Oct. 18 Crazy Al Evans Art Show at Bahooka

Crazy Al Evans’ Tenth Anniversary
and limited edition release party at The Bahooka
featuring exotic music by the Tikiyaki Orchestra
with sword and fire dancer Tehani

Artist reception and party: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008 – 7 pm – 11 pm.
Bahooka Restaurant
4501 Rosemead Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
For dinner reservations call (626) 285-1241
Sales start at 7:00PM.
Lighting ceremony at 8:30PM

Crazy Al Evans website: http://www.tikimania.com/
Online press release with images: http://leejosephpublicity.com/show/crazyalbahooka

THE EVENT
Enjoy an enchanted evening with multi-media artist / sculptor Crazy Al Evans and his new limited edition ceramics, artist proofs, new art and special guests! This event celebrates the ten-year anniversary of Evans’ Tikis #11, 12 and 13. To commemorate these primordial sculptures in the Crazy AL Tiki Gallery, a new ceramic creation will be debuted at this event. A decanter  design of Tiki #12,”Hula Lover, will be sold in a numbered edition in the very room the same tiki was first presented to the public at the Copro/Nason Tiki Art Show of September 19, 1998. Sculpted by Evans to match the original in every detail, the piece is also proportional to its partner Tiki #13 mug. Evans will also introduce a candle-holder miniature of Tiki #11, “Tiki Lantern’” Limited sets of all three designs with be available as well. Evans has once again pushed the envelope and stretched his imagination with the introduction of Tiki #12, “Hula Lover Carafe,” which will hold a lightable tiki-torch just like the original! Evans continued to lead the way with more developments in his personal quest for originality. Be there for the re-lighting ceremony of Tiki #12 as Dancer Tahini ignites the celebration with the exotic music of the Tikiyaki Orchestra.

CRAZY AL EVANS
Crazy Al Evans is a Southern California based multi-media artist who has been carving, sculpting and painting tiki imagery since 1990. Nicknamed for his fun and enthusiastic antics, the name also suits him for his manic and detailed carving. Evans’ Polynesian Pop-inspired sculptures can be found from Hawaii to New York. Through his one-man company, Bone Productions, his limited-edition tiki-inspired resins and mugs can be found worldwide. Paying tribute to the original Polynesian artisans from the South Pacific as well as majestic cultural icons of primitive cultures, Evans brands his art with unique craftsmanship and extreme attention to detail, giving each one of his creations meaning and importance and avoiding the use of cartoon imagery and bright colors. His palm sculpts, velvet paintings, dioramas, hardwood carvings, utilitarian objects (such as lamps and cabinets) and environmental installations are an exciting mix of authentic design and modern concepts.

Born in 1967, Evans grew up in the Scottsdale area of Phoenix, AZ surrounded by the ever-present Polynesian-Pop of the era, and claims his dad’s collection of Native American art, namely Hopi Kachina Dolls, as a major inspiration on his own art.  Greatly inspired by the primitive arts, his tiki sculptures always have a specific propose by paying tribute to a particular person, thing, event or activity.
Evans graduated from the prestigious Art Center College of Design, but is self-taught in the art of carving. He works almost exclusively with palm wood, using each dramatically different layer to help create the complexities in his designs. Exalting the once living tree, Evans leaves the bark on his finished piece. The manipulation of its complex texture gives even more depth and detail to each sculpture. Since 1996, Evans has carved around 150 tikis each assigned a number. In 2004, Evans began making limited mugs in his “Crazy Al Tiki Gallery Line of Ceramic Editions” for which he sculpts exact replicas of his large tikis in miniature.
Evans is also the front man of the band Ape who perform a rousing set of classic Hawaiian sounds using steel guitars and ukulele with guitars, bass and drums. During their enchanting sets, Evans plays percussion with an axe and a log, carving a tiki in the process! Of course the tikis carved during Ape’s set look much simpler than the works that take him 45-100 hours from start to finish. However, these sculpts created in as little as 45 minutes contain the energies of the event from which they were created; they have an individual striking presence all their own.

Crazy Al Evans also does commercial work, sculpting toys for Warner Brothers, Disney, Lucas/Star Wars as well as installations for several establishments such as The Tahiti Restaurant in Hollywood, Kona Club in Oakland, Ka Hale Tiki in Georgia, Lucky Tiki Bar in Los Angeles, Bigfoot Lodge in San Francisco and the Puka Bar in Long Beach. Crazy Al Evans has recently been spotlighted carving tikis on the Discovery Channel ’s “Dude Room ” and the TV Guide Channel ’s “Ready Set Change” as well as many You-Tube videos, and has worked in charity raising money for Hurricane Katrina victims, National Stroke Association and the Honolulu Marathon. Evans currently resides in Sunset Beach, California.

Exhibits and Shows-
-21st Century Tiki /La Luz de Jesus Gallery /Los Angeles /California /USA (1996)
-Dionysus Demolition Derby /Tiki News Magazine /Hollywood /California /USA 1997)
-Tiki Art /Copro-Nason &The Bahooka /Rosemead /California /USA (1998)
-Tiki Art /Copro-Nason &The Key Club /Hollywood /California /USA (1998)
-Tiki & Leeteg /Copro-Nason &Huntington Beach Art Center /Huntington Beach /California /USA (1999)
-Leeteg Tribute /Copro-Nason Gallery /Culver City /California /USA (1999)
-The Definitive Retrospective/Copro-Nason Gallery /Culver City /California /USA (2000)
-Mondo Tiki /Tiki Farm & Hard Rock Casino / Las Vegas /Nevada /USA (2003)
-I Dream of Tiki /M Modern Gallery/ Palm Springs/ California/ USA (2003)
-A Night of Tiki / Von Franco and Friends / Bahooka /Rosemead /California /USA (2004)
-Tiki art Now / Tiki News Magazine Shooting Gallery / San Francisco /USA (2004)
-Tikis and Terrors /A Stuart Gallery /Encino /California /USA (2005)
-Tiki art Now II/ Tiki News Magazine Shooting Gallery / San Francisco /USA (2005)
-10 Year Retrospective Show /Belmont Shores /Long Beach /California /USA (2006)
-10 Year Retrospective Show /La Luz de Jesus Gallery /Los Angeles/California /USA (2006)
-20th Century Tiki /Roq la Rue Gallery /Seattle /Washington /USA (2006)
-Tikis and Terrors /A Stuart Gallery &The Bahooka /Rosemead /California //USA (2006)
-15 year Retrospective Show /Copro-Nason Gallery /Santa Monica /California //USA (2006)
-3rd Annual Gala /DVA Gallery /Chicago / Illinois /USA (2007)
-Tiki Island /Tiki Magazine & Bali Hi /San Diego / California/ USA (2007)
-Surfbeat /Light Gallery /Costa Mesa /California /USA (2008)
-Tiki Caliente  /M Modern Gallery/ Palm Springs/ California/ USA (2008)
-4th Annual Gala /DVA Gallery /Chicago / Illinois /USA (2008)
-Hukilau /Harold Golen Gallery /Miami /Florida /USA (2008)
-’In Search of Tiki’/ Copro-Nason, Forest Lawn Museum /Glendale /California /USA (2008)
-Tiki Island Planet Roth /Tiki Magazine & Planet Roth Gallery /San Diego / California/ USA (2008)

Oct. 11 Boyd Rice “Standing in Two Circles” book signing

LA LUZ DE JESUS GALLERY

Boyd Rice “Standing in Two Circles” book signing.

Saturday, October 11, 6 pm – 9 pm.
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Bl.
Los Angeles California 90027
(323) 666-7667

Boyd Rice will be signing his book and CDs. There will be a display of his original art.
“STANDING IN TWO CIRCLES” is the first definitive and comprehensive compendium of the works of BOYD RICE, one of the most provocative and controversial underground figures of the post-punk era. A pioneering noise musician and countercultural maven, from the late 1970s to the present Rice has worked in an array of capacities, playing the roles of: musician, performer, artist, photographer, essayist, interviewer, editor, occult researcher, filmmaker, actor, orator, deejay, gallery curator and tiki bar designer, among others. First coming to prominence as an avant-garde audio experimentalist (recording under the moniker NON), Rice was a seminal founder of the first wave of industrial music in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, through collaborations with Re/Search Publications, Rice further established his position in the underground with recountings of his uproarious pranks and the promotion of “incredibly strange” cult films and “industrial” culture. Rice’s influence on subculture was further exerted through his vanguard exhibition of found photographs and readymade thrift store art, as well as his adamant endorsements of outsider music, tiki culture and bygone pop culture in general. Rice is also notorious for his public associations with nefarious figures both infamous and obscure, including friendships and ideological collusions with the likes of cult leader Charles Manson and Church Of Satan founder Anton LaVey, among others. His work continues to profoundly affect the countercultural underground at large, inspiring and enraging in equal measure.
“Boyd Rice has crossed over into the realm of being a pop icon, not unlike Andy Warhol, Tiny Tim, or Charles Manson. His face is like a corporate logo synonymous with a specific type of worldview. When you see Boyd it’s as though you’re gazing upon the Golden Arches or the Swastika. Or both.”
–Shaun Partridge, The Partridge Family Temple
STANDING IN TWO CIRCLES contains essays, lyrics, art & photography and an extensive Boyd Rice biography by the book’s editor, Brian M Clark spanning Rice’s wokrs from the 1970s to the present. “Standing in Two Circles,” $22.95, Creation Books – 288 pages, ISBN 1-84068-118-7, limited signed edition.

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La Luz de Jesus is located at the Soap Plant/Wacko building, in Los Feliz at 4633 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Gallery hours are Monday – Wednesday: 11am – 7pm, Thursday – Saturday: 11am – 9pm and Sunday 12-6pm.  For high resolution jpegs, interview requests and more information contact: Lee Joseph Publicity, 359 E. Magnolia, Suite F., Burbank, CA 91502, leejemail@gmail.com, p (818) 848-2698  f (818) 848-2699.

Sept. 27 Shepard Fairey “E Pluribus Venom” booksigning

LA LUZ DE JESUS GALLERY
4633 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-666-7667 Fax: 323-663-0243
Shepard Fairey “E Pluribus Venom” book signing.
Saturday September 27, 4 pm – 6 pm.
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
www.laluzdejesus.com
press release with images:
http://leejosephpublicity.com/show/shepardlaluz

“E Pluribus Venom” – Shepard Fairey’s newest work
 
“E Pluribus Venom” collects a large body of work produced by Shepard Fairey and presented at the Jonathan Levine gallery during his massive exhibition in the summer of 2007. Serving as more than just an exhibition catalog, this book expounds upon themes presented in the show. The title “E Pluribus Venom” which translates “Out of many, poison” is derived from “E Pluribus Unum” (out of many, one) an early motto adopted by the U.S. Government which appears on U.S. currency. The artist’s thesis is that many becoming one, or a loss of power and influence of the individual in favor of homogeny is a symptom of a society in decline. “E Pluribus Venom” is comprised of artworks designed to question the symbols and methods of the American machine and American dream and also celebrate those who oppose blind nationalism and war. Some of Fairey’s works use currency motifs or a Norman Rockwell aesthetic to employ the graphic language of the subjects they critique. Other works use a blend of Art Nouveau, hippie, and revolutionary propaganda styles to celebrate subjects advocating peace.  “‘E Pluribus Venom’ (128 Pages, Hardcover, 9 3/4″ x 12″, 100 Illustrations, ISBN-13: 978-1-58423-295-7, $ 29.95)

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La Luz de Jesus is located at the Soap Plant/Wacko building, in Los Feliz at 4633 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Gallery hours are Monday – Wednesday: 11am – 7pm, Thursday – Saturday: 11am – 9pm and Sunday 12-6pm.  For high resolution jpegs, interview requests and more information contact: Lee Joseph Publicity, 359 E. Magnolia, Suite F., Burbank, CA 91502, leejemail@gmail.com, p (818) 848-2698  f (818) 848-2699.

Oct. 3 Joel Nakamura & Nathan Ota at La Luz de Jesus Gallery

LA LUZ DE JESUS GALLERY
4633 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-666-7667 Fax: 323-663-0243

JOEL NAKAMURA – “Teratoid Muse”
NATHAN OTA – “Way WAY South”

Oct. 3 – Oct. 26, 2008
Artist Reception: Friday, Oct. 3, 8 pm – 11 pm.
www.laluzdejesus.com
Online press release with images:
http://leejosephpublicity.com/show/nakamuraotta

Joel Nakamura – “Teratoid Muse”

Joel Nakamura blends of folk art and sophisticated iconography are rendered in a neo-primitive technique using polymers and enamel on metal. With a deep knowledge of tribal art and mythology, Nakamura conveys stories and information in an intricate and engaging manner. His ability to render humanity in primal, edgy hues has captured the attention of clients like Time magazine, US News and World Report, and the Los Angeles Times. Nakamura’s paintings have enlivened the pages of many other books and publications, as well as the 2002 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies’ programs. Nakamura has been profiled in Communication Arts, Step Inside Design, Confetti and Southwest Art magazines. He is proud to be the recipient of over two hundred awards of excellence. Nakamura splits his time between commercial and fine art projects. His work is in numerous private and corporate collections, including Wynonna Judd, Chick Corea, and US embassies around the world. Nakamura resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Kathleen and children Paloma and Kai.

Nathan T. Ota – “Way WAY South”

Obsessed with drawing since his early childhood, Nathan Ota passionately references TV cartoons, comic books and punk-rock flyers as his early influences. Ota would sneak into his brother’s room and raid the collection of “Vampirella” comics so he could trace the colorful art on the covers. Uninterested in classical or traditional art, he responded most to visuals by Robert Williams, Olivia, Puss Head and Raymond Pettibon. Upon entering his teens, Ota became mesmerized by graffiti and participated in creating street art. “I was completely hooked. I loved everything about it; the clicking of the ball in the can, the sound of the spray, the colors, the huge scale, the friendships with other graffiti artists and the complete feeling of freedom,” states Ota. Upon entering Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Ota was exposed to a whole new world of possibilities. With an open mind and guidance from his instructors, his direction changed and he decided to enter the world of illustration. Shortly after graduating in 1993, Ota began working freelance for newspapers, magazines, record labels and producing background art for the gaming industry. Ota’s current show “Way WAY South” focuses on a journey back home using acrylics and wood panel.
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La Luz de Jesus is located at the Soap Plant/Wacko building, in Los Feliz at 4633 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Gallery hours are Monday – Wednesday: 11am – 7pm, Thursday – Saturday: 11am – 9pm and Sunday 12-6pm.  For high resolution jpegs, interview requests and more information contact: Lee Joseph Publicity, 359 E. Magnolia, Suite F., Burbank, CA 91502, leejemail@gmail.com, p (818) 848-2698  f (818) 848-2699.

September 13 & 14, Chris Mars booksigning, Billy Shire Fine Arts & Laguna Art Museum

BILLY SHIRE FINE ARTS PRESS
5790 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
phone: 323-297-0600
fax: 323-297-0601
www.billyshirefinearts.com
On line press release with images: http://leejosephpublicity.com/client/show/22

“TOLERANCE”
The debut monograph by artist and former musician Chris Mars.

“TOLERANCE” is a Green and Fair-Trade 160 page book printed on recycled bleach free paper with vegetable based ink, featuring 159 full-color images including numerous essays written by the artist. The book is being released in conjunction with Chris Mars’ exhibition at Billy Shire Fine Arts, Sept. 13 – Oct. 4, opening reception and book signing will be on Saturday, September 13th from 7 pm – 10 pm. The exhibition will consist of 30 new oil paintings and will be Mars’ first out-of-town public appearance since 1996. Mars will also be signing “TOLERANCE” at the Laguna Art Museum on Sept. 14 from 3 pm – 6 pm.

 
Billy Shire Fine Arts
5790 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
phone: 323-297-0600
fax: 323-297-0601
www.billyshirefinearts.com

Laguna Art Museum
307 Cliff Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
LagunaArtMuseum.org
Tel. (949) 494-8971
www.lagunaartmuseum.org
 

Rock star, recluse, brother, activist. Artist. Chris Mars’ work graces the hallowed halls of museums throughout America and is tattooed on calves and biceps throughout the world. “Tolerance” is the long-awaited collection of his work.   

Chris Mars was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1961 to parents Constance and Leroy Mars. He is the youngest of seven children. Mars’s eldest brother Joe suffered a so-called Nervous Breakdown in 1966 and was institutionalized at St. Cloud Mental Hospital. The impact of that event, along with Joe’s life-long struggle with Schizophrenia, set the groundwork for a life’s mission of championing society’s downtrodden and outcast. Mars hopes his work causes the viewer to question the nature of evaluation and labels, be it by investigating the meaning of beauty or by casting aside the exclusion of the meek, the forgotten, or the enemy. 

Like many artists, Mars seeks to know Truth. In his canvases are villains and angels, though one’s initial demarcation may, as in life, prove false. Believing that truth comes through the educational exploration of a given subject, Mars offers in his work a particular truth exposed and defined through his unending personal scrutiny of self and of society and an amazing technical control of the medium. 

Chris Mars was once best known as a musician, being a founder member of seminal indie/punk band The Replacements and subsequently recording four critically acclaimed – and progressively more experimental — solo discs. His drumsticks are enshrined in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

His paintings are enshrined in the permanent collection of various museums throughout the country including The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Erie Art Museum, The Longview Museum of Fine Art, The Tweed Art Museum and The Minnesota History Center. His museum exhibition history also includes The American Visionary Art Museum, The Weisman Museum of Art, Steensland Art Museum, Art Center South Florida and soon The Phipps Center for the Arts. 

“Tolerance” features 159 full color paintings created by Mars between 2000 and 2007. The book features multiple essays about various individual paintings, written by the artist himself, giving readers “the meaning” behind Chris’ motivations, thought process and symbolism. 
“The central figure is a disheartened, despondent Lady Liberty, who is being probed and prodded by shady practitioners who fail to comprehend her. She’s been reduced and dons a warhead dunce cap. Some smugly endorse her belittlement; some turn away. Others are aware, but feel confused and powerless. All this creates chaos; there is infighting.

The souls of those who depend on Liberty rise to her, but, broken as they are, they offer little help. The ghost wears a straightjacket, symbolic of its silenced voice.

Could this be the state of a union in its final days, in a fallout shelter or dungeon of the spirit?”
—Chris Mars on his piece “State of the Union” from “Tolerance”

Production of the book was delayed by the artist’s search for a production process in line with his values. Says Mars: “It’s a ‘green’ book, published using vegetable-based inks, on recycled, bleach-free paper. It was not made by slaves, the printing costs do not sponsor State tyranny and no child’s hands will have sewn the binding. It’s green and it’s fair-trade. It took a while to make that happen. I think I’m as proud of that as I am of the work inside it.”

Mars continues to live in and work in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a self-taught artist. 

“His paintings of ghoulish, skeletal crowds and beseeching wraiths, set in gloomy environments that hark back to medieval villages, seem too vivid to have come purely from the imagination. Mars’ storytelling on canvas is almost classical in its precision.”
  —The Rake Magazine

Tolerance by Chris Mars: Hardcover, 10 x 12, 160p, $40.00. Foreword by Julius Marcia. Release date: June 2008. Published by Billy Shire Fine Arts Press. Distributed by Last Gasp – (800) 366-5121, www.lastgasp.com ISBN: 978-0867196948