LETHAL INJECTION | Reception

Robert Bowen, Isaac Pierro, Philip Lawson & Nicolas Giraud |
Including featured portraits by Jason Mitchell & Stacey Ransom |

OPENING RECEPTION | FRIDAY | AUGUST 3 | 5PM – LATE | With DJ Captain Kerf |
On display through Sept 1st, 2012 |

On August 3rd 2012, 111 Minna Gallery proudly presents, “Lethal Injection.” Aptly titled, this exhibition will display the severe imagery and extensive work ethics of two local San Francisco artists, Robert Bowen and Isaac Pierro as well as the tediously dedicated, Nicolas Giraud, who hails from Toulouse, France. Although these three artists practice a variety of artistic mediums successfully, they will primarily be focusing on and delivering paintings for the Lethal Injection exhibition, but special guest artist, Philip Lawson will display his handmade weapons of light.

Robert Bowen

The bastard son of 1000 maniacs, Robert Bowen is a San Francisco based artist who watched entirely too much t.v. as a kid. A connoisseur of bad habits and collector of all things wrong, this “artist” feels it is his duty to bombard you with whatever inane and juvenile imagery falls from his hand. Hell bent on world domination, he pauses only occasionally for Mexican food and Lindsay Lohan movies.

“Robert Bowen’s work is a strange, swirling brew of colorful contradiction that is not easy to define or even understand, but that seems quite the point. Throughout his body of work, Bowen takes familiar iconography and handily corkscrews it with his own unique brand of humor and distinct painting style. Bowen’s ability to reappropriate contradictory symbols into unsettling situations puts him in league with greats like Ron English, and Andy Warhol. He continues to walk the line between charming humor and blasphemous sarcasm with symbolic imagery that leaves the viewer both curious and confused.” -Stacey Ransom | PUREBRED

RANSOM & MITCHELL | http://ransommitchell.com

Director-photographer Jason Mitchell and set designer-photo illustrator Stacey Ransom create highly-detailed and visually-lush photographic portraits & scenarios. Their work is narrative in nature and draws upon the darker undercurrent that exists within all aspects of society. They aim to create worlds that cannot exist, through a unique combination of cinematic lighting, theatrically designed sets and an illustrative approach that is inspired by the Italian and Dutch Master painters. Their meticulous mind-set and skills were honed in their years of working on motion picture films and they still often create short films to accompany their photo works. Their debut solo show will be at Varnish Fine Art opening September 8th and running through October 27th, 2012.

Nicolas Giraud

Between innocence and darkness, 100Taur’s work explores the allure of difference and imperfection, by creating a world inhabited by fantastical creatures, half human-half animal hybrids, deformed, tarnished, where every detail is a tribute to the etching’s caption « the sleep of the reason produces monsters », made by the spanish painter Francisco de Goya in 1799.

There’s in 100Taur’s work an assumed fascination for monsters, even a claimed sympathy. Its aim is to dispute the idea of standardization, and to reveal that any standard is monstrous itself.

“Through my childish eyes, I invent nightmare creatures in order to make them my imaginary confidents. I love to pay a particular attention to the tiny details of the backgrounds, offering to my creatures a rich and colorful universe, inspired by mythological descriptions in literature, japanese icons… We must not forget that ‘monstrum’, means, in Latin, a miracle, an incredible thing, also a show. Wonderful, horrible or disgusting. It’s what it’s necessary to see and to show.”

Behind every drawing, painting, sculpture or installation, a story is waiting to be discovered.

100Taur was born and works in 1982 in the south of France. He has always cultivated a deep curiosity for nature and he find his inspiration in mythology, curiosity cabinets, religious icons, comics, fantastic literature and B movies.

Isaac Pierro

“Most of my work is story based with themes of love, heartbreak, drugs and music. Even the character portraits I do usually have a specific story behind them. Most of my inspiration comes from emotions I have about experiences in the past, present, and also aspirations for the future. My work has a heavy tattoo influence as I am also a tattoo artist.”

Philip Lawson

He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida in 1991 and a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with an emphasis in Art Therapy from Notre dame de Namur University in California in 2001.

His eclectic approach to making art has included scoring films, producing music videos, and working in a variety of other media, from painting and sculpture to photography and ceramics.

Philip Lawson has recently returned to the bay area and has his studio on Alameda Island located between Oakland and San Francisco.

Weapons of Light

“My reasoning behind the series “Weapons of Light” is not to glorify the gun but use it’s form as a vehicle to communicate an idea. Weapons of Light are a conceptual series representing peaceful solutions to resolving conflicts.”

The series being shown at 111 MINNA Gallery are representative of the seven Virtues.

Originally the concept for this series came from observing the major conflicts of this century and the end of the last. These conflicts are marked with divisiveness, intolerance and religious fanaticism. The assault rifle is the preferred form of communication between them. I have attempted to transform the same weapon and send a peaceful message. These sculpture are an effort to remind us that the three major religions have a common origin: Abraham. From this one person came Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

These Weapons are cast in resin from the rifle created by Automat Kalashnikov in 1947. The iconic AK47.