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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Two solo shows kick off this weekend at Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City, Calif.: Audrey Kawasaki's “Interlude” and Stella Im Hultberg's “Hollow Resonance.” Both shows kick off on Saturday (Nov. 12) and run through Dec. 3.
“Gravities” is certainly an apt moniker for the works of Cinta Vidal, whose acrylic images on wood offer something to ingest at every angle. Take “Together Alone,” above, a collection of narratives that are at once harmonious and disparate. The artist has said she tries “to attach importance to every point of view, and to create more than only one outstanding scene in each painting.” Vidal was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 36, and she can be found on Instagram here.
For five years in a row, Beyond Eden Art Fair in Los Angeles has been like an oasis of collaboration in an increasingly competitive market and growing contemporary art scenes. Over the course of that time, galleries have come and gone, but Thinkspace Gallery, Copro Gallery, C.A.V.E. Gallery, and San Francisco’s Spoke Art galleries have remained a central part of the event. Well over 5,000 people were in attendance at the fair's final installment this past weekend at the historic Barnsdall Art Park. This year's event was as eclectic as ever, featuring works spanning Graffiti, Abstract, Surrealism, and other pop-culture influenced styles.
Esao Andrews (HF Vol. 22), João Ruas (HF Vol. 23), and Aaron Horkey are three artists who each share a penchant for stylization and design. Feeling inspired, Aaron Horkey suggested they get together for a new exhibition at Thinkspace Gallery titled "The Gilded Age". The real Gilded Age took place during late 19th century America, coined by writer Mark Twain, who satirized the era as serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding. Their exhibit embodies the concept of gilding in the artists' unique combination of illustration and graphic design.
We've been steadily following the expansion of Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles into overseas territory with their ongoing 'LAX' exhibition series. Their latest collaboration is with StolenSpace Gallery in London, which debuted last night, and it is perhaps their most massive at 136 artists and over 140 works of art. In the tradition of the series, "LAX/LHR" showcases an eclectic mixture from painting, mixed media, and sculptural pieces by both local and international artists alike. There is an especially heavy volume of contributors from the urban art persuasion, considering the gallery's ties with British street artist D*Face.
For years, Thinkspace Gallery based in Los Angeles has been exporting its massive roster to cities all over the world with their "LAX" exhibition series. Named for their collaborative gallery's local airport, respectively, the group show travels to Detroit tomorrow in cooperation with Inner State Gallery. "LAX/DTW" is one of the series' largest installments to date, boasting over 80 international artists, including two showcases by artists Stephanie Buer and Liz Brizzi. Every artist has contributed a 16x20" piece making a consistent, but stylistically eclectic collection that includes Adam Caldwell, Brian Mashburn, Chiew Yoshii, Curiot, Drew Leshko, Eine, James Bullough, Kevin Peterson, Kojiro Takakuwa, Matthew Grabelsky, Sean Mahan, to name a few. 
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new year for POW! WOW! Hawaii, named for the impact of its art and viewer's reaction to it. To celebrate the first day of this leading mural festival (covered over the years here), Thinkspace Gallery has curated a group exhibition now in its second installment, "POW! WOW!: Exploring the New Contemporary Movement" at Honolulu Museum of Art School. POW! WOW! is not just an explosion of murals around the island of Oahu, but also showcases new talents in music, creative spaces, provides a lecture series, and many more events. The show's participating artists capture this excitement in works that reflect the nature and culture that Hawaii represents.
The colorful works of Hawaii native Ekundayo (HF Vol. 9) combine surrealism with influences from his graffiti days. His paintings sometimes lean on the nightmarish, as in his portrayal of anthropomorphic subjects in haunting scenes. On Saturday, he will debut a new series with "Collective Reflections" at Thinkspace gallery in Los Angeles. Ekundayo describes his solo as a "gift to that feeling I know we all connect to when reaching deep within ourselves." Check out our preview after the jump!
Around this time in 2005, Thinkspace gallery opened its doors in Los Angeles and gave many now-notable Contemporary artists their first big breaks. Several have graced the covers and pages of Hi-Fructose print and online- Audrey Kawasaki, Stella Im Hultberg, Natalia Fabia, Kukula, Andrew Hem, Fuco Ueda, and countless more. Rainy and freezing weather last Saturday didn't stop the entire "familia" from turning out to celebrate Thinkspace's 10 year anniversary (previewed here). The show boasts their 115 paintings on 10"x10" panels (nearly, all of which sold) provided by Trekell art supplies. Check out our photos after the jump!
In ten years, Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City has accumulated quite the family- over 100 artists strong. Commemorating their 10th anniversary, opening January 10th, their artists will come together for an unprecedented group show. Featured here are contributions by Troy Lovegates, So Youn Lee, Keita Morimoto, Scott Listfield, Mark Dean Veca (Vol. 23), Dalek aka James Marshall (Vol. 15), Brett Amory (Vol. 20), Ryan Hewett, Kwon Kyung-yup (Vol. 24), Henrik Aa. Uldalen (Vol. 24 cover artist) and Sarah Joncas.
The natural world is a never-ending source of inspiration for Italian artist Marco Mazzoni (Hi-Fructose Vol. 20 cover artist), whose colored pencil drawings explore the worlds of pagan healers, midwives and herbalists. These women were deemed witches at various points in history, for their knowledge threatened the patriarchal power structure of the Christian church. Mazzoni specifically culls his imagery from 16th-to-18th-century Sardinian folklore, studying the region's historically matriarchal culture. His latest exhibition of drawings, "Immune," will open at Thinkspace in Culver City on November 8 alongside Keita Morimoto's show "Tronie."
Thinkspace gallery redefines the word 'FRESH' with their latest group exhibition of the same name, opening this Saturday. Featuring new works by some of their favorite Contemporary artists, the show promises to not only show off their talents, it's also a glimpse into their state of creativity and growth. Among the participants are Joanne Nam (covered here), Alex Yanes, Ariel DeAndrea, Erica Rose Levine, Kikyz 1313 and Matthew Grabelsky, featured here. 
“Paramnesia”, like déjà vu, refers to a supernatural phenomenon in which dreams or fantasies are confused with reality. Joram Roukes explores this concept with his exhibition of the same name, which opened last weekend at Thinkspace Gallery. Previously, Roukes’ work centered on reflections of daily life experiences reassembled in surreal, painterly scenes. For the past six months, he collected new experiences while working in Los Angeles. The result is slightly schizophrenic. Throughout, exotic animals erupt from anonymous figures performing a variety of city professions. In a way, it recalls Craola’s use of anthromorphic characters to personify dreams (covered here), only Roukes’ are sourced from a place more terrifying- reality.
On Saturday at Thinkspace gallery, Ana Bagayan continued her foray into the deepest reaches of space with “Children of the Sun”. Her alien-like children first made their appearance in her last exhibition with Thinkspace, “There Is Time to Kill Today” (covered here). For that show, her paintings explored the unknown within the realm of her imagination. Bagayan’s latest work is inspired by something closer to home, her own cultural ancestry. “I became interested in my Armenian heritage, and that eventually led me to reading about Sumerian scrolls and ancient mythology,” she shared with Hi-Fructose on opening night. Sumerian creation myths tell the story about how the world began and people first came to inhabit it. Some theorists claim the writings offer proof of alien visitors. Bagayan tells her own version of the conception of human and animal life by an imaginary alien race of various anthropomorphic forms. Read more after the jump.
Los Angeles based street artist Bumblebeelovesyou colors the urban landscape with stencils of children that deliver an important message. Why take the namesake of a bee? This little insect has been attributed to human survival and development because of its role as a pollinator. The bee’s endangerment due to pollution, urbanization, and other factors could mean devastation. Bumblebeelovesyou began with hanging paper mache beehives in phone kiosks, pointing to the link between rising cellphone usage and change in bee migration. Since then, his work has developed into a range of paintings, sculpture, and installations with a social and environmental focus. By telling his personal coming of age story for anyone to see, Bumblebee reminds us of the value of innocence, away from industry and technology.
French born artist Liz Brizzi held her first solo exhibition with Thinkspace Gallery (previewed here) on Saturday. “Adrift” continues her experimentation with urban landscapes in the form of painting and photo collage. This time, Brizzi went to Asia in search of inspiration. “I’ve always loved Japan. I went there with this exhibition in mind, with a plan in my head to create my own version of it,” shared Brizzi on opening night. Among the cities represented in Brizzi’s new work are Roppongi, Tokyo and the Damnoen Saduak floating marketplace in Thailand. Seemingly uninhabited, her work celebrates the architectural design and essence of a place long after we’re gone.