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Template July 30th - August 20th
A group exhibit, Curated by Andrew Neuhues
ONLINE STORE CLICK HERE!
Press Release & Artist Bio
Template
a group exhibit
A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink.
The barman says, “Sorry, we only serve bar jokes here.”
“In that case,” he said, “I’m in the right place.”
I wasn’t there personally, but the bar joke originated in the Art Deco years in a pub called The Laughing Duck. Inside the pub was a strange architectural configuration wherein a low wall separated two areas, at the corner of which was a supporting pole that reached to the ceiling. This corner pole ended up awkwardly close to the bar itself. Legend goes that many a crowded night, the locals would simply sit-in-wait for the unsuspecting drinker – usually a new customer – who, upon ordering, would turn from the bar, drinks in hand, and smash straight into the metal bar. From one bar to another, so to speak. Sometimes shock would ensue, while others, drinks would fly, but the scene was always the same: a man walking into a bar, itself within a bar. Over time, the locals transferred the combination of architectural folly and its recurring accidents into various reiterated stories. Funny in-and-of-themselves, the stories turned into jokes. Somewhere along the way, the “man walks into a bar” joke serendipitously emerged.
“A man walks into a bar” is template for the stretching of language that the joke relies upon. With each new telling, the template of the joke itself is invisibly reinforced, while the definitions and combinations of “bar” and “man” are continually redefined. In this regard, the template is seen as both liberating and restricting. It can simultaneously be a container for free expression and a border that must be broken through. As such, a template is an edge for any test to pressure up against and through, which any terms can be redefined.
In this reading, a gallery is template for an exhibit, an exhibit is template for artworks, artworks are templates for a press release, a press release is template for a text (in which the flexibility of them all can be addressed). So forth, a text is template for a reader, a reader template for an audience, an audience template for a gallery opening.
– Yogi Proctor, Los Angeles, 2010.
POPgallery presents Template, a group exhibit featuring an international group of artists. Most are known for their prints and t-shirt designs; Template presents their work in a new context that combines the two mediums. Each artist’s print will be cut into a t-shirt-shaped ‘template’ and displayed.
Featuring works by:
Jean Jullien, Masakazu Kitayama, Yogi Proctor, Experimental Jetset, Gary Benzel, Andy Mueller, Steven Harrington, Michael Leon, Katsuo Design, Todd St. John, Supermundane, Tofer Chin, Andrew Neuhues
Custom birch hangers designed by Shin Okuda
Limited edition artist t-shirts by 2K by Gingham
Opening Reception:
July 30th, 2010, 7-10pm
POPgallery
3505 Helms Ave. (@ National Blvd.)
Culver City, CA 90232
on display through August 20th, then moving to 0fr Galerie in Paris for September.
Online purchasing available soon!
Artist Biographies
Supermudane:
Supermundane is the pseudonym of Rob Lowe who was born in the Midlands of England in 1971. Having worked in graphic design for over 15 years he has become know as an illustrator, art director, typographer, graphic artist and writer.
Described by Grafik magazine as “the king of the repetitive doodle,” his graphic art, which depicts a utopian world of organic shapes and beasts displaying hope, melancholy and beauty, has been published and exhibited worldwide including several solo exhibitions.
He is the creative director of the quarterly alternative children’s magazine Anorak and art director of the food quarterly Fire & Knives.
He lives and works in London.
Jean Jullien:
Jean Jullien is a French graphic designer living and working in London. He comes from Nantes and did a graphic design degree in Quimper before coming to London. He graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2008 and from the Royal College of Art in 2010. He works closely with the musician Niwouinwouin. His practice ranges from Illustration to photography, video, costumes, installations, books, posters and clothing to create a coherent yet eclectic body of work.
Katsuo Design:
Katsuo Design (b. 1976). Born in Chiba, Japan, he has been living and working in Los Angeles since 2001. His unique style of Japanese counter culture and western swank, appears collaborations include Cosa-Nostra by Jeffery Sebelia, Habitual, Beams T, 2K by Gingham, Commonwealth Stacks,
The Quiet Life, North Face, among others. His artworks and illustrations have been featured in Arkitip (US), Swindle (US), So-En (Japan), 55dsl(US), This-is-a-magazine(Italy), Re:Up (US), and +81(Japan). Most recently, his artwork has been shown at exhibitions at Beams (Japan), Paul Smith (Japan), New Image Art (US), Ghettogloss (US), Mu foundation (Netherlands), and Rocket Gallery (Japan). Enjoy the effects of the California sun on Katsuo’s brain, marinating a half-baked imaginationnourishing his artistic expression. “That’s the time I express the good ideas”, says Katsuo in a cloud of smoke and midst of creativity.
Experimental Jetset:
Experimental Jetset is an Amsterdam graphic design studio founded in 1997 by Marieke Stolk, Erwin Brinkers and Danny van den Dungen. Describing graphic design as “turning language into objects”, and focusing mainly on printed matter, Experimental Jetset have worked on projects for Stedelijk Museum CS (SMCS), Purple Institute, Centre Pompidou, Colette, Royal Dutch Mail (once known as PTT, currently known as TNT), Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN), Le Cent Quatre (104), De Theatercompagnie, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux (CAPC), Bureau Europa (NAiM) and Japanese t-shirt label Publik. Their work has been featured in group exhibitions such as Terminal Five (JFK Airport, New York, 2004) and The Free Library (Riviera Gallery, New York, 2004). Solo exhibitions have included Kelly 1:1 (Casco Projects, Utrecht, 2002) and Ten Years of Posters (Kemistry Gallery, London, 2006). In 2007, a large selection of work by Experimental Jetset has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), for inclusion in the MoMA permanent collection. Between 2000 and 2009, Experimental Jetset have been teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam).
http://www.experimentaljetset.nl
Gary Benzel:
Gary Benzel is a San Diego, CA based art director. In 1994 Benzel co-founded the concept brand Green Lady to produce experimental graphic artwork via the end product of clothing and printed wares. Benzel acted collaboratively in development of the HunterGatherer product line with Green Lady co-creator Todd St.John, and continues to work with the New York-based studio on select client projects. In 2002 Benzel opened the store/studio Igloo, focused on the creation, display, and sale of art-focused everyday objects.
Michael Leon:
Michael was raised in late 80’s, early 90’s skateboard culture. His work lives in a unique place between the worlds of art and art direction. He has the know-how and discipline of a trained professional, but embodies the freedom of thought and Do-It-Yourself tenacity of a skateboarder. A combination which has produced impressive work in many forums and mediums - including paint, print, photography, film, and product design.
While still in high school, Michael designed his first pro model board for New Deal Skateboards. After graduating from California Institute of the Arts with a fine art degree in 1997, he was able to translate this lifestyle into art direction and graphic design for the Girl and Chocolate Skateboard Companies and Fourstar Clothing. It was at Girl and Chocolate where he worked with skate and BMX culture luminaries, Andy Jenkins, Rick Howard, and Spike Jonze in creating a multitude of influential skateboard graphics and apparel designs. While working at Girl, Michael launched the concept brand ‘Commonwealth Stacks’ which articulated the California skate lifestyle through bold, meaningful graphics on apparel and skateboards. It was through Stacks that Michael gained notoriety as a graphic designer. His work from this period is widely noted as an influence to up and coming graphic artists.
In 2003 Michael created the influential skate brand Rasa Libre. Leaving behind his earlier typography based work, Rasa Libre created a psychedelic fantasy world as well as implementing innovative new techniques in board design, including wood parquet inlays and stains that would normally be associated with guitar finishes.
Michael began his work with Nike in 2005, co-creating the lifestyle collections ‘Tech-Pack’ and ‘Nike Sportswear’, bringing Nike’s heritage in sport innovation to the street. He also was the curator for colab products, before moving on to become Design Director of Nike Skateboarding (Nike SB).
Since Michael’s first solo art exhibition in 2002, his artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. In his 2002 solo exhibition ‘Some Girls’ at San Francisco’s Red Five Gallery, Michael created a fictitious skate brand and turned the gallery into a typical skateboard shop carrying it’s products. Upon closer inspection, the viewer found that all the products where hand crafted.
In 2009, Michael returned to creating artwork as well as producing art/lifestyle projects, and of course, skateboarding.
http://www.michaelleonstudio.com
Shin Okuda:
Shin Okuda, born in 1971 in the southern region of Japan, currently lives and works in Los Angeles. His pieces, made primarily of wood, reflect a balance between functionality and design with an attentiveness to craftsmanship and materials. His work ranges from seating concepts, utilitarian objects and sculptural musings, all of which demonstrate a simplicity in form, subtle detailing and a unique interpretation of proportion. He has done a variety of commissions for both private and commercial spaces. His pieces are represented at IKO IKO in Los Angeles.
Steven Harrington:
Steven Harrington lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Aside from co-owning and operating National Forest Design, he still finds time to work on both commissioned and self-inspired art projects of his own. Influenced by images, fashion and graphics discovered in Time Life Encyclopedias from 1965-1972, thrift stores, and The Moody Blues, his art might be termed contextual objectivism. That is, he views each piece he creates as a tangible object that is part and parcel of a larger context; the object helps define the context and the context helps define the object. Whatever feel or meaning the observer takes away from the piece belongs to the observer. Nothing is shoved down his or her throat. Discovery is the key. Some of his most recent projects include a three board, custom-shaped signature series for Element Skateboards, contributions to the French clothing line Sixpack France, a collaboration with Nike SB, contributions to Arkitip Magazine, a special 3-d piece with Kidrobot and a series of silkscreen prints based on the idea of “connectivity.” He has exhibited work in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Montreal, Melbourne and Dallas.
http://www.stevenharrington.com
Todd St. John:
Todd St. John is an artist, designer and filmmaker living in New York City. He grew up on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. His work consistently spans across many different mediums, including drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking and animation.
St. John produces both commercial and experimental work through HunterGatherer, the studio/workshop that he founded in 2000. He has created animations, illustrations and graphics for everyone from MTV to Money Mark to The New York Times. In 1994, while living in California, St. John co-founded the graphic T-shirt label Green Lady with Gary Benzel. Nylon Magazine described Green Lady as “to the designer T-shirt world what RunDMC is to hip-hop”.St. John regularly has work published, broadcast and exhibited internationally, and was included in the Cooper-HewittNational Design Triennial: Design Now. He teaches as a graduate critic at the Yale School of Art.
Andrew Neuhues:
Andrew Neuhues (Skyrocket Studio) has exhibited internationally and plays table tennis domestically.
http://www.skyrocket-studio.com
Tofer Chin:
Tofer Chin, a Los Angeles native, continues to exhibit, in both gallery and museum, in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Barcelona, Sao Paulo and Australia. Past works appear in The Los Angeles Times, Flaunt, Nylon, Surface, Theme, Trace, Vice and Rojo. In 2006, Rojo published his first book of photography, entitled ‘Finger Bang’, and in 2008, published his highly anticipated follow-up, entitled ‘Vacation Standards’. He was commissioned by interior designer Kelly Wearstler to produce an original painting for the Viceroy in Miami and a unique sculpture for her personal collection. Chin received the 2008 Graphis Design Annual Gold Award for Flaunt No. 79, where he created an original painting for the issue’s cover. In 2009, Chin participated in ROJO®OUT Urban Stage Sao Paulo where he was selected to create a permanent site specific painting on three massive concrete structures in the center of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In July 2010, Chin produced his first museum installation for ROJO®NOVA at MIS in Sao Paulo.
http://www.toferchin.com
http://www.newspaper.toferchin.com
Yogi Proctor:
(coming soon)
Andy Mueller:
Andy Mueller was raised in the mid-west on a healthy diet of BMX, skateboarding, music and magazines. At an early age, Andy became addicted to the art of image making and photo taking. In 1993, Andy founded OhioGirl Design, a small design/photo/film studio. In 1997, Andy started “The Quiet Life”, as an outlet for purely creative ideas, with a few friends from within OhioGirl.
Originally producing only one or two designs a year, The Quiet Life has grown into a much larger project. The Quiet LIfe now releases 2 seasons a year with worldwide distribution, produces special designs for Upper Playground’s 50-24-SF artist line and for 2K by Gingham, and releases limitied edition items that can only be found on this website.
In addition to the Quiet Life, Andy works full time at Girl Skateboards as a member of the infamous “Art Dump.”At Girl, Andy’s main duty is to art direct Girl’s shoe company Lakai Limited Footwear, but he also designs skateboard deck graphics to Girl Skateboards and Chocolate Skateboards, shoots photos for Fourstar, Ruby and the other brands within Girl, and contributes elsewhere when time allows. Andy also continues to do freelance photograph, design, and special projects under the name OhioGirl, and co-runs a small “indie” music label called OhioGold Records,
Andy currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two cats, bird, and a new baby boy!
He also really likes to play ping-pong and recently picked up his golf clubs for the first time in 15 years….
Masakazu Kitayama:
Born 1967 in Kobe. Graduate of the Kuwasawa Design School. Founded help! in 1998 after working at Contemporary Production. While working mainly on CD jacket design for artists like Cornelius, also CI for J Sports and art direction, logomark and title design for football television shows like “Foot!” and “Barca es
Barca”. Published his first art collection “LiGHT STUFf” in November of 2007 (recommended by the 11th Cultural Affairs Agency Media Arts Festival committee).