Category: News

New Neons by Alessandro Moroder, Mural Study by Erin D. Garcia

Moroder_Neon

“MY WAR”
BLUE NEON ON PLEXIGLASS, 2013

New Neons by Alessandro Moroder
Outdoor Mural by Erin D. Garcia

Opening August 23rd, 8 – 10 pm
RSVP@hvw8.com
Music by Prince Language

NEW NEONS

Alessandro Moroder’s work examines the masculine psyche through the notion of the spectacle by exploring it within various lenses, languages, and time periods.  In New Neons, Moroder explores the idea of masculinity and memory through text, light and space.  The attraction of working with neon came from a custom sign his father built in the 80’s and was then hung and lit in their apartment. From an early age, Moroder saw the same blue wave image daily and was amazed not only by the relationship that the sign had with the room, but also how light and space played an equal role in the work – and in his memory.  This show, consisting of custom neon signs investigates the role of notable text and typography, but by also constructing a mirrored triangle sculpture in the center of the gallery space, creates an alternate conversation among the three signs, all different in color, text, and language.

installation_shot_new_new_neons

Garcia

Mural Study by Erin Garcia

“I just started using planes of color to define shapes and elements. To do this I’ve been layering fluorescent sheets of paper to create shapes and arrangements that I’ve previously been working with. This mural will be my first large work using the ideas created from this process.”

Erin Garcia is a visual artist based in Los Angeles.  Originally from the Deep South, he and his work have both taken a long migratory path with many twists and turns along the way.  Garcia’s current work is an exploration of where the human capacity for abstraction intersects or conflicts with the sensory desire for specificity.  Each one of his drawings or paintings is part of a process of distillation, and there is a distinct feeling when taken together as a series that they are driving ever closer to a revelatory moment.  The process of the work is exceedingly present, the pieces are inextricable from the practice of their generation.

 

Atiba Jefferson at HVW8

Tomorrow, Thursday July 25th, HVW8 Gallery is hosting a one night exhibition with Atiba Jefferson

Here is a recent interview with Atiba from LiveFast magazine.

He plays keyboard and guitar in The Goat with Shane Heyl, Spanky, Beagle and Andrew Reynolds, DJs across the country at arts and sports events, and although you might catch him shot gunning a beer after bar close, he’s probably scheduled on a flight to China in the morning – and he won’t miss it.

There’s no stopping this guy, and that’s why we were excited to interview him and get a little back story in time for the release of his LA Capsule Collection for Green Label Exclusives, a one night only photo show at HVW8 with live music by Life Coach and DJ sets from The Blackouts and Steve Lee. RSVP here, it’s gonna be a good one.

Atiba Jefferson

Q&A

LF: How did your one-night art show at HVW8 come about?

AJ: Aaron who works with Green Label brought it up and I have been to shows there and love it every time. What’s to expect? It’s a bunch of stuff I have shot in LA over the years. It will be lots of P-rod and Kobe Bryant.

LF: You’ve worked with lots of professional athletes and have seen the rise and demise of many. Can fame and money fuck you up if you are not careful?

AJ: Yes I have been around the block a couple times and have seen people fall to lots of vice’s – drugs, fame, money, and ego. I think the people at the top stay there because they are true to themselves and check the ego at the door, and then there is addiction, everything in moderation and you’re good. Fame and money can be are good if used to help others.

DannyTrejo

LF: You first got into basketball photography by sneaking your camera into Lakers games. Did you ever get caught, or was it all good from there?

AJ: Ha I never got caught, film days people were so much more relaxed.

LF: You photographed Michael Jordan. Can you talk about that a little bit, and what was the coolest thing he said to you during the shoot?

AJ: It was quick because he is such a pro ever frame perfect, he asked me if I was the photographer because I looked so young, but a really cool dude, happiest day of my life besides Koston’s backnose blunt bricktown.

SLMP-100700-KB66-01

LF: You compare skating to music. How are they interconnected? Can you describe in your own words what skateboarding means to you?

AJ: I mean I think they are similar in so many ways it’s all up to you when you do it, you can be solo or with your bro’s, it’s also the ultimate high and only those who do both know what I’m talking about that why it rules.

LF: Who’s your favorite skater right now?

AJ: Andrew Reynolds – but my favorite of all time is Keenan Milton.

LF: Who do you think is getting skater of the year so far?

AJ: Collin Provost

ProdValley-2

LF: What would you say has been the highest point of your career?

AJ: I’m still searching for it, but shooting Jordan, Kobe win 5 rings, Tony Hawk 900 and Loop, Reynolds kickflip davis … so many things.

LF: One thing people don’t know about Atiba?

AJ: I really like the Cocteau Twins and it surprises me the amount of people that don’t realize I have a identical twin.

LF: Any advice for young photographers on the rise?

AJ: Do it for the love, it’s a lot funnier then doing it for money.

 

LAA

LF: You are reputed to party hard, yet you’re always on time at the skate spot in the morning, ready to shoot. How do you keep a balance?

AJ: Everything in moderation and keep it to Jager and St Archer and I’m good, but life is too short to be hung over.

LF: What’s currently on your playlist?

AJ: Bad Brains, Animal Collective, Explosions in the Sky, My Bloody Valentine, Drake, A$AP Rocky, Zomby, Miles Davis, King Tubby.

LF: In your opinion, what’s the state of hip hop today?

AJ: Hip Hop to me is great! I lived through the golden era and right now you have very creative artists like Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar and which are to me similar to that era. Drake, Juicy J and French Montana and other hood shit is just as creative, it’s so good.

atiba_9

LF: What gets you off, literally or figuratively?

AJ: Ass, Ass, Ass, Ass in Big Sean voice, and a close game of Call of Duty.

LF: How fast do you live?

AJ: I think I live life in the middle lane. Fast enough to have fun, slow enough to enjoy it.

Style Wars 2 Screening at HVW8 Gallery

Style Wars 2 live in Los Angelees

Style Wars 2 – Special Preview Screening
Saturday July 27th @ 8:30pm

Q&A with filmmakers Veli & Amos and
original Style Wars producer Henry Chalfant

HVW8 Art + Design Gallery
661 N Spaulding Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

RSVP: rsvpsw2@hvw8.com

Style Wars is a legendary documentary, filmed in 1983, which helped the graffiti movement from New York to spread around the world. Thirty years later, Veli and Amos, two Style Wars fans from Europe, trip through today’s graffiti and street art scene. The journey takes them from Europe to New York and ends in the Middle East. Style Wars 2 features encounters with graffiti artists and presents different artistic views. Along the way, Veli and Amos also happen to attend boxing fights in New York and visit hair dressers in the West Bank. While the movie’s main focus is on graffiti, it also raises topics like art, politics and lifestyle.

IMG_2983

Pictured with Skeme at HVW8 Gallery.

JJJJound ‘Correspondence’ video

Video with Justin R. Saunders (JJJJound) discussing his ‘Correspondence ‘ exhibition at HVW8 Gallery

JJJJound is a wordless blog by Justin R. Saunders. Originally a mood board shared with friends, it has since become a global mainstay and daily web visit for designers, tastemakers and fans alike.

One of those friends is Claudio Marzano, whose creative partnership with Saunders dates back to 1993; twenty years over which their obsessive consumption of visual culture has shifted from print to screen, in step with the rise of the Internet.

Countless emails containing nothing more than images taken from the world wide web were sent between them over that period.

CORRESPONDENCE is an exhibition of recent emails, reproduced as 4′ x 6′ oil paintings, by commercial artists offering “competitive labor costs” from the Wushipu Oil Painting Village in Xiamen, China.

Justin R. Saunders grew up in Lahr, Germany, before moving back to Montreal in time for some high school shenanigans. Enjoying the finer things in life, a fervid aesthete, Saunders created the JJJJound photo blog in 2006.

Read more on Complex.com

JJJJound – Opening Ceremony

Screen Shot 2013-09-19 at 4.39.08 PM

From Opening Ceremony New News –

JJJJound at HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Since JJJJOUND (the site of random images centered against a white background) was founded in 2006, it has become a necessary browser bookmark for the visually-minded. Beyond the imagery, there isn’t much to the page, except for a lone e-mail link and the quote “It’s a who’s who, what’s what type of livin’.” This, however, is where the site’s beauty lies: founder Justin R. Saunders lets the pictures speak for themselves but he also weaves a story, like a great DJ would mix a vast array of musical styles into a cohesive whole. Whether the images are related to fashion, fine art, pop culture, or Internet memes, they all somehow fit together on JJJJound.Having begun as a series of e-mailed images between Saunders and his longtime friend and creative partner, Claudio Marzano, the site is now the subject of CORRESPONDENCE, an exhibit currently showing at the HVW8 Art + Design Gallery in Los Angeles. For the show, Saunders has taken a batch of the original e-mails and asked commercial artists from the Wushipu oil painting village of Xiamen, China, to reproduce them––headers, tabs, and all––as 4′ x 6′ oil paintings.

One e-mail painting features an image of an outdated desktop computer in between a vintage leather couch and a waxed rain jacket, while another features a beautiful lakeside landscape just above a picture of a boy in a crowd getting hit in the face with a baseball. None of the pictures seem to relate to one another, yet they still come together to produce a unique, mood board-like effect. In a world where the media with which we discover content are always changing, Justin shows how ideas can be shared and trends can be set without the need for large budgets or, in his case, words.

Through July 7, 2013

HVW8 | ART + DESIGN GALLERY
661 N. Spaulding Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
MAP

“JJJJound Correspondence” feature on SFAQ

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

 

 

JJJJound, the scarcely worded, image based blog founded by Justin R. Saunders in 2006, is an internet treasure trove of the hip, off kilter and forgotten about. Unconventional beauties of all existences are juxtaposed in a clean digital format. This presentation of imagery is one that is informative while maintaining elegance and desirability. Presently, JJJJound has risen from the countless ranks, to be one of the answers to mindless online tedium for the inspiration seeking.

 

 

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

Installation view. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

 

 

“JJJJound Correspondence”, showing through July 7 at HVW8 Art & Design Gallery is Saunders digital mood board aesthetic, reassessed for the gallery arena. What began as a series of emails with long time creative collaborator Claudio Marzano, evolved into commissioned works from junior commercial artists based in the Wushipu Oil Painting Village in Xiamen China. Entering HVW8, an enlarged email from Saunders to the proper parties in China inquires into the painting manufacturers capabilities, urgency of prompt delivery and acceptance of junior artisans as an economic impact to ultimate cost. The subsequent works measure in at 4’x6’, each a variation of design, complimentary sartorial options and the weird from the World Wide Web. What seems to be screen grabs from JJJJound posts is in fact the image collection via “correspondence” (if you will) between Marzano and Saunders. Framing the top half of each piece is an unmistakable email grid (with verbatim addresses and dates) that hovers over the pool of opaque white canvas. Below this grid, is the imagery shared between these two parties, placed harmoniously within the frame.

 

 

JJJJoud. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

JJJJoud. Courtesy of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery

 

The transparency of vision and process is what makes “JJJJound Correspondence” so interesting. Scrolling through a blog or an email the aesthetically perfected balance of lines and typography is taken for granted. Rapid fire, relentless scrolling with few pauses for observation, the eye simply registers and continues on. The humanity visible within the oil paint replicas by a (competitive waged) skilled worker, forces the viewer to slow down and observe. Even these specialists well versed in the Old Masters’ dramatic technique, perform a shaky deed duplicating the perfected manifestation of technology. The concurrent (and slightly paradoxical) existence of each canvas and its digital inspiration is equally as fascinating. “JJJJound Correspondence,” address ways in which observation is conducted- how do you register familiar information when presented in differing ways? Ultimately, Mr. Saunders succeeds in an intelligent presentation that would be fundamentally impossible without the basis of its existence: the Internet.

 

For full article in SFAQ International Arts and Culture visit here.

 

-Contributed by Bianca Guillen

 

 

©2013-2014 San Francisco Arts Quarterly

JJJJound – Correspondence Opens this Friday

JJJJound
Correspondence

Opening Friday June 7th, 7 – 10pm.

rsvp@hvw8.com
Exhibition runs June 7th – July 7th.
Supported by adidas originals

PRESS RELEASE :

JJJJound is a wordless blog by Justin R. Saunders. Originally a mood board shared with friends, it has since become a global mainstay and daily web visit for designers, tastemakers and fans alike.

One of those friends is Claudio Marzano, whose creative partnership with Saunders dates back to 1993; twenty years over which their obsessive consumption of visual culture has shifted from print to screen, in step with the rise of the Internet.

Countless emails containing nothing more than images taken from the world wide web were sent between them over that period.

CORRESPONDENCE is an exhibition of recent emails, reproduced as 4′ x 6′ oil paintings, by commercial artists offering “competitive labor costs” from the Wushipu Oil Painting Village in Xiamen, China.

Justin R. Saunders grew up in Lahr, Germany, before moving back to Montreal in time for some high school shenanigans. Enjoying the finer things in life, a fervid aesthete, Saunders created the JJJJound photo blog in 2006.

JJJJound.com

Drinks courtesy of

Enjoy The One & Only Newcastle Brown Ale Responsibly.
(C)2013 Newcastle Importers, New York, NY. www.newcastlebrown.com

Milan and Amsterdam Opening Night and Installation Photos

Home and Away at Galleria Patricia Armocida Milan.

Francisca and Alessandro Moroder in Milan.

Lisa Leone

HVW8 Gallery Home and Away touring crew.

Home and Away, Amsterdam at Andenken Gallery

Hassan Rahim

A few photos from the Home and Away Exhibitions in Milan (Galleria Patricia Armocida) and Amsterdam (Andenken Gallery).

Thanks to Alessandro Moroder, Hassan Rahim and Lisa Leone for the artwork and Galleria Patricia Armocida (Milan) and Andenken Gallery (Amsterdam). Special thanks to adidas originals for the support.

A Home and Away tour travelogue can be found on Complex Art and Design.

More Photos below.[nggallery id=172]

Home & Away – Milan and Amsterdam

LOS ANGELES has recently moved to the forefront of the contemporary art scene with HVW8 Gallery playing a pivotal role. HVW8 stands at the heart of Art, Music and Design in this emerging scene, bringing diverse groups together for its celebrated openings and exhibitions since 2006. In continuing its avant-garde tradition, HOME & AWAY is an exhibition series featuring HVW8 alumni from LA and NY making their European debuts. The exhibition will open at the Galleria Patricia Armocida in Milan and closes out in Amsterdam at the Andenken Gallery.

HOME & AWAY
Milan
GALLERIA PATRICIA ARMOCIDA
May 17 – 19th
Opening May 17th, 7 – 10pm
Via Lattanzio, 77 Milan, Italy
Contact: (+39) 02 3651 9304
RSVP press_originals@adidas.com

Facebook Event Page Milan

PR contact:
Alessia Battistello
Alessia.Battistello@adidas.com
+39 02 89181316

HOME & AWAY
Amsterdam
ANDENKEN GALLERY
May 24 – 26th
Opening May 24th, 7 – 10pm
Pazzanistraat 17 1014 DB Amsterdam
Contact: (+31) 62 155 6414

PR contact:
Ken Aerts
Ken.Aerts@adidas.com

15 YEARS OF GONZ & ADIDAS – Opening night photos

Friends and special guests turned out on Friday night at HVW8 gallery in LA to honour the most influential skateboarder of all time, Mark Gonzales, as he celebrates 15 years with adidas.

adidas skateboarding brought together six prominent photographers to tell Mark’s story over the past 15 years through their lenses. These photographers, who have watched Mark and witnessed his skateboarding antics all around the world include Gabe Morford, Joe Brook, Skin Phillips, Brian Gaberman, Benjamin Deberdt, and Sem Rubio.

Guests made their way through the renowned photography and ‘Gonz’ artwork to the outside celebrations where refreshments flowed, Mark’s old video clips were projected and everyone shared their own unique Gonz stories amongst each other and of course with the man of honour himself.

“The show couldn’t have been better.  The HVW8 gallery was a perfect venue, all of the six photographers’ work was a true representation of what Mark Gonzales is all about and the opening night was the who’s who of skateboarding’s past and present.

It really meant a lot that Mark was at the event as he never makes public appearances.  Seeing him and Natas together was a special moment for me. These are the skateboarders who made history.

Doesn’t seem like fifteen years, it all went by real fast.”

Skin Phillips  Exhibiting photographer, Editor at Large of Transworld Skateboarding & adidas Skateboarding Team Manager.

Owing to popular demand, the exhibition will now be open to the public until June 2nd at HVW8 Art + Design Gallery
, 661 N. Spaulding Avenue, 
Los Angeles, CA.

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Alessandro Moroder opening night photos.


Alessandro and Giorgio Moroder


Tyler Gibney and Alessandro

Thank-you to everyone who attended the opening of ‘The Deconstruction of Italian Football’ at HVW8 Gallery. Show runs until April 1st. Call 323 655 4898 or email info@hvw8.com for inquiries.

More photo by Reserve Result below.

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HVW8 15 yrs Strong.



HVW8 15 yrs Strong! This month marks the beginning of 15 years of HVW8. First starting in a small studio in Montréal in 1998 on St. Alexandre, just off St. Catherine St, to moving to Los Angeles in 2003 … and countless exhibitions worldwide. Thanks to all the artists, musicians and supporters through out the years … and many more to go. Tomorrow is Alessandro Moroder.

Above Polaroids of original live performace pieces created by T. Gibney, D. Buller and G. Pendon aka HVW8 Art Installation, in different cities, 1999 – 2001.

Parra in NYC, Feb. 23rd

Parra
Tracy Had a Hard Sunday
Gallery II
Solo Exhibition
Feb 23 — Mar 23, 2013

Jonathan LeVine Gallery | 529 West 20th Street, 9th Floor | New York, NY 10011 | Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm | 212-243-3822

Warp Zone Number 1- Mix for Hassan Rahim’s Art Show.

“WARP ZONE Number 1”

BOBBY EVANS

10 minutes of wildness created for Hassan Rahim’s art show “The Air Above This Ground”

1. Kwame’ Sets the Scene
2. There Was A Face On It
3. What If My Name Wasn’t Up in Lights?
4. It’s Truly A Miracle
5. …And Bit Down
6. Glass / Food
7. Reaper Come and Get Me
8. Blackness, Nothingness.
9. The Saga Continues >>>>

www.hrstudioplus.com/Hassan-Rahim-The-Air-Above-This-Ground-Opening-Friday-January-18-2013