A broad range of stencil graffiti styles including photorealism, political, pop, abstract, and those focusing purely on beauty will be on display. Emerging and established artists will be on view side by side as a testament of the history, evolution and future of stencil art. Artists in this exhibit form a collective that defines the power and beauty of stencil art which continues to drive one of the fastest growing street art movements throughout the world. In attendance on Opening Night will be exhibiting artists Greg Boudreau, Henry Quiara, Koleszar, Nathan Phaneuf and Scotch.
In the Featured Artist Room: Installation by Featured Artist and godfather of graffiti in LA, Chaz Bojorquez. Bojorquez’s symbol or “tag”, created in 1969, was a stylized skull called Senor Suerte inspired by Mexican folklore and especially by the cult of Holy Death, and is one of the first examples of stencil art applied to the street and it subsequently became an image for protection against death among the street gangs. Bojórquez was one of the first writers to employ special typographical characters, creating an original synthesis of psychedelic style, Fraktur and Chinese calligraphy. Also, special Chaz book signing event TBA, stay tuned for further details!
About the Friends with Knives Artists: · Banksy in his unofficial biography famously said of Blek Le Rat, “Everytime I think I've painted something original I find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well, only 20 years earlier'. Blek Le Rat often described as the Godfather of Stencil Art was the first to use stencils for silhouettes on the streets of Paris, he has been investigating the urban space for over 28 years and still continues to inspire urban artists all over the world. · PaperMonster’s vivid and intricate pieces explore the beauty behind the eyes and facial expressions of women. · Broken Crow's art features various animals and anthropomorphic humanoids in crazy colors and extreme sizes. Through painting they seek to reintroduce wild animals back into urban habitats, writing their own mythologies as they go. · Chris Stain’s work and its themes find a kinship with the American social-realist movement of the early 20th century. Kolezar experiments with things like color, detail and scale to challenge preconceptions of what can be accomplished with stenciling. · Nathan Phaneuf focuses on more minimal pieces that accentuate the women he photographs for his pieces produced using the underlying wood as the main skin tone and negative space for his stencils. · Shai Dahan is recognized for his talent of hand painting skateboards as well as creating his animalguns designs on the streets of Los Angeles and New York using stencils, wheatpastes and other mediums as well. · Peat Wollaeger (stenSOUL) is internationally known stencil artist famous for his signature EYEZ , raw colorful characters and stencil videos. · Dave Lowell works with a combination of multi-layer stencils and freehand spraying. · E.L.K is fast becoming well respected amongst his peers and in much demand nationally for his approach to photo-realistic stenciling. · By using multi-layered stencils of up to 60 layers HAHA’s work is a reflection of Austrailian popular culture. · Joe Iurato just launched a new series of portraits featuring a selection of musicians performing the famous song “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess.· Henry Quiara is an artist/designer of lowbrow, urban contemporary and counter culture art.· Greg Boudreau specializes in making the ordinary extraordinary. · Mefee, a true definition of an anomaly. Mefee works as a scarification artists providing surgical implants underneath the skin in which his skill with a scalpol is easily transfered into his stencil work creating precision cut pieces. · Leckomio’s works deal with street art and graffiti as a subject, as shown by B-boys or the hyper-realistic representation of urban landscapes tagged for sky to bitumen. · Scotch! continues to push for new techniques/ideas that people of all ages & genres can enjoy.
Exhibiting Artists: Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Dave Lowell, E.L.K, Greg Boudreau, HAHA, Henry Quiara, Joe Iurato, Koleszar, Leckomio, Mefee, Nathan Phaneuf, PaperMonster, Peat Wollaeger, Scotch, Shai Dahan
Artist Websites Chaz Bojorquez: http://www.chazbojorquez.com Blek le Rat: http://bleklerat.free.fr/ Broken Crow: http://brokencrow.com Chris Stain: http://www.chrisstain.com Dave Lowell: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davelowell/ E.L.K: http://myspace.com/elkstencils Greg Boudreau: http://www.gregboudreau.com HAHA: http://www.regantamanui.com Henry Quiara: http://www.artficionado.blogspot.com Joe Iurato: http://www.joeiurato.com Koleszar: http://www.koleszar.com Leckomio: http://www.stefanwinterle.de/ Mefee: http://www.mefee.org Nathan Phaneuf: http://www.nathanphaneuf.com/ PaperMonster: http://papermonster.wordpress.com Peat Wollaeger: http://www.stenSOUL.com Scotch: http://www.myspace.com/el_scotcho Shai Dahan : http://www.Abztract.com
Important Dates: Opening Reception August 7th, 2010 from 6-9pm with Live music by DJ Phyz Ed. Artwalk Event August 12th, 2010 from 6-9pm with Live music by DJ Phyz Ed. Last Day for Exhibit August 29, 2010 | 
