CLICK FOR BEYOND EDEN 2011 SLIDESHOW

Last weekend’s third annual “Beyond Eden Multi-Gallery Art Event” held at the historic Barnsdall Art Park / Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in East Hollywood was vibrant and well-attended with an estimated 5000 people passing through the gallery between Saturday night and Sunday day – a fantastic turnout especially in the face of numerous competing art events and fairs during “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980,”a multi-institutional initiative conceived by the Getty Foundation and Getty Research Institute. The success of Beyond Eden is further proof that the “New Contemporary Art Scene” (an umbrella term which encompasses Pop Surrealism, Street Art, Lowbrow, Outsider, Illustrative, Narrative and beyond )  is a force to be reckoned in the art world now, and for a long time to come.

The event, with its foundation planted firmly in California, the birthplace of the New Contemporary Art Scene, showcased the works of a half dozen Southern California galleries including C.A.V.E. Gallery, Copro Gallery, Gallery Nucleus, La Luz De Jesus Gallery (in celebration of their 25th Anniversary this year), Toy Art Gallery, and Thinkspace. Live painting demonstrations took place at the entrance and bar area of the gallery. This year’s featured events included exhibitions from Cannibal Flower (emerging LA based artists) and San Francisco’s Spoke Art (the LA stop of the traveling ‘Quentin vs. Coens’ exhibit) and a special showcase of Los Angeles street artists presented by Thinkspace and curated by local artist Euth. A screening of the ‘best of’ Sketch Theater, the online site designed to inspire creativity through time-lapsed, start-to-finish sketches from numerous artists ran continually in the gallery’s screening room. The event was topped off with a lively award ceremony, celebrating artist Anthony Ausgang on the 20th anniversary of his first solo show and his continued presence in the art world.  Previous Beyond Eden award ceremonies recognized the contributions and influences of La Luz de Jesus’ Billy Shire (2009) and artist Robert Williams (2010) with lifetime achievement awards.

The event was coordinated by Thinkspace and Sour Harvest‘s Andrew Hosner with Lee of Lee Joseph Publicity for the Visual Arts and Dionysus Records. Plans are in store for the Fourth Annual Beyond Eden, in 2012, stay tuned!

Enjoy the slide show (link above) of Beyond Eden 2011 shot by Sam Graham.

These photos were snapped between March 1 and March 3 and document Billy Shire and assistants installing the massive 121 artist, 200+ piece  La Luz de Jesus Gallery juried group show, “Everything But The Kitschen Sync 14” along with the show’s artist preview night.

Roman Cho shot these photographs of the show’s opening party on March 4.

Have a look at the entire show at this link! There are still many great and affordable pieces for sale.

“Everything but the Kitschen Sync XIV”

March 4 – 27
Opening Reception: Friday, March 4th, 8-11 pm
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90027
323-666-7667
www.laluzdejesus.com
info@laluzdejesus.com

Preview the entire show here!

La Luz De Jesus Gallery will be holding their annual juried group exhibition, “Everything but the Kitschen Sync” this coming Friday, March 4. This gigantic, no-theme show features works from some of the freshest and most relevant artists working today. Commercial illustrators, graphic designers, tattooists, scenic painters, students, and animators and other have been invited to submit images. The show includes artists the gallery has previously exhibited, who consistently produce some of the most interesting paintings and sculptures in pop contemporary, as well as a large selection of work from a brand new batch of undiscovered, underground talent. This year’s list of 121 Kitschen Sync artists showing 225 pieces were chosen from over 8000 entries that were sent to the gallery throughout the year.

“Everything but the Kitschen Sync” began in October 1986 as the “Día de los Muertos” show which was entirely focused on the folk art, sculptures and imagery of Mexico’s “Day of the Dead” celebration. By 1995, gallery owner and curator Billy Shire felt the show had run its course and presented other themed group exhibitions such as the 1996 “21st Century Tiki Show” curated with Otto Von Stroheim. In 1998 Shire decided to present a non-themed show dedicated to illustrative and narrative artwork. As many local artists work in commercial graphic art fields such as illustration, cartooning, animation, ect, the show was named “Uncommercial Art by Commercial Artists.” In 2004, Shire changed the show name to the more encompassing and less-cumbersome “Everything but the Kitschen Sync.”

“Everyone looks at this show for new and interesting artists” states Shire – and indeed, not only does La Luz de Jesus pick artists from the Kitchen Synch for future smaller group and solo shows – numerous curators and owners of other galleries also keep their eyes on the yearly show for potential artists to add to their rosters.

“This is the only opportunity for emerging artists to show at the most prestigious gallery in post-pop and it is one of the most anticipated shows of the year because patrons get a crack at buying art from future superstars” states gallery director Matt Kennedy.

“Everything But The Kitschen Sync” 2011 Artist List:
Jessicka Addams
Ron Adkins
Marco Almera
Betty Alvarez
Susanne Apgar
Chris Athans
Davidd Batalon
John Brosio
Greg Brotherton
Michael Brown
Blue Broxton
Jeaneen Carlino
Evan Chambers
Andy Clark
Lacey Clemens
JAW Cooper
Edward Robin Coronel
Matthew Couper
Robert Craig
Will Crane
Jessica Dalva
Patrick “Star27” Deignan
Delphia
Robert Doucette
Dimitri Drjuchin
Jesse Fillingham
Mary Fleener
Vanessa Flores
Tim Forbus
Harold Fox
Frijol Boy
Don Fritz
Richard Frost
Rachel Fujii
Damian Fulton
Jeff Gillette
Mark Gleason
Bruce Gossett
Desiree Grisham
Max Grundy
Sunny Gu
Tamara Guion
Conrad Haberland
Caitlin Hackett
August Hall
Walt Hall
Ashley Harrison
Derek Harrison
Gale Hart
Andy Hernandez
Brett Hess
Scott Holloway
Jack Howe
Bree Hranek
Eric Hudgins
Jeremy Hush
Jennifer Jelenski
JoKa
Damara Kaminecki
Da Hae Kim
Miran Kim
Tara Krebs
Eunbyul Kwak
Dennis Larkins
Dave Lebow
Caroline Lee
Alexis Lopez
Carl Lozado
Danni Shinya Luo
Dion Macellari
Jon MacNair
Monika Malewska
Apricot Mantle
Robert Marbury
Aya Masuda
Mark Melchior
Miso
Junko Mizuno
Nicole Moan
Roberto Morales
Click Mort
Emi Motokawa
Munk One
Corinne Odermatt
Daisuke Okamoto
Jose Ontiveros
Amy Ortiz
Nathan Ota
Cristina Paulos
Celene Petrulak
Linda Quakenbush
Cate Rangel
Brian Raszka
Bonni Reid
Eric Richardson
Gustavo Rimada
Antonio Roybal
Leigh Salgado
Van Saro
Scott Saw
Kim Scott
Simon Sotelo
Andy Steele
Bryce Takara
David Russell Talbott
Hui Tan
Johnny Taylor
Pol Turgeon
Marietta Villalva
Javier Villanueva
Edith Waddell
Jessica Ward
Dave Warshaw
Mel Weiner
Mirmy Winn
Jasmine Worth
Christine Wu
Adam Ybarra
George Yepes
James Zar
Kim Zsebe

Brett Hess “Iconoclast” Acrylic on wood panel 22.25″ x 26″ in 26.25″ x 30″ frame
Evan Chambers “Diving Bell Desk Lamp” Copper, bronze, blown glass 4″ x 8″ x 4″
Eric Hudgins “The Liberator!” Oil on canvas 24″ x 30″
Betty Alvarez “Romantic Underworld” Acrylic on canvas 16″ x 20″ in 22″ x 26″ frame
Bonni Reid “Never a Frown” Egg Tempera and oil on hardboard 13″ x 16″
Nathan Ota “Wind Me Up” Mixed media, acrylic painted resin sculpture 6″ x 8″ x 6″

Paul McCartney and Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia - photo property of Hector Gonzalez / Rampart Records

These photos are part of the West Coast East Side Sound Collection (CEMA 117), Special Collections, UCSB Library. This collection was donated by Hector Gonzalez. He is a record producer, musician, award winning sound engineer and current owner of Rampart Records. Gonzalez has a first hand view of the vibrant music scene in East Los Angeles where multicultural bands contributed to the development of rock and roll. His archives help to document the development of the “West Coast East Side Sound.” Hector Gonzalez says, “This is an important part of early American rock and roll.”

Click here to see the photo show

Photos from Jennybird Alcantara and George Thomas’ art opening at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, January 8, 2010