David Lynch is best known as an Emmy, Academy Award, and Golden Globe nominated Writer/Director/Producer.  He is the creator of such films as The Elephant Man, Dune, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet , Wild At Heart, and Mulholland Dr., as well as of the television series Twin Peaks.  With such a prolific and influential career in film making, it’s easy to understand why any of his outside ventures may be over shadowed.  Last year Lynch made one such venture with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, in which the director provided vocal contributions to the Dark Night of the Soul album, as well as accompanying photographs for the project.  A subsequent gallery show of the photographs took place at Los Angeles‘ Michael Kohn gallery from May 30 – July 29 of 2009.

With the hype surrounding EMI’s refusal to release the music for DNOTS, we posted an extensive two-piece article about the project.  Unfortunately however, we entirely overlooked the fact that Lynch had a completely unrelated gallery show  later in the year.  “David Lynch : New Paintings“, was held from at the William Griffin gallery in Santa Monica from Sept. 12th – Dec. 12th, 2009.  Although Lynch was actually a painter, prior to ever beginning his film career, this collection represents the first of Lynch’s original paintings to be displayed in the United States in more than a decade.

Due to our past coverage of Lynch’s art, we were contacted and offered the opportunity to premiere the following footage by DFL.TV (The David Lynch Foundation).  The video not only contains exclusive coverage of the gallery opening, but celebrity interviews as well.  Among those interviewed are actress, Laura Dern, award-winning film-maker, Roger Corman, and even Lynch himself. (more…)

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This month has proven to be a particularly great one for me as a Wesley Willis fan.  Not only was I offered an original piece of art by the late, great artist/musician, but I was also mailed a copy of an amazing documentary about Willis for review.

I first discovered Wesley’s work when I was in high school and I was immediately drawn to it (pun intended).  Clearly the man had some obvious points of comic appeal, such as extreme moments of profanity and graphic references to bestiality, but there was definitely something deeper to him, even if it wasn’t always easy to determine exactly what it was.  The documentary Wesley Willis’s Joy Rides has successfully managed to capture and express those difficult to verbalize qualities, which made Wesley such a remarkable and inspiring individual.  One quote from the film, which most aptly sums up this phenomenon, was made by Willis‘ friend/art patron, John Stulgate, who said,  “You could see people’s hearts through their interactions with Wesley Willis.”

Although I had been a long time fan, I didn’t get a chance to see Wesley live until 2002.  The show took place in Seattle at The Graceland (now, El Corazon) and Grand Buffet was opening.  I’ll never forget walking from the bar through the doorway into the venue.  I saw Wesley immediately; he was staring frighteningly out of the corner of his eye and in my direction from behind the merch table.  Due to his immense size and weight, Wesley could be a daunting figure and his breaths were loud and heavy like a tranqued hippo.  I, eventually, made my way over to the table to say hello.  I had brought a sniper deployment manual and a 25¢ hardcover book about rottweilers for him to sign, in lieu of my Book of Mormon and 100 Deadliest Karate Moves books, which I had temporarily left in California.  He signed the sniper book but, once he got the rottweiler book in his hands, he was mesmerized.  “Can I keep this book“, he asked.  “Sure“.  After that, it was like I wasn’t even there, so I slipped away as he focused intently on pictures of similar looking dogs.  When the show ended, Wesley headed back behind the table to flip his wares.  I bought a live EP and asked him if he liked the book.  “I got that right back here!” he said.  Then he added, “I wrote a song called ‘Suck a Rottweiler’s Ass‘.  I’m gonna write a song called ‘Suck a Rottweilers Dick‘!“  So I told him, “You need to write a song called ‘Suck the Stripes off a Zebra’s Dick‘.” (more…)

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[Read Part 1 HERE]

This post is actually the continuance of another one that we recently published.  In the previous post, we addressed a little about the background of artist, James Jean and introduced a new project that he’s been working on, called “RIFT“.  As we explained before, RIFT is a series of 15 postcards that, when combined, create two different landscapes.  The last article featured image of the first of these two landscapes, which is titled “SCULL“.  Now we have received a peak at “PROCESSION“, the second landscape, and I’m sure that you’ll agree that it’s equally as amazing. (more…)

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[UPDATE: View second landscape in part two HERE]

Taiwanese-American artist, James Jean is one of the most awe-inspiring illustrators working today.  By the time of his 2001 graduation from New York’s School of Visual Arts, he had already been recognized with 4 separate prestigious art awards.  Since then, he has collected over a dozen more.  His work is rooted in fantasy and contains the dark, yet whimsical qualities of Victorian Childrens Literature.  His paintings are eerily beautiful as if they were manifested onto poltergeists stretched into canvas.  There is a deeply emotional quality to James Jean’s art which, somehow, leaves it feeling both nostalgic and fresh.  A universal quality rests in this formula, which has garnered him critical acclaim for his work with clients that range from DC Comics to Prada. (more…)

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Cereal Killer

30 x19, Framed, Giclee on Canvas

$675.00

Los Angeles artist, Patrick Ballesteros isn’t a household name yet, but he may be on his way.  Over the last few years, he’s exhibited with some of the most prominent artists and rising stars in the underground, pop-surrealism, low-brow, and street-art movements.  Such artists have included Munk One, Luke Chueh, Chet Zar, Brian M. Viveros, Yuka Yamaguchi, and Audrey Kawasaki, among others.  Group shows are a great way to get your work noticed, but it’s also easy to have it overlooked, when placed amongst a sea of so many other strong pieces.  This month, Ballesteros is showcasing a collection of new work in his first solo show at San Diego’s SUBTEXT gallery.  The exhibit, titled “Cereal Killer“, is a solid effort that will, hopefully, help to springboard the illustrator a little further into the fine-art spotlight. (more…)

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Recently, Washington DC artist, Mark Jenkins caused panic in the streets over another one of his crafty life-like sculptures.  Locals in Winston-Salem, NC bugged out and “lost they damn minds” after noticing, what appeared to be, a woman laying motionless across top of an abandoned billboard.  Fearing that the woman might have been dead, shocked pedestrians called in law-enforcement officers to investigate the situation.  Of course, after removing “her” from the sign, authorities quickly realized that the it was nothing more than an elaborate sculpture formed from packing tape.

My only guess is that their assumptions were either:

A)

For some overly dramatic statement, a dying woman must have used her last ounce of remaining strength to scale a huge billboard, only to fall into her eternal slumber length-wise across it’s form.

OR

B)

In a misguided and poorly thought out plan, a murderer chose to hide the remains of their victim on top of the one structure created, specifically to bring attention to anything posted on it.

Here’s Sept. 23, news footage of the scenario via CNN.com:

(more…)

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