Your real preview

Our friends at dailyDuJour posted what will be one of the only real previews of Greg "Craola" Simkins' new show "The Storyteller" and you don't wanna miss it.

You can see, and read it, by CLICKING HERE.

This show is incredible! See you Friday night!

Jensen

G1988:LA

NEXT.

LOOKEY

Look who's on the cover of the new Juxtapoz! Yup, it's Greg "Craola" Simkins. You guys have to pick this up and read the article, at least to read the announcement that Greg will have his next solo with us in November 2010 and will be curating his first show ever at G1988:LA in March 2011 called "Inle," with a line-up that you won't believe!

Congrats to Greg and Jenn Simkins (and Isaac). If we could only go back in time to the day we met, so I can tell you you'd be on the cover of Juxtapoz. I can hear the "NO WAY!" from here.

Jensen
G1988:LA

Follow

As we enter the final week of the Alex Pardee's complex mind being on display here at G1988: LA, November can only mean one thing - a Greg "Craola" Simkins solo show. Please don't mistake Greg's recent break for him doing "nothing." This last week he opened his new online store, which you can check and purchase from by CLICKING HERE, and he's been hard at work creating his brand new show, which will open at Gallery1988: LA on November 3rd. The show is entitled "The Pearl Thief" and it's one of the most complex themes and most intricate work of his career.

"The Pearl Thief" will tell the story of a greedy monster who travels the globe stealing people's imaginations, all in the shape of a pearl dangling inside each person's head. And that greedy monster needs to be stopped! And that's where we need YOUR help!

The art show will also be an interactive experience, creating a gallery puzzle that, when solved, will lead one lucky person to a free 5x5 original painting, depicting one of the fortunate souls you helped by returning their imagination. It's all pretty awesome!

Until that moment, when we call upon you for help...here are two videos Greg put together featuring new works for "The Pearl Thief."





Again, WE NEED YOUR HELP to stop this "Pearl Thief" and bring these imaginations back to where they belong! Hope to see you November 3rd, 7 -11 PM!

Jensen
G1988: LA

The Good Soul Artist

A few weeks back we had a Skate Deck and Print Release for artist Greg "Craola" Simkins here at G1988: LA, and Greg live painted for a few hours. He went home, finished the piece, and created "The Good Soul," a 24 x 36 inch beauty, that is now being auctioned by Greg and Gallery1988, with every penny being donated to the American Cancer Society (in the memory of my late father, and huge Greg Simkins fan, Lawrence Karp).



This piece really is awesome, and the results of Greg's real only live painting session ever. If you want to stop by the LA gallery and see it in person, feel free. It's here.



And you can bid on it here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330353560100#ht_500wt_1013

Good luck and thank you Greg and Jenn!

Jensen
G1988: LA

Kick Flip

Thanks to everyone who came out last night for the opening reception of Reuben Rude's "Americana." Reuben and his wife hung out all night talking to patrons, and it was a fun time for all. If you haven't checked out the show yet, you're missing out. You can do so by CLICKING HERE!

Figured with the set up of "Americana" behind us, we now we have "An Afternoon With Greg Simkins" this Saturday! Running 12 - 4 PM and this is really shaping up to be a "once-in-a-gallery-lifetime" sort of deal. Greg's newest, and in my opinion, most beautiful print, "Here Stands Matt Riddle" will be released - and it's only an edition of 50 - so move quick! But more on that later.

Today we're going to focus on the laser-engraved "Lonely Knight" wood skate decks, limited to 25. I've shown these off to a few collectors and people just can't believe the quality. Each skate deck has the graphic etched in the board, in a Star Trek laser-ish way, and I know everyone who sees, and touches it, are going to love it. Each will be hand signed by Greg, and each deck is also numbered with the lasers on the back. Here are some detail pictures, in hope that you can wrap your brain around this one...









The numbered back...



These decks are limited to ONLY 25 and will be $325.00. We'll start selling them this Saturday at Noon PST.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Still and Street Life

This weekend Greg "Craola" Simkins returned to where it all started with his first new graffiti pieces in years. Proving that selling out gallery shows didn't deflate his street skills, the man took over a moving billboard, and reminded us that he still is one of the West Coast's best with a spray can. Exclusive to G1988.blogspot, check out these pictures of the master back on the grind.





Details









Jensen
G1988: LA

WINTERS KNIGHT

We have a few of these amazing Greg Simkins prints still available from the opening reception of "The Vivisect Playset."

Greg Simkins
Winters Knight
giclee print on Sommerset Velvet Fine Art paper
16 x 20 inches
limited edition of 75
signed and numbered
$150.00

I think this would make a great gift for the holidays (hint hint...)!

Katie
G1988 San Francisco

...And back...

Sorry for the delay in signifigant posts on my behalf, but after our website crash I haven't been in the mood for any sort of keyboard. Everything is coming together now with the website, which is nice, with all the final links and details being restored this week. Enough of that crap though...

I flew out to SF this weekend for the Vivisect Playset show at our SF spot, and it was GREAT. Greg Simkins and Luke Chueh were on hand to tag team doodle, which turned into a 3 hour fest of customers getting full on paper pieces ("First one on Ebay is a...total asshole!") Incredible work in this show, with some steals still available for the holiday season. Shouts to Peek-A-Boo, Isaac Pierro, MARS-1, Scott Campbell and Dave Pressler for also making it to the show, and an even bigger shout out to the late night Thai spot we found after the opening. I left my heart in San Franisco's Pad Thai dominance.

Anybody watching Nip/Tuck? This season is really dope (please don't judge last year's horrid attempt), with an exceptional cameo by the creepy brother from Wedding Crashers, who is now the "Ass Bandit," a guy who sneaks into hospitals to take stool samples. Oh, also, he's not a Dr. at all.

Back to art though. Tomorrow night we have an awesome opening here in LA, marking the first solo show for Reno artist Ahren Hertel. Ahren has been a mainstay, selling all his pieces in group shows at 1988 for the past two years, so let's look at this like the art version of a Bar Mitzvah. The opening will run 7-10 PM and I am forcing you to come. The work is BEAUTIFUL, and Ahren did some great stuff with the gallery as well! And with all these galleries now showing the same names over and over, it's time to add a new name to your list. Here's pics from the installation...



Sneak peek into the installaion. Those bubbles are real.



Here's a print that will be for sale at the show. Cool part about these lithos, is that Ahren actually hand paints each of them with oil. So basically, it's an original on a print. Love it!



This painting is incredible. The pics don't really show the hair detail (I now have a trademark pending on the term "hair detail.")



Ahren, who did make the trek from Reno, NV (word to Officer Dangle) is painting a cool little dealio on our front wall, meaning everyone who drives on Melrose and La Brea will get some Ahren love.

Again, please make sure to swing by. This is a show you will definately want to see. Rock Band will still be there when you get back at 10 PM.

Jensen
G1988: LA

A Little History...

Jensen and I opened the LA gallery almost four years ago. At that time, Jensen was 24 and I was 22. That sounds like a joke. We were kids with absolutely no business experience. It's a miracle that we're still in business and that miracle is a man named Luke Chueh.

Jensen and I both agree that Luke Chueh saved our business. There was a time in 2004 that we almost went under, and then there was Luke. Luke has an amazing eye for recognizing talented artists that will become extremely successful. In other words, he's an amazing curator.

We asked him to curate a show and he came up with the Vivisect Playset. The first installment of the show included Luke, Joe Ledbetter, Thomas Han, Peter Gronquist and Dave Pressler. The show was a huge success and from there became a yearly event at 1988 with new artists added to the lineup. There's also a new toy series coming out based on the show! The series was produced by StrangeCo and will be available very very soon!

The Vivisect Playset opens every December and this year it's in San Francisco! Sorry LA!

So the excitement doesn't stop there. Luke is coming to SF for the show... and so is Greg "Craola" Simkins! They'll be doing a signing/doodle session during the opening. We're calling it "Chu-Kins."



And even more exciting news (I know, you're heads are going to explode)... we're releasing a new Greg Simkins "I'M SCARED" print that very night.



Greg Simkins
Winter's Knight
giclee print on Sommerset Velvet Fine Art paper
16 x 20 inches
limited edition of 75
$150.00

The Vivisect Playset IV
December 1st



Katie
G1988 San Francisco

A Day Of Opportunities....

What is usually just "The Day Before Halloween" quickly turns into a serious day of opportunity.

In San Francisco tonight, we open "Paper Pushers" - a monsterous show with over 300 pieces, all on paper, with incredible prices. Again, some serious opportunities. Cherri Wood, anyone? She's incredible, as are a ton of new names in the bunch. The opening reception will be tonight in SF, from 7-10 PM. But blog readers....

http://www.g1988preview.blogspot.com

There's your preview that YOU CAN purchase from, just cut and paste away. And then call Katie, she's holding down the fort at the SF gallery today. You're welcome on that one.

And lastly, more focused on the most important thing to me....ME. Here's the whole final Hot Karl performance from last week (no matter what the date on the video says) in Pasadena. It's well over 40 minutes, but rather fun to watch, especially as you probably could never imagine me subtly grabbing my crotch and rhyming words in an aggressive manner. It's NOT SAFE FOR WORK, as I have the mouth of a truck driving sailor who gets paid for every f-word I release. With my mom on stage. So here you go..



And with that, Hot Karl is dead. MORE ART FOR EVERYONE in return!

Jensen
G1988: LA

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...

I like to pretend that when artists come in to sign prints, it's a HUGE party where I play early Ohio Players albums, we do the Electric Slide and we eat Pumpkin Cheescake. But in truth...the artists sign the print in the back.



There's Nathan Ota signing the "Candy Colored Clown" Crazy 4 Cult print today, getting ready to ship out! They do look awesome and Nathan is such a good dude. It's always funny to me, because the artists he gets compared to are usually artists that were his students at art school. You can still pick these up, check out www.crazy4cult.com for more info.

I know that most of you aren't able to come in and actually see the Craola installation, so I wanted to post these two pics. Greg's current "I'M SCAR3D" show will actually be featured in next month's Juxtapoz magazine as a Show Stopper, so I had to have some pictures taken real quick digitally (since the show was shot on film only, wait, this is way too much information at this point). Here's two of the photos in their full candle glory..





Greg Simkins was also interviewed over at Fecal Face today, which I would normally link, but their love for us is so minimal, I'll just mention it (I'm a bitter dude).



And back to the balcony for me, because I saw "Lars and the Real Girl" last week and it is by far my favorite movie of the year (not saying much, as I haven't really seen much in the past few weeks). I think it's a near perfect movie, which took a plot that could've been the worst 5 minute SNL sketch - and made it an emotional masterpiece. Gosling is a powerhouse, showing he's more than just the dude every girl you ever date will want to bang purely based on a movie he did about a notebook (p.s. haven't seen it). Don't tell me you hated Lars and the Real Girl, because I'm not sure I could be your friend anymore. And by "friend" I mean "person who reads the blog." I strongly suggest seeing this, as it opens nationwide tomorrow.

Jensen
G1988: LA

NOBODY is all that Scar3d anymore.

So I can rattle off at the mouth now, as I was mostly hiding a lot of my excitement for Greg Craola Simkins' solo show until it debuted, but YES, there were two paintings clocking in over 5 feet and just totally mind bending art work in this show. We sold the entire show out in about 40 minutes, and that's only because we have two phone lines, and two people working sales. If we had 22 phone lines, basically one line per piece, we would've sold out in 22 seconds. All the work is now posted on our regular 1988 website, although Ronnie Pirovino's online report has better pics over there (which you can see by "clicking HERE."but here are party pics - as it was mobbed like an OJ Simpson hotel room.

The obligatory crowd shots...













And all those odd things Greg was bringing in all week made for a pretty sweet window installation, incorporating elements found in all of Greg's paintings, and also spelling out "I'M SCARED" in carved white pumpkins.











The men of the hour - Simkins and the current 1988: SF curator Anthony Ausgang get their "3rd grade best friends pose" on"



This is the toughest looking gang I have ever seen. I like to call them "My Chemical Romance Crips"



Father Craola was VERY happy for his son, as Craola will be for Lil' Monsta at his second 1988 solo in 2028.



The new canvas giclee print sold out, as there were only 25 - hand signed and numbered, at $500 each. Some peeps got them signed twice, one for each tentacle.



The Simkins Trio in front of the Baron.



Pics of the gallery and wall installtions.







An in-action, behind the scenes shot, of Greg carving away at pumpkins...did you know they make electric pumpkin carvers?



The Leece fam, proud owners of the Greg's largest piece, Winter's Knight, over 6 feet tall!



AND over at Golden Apple Comics today, they had an insanely dope (insanely dope = nerdy to the point we shouldn't have girlfriends) signing today. To celebrate the new Treehouse Of Horror Simpsons comic book, they had writers and cartoonists from the Simpsons comic in store. AND two of the writers of said issue are Patton Oswalt (Comedians of Comedy, Ratatouille, etc.) and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!, The State, etc.). I am a VERY big Reno 911! fan, so seeing these two guys (Patton plays a D&D dweeb reocurring on the show) was something I was really looking forward to for weeks.









Man, love Thomas Lennon.

Anyway, thanks to all who came out last night and a serious shout to Jenn, Greg, Isaac, George and the whole Simkins clan for an amazing night, and a show we won't soon forget (until next year because ideas are already flowing!)

Jensen
G1988: LA