White Walls Gallery Presents Dan Witz: “What the %$#@? (WTF)”

Dan Witz’s integrity in expressing beauty through subversion and an enduring interest in realism has sustained the artist a copious 30-year career. Known for his hyper-realistic paintings, Witz challenges himself to keep representational painting relevant in the postmodern era and digital age.  This challenge commands that the artist must continually grow and experiment in his art practice which has contributed to him being cited as one of the most progressive and influential painters of our time.

White Walls Gallery is pleased to announce the debut solo show by Dan Witz entitled “What The %$#@? (WTF)”. The opening reception will be held on January 8, 2011 from 7-11pm. Witz is known for using  his mastery of the visual deception of trompe-l’oeil and photorealistic painting techniques to create conceptual visual pranks, producing a definitive and unparalleled street art practice.

The “What The %$#@? (WTF)” series is named for the universal reactions it often inspires within the viewer.  For this street art project, Witz is installing his Dark Doings pieces on walls beside highway ramps and interchanges–bottleneck locations where traffic backs up and a captive audience develops as cars pass by at low speeds. Dark Doings is made up of digital photo prints with extensive over-painting mounted on plastic and then framed.  For each piece that Witz will be showing within the gallery, a corresponding piece will be put up somewhere in the Bay Area.  The artworks come in an edition of 6:3 for the street and 3 for other distribution.  The street versions are unsigned, but marked with NFFS*.  The asterisk indicates (on the back of the piece) *NOT FOR FUCKING SALE.

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Donald Sultan to Give First AFA ArtTalk of 2011

"Poppies"

The American Federation of Arts is pleased to announce that artist Donald Sultan will be giving the first ArtTalk of 2011, to be held at Christie’s, located at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, on Tuesday, January 18, at 6:30 p.m. ArtTalks, the AFA’s lecture series, features notable figures in the art world. Following Sultan’s lecture, audience members are invited to participate in a question-and-answer session and a wine reception.

Internationally recognized for his painting, printmaking, and sculpture, Donald Sultan is best known for his sensual, large-scale paintings and monochromatic prints that incorporate images of lemons, flowers, dominoes, and other ordinary objects. At once representational and abstract, these works are rendered through an innovative use of unlikely materials such as linoleum, tar, vinyl, spackle, and Masonite.

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Rad: Michael Dotson

Nudashank in Baltimore recently exhibited the work of Washington DC-based artist, Michael Dotson. I love the playful and “rad” nature of his work. His vibrant, straight out of the box color palette is whimsical and attractive and manages to keep things light without being trite. Some pieces, referred to on his website as “drawings”, appear to be colored marker on graph paper while his paintings are executed in acrylic. He shows clear talent with both mediums and while there is a completely different feel between the two separate bodies of work, there is a cohesive sense of vintage abstraction to them that is reminiscent of 80’s and early 90’s aesthetics. Digital landscapes, pixel play, and “80’s modern” compositions that Don Johnson would most surely have had hanging in his “Miami Vice” bachelor pad. I kinda wish they had made a Trapper Keeper with Dotson’s motifs back when I was in grade school. Hell. I kinda wish they’d make one now.

"Living Room", 2010

"Dream Car Celebration at Tyrell Corporation", 2009

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Hi Fructose Issue 17: Seonna Hong

I had the pleasure of interviewing the illustrious Seonna Hong for issue 17 of Hi Fructose Magazine. Here’s a teaser, but for the whole story, be sure to pick up a copy!

“Seonna Hong is a painter of memories. Her works are reflexive – deeply personal reflections of the artist’s self in relation to the people and things that matter most to her. In an effort toward resolution, Hong selects the moments of meaning that have colored her life as richly as the pigments with which she chooses to adorn the canvas. These are the stories that run the depth of a life, rushing to the surface upon the artist’s summoning, or when the desire to express builds to the point of necessary release. With painted metaphor, Hong renders herself unedited and pure – as a little girl wading through an ocean of moments that extend from the shores of her past into the infinite and unknowable future. It’s amidst this sentimental dreamscape that we meet the artist at her most vulnerable and find solace in the baring of this soul that bears so much resemblance to our own.” – Lainya Magaña, Issue 17 Hi Fructose Magazine

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“Observed By Clouds” Solo Show by Mario Wagner

"The Hero's Return"

SAN FRANCISCO – July 30, 2010 – Gallery Heist is pleased to announce Observed by Clouds, an exhibition of new work by Mario Wagner. This event is highly anticipated as it marks the artist’s first solo show in San Francisco since relocating here from Cologne, Germany earlier this year. Utilizing imagery from the 1950s and 60s, Wagner’s pieces convey a sense of vintage futurism in beautifully anachronistic micro-narratives that describe one visual point in some larger, unknown story. Executed through a stream-of-consciousness based process: spontaneous, free flowing and of the moment, Observed by Clouds will be expressed through the techniques of painting, mixed media, collage, and installation and will present more than a dozen new artworks. An opening reception will be held at Gallery Heist on Saturday, September 4, 2010 from 7-11pm and the exhibition will run from September 4 – September 25, 2010.

Imbued with a sense of cinematic intrigue and sci-fi fantasy that speaks to the era from which he draws reference, Wagner’s pieces depict a time when futuristic fascination was widespread, space travel was imminent, and the possibilities of technology were limitless. Observed by Clouds will present a collection of work exploring some of the darker and more illusive narratives that have been steadily evolving in Wagner’s artistic oeuvre. As Wagner puts it, these new works “feel like the next step in a line.” Dreamlike scenarios of morose pallbearers assembled in funeral formation, masked marauders on horseback full of hidden agendas, and watchful strangers with questionable intentions lurking in shadows point to mysteries that border on the eerie, begging at the viewer’s imagination and inviting him to contemplate the origins of the story’s beginning and its probable end.

Mario Wagner, born in 1974, works as an artist and illustrator in San Francisco/USA. Wagner creates his works using analog methods of collage incorporating vintage print media. The execution requires finesse with scissors and glue to ultimately transform his vision from the mental to physical plane of existence. His work has been shown internationally and across the US in exhibitions at SCOPE, ART Basel Miami and the upcoming NADA Art Fair with the Pool Gallery from Berlin. Wagner’s commercial illustrations and artworks have been commissioned by Esquire, Playboy, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine.

For more information visit www.galleryheist.com

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Matt Mignanelli @ Medicine Agency, SF

New York artist, Matt Mignanelli recently opened a new show at the Medicine Agency‘s gallery space in San Francisco. His work has been featured in numerous high-profile publications such as GQ, Juxtapoz, and Time Out: Chicago. I love his vibrant sense of color and his bold geometries. The work reminds me of some, pared down, vintage-futuristic landscape. His solo show entitled “Transformative Illuminations” will be on display through September 10th.

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New Work by Mars-1 at Meta Gallery

Infinite Tapestry, Acrylic on wood panel, 36"x48", 2010

“Infinite Tapestry” is the collection of new work by Mars-1 up at Meta Gallery in Toronto. Although this show is about 2 days from ending, I had to post these images anyway. They’re breathtaking! Mars never disappoints but this work is on another level. The black and white pieces are a favorable divergence from his usual color palette and make me wish I were staying at this on my living room wall instead of on a computer.

"Infinite Tapestry #2", Acrylic on wood, 24"x30", 2010

"Tulpa 2", Acrylic and sumi ink on paper, 72"x48", 2010

"Echoes 2", Acrylic and sumi ink on paper, 40"x30", 2010

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Favorite: Eva Hesse

Ohne Titel 1966 Black ink with wash and pencil on paper 29.8 x 22.9 cm > 11 3/4 x 9 inch via evahesse.com

Eva Hesse was one of the artists who led the Postminimalist movement. She was a brilliant sculptor and painter who took such cold and unfriendly materials as latex, fiberglass, and plastic and imbued them with warmth and the pulse of a beating heart. She died before her time but not before leaving behind a prolific collection of work that can only make one wonder how much more she could have contributed had she been gifted with not just pure talent, but length of days.

Untitled, 1966. Brown ink wash and pencil, 13-3/4 x 10-3/4 in. via walkerart.org

Ohne Titel 1966 Ink wash on rag board 14.1 x 17.7 cm > 5 1/2 x 7 inch via evahesse.com

Look for the Eva Hesse traveling exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum in 2011.

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Feature Article on James Marshall (Dalek) in Issue 15 of Hi-Fructose

I recently conducted an interview with James Marshall (Dalek) for Hi-Fructose discussing his latest work and a decade of creativity. Issue 15 is on newsstands now!

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Temporal Surfaces: New Work by Kevin Cyr and Jessica Hess

Jessica Hess "Eureka - Day"

Kevin Cyr "Allen"

Temporal Surfaces
New Works by Kevin Cyr and Jessica Hess
Opening: Saturday, March 6th 2010 from 7-11pm
Show Runs Through: March 27th 2010

White Walls is pleased to present Temporal Surfaces, an exhibition guest-curated by Lainya Magaña that will feature the work of Kevin Cyr and Jessica Hess. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, March 6th, 2010, from 7-11pm.

Temporal Surfaces points to the relationship between space and time by uniting the individual perspectives of two artists separately exploring decay and abandonment in urban environments. The result is a body of work documenting the transitory nature of the contemporary urban American landscape, lauding these decrepit, graffiti laden, and often overlooked scenes as reverential places of beauty.

Working with photographs for inspiration and reference, Hessʼs exquisitely rendered oil paintings depict industrial sites and their graffiti-covered surfaces with keen attention to light and color. In the style of portraiture, Cyrʼs detailed paintings of derelict service vehicles, bombed with graffiti, are commemorated as the workhorses of a car culture society.

Painting in a historical style akin to ʻmodernʼ rather than ʻclassicalʼ landscape painting, both artistsʼ works are aesthetically realized, allowing for a visual experience that accounts for ephemeral beauty without being idealized or contrived. Hess and Cyr contemporize and push the boundaries of landscape painting by documenting the worldly and fleeting nature of urban structures; giving a deserved place of permanence to surfaces destined for change.

KEVIN CYR was born in Edmundston, NB, Canada, in 1976 and grew up in the paper mill town of Madawaska, Maine. Cyr received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and has been published widely.

JESSICA HESS was born in Massachusetts and raised in North Carolina. Hess received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US, resides in the A.G. Rosen collection, and has
received numerous awards. Hess currently lives and works in Boston, MA.

The opening reception of Temporal Surfaces at White Walls Gallery will be held on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 from 7-11pm. The exhibit will be on display through March 27th, 2010 and is open to the public.

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