Opening Tonight And Starting Today

If you live in San Francisco - make sure to stop by G1988: SF anytime tonight between 7-10 PM PST to attend the Ledbetter/Brandou show "Unspeakable," which you can preview at the post below. Great show!!!

And today, I wanted to start a new feature we're gonna have here on the blog called "5 Pieces...." Artists who we'll be spotlighting in upcoming shows, will pick 5 pieces from around the globe, and spanning all of history, that they are digging right now. The only requirement is...it can't be done by them.

I love this idea because I like seeing what paintings other artists are feeling at any given moment. Katie and I have a theory that if a lot of artists are buying one artist, it usually means good things for the that artist's future. We've seen it happen a lot actually. And seeing what an artist is into will sometimes give you a little peak into the origin of their style and the array of their influences. And the first installment does not disappoint.

Art center grad Ken Garduno is all over Los Angeles like those Grand Theft Auto IV billboards. Since graduating he not only illustrated in some of your favorite magazines, he's shown in all your favorite galleries too. And all-around cool dude and amazing artist, Garduno will be one of the artists in our Los Angeles location's upcoming show, "One to Grow On," which opens this coming Tuesday, May 20th, from 7-10 PM. Here's a sneak peek at one of his pieces -



So we asked Ken to pick 5 pieces that he's feeling right now, only a few days before the group show opening reception, as well as give us a few sentences on why, and this is what we got:

"5 Pieces I'm Digging, Not Made By Ken Garduno" by Ken Garduno



Charles Dana Gibson:
The line work in this piece is amazing. Gibson made it look too easy. It’s handled delicately with a lot of detail, but it has a loose quality about it that I love. Gibson’s girls are gorgeous.



Goya:
This is one of the images from art history that has always stuck in my head. It’s so twisted. I love it. I know he painted this in a dark period in his life, and it shows. This guy was nuts.



J.C.Leyendecker:
This guy is easily one of my favorite illustrators of all time. He makes everything look so smooth and sophisticated. I don’t imagine anyone could look this classy in real life. With all that amazing stuff in the foreground, who needs a background?



Al Hirschfeld:
This is the man. Everything he touched turned to gold. If you want to learn anything about linework, he IS the king. I love this piece in particular because of the use of pattern, curves, and grey tones.



Andrew Hem:
I’m lucky enough to know this guy. Everytime I see his work, I ask myself, “how the hell does he do it”? I tried to find a single image that I loved on his website, and I just gave up and picked this one. There are too many to pick from. Is there anything this guy can’t paint??

Thanks, Ken. I find it super weird that he picked Andrew Hem as his contemporary piece he's digging cause if you had asked me what artists that all other artists are digging right...I would've said him. Good to know, right? And keep an eye out for more of this feature cause I like it, and that's really all that matters.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Childbetter

Feels like rush hour at 1988, with tons of stuff going on in the next 2 weeks. Some are still secret, some aren't. Figured I'd hit you off with those that aren't. First off, we have "Unspeakable" - a new 2-man show from Joe Ledbetter and Andrew Brandou opening in SF a week from today! An exciting show for sure, here's your first blog sneak peek at Joe's new work, with some noticeable line work maturity. This one is called "Call to Arms."



And once we get some Brandou preview images, we'll get you one of those too, but for now, just relax and remember that show opens May 16, opening reception 7-10 PM in San Francisco.

Then we got "One to Grow On," a group show opening here in LA on May 20th, 7-10 PM. We've got tons of work in that one from amazing artists Allison Sommers, Bloo Empire, Brandon Bird, Dan Santat, Dave Chung, Erik Alos, Isaac Pierro, Israel Sanchez, Ken Garduno, Scott Campbell, Reuben Rude and Rich Tuzon. Below is a preview from Israel Sanchez, who has quickly become one of my favoritist (dictionary please) artists around.



This is really going to be an amazing show, with a piece from Isaac Pierro that we've been foaming at the mouth about for over a year! AND a new Scott Campbell print series release, this time the second set of Pac-Man beauties, seen below.



The sets are limited to 100, each print hand signed and numbered by the artist and 2.75 x 2.75 inches each. The sets are $65 each and look amazing all framed together. Again, these will first be available at the opening reception on the 20th, but shoot me over an email at gallery1988@aol.com if you want one, but won't be able to make the show - I'll make sure you blog loyalists get one.

A big shout out (do they still say that?) to Kanye, who picked up the Peter Gronquist show. You can see that, as well as read his readers' nice comments, BY CLICKING HERE. More thanks to HighSnobiety, MetroMix, MensRag, Danny Boy at Daily Dose, Slam X Hype, SwaggerDap, Gizmodo, VinylPulse, DVice and basically every blog ever for picking the show up for coverage. It's most likely is the most blog-covered show we've ever had, a Google search is even a bit dizzying.

Jensen
G1988: LA