BIGGEST SMILE EVER

Watching Greg "Craola" Simkins have a cameo in, another G1988 artists', Travie McCoy's new video "Billionaire" - might just be the best thing I've seen all month. Please click the link and watch this video and look for another cameo from G1988 artist Pete Wentz.

Travie McCoy - "Billionaire"

Jensen
G1988:LA

On The Daly

Here's the segment that our friends at Last Call With Carson Daly did with Pete Wentz at the gallery about 2 weeks ago, featuring the "Americana" solo show from Reuben Rude. Thanks for the shouts, Carson.



Jensen
G1988: LA

Getting Ready For A Close-Up

Busy morning here at G1988: LA, the day before the opening reception for "Americana," Reuben Rude's debut LA solo show. We were lucky enough to have the folks from "Last Call With Carson Daly" come through the gallery to interview musician and artist Pete Wentz. It should be airing on NBC soon, and I'll let you know when I know here on the blog. Having us install a show in the background is gonna make for some pretty cool TV, in my humble opinion.



And then you got Reuben, who delivered all the work last night and it's AWESOME. And now he's in the gallery painting away at an installation.



Remember, tomorrow night, Tuesday, 7 - 10 PM. Stop on by...

Jensen
G1988: LA

Thanks Pete!

Check out this month's LA Confidential magazine where musician Pete Wentz breaks down his favorite up-and-coming artists, which is a pretty awesome roster of Greg Simkins, Ken Garduno, Roland Tamayo, Luke Chueh, Mark Brown and Matt Dangler. Pick up the magazine to read more!

Jensen
G1988: LA

BEST VIDEO CAMEO EVER

Like the new get up here at the blog? Sweet, huh? Kicking off the new year a little early with a new blog design. Shiny. And new.

Anyway, here's a video interview of Pete and Travie from Young Hollywood recorded the night of the opening reception, where I feel like I genuinely have the greatest cameo in history. Please stay tuned to it until you see my old man "Get Off My Lawn" face.



Jensen
G1988: LA

New York Times, dude.

Mr. Nightime from clandestine on Vimeo.


A dramatic reenactment of how the piece "Mr. Night Time" was created in Pete Wentz's house with one Travis McCoy. Just the facts, ma'am. Here's the piece from our current exhibit "Without You I'm Just Me" that - like Billy Joel when I was in elementary school - did start the fire.



While on the subject...some more insane press mentions for you to click...

New York Times (!!!!!) Shouts to Jon Caramanica, a friend of the gallery since the early days and one of the few writers I can geniunely say I look up to.

Perez Hilton

An insightful write up from the friends at Toycyte And not just because they agree with me. OK, it is that too.

Next week starts publicity for Under the Influence: The Official Art Tribute To Beastie Boys, where I'll break down the whole G1988: LA exhibit opening Jan. 8, 2009 - which is in conjunction with the band themselves - and get you some insane preview sneak peeks. Until then, here's Mear One's contribution followed by Eric Tan's incredible poster.





Gonna be a wild ride.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Merlot and Sprite

Putting the finishing touches on "Without You I'm Just Me," Pete Wentz and Travis McCoy's art show opening tomorrow night with a public reception from 6-9 PM. Pete and his band, Fall Out Boy, are playing tonight at the Troubador - so he swung by to help out with installation and drop off these really funny pictures from when Pete and Travis stayed up for a week straight, as Travis lived with Pete, and created art non-stop, fueled by a strange concoction of Merlot and Sprite.











So, come check out what all this pajama pant wearing turned into (and see if Travie spray painted Pete's hair) tomorrow night, 6 - 9 PM. Gonna be a fun time.

Jensen
G1988: LA

And Boy, Are My Arms Are Tired

Back from a whirlwind trip to SF to catch The G1988/Luke Chueh fiesta "Vivisect Playset (Round 5)" and getting the space ready for what is sure to be an attention-filled exhibit, "Without You I'm Just Me," featuring the work of Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes). Listen, getting preview email requests from Pharrell Williams just doesn't happen much in our parts. In addition to the Wentz/McCoy art skills, the two rock stars also did some collaborations with 1988 familiar faces like Greg Simkins, Luke Chueh, Jeff McMillan and Buff Monster. While long-time desired artist, Dan May, makes his G1988: LA debut, with a team up as well - seen below...



Fall Out Boy lead singer, Patrick Vaughn Stump is also rumored to be contributing a piece. Gonna be good times. And our homies at GelaSkins created dope iPod skins to celebrate the opening reception, which is this Tuesday night.



The public reception is 6-9 PM, Private Friends and Family jump-off is 9-11 PM. The gallery has a few spots for the VIP reception, so shoot over an email if I know you enough to expect that you won't be creepy.

Anyway, back to the grind.

Jensen
G1988: LA

The Day After...

So a nice Black Friday here at Gallery 1988, compared to the tragic insanity other places in the US, and some customers walked away with some super door buster deals. And now the Greg Simkins "It Wanders West" show comes down in LA, making way for Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Gym Class Hero Travis McCoy's "Without You I'm Just Me," which opens Dec. 9th to what we figure will be a lot of fanfare.

We made these with our friends at Gelakins for the event:



And here's a sneak at another collabo with LA artist Jeff McMillan and Pete Wentz:



Going to be a lot of fun on Dec. 9th, so make sure to swing by, as you blog readers will be stoked to see what other G1988 frequenters have teamed up with the rock stars.

AND, don't forget about Dan Goodsell's solo show opening up over at our online interactive gallery, 88point5, today. You can check out the show by CLICKING HERE. Lots of pieces have already sold, but lots of amazing paintings and drawings are still available for your Toast obsessed loved ones! And you can converse directly with the artist on the site's discussion boards. So you know, Dan is also the world's most complete collector of vintage food memorabilia (especially cereals), so that's always fun to talk about on a message board.



Jensen
G1988: LA

En Fuego

I'll post pics later this week, but the Mexican Restaurant across from the LA gallery, Pappas & Beer, burnt down last night. They actually had to block off the whole street, and I'm hearing Anarkali, the Indian spot next door to it (and arguably one of the top 4 Indian eateries in the city), had some serious damage too. But it does look like a Universal Studio backlot tour over there right now, blackened to a crisp. Weird to look out the window to see.

Remember our back inventory-wide 15% off sale ends on Nov. 27th, so get your web searching on as soon as you can at www.gallery1988.com and see if anything could use a little price knock down for you.

Until later...



Pete Wentz x Travis McCoy x Greg "Craola" Simkins

Just one of the pieces in the upcoming "Without You I'm Just Me" art show, opening Dec. 9th. It's incredible in person.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Wandered.

So it's my birthday. Yup. I turn 29 today, which I have been joking will be my last year of relevance. All those fresh ideas at the gallery will be gone in 365 days when I become just another 30 year old, out of touch and critical of "young people." Like the 50 year old woman wearing Ed Hardy. That will be me, female and all. Well, we always have Katie. She has another few years.

Friday night was our Greg Simkins solo show opening for "It Wanders West," and I was lazy enough to steal some pictures from arrestedmotion.com of the festivities, which were packed from opening to closing.



If you look close, you can find Waldo.



Greg Simkins and The Gauntlet and his fresh custom made I'm Scared Bat ring.



Greg was there all night, signing more autographs than Elvira on Halloween. SEE! My references are already outdated! Elvira? Guessing Lon Chaney Jr. seemed too obscure.

The show basically sold out during preview, leaving only one painting behind, which is strange cause it's REALLY good. So I figure that will go too. Good to see a lot of artists come out to support too, as I caught Travis Louie, Luke Chueh, Brandon Bird, Brandon Sopinsky, Jeff Ramirez, Lola and Nathan Spoor amongst the viewers.

I could try to sum up how important Greg and his wife Jenn are, not only to the gallery, the creative motivation of Katie and I, our reputation and the amount of fun we have here yearly, but also just in our everyday personal lives. I still can't believe both how this all started as a gallery/artist dynamic - and where it's ended up. I mean, we always knew Greg would be incredibly successful, as he's not even reached the peak we know he's going to get to yet. But for things to actually align. For things to actually work out. For the good guy to have won. That just doesn't always happen. And it did for Greg Simkins. There is no artist in the universe who deserves this success more than Greg. I stand by that. But even more important than his success the other night - Jenn and Greg get their first vacation in 4 years sometime in 2009 and I feel like that's the GREATEST thing I have ever heard. Between all the painting, preparation, child birth and overall chaos they've seen in the short rise to art fame - they haven't had time to themselves. Thank you two so much. I'm not sure where not only our gallery would be without you, but not sure where I would be as a person. Have a great vacation in Detroit, guys. (I kid).

And that leads us to December at G1988. What we're calling the "Holiday Print Bonanza." You already know Luke Chueh's "Honey Bear" drops in December, but just wait till you see what's rolling out! Gonna be good times for our Epsons.

And Gallery 1988 is proud to announce "Without You I'm Just Me" - our next art exhibit, opening Dec. 9th, 2008, featuring the artwork of Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes). These two have collaborated on some GREAT art, and put together some of their own individual pieces for display - as well as all sorts of goodies for the exhibition. Both artists will be in attendance, and we've really been looking forward to this show for quite some time. More this next week!



And now to go eat birthday cakes...

Jensen
G1988: LA

Bogged

I still can't get any time to do a serious info-packed blog post as Crazy 4 Cult is as just as busy a few days in as we were at the opening. So all the good, really deep, Kite-Runner-ish writing will have to wait for another day. Till then, pics and press.



Last year G4 won a Webby for their coverage of Crazy 4 Cult, this year they won my heart. That opening shot of Blair being absolutely attacked by people around her is how I felt all night. I'm happy someone caught the chaos of being near the register. Brandon Bird should get his own show on G4. No better time than now to announce that the Birdman will have his first ever solo show at 1988: LA next year. Here's to hoping he is working on it right now.

CLICK HERE FOR Variety's coverage of hanging out at the gallery before the show opened.

Some pics from our friend, the watermarked Wire Image...





I mean, that looks like a can of sardines.



And another can.



Kevin and Scott.



The Mosier.



Pete Wentz swung by and made me smile for cameras like an idiot....



...then wore PlasticGod's sunglasses and stole my shitty smile.



And Kevin alone.

I wish I could get more creative right now with the blog, but after these busy days I just get too tired to go to in depth. I will though, especially with some prints on the horizon that will make you freak out.

Jensen
G1988: LA