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Preview: Glenn Barr, devNgosha, and William Wray at Merry Karnowsky Gallery

Glenn Barr, devNgosha, and William Wray are three artists who share an affinity for 1960s cult film characters and subculture. Tomorrow, they join together at Merry Karnowsky in an exhibition of new works that elaborates on their inspirations. We first featured Glenn Barr's nostalgic portraits in HF Vol. 10, which range in emotional appeal and design. His background in graphic novels has progressed into a unique style that combines cheesy glamour with scenes based in modern reality. With the concept of "communication" as a central theme for these new pieces, we find them talking on rotary telephones. Read more after the jump.

Glenn Barr, devNgosha, and William Wray are three artists who share an affinity for 1960s cult film characters and subculture. Tomorrow, they join together at Merry Karnowsky in an exhibition of new works that elaborates on their inspirations. We first featured Glenn Barr’s nostalgic portraits in HF Vol. 10, which range in emotional appeal and design. His background in graphic novels has progressed into a unique style that combines cheesy glamour with scenes based in modern reality. With the concept of “communication” as a central theme for these new pieces, we find them talking on rotary telephones. His compositions are more intimate than previous works, cropping into the face of his subject to focus on her expressions. William Wray’s works are intimate in another respect, as he portrays well known superheroes like Batman and Spider-Man in their private life. Rather than the glorified portrayal we are used to, Wray shows them having a smoke on the street or waiting for their laundry to dry. The most playful and abstract representations are by devNgosha (Devon Liston and Gosha Levochkin). Their latest paintings are vibrant, visually layered portraits, such as oldschool cowboys and a Transformer on a dry Los Angeles-backdrop. One piece pays homage to Belgian artist René Magritte, whose paintings continue to inspire the entertainment world. Surreal, ironic and emotional, the three artists offer a remixed version of Hollywood that is more genuine than it is kitsch.


devNgosha


devNgosha


devNgosha


Glenn Barr


Glenn Barr


William Wray


William Wray


William Wray

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This weekend, Glenn Barr (HF Vol. 10) is celebrating his second solo exhibition with Cotton Candy Machine gallery in Brooklyn, titled "Pit of the Id." His previous showing with the gallery was in 2012, covered here, which depicted cute space faring girls and robotic monsters in his signature nostalgic style. In a new series of small wood on panel paintings and drawings, Barr continues to explore this futuristic universe he has created in a playful way. His works feature cameos from 60s sitcom cartoon characters like "The Jetsons" and "The Flintstones".
Coinciding with Merry Karnowsky gallery's "Parallel Universe" (covered here) is Lezley Saar's "Monad". For her latext exhibition, Saar focuses on the metaphysical reality, mixed with her signature Victorian subjects. Saar referred to philosopher Gottfried Leibniz's definition of "Monad" for her show's concept: “an unextended, indivisible and indestructible entity that is the basic or ultimate constituent of the universe, and a microcosm of it.” Proudly an artist of mixed ethnicity, Saar's colorful women can be linked to people in her own life, many of whom were in attendance at Saturday's opening. So, while her theme is grand, her personal touches make it feel familiar.
Last Saturday, Merry Karnowsky looked to the La Brea Tar pits for the inspiration behind their pop-up gallery at Tarfest. Produced by LAUNCH, the event is an annual music and arts festival paying homage to Los Angeles' natural wonder, while fostering creative expression. The famous seepage has been happening for tens of thousands of years, and continues to ensnare organisms today. These unlucky flora and fauna were interpreted by artists Greg 'Craola' Simkins, Todd Carpenter, Lezley Saar, Von Sumner, and James Griffith, who used tar as his painting medium. With the pits just a few hundred feet away, their renderings merged new culture with this culturally historic spot.
Artist duo Gosha Levochkin and Devin Liston have made a name for themselves as DevNgosha, combining their backgrounds in illustration and fine art. Years after their first collaboration, Soze Gallery is showcasing their individual talents in side by side solos "GROWN UPS" and "LOST" (previewed here). As collaborators, they've come up with a system of working together and creating, where one starts a piece and the other finishes it, and vice versa. Now abandoning that system, we can see Liston and Gosha are artists who like to play with varying aesthetics.

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