With The Students

I jetted out to Chicago this weekend for work (more on that down the road), but before I took off, my girlfriend Chrissy and I were lucky enough to see the OTIS Illustration Senior Graduation show on Thursday night. For the past two years, I've been working with OTIS Illustration instructors Nathan Ota and Bob Dob, creating a project every year for their junior class that coincides with Crazy 4 Cult, and finds a few students every year participating in their first art show. This year's seniors include many of the artists you already find hanging on G1988's walls, as well as some new names - and I must say the atmosphere and experience that Bob and Nathan are creating at OTIS is both exciting and integral, focusing on both the world of illustration and the gallery scene for young artists. I remember when we first opened the gallery, everyone seemed to be talking about the Clayton Brothers' positive influence at Art Center and the artists graduating, but I can't help but think that torch has been passed since Bob and Nathan are helping create careers while the artists are STILL IN SCHOOL. Anyway, took some pictures of the show and wanted to share...

First up, Julian Callos. A super-familiar face to G1988, Julian is my favorite up-and-coming artist. I can say that easily. The pieces he created for his senior thesis were breath-taking. I absolutely loved them and was thrilled to find out that the pieces are all going to be featured in an upcoming show at G1988: SF. Didn't know that. Consider this a sneak peek - and even more proof that Julian is one to watch...

Julian also showed off some of his 3-D talents and created this sculpture to accompany the paintings...

Allison Reimold is probably the most improved artist in the class, when you compare the first time I

saw her work during her junior year Crazy 4 Cult project and what I saw at the Senior show

(as well as her recent Idiot Box piece). I can not wait to see more from her,

and she's got some shows at G1988, so I'll see it first-hand.

Jaw Cooper, who was in last year's Crazy 4 Cult, has also developed into a seriously incredible artist.

A new name to me, Chan Koak, had some adorable pieces on display.

An artist I will be emailing for sure.

I know we've posted about it on here before, but it's worth 2 postings.

Here's Mylan Nguyen's entire senior installation creating a pretty sweet little houseboat.

Although we missed them by about an hour, I hear Greg Simkins and his son Isaac

had a bit of sailing adventure in it.

And most of the pieces featured in the boat were actually all available on our website, 88point5.

You can see those by CLICKING HERE.

Thomas Lynch III has been featured at G1988 a few times already,

and excited to see more of his work now that he's graduated.

And on my way out I was totally impressed by Graphic Design grad

Kaoru Amy Shimsohige's posters about gender inequality.

This poster detailed her skills at Mario Kart (as Bowser) and how after winning

races on her DS Wi-Fi in high school, boys would find out she was a girl and

immediately have negative things to say. She on the other hand would

laugh and race again.

Good stuff.

Again, LOVED going to this show and it really was a fun experience.

And with a few juniors joining this year's Crazy 4 Cult show in July already,

next year's Seniors are gonna be just as impressive.

Jensen

G1988: LA

Back by popular demand!

Nanami Cowdroy's laser engraved skate decks are back and available now! Nanami exhibited one of these decks in our "Some Kind of Wonderful" show a few months ago in SF and everyone was blown away with how amazing it was. So, the good news is that we just got a few more shipped to us straight from Nanami in Sydney, Australia!







Nanami Cowdroy
Suspended Animation N-Deck
custom laser-etching on timber skate deck
8 x 32 inches
limited edition of 100
$450.00

Contact the SF gallery at (415) 409-1376 / gallery1988sf@gmail.com to order.

We got a few laser etching projects of our own in the works, very exciting stuff! We've been working with Kurt Barbee at 5280 Lasers and the first project will be released very soon! I'm not going to tell you which artist is involved quite yet, but I'll give you a hint...



I'm really exciting about this whole laser engraving business, we've got lots of ideas brewing! Stay tuned!

Katie
G1988 SF

Time Flies

Our next SF show is a big one!

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

When It's Hot

No better time than a 90 degree day to announce "Quiet Storm," our next show at G1988: LA that opens on Tuesday, May 26th. A 4 person show, this exhibit will feature new works from artists Scott Campbell, Ghostpatrol, Roland Tamayo and Krista Huot. And as of now, 3 of the 4 artists (everyone but AU native Ghostpatrol) will be in attendance for the opening reception, which will run that night 7-10 PM. I have been looking forward to this show for quite some time, since all four are personal favorite artists of mine. And Scott Campbell has told me, in the strictest confidence, that he will be creating pieces based on musicians for the first time. Don't tell anybody.



Jensen
G1988: LA

Clan The Man

Check out artist Michael Steele's new shirt for Pete Wentz's clothing line, Clandestine Industries, which is a label I've run and designed for the past two collections. This new collection, "Your Name In Neon," dropped just May 1st, and included designs from G1988 regulars like Steele, Sean Clarity and Andrew Wilson. Already sold out in a few designs, but no worries, you can still pick up some stuff by CLICKING HERE.

Also, if you don't know yet, I've also been blogging for the clothing line (musing more on our threads and general pop culture). You can check that out by CLICKING HERE.

I'm a slave for fashion. And Jelly Bellys.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Cupcakes

It was nice to have clothing empire king Johnny Cupcakes stop by the gallery and pick up some pieces he had been admiring on the web for a bit, but even nicer to see it documented on his blog, which is one of my daily bookmarks.

Hoping we see Johnny come back through the gallery soon and fingers crossed, we just might see some G1988 x Cupcakes collabs.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Gallery Starr

Actor Martin Starr took time out of his daily routine of stealing scenes in "Adventureland" and "Knocked Up" to stop by the gallery in order to meet artist Allison Reimold, who depicted a young Martin during his time on "Freaks & Geeks" for our recent "Idiot Box" art show. Always cool when someone illustrated and paid tribute to in one of our themed shows goes as far as wanting to meet the person they affected so positively. Allison has a lot more coming up with G1988, but first you can check her out at the OTIS Senior BFA show next weekend, as she graduates with flying colors. And check out Martin Starr in September's "The Invention of Lying" starring Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, John Hodgman, Jason Bateman, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, Louis CK and everyone else you think is funny.



Jensen
G1988: LA

NOTCOT

Jean Aw at NOTCOT did such an amazing write up on our new SF show! A HUGE thank you to Jean for covering the show. Check out the article here...

http://www.notcot.com/archives/2009/05/gallery_1988_sf.php

I also want to thank everyone who brought children's books to the opening last night. We received a ton of books that will be dontated to the San Francisco Unified School District. Success!! The books totally added a nice element to the show. Crowds were gathered around the table, flipping through their favorites. It was pretty awesome. By the way, if you haven't read Shel Silverstein's Giving Tree in a while, you definitely should. It's quite sad, but such a beautiful story.



The show runs through May 23rd and we'll be collecting the children's books through the end of the exhibit. I hope you can see the show in person, the artists did an amazing job. If you can't see it in person, check it out online here...

http://1988btp.blogspot.com/

Image at top by Casey Weldon.

Katie
G1988 SF

NOW ONLINE

The preview for Beyond the Page is now online! Check out the entire show here:

http://1988btp.blogspot.com/



Image by Daniel Elson.