OBEY YOUR MASTERS - TRIBUTE TO METALLICA

This past weekend a group show dedicated to the music of Metallica opened at the Exhibit A Gallery. While I was not able to attend the show, friend of the Creep Machine Brennan was able to make it to the show, take some photos, and write a short review for us. Take it away.

So a few weeks ago I received an email about an invite only show coming up at Exhibit A Gallery here in Los Angeles. It was for a show entitled Obey Your Master and was going to be a group show with artists paying tribute to one of the greatest metal bands of all time, Metallica. The list of participating artists was a who’s who of the current art scene. You had everyone from Travis Louie to Shawn Barber and Sylvia Ji to Shepard Fairey all with pieces re-interpreting some Metallica songs into art. I was obviously very stoked to be able to attend this show, and it did not disappoint at all.

The Gallery/Space, Exhibit A Gallery, was next to the Tony Alva Skate shop here in Los Angeles on South Fairfax. The turnout of course was tremendous with a wait in line of about 20 minutes just to get inside. Once inside it was shoulder to shoulder with people the entire time. Which is why I guess i’m a little lucky that I got the pictures that I did of a majority of the artwork for this show.The gallery itself wasn’t really that small, it was more that the number of people in the building was past capacity. This being Los Angeles there was a handful of celebrities in attendance along with most of the artists in the house. Some of the members of Metallica were in attendance, such as Lars, James and Robert..No Kirk though.

The pieces that I absolutely loved were of course by Travis Louie, is art always makes my jaw drop. I also really liked Chad Michael Wards submission, it was very gritty and for some reason made me wanna go listen to Ministry — I know wrong band but sorry thats what i got when i looked at it. Of course Shawn Barbers piece was amazing as always, does this man ever make stuff that isn’t amazing? The Slyvia Ji painting was also quite amazing and she is coming fresh off her show at Corey Helford Gallery. All in All it was a pretty spectacular show and i was very thankful that i replied back to the email i received getting my special invite. The show opens to the public on Monday January 23rd. I would recommend taking yourself down to exhibit a gallery and checking it out before its over.

                  

LAURA LUCIA FERRER ZAMUDIO WORX

Laura Lucía Ferrer Zamudio is an artist working out of Queretaro, Mexico. In 2010 she received her BFA from the University of Queretaro and has since been in a few solo and group exhibitions. Her drawings are created with graphite, ink, and sometimes a wash of color from maybe watercolors or watered down acrylics. The content deals mainly with the idea of humanity and death, and through Laura’s impressive drawing skills and use of texture as seen with the cross-hatching, each image is not only delicate but surreal.

If your like me and plan on keeping an eye on the work of the very talented Laura Lucía Ferrer Zamudio, make sure you check out her homepage which also has links to her tumblr and other social profiles.

1313.mx

WOMAN IN BLACK

Woman In Black gleefully embraces campy horror of a bygone age

Everybody thinks that Woman In Black, the old-fashioned ghost story featuring Daniel Radcliffe (AKA Harry Potter), is about Edwardian England. But in fact, it's about the 1960s - at least stylistically. Full of silly plot devices, hyperbolically drawn characters, and menacing Victorian geegaws, this movie feels exactly like a Hammer classic from the UK studio's heyday in the 60s. But sadly there are no sexy Christopher Lee scenes, or lesbotic vampires lurking in the shadows. Hammer's first film in decades is actually closer to Scooby Doo than Taste the Blood of Dracula.

If you're scared by windup dolls whose eyes follow you, ghosts who literally say "Woooooo!", and old rooms wreathed in spider webs, then you are going to loveWoman In Black.

As I said, this is the first Hammer film in quite some time, and it's clear the studio is trying to recapture its glory days when Peter Cushing starred in its campy, blood-soaked updates of Frankenstein and Dracula. Woman In Black is an adaptation of a wildly popular novel, which has already gotten a very respectable TV movie treatment in the UK. Radcliffe does a fine job in what would probably have been a Cushing role, though he's far too tentative to do any scenery-chewing - which is our loss. He plays a young lawyer named Arthur, whose wife died in childbirth four years before. Still mourning her loss, he's neglected his son and his job, which is why he finds himself sent off on a crappy "last chance or you're fired" gig, going through the papers of a woman who has just died in chilly coastal town. He's got to get the creepy, dilapidated estate, Eel Marsh House, ready to sell.

For anyone who loves classic horror, there's a lot of fun to be had in the first part of the movie, where the horror clichés are laid on so thick they become charming. Everyone in the town refuses to talk to Arthur. He sees a spooky figure in black. Children die mysteriously. Eel Marsh House is full of cobwebs, chairs that rock on their own, evil-looking crows, and looooooong hallways that terminate with dark, vaginal openings into realms of curtained shadow.

It soon emerges that the "woman in black" that Arthur has been seeing is a spirit who has haunted the town for decades, always appearing before children die. The one person who doesn't seem completely convinced by the legend is Sam (Ciarán Hinds), the town gentleman who befriends Arthur. He putters around in his newfangled car, telling Arthur that the village is mired in superstition. There's a great scene where Arthur visits Sam and his wife for dinner, and discovers that they, too, have lost their son to the curse. Sam's wife keeps two dogs instead of a child, and we watch her spooning food into their mouths from silver dishes at the table - right before she's seized with the spirit of her dead boy and starts drawing scary shit on the table with her knife.

Oh, and did I mention all the creepy ghost children? And the sad/spooky pictures that Arthur's own son has drawn? Yeah, this movie leaves no ghost trope untouched. Buried beneath the Scooby Doo touches, however, are some genuinely chilling glimpses into the minds of parents robbed of their children. We are never allowed to forget about the horrific underside of family bonds.

The longer Arthur stays at Eel Marsh, the more obvious it becomes that yes, the place is seriously haunted. As more children die, Arthur finds the ghost's secret in some hidden papers - and hatches a bizarre plan to help her find peace. But not before he spends a really long time opening doors and ogling furniture in the ghost's giant Victorian mansion — making you wonder whether this isn't a Very Special Episode of This Old House. I mean, I know the guy is a real estate lawyer, but still. There is such a thing as too much house porn.

Also, I must warn you in a non-spoilery way that the ending of the movie may annoy you deeply. You'll see what I mean.

Though there were genuine chills and good fun to be had with this flick, I was left wishing that Hammer had returned to movie-making with hat-tips to the science fictional world of its Quatermass series, or the deeply goofy (but still awesome) prehistoric world of One Million Years B.C. (who knew Homo erectus looked like Raquel Welch?). This movie felt like warmed over goodness, rather than something fresh and spicy.

PRISMA COLLECTIVE

Back in October 2011, a small group of artists had the idea to create a collective online. The internet is a great place to get your work out there, but I have often heard from artists that a place to swap ideas, share stories, converse, and even help each other out is lacking. So this group of artists started the Prisma Collective, and now there is already over 25 active members: Mary Jane Ansell, Tom Bagshaw, Lindsay Carr, Hsiao-Ron Cheng, Leontine Greenberg, Nicole Gustafsson, Caitlin Hackett, Daria Hlazatova, Ruben Ireland (shown), Sarah Joncas, Nom Kinnear King, Alex Louisa, Rod Luff, Kit Lane, Jen Mann, Kelly McKernan, Lady Orlando, Lily Piri, Audrey Pongracz, Michael Shapcott, Kaspian Shore, Allison Sommers, Kelly Vivanco, Casey Weldon, and Bec Winnel. The site is very well laid out, easy to navigate and is ready to go with the content. Each artists has their own profile and gallery, a shop section filled with prints and originals, and a list of interviews with the artists that will be published soon.

Check it out: Prisma Collective

TEETERING BULB

Last weekend I attended a wonderful illustration workshop with Zelda Devon, one half of the art duo, Teetering Bulb.  This intimate peek behind the curtain of the working processes these two artists employ was a fantastic and helpful eye-opener for the small group of students who attended.

Teetering Bulb is very prolific with brains packed full of mysterious stories that they like to share.  Besides that and the slew of commissions they are hired to do on a regular basis, they are also in the midst of working on a project for DC Comics.  Teetering Bulb‘s visual style is very unique; many people have asked them how they create their magical works.  With this workshop, Zelda explained their working process from pencil drawing to digital coloring.  She also did a small critique of each attendee’s work and talked about the art business, all in a three hour session that cost only about $75.  Kurt Huggins, Teetering Bulb‘s other half, joined in towards the end of the session.

If you’re interested in taking part in Zelda’s next workshop, please drop her a line.

A Stranger’s Encounter. Read the entire Little Fiction here:

Zelda talks about her sample image:

Pomegranate is a commissioned painting:

The gathering:

The image below is from one of Teetering Bulb’s Little Fictions called The Tempest Awakens. To see the rest of the story click here:

Some serious charcoal pencil sharpening:

An illustration for musician Kim Boekbinder‘s single, Open Avocado:

The product of the workshop, an illustration for the play, Arsenic and Old Lace:

And may I introduce Cypher, Teetering Bulb’s furry muse:

YURI LEONOV WORX

Artist Yuri Leonov is an up and coming New Contemporary artist who recently graduated from the School of Visual Arts’ Illustration program.  He’s been painting since he was 13, thus his skills with a brush are exemplary to say the least.  Moody and thoughtful, his work explores his “inner conflicts and fluctuating surroundings” via series of paintings that are heavily planned out.

About a year ago, Yuri joined forces with some of his peers to put together an artist collective called Artillery, which has been working with galleries and alternative spaces in New York and Brooklyn to put up a group show about once every six months or so.  Artillery is about to put up its latest exhibition, Love and Other Drugs, at a new store on the Lower East Side’s Orchard Street, Grit N Glory.

Check out Yuri’s site here and, if you’re in New York come to the opening of Love and Other Drugs on February 10th.

A TIME TO KILL

“Although theres no unifying theme to this show, the inspiration for the work comes from the metaphysical- ghosts, spirits, intergalactic space creatures, anything that hints at the idea that we are just a small part of the unimaginably vast universe. Some of the works are based on hypnosis sessions of people who believed they had been abducted by aliens. I’ve created human/alien hybrid creatures based on the experiences these people described. All of the works, I feel incorporate the inherent beauty of interpreting both the known and unknown.”

If your in the area, make sure to stop by the show and see these works in person. The full show is now online to view.
Thinkspace Gallery

THE GATES OF HELL