PopOwl

Peter Gronquist – “The Evolution Would be Fabulous” @ Gallery 1988 Venice

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:55:47 +0000

Peter Gronquist recently completed a solo show at Gallery 1988′s Venice location. The ethereal quality of his work really lends itself to a fevered imagination. While these animal heads are more glaring than his previous work, (which includes a Golden Louis Vuitton chainsaw) the atypical types of animals he decided to use as canvases almost leads a viewer to believe, “Maybe these animals might exist, in some distant land.” What big game hunter can resist a Chanel Wildebeest? For the girl that has everything.

Gazelle

Black Wildebeest

Rabicorn? hehe

Himalayan Tahr

Deer

Greater Kudu

Sable

Cape Buffalo

Lesser Kudu

Mondo Mystery Movie Hits LA – Frankenstein Screening at New Beverly Cinema featuring Drew Struzan

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:12:42 +0000

Mondo creative director Justin Ishmael unveils Mondo Mystery Movie to Los Angeles with the inaugural film, Frankenstein at the New Beverly Cinema. This continues the Austin based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s tradition of selling one of their highly coveted Mondo movie posters exclusively to a small group of theater-goers during a one night only screening. The 21 color print for the event is by famed theatrical film poster illustrator Drew Struzan and holds the distinction of having the most layers of any Mondo print. Drew Struzan himself showed up to meet fans, engage in some pre-screening banter with Justin and hint at the possibility of future collaborations with Mondo.

Cosplay and Conan O’Brien @ San Diego Comic Con 2011

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:26:40 +0000

This past weekend, Comic Con once again descended upon the convention center in downtown San Diego. Over these past few years, the demand for SDCC tickets has roared into a fevered pitch, with their ticketing web site crashing no less than three times on account of overcapacity. In this age of flash sales and social media, it’s no longer a surprise when an event that has a recorded attendance of as many as 130,000 people can sell out in a matter of hours. This fan luckily secured tickets on the first time up, after foolishly neglecting to buy tickets AT the convention the previous year.

Bioshock

Mattel Ghostbusters Figures

Transformers Optimus Prime Lego

Game of Thrones Khaleesi breastfeeding a dragon. Bordering on X rated?

Napoleon Dynamite cast promoting new cartoon

Professor Genki car from a new Saints Row game

Kingdom Hearts Sora

Night Owl Watchmen Mask

G I Joe Baroness

Adventure Time Booth, easily the best booth design of the con

Very creative QR code from Wizards of the Coast

Walking Dead wax sculpture of Merle Dixon. Get your picture taken!

Endless

Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn

The Rocketeer

Joker and Harley Quinn from the Arkham Asylum Batman game

The whole town of South Park!

Captain America

Green Lantern featured in his own animated series

Bruce Timm and co discuss Green Lantern

Conan O’Brien makes a guest appearance!

Conan embraces a Flaming C fan

Another Game of Throne Khalessi. Feasting on Drogo’s heart. yummy!

Even elevators are not free of marketing.

A very menacing Doctor Doom

GI Joe Diorama

X-Men Diorama

Terra Nova Cast greeting fans

Chris O’Donnell

Professor Genki from Saint’s Row

Two contestants battling it out in the new Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Kick Ass and Hit Girl

A Ventian plague doctor(I had to ask him what his costume was, but another attendee immediately recognized it!)

Prop from forthcoming Men In Black 3

Artist Mad signing at the KidRobot booth

An impressive Ryu Vs Batman commission

Tobias Bluth from Arrested Development!

A very fancy Deadmau5 head

A booth selling Chinese furniture?

Vinyl goodness by Gargamel

Zombie parade

Conan O’Brien Flaming C Gallery

Daniel Danger Sketch

Kevin Tong Sketch

Jimmy Palmiotti sketch

Mecha from Suckerpunch

Intricate guns and artifacts designed by the Weta Workshop, famous for making movie props for Lord of the Rings amoungst other things

A sketch of Tank Girl by artist Rufus Dayglo

Nathan Fillion

A print by Jeremy Bastian. The amount of detail he fits into his pictures is unreal. Drawing this took him nearly two months of work at ten hours a day! Hardest working artist? Well he’s my new favorite artist from the con!

Olly Moss – “Paper Cuts” @ Gallery 1988

admin — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:01:05 +0000

British designer extraordinaire, Olly Moss, held his first solo show at Gallery 1988‘s Melrose location on May 7th. Utilizing a keen imagination, Moss has the uncanny ability to repurpose patterns and shapes. My first encounter with Moss’s work was back in 2007, when the Spoilt t-shirt he designed for Threadless.com hit the front page of Digg.com. Enamored with the design, I bought one, knowing little about the creator. Having recently designed a set of highly coveted Star Wars screen prints this past Winter, Moss has been nurturing his growing cult following. I was surprised to learn he had designed the shirt I’d been happily wearing all these years.

In anticipation of opening night, some of his fans camped overnight in front of the gallery. The gallery windows were initially covered with butcher paper, enveloping this first Moss solo show with secrecy and intrigue. The only clue was that it would span pop culture emanating from movies, tv and video games. After arriving at 8AM, I found myself to be 13th in line. Around noon, Moss showed up at the gallery and showered those diligently waiting in line with free donuts. The gallery opened at 7PM but with the big crowd of gallery-goers packing the floor, I was not able to take any detailed pictures. Unprepared for such a crowd in a small gallery, I quickly selected my choice of three works, Hellboy, Iron Man, and Cloud from Final Fantasy VII and rushed out the door sweating bullets due to a heavy camera backpack. Each of the paper cut pieces was priced at $225, with some selling only in groups, for $225 per item in the group. I returned to the gallery May 19th, the last day of the show, when things were much calmer and took pictures of the full complete set of works from the gallery.

UPDATE: Olly and Titan Books have teamed up to publish a coffee table book of all of the myriad Paper Cuts. Available for pre-order from Amazon.com.

Gallery Owner Jenson Karp, giving details to the first in line on the three art piece per person limit.

Olly Moss talking to a fan.

Just a portion of the crowd at opening night.

Limited edition screen prints available for purchase.

Here are some close-ups of my personal favorites, of which there are many!

The “Thor” movie poster commissioned and created for select staff of the movie. Limited to only 100 copies, this particular one will be listed for auction, with proceeds donated to Japan Earthquake relief effort.

Art in the Streets at MOCA Los Angeles

admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:19:31 +0000

MOCA’s highly anticipated Art in the Streets exhibit opened Saturday night to a throng of LA’s art adorning public. A mini skate park and urban neighborhood installation (complete with lighted signs, chain linked fences, and an antagonistic bum) were built inside the museum. Many modern favorites including KAWS, Invader and Shepard Fairey are represented, with a special section dedicated to Banksy (separate post, will be added tomorrow). After spending a good hour and a half at the gallery, I still felt I had much left to explore. I plan to return to the show before it closes August 8th, and capture some more of the outdoor artwork commissioned for the exhibit. Ironically, the cavernous Geffen Contemporary at MOCA museum that houses the many illicit works of art is actually converted from a police car warehouse.

Sundog Sunday

admin — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:31:50 +0000

Caught a sundog while roaming the beach on Sunday.

James Jean – Rebus at Martha Otero Gallery

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:20:21 +0000

This past Saturday, March 12th, was the opening of James Jean‘s Rebus at the Martha Otero gallery in Los Angeles. This is James’ second solo show. The first, Kindling, was held at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York City in 2010. The show runs through April 23rd.

UPDATE: James has put out a book compiling the past 10 years of his artwork. Really a marvel to behold. Available to order from Amazon.com.

Wall of sketches. The meticulous line work is just phenomenal.

The peacock is my favorite of the bunch.

Sculpture of an older piece. Not sure if James sculpted this himself, didn’t get the chance to ask.

Sketches for Lotus War scarves and prints.

Interesting short film involving the piece below piece.

Quite fantastic letterpressed show card printed on heavy card stock. Best I’ve seen.

James talking to a guest.

Banksy in Los Angeles for Oscars

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:53:31 +0000

With all the Oscar chatter surrounding Banksy’s Exist Through the Gift Shop, the main man himself made his way through Los Angeles this week, installing four new pieces of art. Unfortunately, two of the pieces, Mickey Mouse and arson Charlie Brown have already been taken down by some shameless entrepreneurs hoping to flip a quick buck on ebay. The remaining two pieces of the pitbull and “Crayola shooter” remain up as of today, 2/18/2011.

To find check out some of Banksy’s older works, buy a copy of the art book Wall and Piece, or purchase a copy of Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Here is a map to help you locate the two remaining pieces:

View Banksy in Los Angeles in a larger map

Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary at Clifton’s Brookdale

admin — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:41:19 +0000

In commemoration of Twin Peaks’ 20th anniversary, the director David Lynch and friends threw a lavish two night gallery at the atmospheric Clifton’s Brookdale cafeteria in Downtown Los Angeles. The historic cafeteria is a perfect compliment to the wood lodge settings of Twin Peaks.

Cherry pie and as Agent Dale Cooper would say a “damn fine cup of coffee.”

Gift shop with mugs, prints, shirts and David Lynch coffee.

Ryan Heshka- “Wow Bob Wow / Coffee Coffee”

Tim Biskup – “Walk with Bob”

Paul Chatem – “A Damn Good Cup of Coffee”

Elizabeth McGrath – “Crystal Deer”

Eric White – “Looks Like a Hog to Me”

Stella Im Hultberg – “Audrey”

Scott Campbell – “Concentrating on the J’s”

Amy Casey – “She Said”

James Hanh

Amy Casey

Margaret Meyer – “The Owls Are Not What They Seem”

Jessica Joslin – “Cooper”

Brooke Weston – “Al Roe”

Chris Mars

Shepard Fairey Mural at Cosmopolitan Parking Garage B2

admin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:29:18 +0000

On the last day of the CES trip in Las Vegas, my friend and I swung by the new Cosmopolitan casino to take a look around. After parking and heading for the elevators, we came across this magnificent Shepard Fairey mural. Never saw any graffiti on the inside of a parking garage before. Real nice.

View from Encore room:

This plot in front of the Trump casino probably won’t be as barren the next time I’m in Vegas.