a lot of it.

Some highlights were paintings by Narangkar Glover and Allison Cortson that I’d seen in New American Paintings as well as cool work by Megan Whitmarsh and Jane Hambleton. See more photos from the show here.

Trey Speegle /  Benrimon Contemporary

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Carrie Marill / Jen Bekman Gallery

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Pinaree Sanpitak  /  Tyler Rollins Fine Art

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Nicholas Woods /  Galeria Maior

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Megan Whitmarsh /  Michael Rosenthal Gallery

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Kim Dorland  /  Mike Weiss Gallery

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Allison Cortson /  Michael Rosenthal Gallery

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Jane Hambleton /  Michael Rosenthal Gallery

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Mario Muller /  Mary Ryan Gallery

I admit I’ve been kind of MIA this week. The truth is that our apartment has been like an infirmary ward and only our cat, Yoko, is well. So while I try to get better, please enjoy the work of Portland artist, Ryan Bubnis, whose group show at Flatcolor Gallery in Seattle opens today.

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Nobody’s Fool, featuring two and a half decades of work by Yoshitomo Nara closed earlier this month, and I’m kicking myself for having missed it! The show, which took place at Asia Society in NYC, somehow slipped under my radar and, sadly, looks like just my cup of tea.

Source: Suzanne DeChillo for The NY Times

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Source: Suzanne DeChillo for The NY Times

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Mr. Nara’s is a cuddlier, even nerdier sensibility. He is best known for tackling or, perhaps more accurately, finessing life’s big questions with a cast of irresistible, cartoonish little girls and dogs. The girls rule. Rendered foremost in luminous paintings as simple shapes on monochrome grounds, they can be beatific or blissed-out, but tend more often toward resentful, rebellious or demonic…

Childhood emotions and memories and their persistence through life — the children we once were, the children we remain — are primary among Mr. Nara’s subjects. His art is the product of a painfully lonely childhood salvaged by an early and profound love of rock music. – Roberta Smith for The New York Times

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All images are from Asia Society unless otherwise noted.

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I think I’m going to buy this postcard set to help ease the pain.

Did anyone make it?