Author: Daniel Rolnik

Following our coverage (see here) of The Affordable Art Fair that closed last weekend in LA, we visited C.A.V.E. Gallery to view the art they had chosen to feature. The gallery had two separate booths, one solely featuring the work of Max Neutr, who had been in attendance painting live for the the event. The other booth featured a diverse group exhibit with the work of artists like John Park and Paul Chatem's gear powered mixed media paintings. See more images from the C.A.V.E. Gallery booth after the jump, here on Hi-Fructose. - Daniel Rolnik

Thinkspace Gallery showcased a large collection of works at its booth within the Los Angeles Affordable Art Fair, which closed this past weekend, as well as a giant mural which they commissioned Dabs & Myla to paint, located at the entranceway of the event. Showcasing the illustrative based works of Audrey Kawasaki (HF Collected Vol 2 cover artist) and Brian M. Viveros served as a nice juxtaposition to the featured photo realistic paintings of Linnea Strid and Matt Doust. Their booth held a nice array of diverse artworks, and were also the only ones who had an electronic M&M dispenser at their table! See images from the Thinkspace booth after the jump, here on Hi-Fructose. -Daniel Rolnik

Giant Robot’s Gallery, GR2, had to undergo a remodel just to have enough wall space to hang over 129 incredible prints for their current exhibit 'Printed Matter 10'. It’s always great to see prints by artists like David Choe, Kent Williams (HFvol.21), David Horvath and his wife Sun-Min Kim (more popularly known as the creators of Uglydolls), as well as a plethora of fresh artists. However, the artist with the most wall space was definitely Jeremyville - who had over 12 prints available, featuring his signature characters enacting positive affirmations like “Be Your Own Guru” and “Eat More Vegetables” which had cows begging you not to eat them. Shows like 'Printed Matter 10' continue to spark imagination and keep art alive for everyone. See photos from the opening of the show after the jump. -Daniel Rolnik

Photo LA was a 3-day fair in Santa Monica, where an epic amount of galleries were displaying photographs available for sale. The work ranged in age from the early 20th Century until today and displayed everyone from emerging photographers to established mainstays. This year, the event’s directors nominated Moby as a featured presenter and placed his photographs of massive crowds all around the grounds of the event. And if you were there the night of the preview, you could see him walking around amongst superstar photographers like Jill Greenberg – who actually shot several of his album covers. The following images are some of my favorite photographs from the fair... Daniel Rolnik

The January group show at La Luz De Jesus, which opened this past weekend, featured three exciting artists with totally separate styles from one another. When inspecting Alexandra Manukyan’s modern classical portraits, a world of references was revealed to me - from hidden tattoos on the women in her paintings to the titles of the pieces like “All You Need Is Love.” And after I was introduced to her, Alexandra told me about how she writes out a short story for each one of her paintings, which can be found online. Full review of the show after the jump.

I don’t particularly like it when people get too close to me and invade my personal bubble, so I could instantly relate to Jason Maloney’s latest sculpture entitled Don’t Hug Me - featuring it’s own self-defense mechanism of actual razor wire. And I especially got super stoked when Jason told me that he hand-painted and lettered the plaque in the upper right of the piece with some good ol’ fashioned one-shot enamel paint - since so many artists today would just take the easy route of using printed typography.

Yes, all the razor wire is real and sharp, so if you get the opportunity to see it, get up close, but not close enough to rip yourself to shreds like I almost did several times - granted I do have quite the schnoz. Currently the piece is kind of a secret, since it’s located in Jason’s office at the Hurley Int’l headquarters in Costa Mesa, CA, but I would love to see the sculpture in a gallery scenario since it would definitely add some playful danger to the otherwise safe surroundings of four white walls and a desk. - Daniel Rolnik

You never really think about the germs that collect onto your toys when you’re a little kid playing with them on the ground. Hell, it’s not even until you hit your college years that you start obsessing about washing your hands for fear of catching the latest epidemic. These were the kinds of thoughts eating at Casey Weldon’s brain a year ago when he signed on to have his first solo show in Los Angeles at Gallery1988's Venice location. What resulted from his infatuation of germs and toys are paintings of Lego heads with viral microbes streaming from them and young adults expelling action figures and stuffed animals from their stomachs.

Casey, who’s always thinking of rad ideas, also felt compelled to include 4 paintings of his childhood cat that he and his brother used to try and tie their x-wing fighter toys to thinking it would make the feline fly. But don’t worry animal rights activists, they never actually caught the cute little pussy because it was too fast for them. Casey Weldon is a recent transplant to Los Angeles, but he has been a maverick in Las Vegas for years, where he was at the forefront of bringing cool contemporary art to the city. 'GROTY' is on view until December 24th - Daniel Rolnik