Thank you to everyone that attended this year’s Summer School at the ACE Hotel in Palm Springs. The Gallery hosted workshops with artist alumni including a Shibori Dye class by Mtendere Mandowa (Teebs), Post Cards with Jean André, an infinite pattern making and ‘zine production class with Alvaro Ilizarbe and a collage class directed by Erin D. Garcia. Hopefully more artwork related workshop in the near future.
In 2006, hundreds of Miami Beach sunbathers stared in awe as a bizarre procession paraded down the South Beach sand. Eighteen giant helium balloons — shaped like vampire rabbits, volcanoes, and eerily smiling black spheres — floated along while the Hialeah Senior High School marching band blasted a jazz tune.
It was a breakout Art Basel moment for a tag team that has since become one of Miami’s most hailed artistic collaborations: Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, better known as FriendsWithYou. Since that fair, the team has repped the Magic City around the globe, from the High Line in New York City to Scope Art Fair’s featured platform.
No longer. The artists known for their line of plush and wooden toys, magical installations, bounce houses, and rainbow-hued environments are now taking their talents out West. And they’re not alone.
“We love Miami, but collectors here just don’t support our work,” Borkson says. “The truth is that most collectors who purchase our work are located elsewhere.”
Borkson says fellow local A-list artists Jen Stark — a New Times MasterMind Award winner in 2010 known for her paper cutouts — Alvaro Ilizarbe, Pres Rodriguez, and Raul Sanchez will also relocate to Los Angeles this summer. L.A. promises better access to collectors and more room to grow than Miami, he says.
“A lot of our work is being collected out there,” Borkson says. “We are going to move to a place called Silver Lake near downtown with Jen and Alvaro and just rented a huge studio space near the L.A. MOCA downtown.”
Borkson says FWY’s new digs will be called “the Gem” and boast 4,600 square feet in a two-story building he says is the perfect playground for their plans. The move should concern anyone worried about Miami’s art scene — which already suffers from the perception that it’s a once-a-year affair revolving around Basel.
As much as FriendsWithYou supported and helped fuel the 305’s artistic explosion, his group had to follow the financial support West, Borkson explained.
“Our main goal is to keep our vision pure and not just about the money,” he says. “As much as we love Miami, the move is about being in a place where we can be part of a movement, where more money is invested in culture, and we will be more nurtured by people to continue making art that impacts others’ lives.”
Stark agrees that L.A. is a wide open market for Miami talent and says that she and Ilizarbe have already lined up exhibits in two separate galleries to kick off the upcoming season there.
“I think Miami does have some good support structure for some artists and [I] still love it here, but Los Angeles has a lot of opportunities to offer, and that’s why we decided to move there. This September I’ll be showing at the Martha Otero Gallery and Alvaro will be showing at the HVW8 Gallery,” Stark says. “It’s a great time to move there and try new things for the next couple of years.”
HVW8 Art + Design Gallery took part in last night’s ‘in the Art of the City’ a fundraiser for A Better LA.
Lisa Leone, Tim Biskup, Alvaro Illizarbe and Tyler Gibney all donated pieces through the HVW8 Gallery for auction, and were lucky to raise a fair amount for this great organization.
On Thursday, May 3rd, 2012, join A BETTER LA at The Vibiana in Downtown Los Angeles for a spectacular evening celebrating the vibrant and diverse communities and individuals of Los Angeles at our 3rd annual fundraiser; IN THE ART OF THE CITY. With celebrity hosts and participants, including Pete Carroll, Jeffrey Deitch, Tim Leiweke, Sharon Stone, and Forest Whitaker, enjoy a night featuring the eclectic cuisine of some of LA’s most famed chefs, silent and live auctions showcasing artwork created by some of our city’s most esteemed artists, and music provided by LA’s hottest DJ’s. Please click here for more info or contact A Better LA at events@abetterla.org or call 213-412-3111
We started the year off with Mark McKee’s Seen/Unknown. This exhibit consisted of a selection of Mark McKee’s personal favorites from over 20 years of legendary skateboard artwork. From old classic decks to new limited edition prints to never-before-seen original drawings and paintings, McKee’s work is a must see for skateboarders and art enthusiasts alike.
Joshua Prince, aka Dust La Rock, made his Los Angeles gallery debut with the new exhibition Joking Victim, an intimate, stark exploration into the themes of pain versus pleasure, free will versus destiny, fetishism, the occult and mortality. A true mixed media collaboration, Joking Victim consisted of works on paper, photographs, and a short film in which La Rock teamed with a team of innovative artists to help bring his vision to life, including photographers Angela Boatwright, Kareem Black and tattoo artist JK5. The opening reception featured music by Jokers Of The Scene and culminated with the Los Angeles debut of Bruce LaBruce’s queer cinema horror film L.A. Zombie.
Anthony Lister’s tireless approach to living is an unrelenting approach to art. His name and imagery are on street corners worldwide, accessing a massive audience by way of stickers, aerosol paint and all manner of markers. His paintings, drawings, sculptures and happenings pull from his experiences as a youth in Australia and as a father of two. Super Heroes, skateboarding, graffiti, Australian gangster celebrities, television, jail birds, tattoos, the internet, pop and advertising resurface in his art practice. With invitational residencies in London and New York, a mentorship under Max Gimblett, a CV as long as your arm—including shows at Elms Lester London, New Image Art L.A., Metro 5 Gallery Melbourne and K Gallery Italy—numerous awards and monographs, Anthony Lister’s renown among peers, curators and collectors is testament not just to his extreme productivity but his work’s exceptional potency.
Dutch artist Parra returned to Los Angeles’ HVW8 Art + Design Gallery with The How Original Show. An exhibition consisting of all new work in the form of drawings and paintings, revealing the process of sketch to final piece. Each work is an original, a departure from his well known numbered silkscreen editions. Look out for Parra at the SF MOMA in March.
With “We Was Them Kids …”, HVW8 curator Tyler Gibney pulled together some of the finest contemporary artist/designers to have exhibited at the HVW8 Gallery in recent years.
Works ranged from Amsterdam resident Parra’s post-pop imagery of highly saturated colors, vibrant hand-drawn letters and worlds inhabited by hybrid, surreal characters to Geoff McFetridge’s communicative pieces in sculpture, drawing and design that echo with humor and insight. Yogi Proctor proliferates decoys. These works span a variety of mediums, appearances, and approaches, de-stablizing notions of “originality” and “artist” with wit and agility.
From Brooklyn, Kevin Lyons brought his sharp tongue together with sharpie, stepping away from his A-List clientele as Creative Director of the internationally known ad agency Anomoly, to have some fun with his madhouse of characters and type. Brent Rollins (best known for his Boyz In The Hood and Mo Better Blues logos as well as being one of the creators of Ego Trip) continued his visual relationship between design and music, while Miami’s Alvaro Ilizarbe’s work explored space, energy, and tension through hypnotizing large scale black and white patterns.
Winston Tseng and Matt Irving departed from their skateboard and design backgrounds with original work, and French born/Hong Kong resident Charles Munka (well known in Los Angeles for his work with Flying Lotus) brought his post graffiti stylings to round out this exhibition.
A few of Brent Rollin’s prints are still available.
In Feburary we hosted the Dogghouse with adidas and Snoop where different artists came to celebrate the art of Joe Cool and Snoop. We were lucky to have an impromptu performance with Snoop and Dam-Funk in the Gallery parking lot.
Since opening the Gallery, we have recorded a number of live music Podcasts with a number of local and international artists and even helped the formation of a couple bands, like Master Blazter and the Hawthorne Headhunters. We continued this tradition with the likes of Strong Arm Steady, J-Davey, Computer Killer at Kutmah to name a few last year, along with ever present hosts Ty G And Just Max.
HVW8 Co-Founder Tyler Gibney was featured in the international adidas commericial All Orginals, Iconics ad with Big Sean, Dwight Howard, Snoop Dogg, Odd Future, Jeremy Scott, Sky Ferreira, Pusha T.
Our feel good summer music video for Snoop’s “Wonder What It Do” feat. Uncle Chucc. Produced by HVW8 with Direction by Soupbone. Also featuring Anwar Carrots, Taz Arnold, dstrbo, le connecteur, Stamp’d, Billy Goods, Computer Jay, J-1, and Battlecat.
HVW8 has tried to continue a social mandate since its early Political Minded exhibitions. Last fall we continued this tradition, painting with kids at Ted Watkins Memorial Park in Watts as part with of the SEIU’s Fresh Festival.
Upcoming –
This year we’ll continue the good fight with exhibitions from Lisa Leone, Alvaro Ilizarbe and many more, along with music, events and everything quality you expect from HVW8. Make sure to follow at www.hvw8.com
Over the past four years, the HVW8 Art + Design Gallery has hosted a variety of exhibitions and performances at its West Hollywood location, ranging from internationally acclaimed street artist Anthony Lister (July 2011) to musical performances with Snoop Dogg and Dam-Funk (Feb. 2011).
With “We Was Them Kids …”, HVW8 curator Tyler Gibney pulls together some of the finest contemporary artist/ designers to have exhibited at the HVW8 Gallery in recent years.
Works range from Amsterdam resident Parra’s post-pop imagery of highly saturated colors, vibrant hand-drawn letters and worlds inhabited by hybrid, surreal characters to Geoff McFetridge’s communicative pieces in sculpture, drawing and design that echo with humor and insight. Yogi Proctor proliferates decoys. These works span a variety of mediums, appearances, and approaches, de-stablizing notions of “originality” and “artist” with wit and agility.
From Brooklyn, Kevin Lyons brings his sharp tongue together with sharpie, stepping away from his A-List clientele as Creative Director of the internationally known ad agency Anomoly, to have some fun with his madhouse of characters and type. Complex Magazine Art Director, Brent Rollins (best known for his Boyz In The Hood and Mo Better Blues logos as well as being one of the creators of Ego Trip) continues his visual relationship between design and music, while Miami’s Alvaro Ilizarbe’s work explores space, energy, and tension through hypnotizing large scale black and white patterns.
Winston Tseng and Matt Irving depart from their skateboard and design backgrounds with original work, and French born/Hong Kong resident Charles Munka (well known in Los Angeles for his work with Flying Lotus) brings his post graffiti stylings to round out this exhibition. HVW8 Art + Design Gallery is proud to present this international set of artists and designers, whom, like Parra after his 2012 SF MOMA exhibition, might not be as accessible in an intimate gallery setting in the near future.
The focus of this installation was about the relationship between space and energy. Comfort and tension. I painted a black and white pattern on a large piece that hung on the outside of the space. This same pattern was photographed and made into wallpaper that was plastered on the walls of the passageway/maze. The passageway was a space for the viewer to travel through and connect with the work.
The work was exhibited at the Wynwood Art Fair for Carol Jazzar Gallery.
Her work is amazingly detailed layered cut outs from wood and paper, that are labored, intricate and often take over a month to complete. The work puts you into a hypnotic state and have a kaleidoscope effect with moving parts and animation. We were lucky to be introduced to Jen through Alvaro Ilizarbe, her Miami counterpart and companion, at his HVW8 Gallery opening last year.
Here’s small video and photos from today. Thank you Cooper Cole/Show and Tell.
HVW8 presents Celestial Beings a solo exhibition by Alvaro Ilizarbe / Freegums. For this show Alvaro painted large wooden pieces portraying large forces that lie in the space around us. With a variety of finely painted lines Alvaro draws upon space and shapes to transform the gallery into a a portal to a parallel dimension.
HVW8 presents Celestial Beings a solo exhibition by Alvaro Ilizarbe / Freegums. For this show Alvaro painted large wooden pieces portraying large forces that lie in the space around us. With a variety of finely painted lines Alvaro draws upon space and shapes to transform the gallery into a a portal to a parallel dimension.
