May 8 – May 29, 2010

Reception for the artists: Saturday, May 8, 2010, 8 pm – 11:00 pm

Copro Gallery

Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave. T5
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-829-2156
CoproGallery@live.com
www.copronason.com

CUT & STITCH (18″ x 24″) Acrylic + Ink 2010

Luke Chueh’s “Beginnings / Endings (And Other Worthless Epiphanies)” bears all the stylistic stamps Chueh’s fans have come to love. Employing minimal color schemes, simple animal characters, and a seemingly endless suite of ill-fated situations, Chueh balances cute with brute, perched on the fine line between comic and tragic.

Chueh studied graphic design at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obipso where he earned a BS in Art & Design (Graphic Design concentration). Employed by the Ernie Ball Company, he worked in-house as designer/illustrator creating award-winning designs, and was featured in the design annuals of Communication Arts and Print Magazine. As if this were not enough, Chueh also created, produced, wrote, designed, edited and published “E.X.P.”, a ‘zine dedicated to the “Intelligent Dance Music (IDM)” genre. In 2003, Chueh moved to Los Angeles to further pursue a career in design, only to join the ranks of the under-employed. He resorted to painting as a way to keep both his edge and his sanity. When the Los Angeles underground art show, Cannibal Flower, invited him to exhibit at their monthly events, Chueh began his ascent into the LA art scene. Chueh has since established himelf as the arbiter of disarmingly benign menace. Ever the designer, Chueh also has a new toy coming out through Munky King. www.lukechueh.com

DECADENCE

Mari Inukai works in oil on canvas, and graphite and charcoal on paper to create a world straddling childhood and adulthood, sexuality and decadence, “between the choices I’ve made and where life has put me,” states the artist.

She draws a contrast between sweet and bitter, soft and hard, the yummiest chocolate and the deadliest poison. “Riding that line – that edge between the two – between the yin and the yang,” states Inukai.

A native of Nagoya, Japan, Inuaki came to the United States in 1995 to study art. She has since amassed a long list of credits including work for Sanrio, Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon, as well as clothing and ceramic figure design. Her animated short, Blue and Orange, was an official selection at Sundance 2003 and was the Japanese Gran Prix winner at the Short Shorts Film Festival EXPO 2005. www.mariinukai.com

Dan Quintana, Brian Viveros “Desensitized” and Bad Otis Link “You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead” Closing Party with live music from The BillyBones. New art prints available.

Saturday, February 6, 2010, 6 – 10 pm
FREE!

CoproGallery
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave. T5
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-829-2156
www.copronason.com

Dan Quintana, Brian Viveros’s “Desensitized‘ & Bad Otis Link’s “You’ll be Sorry When I’m Dead“ exhibitions end next Saturday, February 6 with a closing party from 6:00 – 10:00 PM, featuring live music from the The BillyBones and more of the same excitement from the “Desensitized” opening reception. Come have one last look at this great art exhibition and all the films that were shown on opening night. All the giclee prints and the “Desensitized” poster will also be available. For those that can’t make it, the gallery now has the prints available online while they last and some great photos from the opening: www.copronason.com

The BillyBones is a punk rock band from Los Angeles, California and features Steven Williams “Billy Bones” Fortuna, formerly of The Skulls, guitarist Alex Mack, bassist Drew Milford, and drummer Alex Gomez, formerly of U.S. Bombs, The Mau Maus, The Livingstons.) The BillyBones will be premiering new material from the upcoming “The Complexity of Stupidity” album produced by Steve Fishman (Deadbeats, Bent, The Stranglers) along with Skulls favorites.

Bad Otis Link has collaborated with Billy Bones on several projects. He directed the “Night of the Living Skulls” and The Skulls “On Target” video, and Billy acted in his award-winning film “The Sugar on Top.” Link also plays sax on the new The BillyBones record.  www.myspace.com/thebillybones

Bad Otis Link “The Hunter“

This show also features the music of Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones (Joe is a former member of TSOL) and food from the Don Chow Taco Truck!

This Saturday, January 16, 8:00-11:30 PM, Copro Gallery presents  “Desensitized” with the art of Brian Viveros & Dan Quintana. This is an incredible show for both artists and all the work is amazing. Its going to be a multi-media event in 5D with films being projected, soundtracks of bizarre music and sculptures as well as live music and costumed Desensitized girls. Everyone is encouraged to participate so please dress up in military gear like a Viveros or Quintana painting and get a free “Desensitized” poster. In gallery two, Bad Otis Link’s “You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead” which will also be in 5D with films, twisted puppets and warped art.

In a culture where we are bombarded with overwhelming visual stimuli, have we become desensitized to art? From sexual content on TV, graphic violence in the news, and flashy ads everywhere we look, obtrusive images are in constant competition for our attention. Brian Viveros and Dan Quintana are two painters whose respective backgrounds lie in creating the strong commercial imagery we see everyday, and this striking style has carried over into their fine art. Both of these artists know how to arrest your attention, and aim to captivate even the most jaded eyes.

Acting as book markers of the 20th Century, their paintings are both reflections of their own inner worlds and society at large; realms where fantasy intermingles with pop culture. Whether it be a doe-eyed beauty with a Marlboro dangling from her lips, or a Dominatrix acting as sheriff in the untamed West, in these painstakingly rendered vignettes romance battles vice and sensuality meets consumerism.

Adhering to the show’s theme, the opening reception itself will be an attack to the senses. In addition to the art on the walls, the event will feature a loop of Brian Viveros’ films “Dislandia” and “Southern,” a custom made sculpture of one of the paintings, cocktail servers costumed like the art, and the live music of Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones. Designed to open your eyes and invigorate your mind, this culmination of creativity is not to be missed.

Bad Otis Link
You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead
(More Junk for a World Out of Order)
with music by
Joe Wood and the Lonley Ones

In the words of Bad Otis Link, his new show consists of works “all done wrong, perfect for our current atmosphere.” In this show, Link revisits ink and watercolor on Bristol. “I worked with these mediums in  the ’80s and recently realized that I miss this style” states the artist, who puts a slightly different twist on the pieces, using more line work and less stipple than in his previous works. The show will also consist of acrylic on hardboard and some three dimensional pieces: puppets and experimental foam work. “You’ll be Sorry When I’m Dead…” is inspired, in title only, by a recent death hoax of a close friend and even more so, something Link’s mother always told him when he was young. Though there is no consistent theme to this show, Link’s work has (believe it or not) an environmental message. “I am somewhat of a realist, not in my art but in observation. I continue my attempts to illustrate how, as humans, we are so out of synch with the rest of the natural universe, noticing our human flaws and our collective mental illness and denials of the obvious, all that is wrong. I also like to inject odd little creature, birds (messengers in many ancient myths) and structures I would like to inhabit into the work” states Link.

Self-taught and self-educated, Link sharpened his distinct style in the late 70s through the mid 90s as one of Los Angeles premier and most notorious punk rock graphic artists. Link played saxophone in local punk bands while designing band logos, record covers, posters and producing merchandise for The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Damned, Social Distortion, TSOL, The Adolescents, Danzig, The Circle Jerks, Wasted Youth, Goldenvoice Concerts and many others. In the early 90s, he designed and published the “True Life Murderers Trading Cards” which was the first set on the subject matter and attracted mass media attention. Link’s art has appeared in countless magazines, films and his projects have been praised and equally viciously attacked in the media by moralist groups and media hungry politicians. Link is entertained by the reactions of our puritan and mentally ill American culture. Aside from an occasional art exhibition, Link currently focuses his psychotic energy on filmmaking, puppet making, clothing design and directing. www.badotislink.com