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    • “Is that a Gun My Friend?” new works by Parra

    Parra 2, Past Exhibitions

    “Is that a Gun My Friend?” New Works by Parra. The opening party is Saturday, April 4, 7 - 10 pm and the exhibit runs through May 9. HVW8 Art + Design Gallery is located at 661 N. Spaulding Ave., Los Angeles CA, 90036; open Tuesday to Sunday, 1 - 6 pm or by appointment. Parra will be creating new original works exclusive to the HVW8 Art + Design Gallery.

    Music will be provided by Mr. French (Mathieu Schreyer - KCRW)

    RSVP to parra_rsvp(at)hvw8.com

    32-year-old Dutch illustrator and designer Parra has decorated the Amsterdam underground with his playful, bizarre graphics that span a broad base of themes, from introspective to audacious and bawdy. The mostly self-taught artist channels vintage forms, yet with a decidedly modern, post-pop approach and a distinctive, hand-drawn feel. His vibrant images and typography can be seen on prints in various exhibitions around the globe, on a flyer for a club near you, on the sleeve of a record, or on limited-edition tees and sweaters.

    Parra’s characteristic style has also extended into his music career with electro-rock group LeLe. Their most popular track “Breakfast” features Parra’s typography and imagery set in motion to the song’s pulsating beats and comical (and slightly naughty) lyrics. Feel free to check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-zfbDHipG8

    To view Parra’s previous exhibition LALALA at the HVW8 Art + Design Gallery please go HERE.

    More information on Parra can also be found on his website HERE.

    Purchase Artwork HERE

    View opening night event photos HERE and HERE.

    enjoi just another skateboard art show

    Past Exhibitions, enjoi

    enjoi just another skateboard art show

    featuring work by : winston tseng, matt eversole, todd bratud and jerry hsu.

    March 8th - April 1st at the HVW8 Art + Design Gallery, 661 N. Spaulding Ave. 90026

    opening reception Saturday, March 7th, 7 to 10 pm, by invitation only.

    rsvp enjoi@hvw8.com

     
    Birthed 2000 years after his brother Jesus, enjoi has steadily become one of the most revered/reviled brands in skateboarding.  Love it or hate it, enjoi brings fun and creativity to skateboarding, blazing a path for lesser beings to imitate.  Contrary to message-board belief, this multi-thousand dollar brand runs off the work of just a handful of individuals.  enjoi just another skateboard artshow takes a look at selected works from a few of the creative minds behind your new favorite company (no homo):

    Winston Tseng lives behind his computer.  Officially, he is the “art director” for enjoi, and unofficially he is the lone graphic artist dedicated to spending every waking moment of his life trying to come up with ideas and graphics for enjoi.  Less skilled than most, Winston relies heavily on his use of colors to make his graphics “sellable”.

     

    Todd Bratrud is too famous and talented to work for any one company.  Fortunately for enjoi he has become a recurring “guest employee”, contributing his signature style graphics to boards, tees, wheels and anything else demanded of him.  Having worked for conglomerates such as Teenage Runaway, Burton, Volcom, Nike, Consolidated, Flip and The Skateboard Mag, it’s clear that Todd’s best work has been for enjoi.

     

    Jerry Hsu rides for Bakewish, or was it Deather?  Actually Jerry is one of the o.g. pros and has signed a lifetime commitment to enjoi.  If he wasn’t so well known for being the Best-Asian-Skater-Ever, he might be more known for his photography.  You’ve surely seen his photos featured in cool guy galleries, cool guy websites, cool guy magazines, and cool guy enjoi ads.

    Images of the Exhibition/Pop up shop -

    12

     

    Photos from the Opening Night Party HERE

    Article from Opening night HERE

    Purchase Artwork HERE

    Kevin Lyon’s Your Mom’s In My Business Exhibition

    Kevin Lyons, Past Exhibitions

    Printed Ephemera and New Works
     by Kevin Lyons

    Opening Friday, May 9th, 6 - 10 pm,
    Show runs May 10th - June 15th

    HVW8 Art +Design Gallery
     661 N. Spaulding Ave
    Los Angeles, CA 90036
    Gallery open: Wed - Sat, 1- 5pm
    Or by appointment:
    323 655 4898

    Kevin Lyons is a 1992 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design where he received a degree in film. After working for Nickelodeon / MTV as an Associate Producer, he co-founded the NYC based design firm, stereo-type which for two years was responsible for much of the graphic look of the New York City underground Hip-Hop and Acid Jazz scene. This included the logo design for the long standing NYC based club, GIANT STEP. Stereo-type’s client list also included Soul Kitchen, 555 Soul and the LA-based, Brass Recordings. After receiving his masters degree from CalArts in 1998, Lyons has gone on to work for Nike, both in and out of house, was the former Art Director of Urban Outfitters on two separate occasions, and has been Art Director for filmmaker Spike Jonze’s Girl Skateboard Company. He was also the original US Art Director for TOKION Magazine and maintains long-standing freelance relationships with Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas, Stussy and Stussy Japan, Beams Japan, HUF, Nieves Books, Stones Throw Records, Commonwealth Stacks, and long-time friend and collaborator NYC artist, SSUR.

    A typographer, an Art Director, a designer, a teacher, and a father. In 2001, he was named as one of “The Top Forty Designers Under Thirty” by ID Magazine. His work has been published worldwide from Thrasher to The Face to Lowdown to Anthem and Refill. He has shown worldwide including solo shows in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo. He has written articles for the AIGA Journal, as well as addressing the AIGA on two occasions including once as a published recipient of its Fresh Dialogues Series. He has also held teaching assistant positions at both RISD and CalArts, and has been a visiting critic at the Yale Graduate School of Design. He was an Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute teaching Typography from 2000 -2002. Most recently, Lyons was the Design Director of the legendary Stussy and then Creative Director for the alternative retail giant, Urban Outfitters from 2003 - 2007.

    He is now the Design Director for New York City based Anomaly, a brand incubating, marketing juggernaut with plans on running the world. He also produces three clothing lines; one for 2K called Atlantis, We Free Kings, and the third under his personal namesake, NATURAL BORN. All are distributed globally. Currently, Lyons also maintains his own small experimental graphic project also under the namesake, Natural Born in Philadelphia , PA where he lives with his wife and two daughters drawing type and bumping Twin Hype.

    Kevin’s Letter

    please post this open letter as much as you can. new marketing approach from a new marketer.

    I want to extend an invitation to you all to attend my opening at the HVW8 gallery on Spaulding in West hollywood here in LA on friday, May 9th. I also want to forewarn that in and of itself this is no literal art show. It is riddled with sketches, visual rants and pointless, aggressive dribble. it is unframed, unedited and purely self- indulgent. I am in all truth as you all know an Art Director/Creative Director, not an artist by any stretch, and I have never pretended to be as such and this show will fully reenforce this very reality. All of that having been said, even with lack of focus and in all seriousness a lack of actual work, it winds up ironically being the first show which i actually show any raw emotion. It is work that wound up personal and silly and not over thought. Recently I worked for a retail machine that kept me very busy methodically and very intentionally calculating exactly what “kids” want to see and purchase. I went through a fairly emotional roller coaster there which made me realize that I wanted to go in a very different direction. Along side this work, I was also experiencing total freedom in my personal freelance work and getting paid to simply be me. The less I thought and obsessed over the work the more people responded to it backwards George day. Now I am experiencing a very different ride in working for a pseudo ad agency trying to break out of the ad agency model. I commute for nearly 4 hours a day and in that time while riding bumpy trains, I find myself drawing for drawing’s sake. I put my laptop away and abandon fonts and grids and simply draw monsters, and ice creams and Stars of David riding skateboards. They are goofy, angry, and emotional. These are some of the treats that you will see at my show. Nothing fancy. Tape and tacks. wrinkled, non-archival, and devoid of color. Just sharing, warning, but not apologizing. I will carry all the art in a carry on bag on the plane and put it up in less than 24 hours. Please come out. One of my favorite dj’s will be there, Sureshot, an old reggae head who shares my love of early reggae soul seven inches.

    nuff’said. sho’nuff. by any means necessary.

    Kevin.

    Purchase Artwork HERE

    Kevin Lyons talks about designing t-shirts, collecting images, and not being a blogger while installing his May 2008 show at HVW8 Gallery in Los Angeles entitled ‘Your Mom’s in my Business.’
    filmed by arkitip.