If you didn’t make it to the opening reception for California Locos art show, take a look at what you missed and then head on down to Chinatown and get a closer look at some of the amazing artwork by five of Los Angeles’ heavy-duty art wizards. There was magic in the air and on the walls as the dancing lions blessed the galleries and every piece of art contained within. The walls were bursting at the seams with the most notorious figures in the art community and everyone had a blast! We hope to see you all sometime soon and you should definitely try to make it to the closing reception on June 28th at the Red Pipe Gallery. Thank you to Dan Levy and Vanessa Davey for the filming and photos and to Alicia Gilmour for editing this video together. Many thanks and much respect to Chaz Bojorquez, Dave Tourje, John Van Hamersveld, Norton Wisdom and Gary Wong for this outstanding exhibit. Big ups to NELA Clothing Company and everyone that jumped in to help make this such an incredible time. We are proud to be a part of such a terrific group of people who are changing the way we look at the world one brush stroke at a time.
California Locos Group Art Exhibit will run May 31 – June 28, 2014. Opening Reception May 31, 7:00pm – 11:00pm featuring music by “Los Savages” with Norton Wisdom Closing Reception June 28, 7:00pm – 11:00pm Open Thursday – Saturday, noon to 5:00pm and by appointment
Red Pipe Gallery: 978 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012 www.redpipegallery.com
California Locos features the work of five of LA’s finest surf, skate, rock n’ roll and street artists. Chaz Bojorquez, Dave Tourje, John Van Hamersveld, Norton Wisdom and Gary Wong at two adjacent galleries – Red Pipe Gallery in Chinatown in Los Angeles, California. The event is sponsored by NELA Clothing Company and JUICE Magazine and features new work by these artists. For more info, go to: http://californialocos.com/.
PRESS RELEASE:
California Locos is a group show of contemporary art featuring Chaz Bojorquez, Dave Tourje, John Van Hamersveld, Norton Wisdom, and Gary Wong, all native Angelenos that have shaped the LA art scene for over fifty years. Inspired by the Southern California sun, sand, and street culture, the Locos draw from a variety of influences, including surf, skate, punk rock, and the barrio. The show features all new works and collectables, including a poster designed by Andres Cuervo and Dave Tourje in collaboration with graffiti artist Chaz Bojorquez and graphic artist John Van Hamersveld. Red Pipe will also publish a catalog for the exhibition, with essays by Mat Gleason of Coagula Curatorial and Eve Wood of Artillery Magazine. From the catalog: As the title of the exhibition California Locos suggests, these artists’ work is derived, or in some cases seemingly extracted, from the Southern California landscape in which it was forged, the word “locos” referring both to the Spanish word “loco” which means crazy, while also suggesting the idea of a fluid and supremely variegated “locale.” – Eve Wood
Chaz Bojorquez, known as the godfather of graffiti art and considered one of the first Chicano artists who successfully made the transition from street to gallery, was recently featured in LA MOCA’s exhibition, “Art In the Streets”, and his paintings are in the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM, and the Orange County Museum of Art.
John Van Hamersveld is widely known for his iconic poster for the movie The Endless Summer, to his album cover work for The Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour), Blondie (Eat To The Beat), Jefferson Airplane (Crown of Creation) and the Rolling Stones (Exile On Main Street), to name but a few. His work is in the collections of numerous museums such as LACMA and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Van Hamersveld’s book and artwork were featured in the February Issue of Vanity Faire Magazine.
Dave Tourje’s work represents his roots in the culturally eclectic Northeast LA of the 1970s and the LA music scene, with a mix of low and high, punk, and institutional hegemony. His work was the subject of a one-man exhibition covering 15 years of paintings on acrylic glass at the Riverside Art Museum in 2002, and has been featured at the Oceanside Museum of Art, the Orange County Museum of Art, and Laguna Art Museum.
Since 1979 Norton Wisdom has collaborated with musical ensembles, spontaneously painting images in response to the energy of the music and moment. His live performances include collaborations with Big Black, Badal Roy India, Kuan Tet Orchestra Tibet, Nation Bambsuchibet, National Bamboo Orchestra of Bali, Bernard Fowler, Lili Haydn, Flea, George Clinton, Beck, Mike Watt, Rob Wasserman, John Mollo, Dave Navarro and Llyn Foulkes. Wisdom has also painted at museums, including the U.C. Santa Barbara Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Orange County Museum of Art, and the Milwaukee Museum of Art.
Gary Wong was a vital part of the shifting dialogue integral to the formation of West Coast postmodernism and surf-skate-rock culture as we know it today, and is well known in the LA blues scene for decades with the Charlie Chan Blues Band. His visual language is a complex collage-based, paint-draw process that often uses photography, and reflects his involvement in music as well as wider social and political concerns. Wong’s work is featured in numerous public and private collections, and has been included in exhibitions at the Chouinard Foundation Gallery, Royal-T, and Oceanside Museum of Art.
All five Locos will be on hand for an action-packed opening event on May 31, with live performance painting by Norton Wisdom to the music of Los Savages, poster-signing, and filming of a new documentary about the rise and evolution of these iconic artists.
PHOTOS BY DAN LEVY AND VANESSA DAVEY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA LOCOS
