111 Minna Gallery is proud to present “Fort Big Mountain”, an exhibition  showcasing new works by Oakland, CA painters Christopher Russell and Seth Armstrong. The exhibition will run from March 4-27, 2010. The exhibition has been curated by for the 111 Minna Gallery by Curator Gabe Scott with assistance from 111 Minna Gallery Curator Jay Howell.

ARTISTIC HIGHLIGHTS
Through his paintings, Christopher Russell explores his personal perceptions and connections with the natural world by ‘painting outside from within’. Russell’s images of nature communicate his reverence for nature, a ‘reverence tempered by notions of disconnection and disillusionment’. His landscapes are based both on his physical experiences as well as an alternate narrative based on fantasy and imagination. The fantasy is incorporated as an exaggeration of a real experience, allowing Russell to invent a new landscape that is based on the idea or experience of a place rather than sit in front of it in order to capture its essence. Christopher was raised in Boulder, CO, attended the California College of the Arts and is based in Oakland, CA.

Seth Armstrong, another former CCA student displays a compulsion to juxtapose hyper-realistic re-creations of his surroundings with various fantastical segments of his imagination. The resulting narratives contain elements of drama, mystery and humor that “accentuate the theatrical and fictitious characteristics believed to be apparent in everyday life”. He feels that “the actions of the subjects and the circumstances of their environments are often vague, only hinting at the events that are inherently taking place”.  Seth was raised in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in Oakland, CA.

Legendary underground publisher Last Gasp turns 40 this year and to celebrate, they are throwing a party and art show at 111 Minna Gallery.

The Last Gasp 40th Anniversary Art Show assembles a top-drawer lineup of artists – the haut monde of lowbrow.  Over the past four decades, Last Gasp has published hundreds of artists in the underground comix and kustom kulture, to pop surrealism and street art movements

Artists in the show include: Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup Glenn Barr, Robert Crumb, Richard Corben, Guy Colwell, Ron English, Tony Fitzpatrick, Christopher Felver, Camille Rose Garcia, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Rick Griffin, Ed Hardy, Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, Carol Lay, Adrian Lee, Michael Manning, Chris Mars, Scott Musgrove, Junko Mizuno, Liz McGrath, Laurenn McCubbin, Mitch O’Connell, Annie Owens, The Pizz, Mark Ryden, Michael Rosen, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Dori Seda, Winston Smith, Eric White, Robert Williams, Attaboy, Aye Jay, and many more to be announced.

Writers, including San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane DiPrima will do a reading.  Design radicals GAMA-GO will produce a limited edition tee shirt for the event.

Last Gasp founder and publisher Ron Turner is available for interviews. Book covers, interior art, and other images available upon request.21 + over; Free and open to the public
(415) 974-1719 www.111minnagallery.com
Contact: Jay Howell  jay.howell@gmail.com

About Last Gasp
Last Gasp is one of the largest and oldest publishers and purveyors of underground books & comics in the world, as well as being a distributor of all sorts of weird ‘n’ wonderful subversive literature, graphic novels, tattoo and art books.

Last Gasp was founded in 1970 by Ron Turner. Last Gasp’s first publication, Slow Death Funnies #1 came out on the first “Earth Day,” April 15, 1970. Subsequent comics included the all-women’s comic It Ain’t Me Babe, and Skull Comics. Over the years they have published, and in some cases brought to light, some of the most respected and talented artists working today, including such luminaries as R. Crumb, Mark Ryden, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Frank Kozik, Todd Schorr, Winston Smith, Spain Rodriguez, and Robert Williams to name but a few.

Ron Turner’s enthusiasm for underground comics, and in particular their autobiographical aspect, has been the driving force behind many groundbreaking publications.  Last Gasp published Justin Green’s highly acclaimed confessional Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary in 1972, a book that became an inspiration to many artists now working in the autobiographical style. “Art Spiegelman, who won the only Pulitzer Prize for cartooning, has said he would never have started to do the autobiographical story of his family (in the graphic novel Maus) unless Justin had done it first. And Robert Crumb said the same thing,” said Turner.

Today, Last Gasp publishes 12-20 new titles per year, focusing on Lowbrow and Pop Surrealist artists, as well as graphic novels. The company has 18 full and part-time employees and is based in San Francisco. In addition to publishing, Last Gasp distributes for large and small publishers worldwide, providing a steady countercultural stream of books and other printed matter that spreads over six continents.

Last Gasp books have been glowingly reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Juxtapoz magazine, The Guardian (UK), Hi-Fructose magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Austin Chronicle, American Book Review, and The Los Angeles Times.

Co-publishing partners include La Luz de Jesus / Billy Shire Fine Arts, Porterhouse Fine Art Editions, San Jose Museum of Art, Grand Central Art Center, Smokemuse, JaPress, Moulinsart, Presspop Gallery, Ignition Publishing, NewSkool/Analog, Laguna Art Museum, and many more.

The readers of the San Francisco Bay Guardian named Last Gasp the Best Local Publisher in 2009.

First publications: Slow Death, 1970 (comic); Breather’s Guide to Invisible Air Polution (book) 1970

111 Minna Gallery are proud to present WONDERLAND – the very anticipated group show, curated by award winning, multi-talented Irene Hernandez-Feiks; founder of Chillin Productions.  Throughout the past 11 years, Irene has provided a platform for thousands of emerging Bay Area artists with Chillin Productions, and watched them flourish into their careers.  Wonderland is a particularly significant project for Irene, as she began her art career at 111 Minna Gallery, in 1998.  Since then she has dreamed of curating a show here, and we at 111 Minna are proud and excited about this incredibly dynamic show she has put together.Wonderland features 60 of Irene’s all-time favorite artists, each have greatly influenced and contributed to the local art community.  This very special exhibition showcases a wide variety of exciting and diverse visual artistic talents, and true Bay Area art icons.

Aaron Johnson
Alex Garcia Ferrá
Amandalynn
Andrzej Michael Karwacki
Angela Scrivani
Ben Collison
Brian Barneclo
Brooke Farrington
Chris Stokes
Christie Newman
Cinthia Dennis
Conor Burns
Daniel J. Valadez
David Rozelle
DEEPSI{X}
Erin Schroeder
Faith Allen
Ferris Plock
Fidel Lirio
Freda Banks
“elle”
Gianluca Franzese
GINNE
Hilary Williams
Ian Ross
Jaiv1
Jason Michael Aumann
Jeff Neugebauer
Jeffrey Nemenzo
Jenny Wehrt
Jeremy Mann
Jocelyn Meggait
John Patrick Campbell
Jonah Burlingame
Kelly Tunstall
Kimi Recor
Krescent Carasso
Kukula
Lady Millard
Lee Harvey Roswell
Manny Fabregas
Marcus Herrera
MARIAFATIMA URBI
Mary Syring
Merkley???
Misha Vladimirskiy
Natalia Gomez
Paul Trapani
“Ptah Amen”
Rebecca Peters
Robert Garcia
Romanowski
Samanta Tello
Slava Likhatchev
Spencer Hansen
Steve Javiel
Telopa
Ursula Xanthe Young
Yuri Psinakis
Yvette Buigues

My last solo show was Feb. of 2008; this next opening is pretty much my first endeavor since then. In May of 2008, I left on a year long travel through Central America, Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe. I decided to put down my brush during the entirety of the year and, instead, use a camera as my tool of creative expression. The idea was to inject myself with as many outside influences, experiences, and cultures as possible, over the course of the year. Let it all sink in and begin processing once I crawled back into my studio. What has transpired has been a difficult transition back into painting where I have ultimately found myself exploring several different avenues of development all at once or on top of one another. I’m beginning to see the influence of my travel encounters lacing itself through my current work.

Taking so much time away from painting has created a bombardment of ideas for me, that while processing, has given birth to this show, Resurface. Resurface, for me, is basically picking up a brush again, putting back out for the public, and reinventing techniques which I learned over a decade ago. Resurface offers a variety of  ’surfaces’ as well. The show consists of a series of intense portraiture of Cambodian refugees, much looser multimedia paintings, which have brought me into an open consciousness form of painting that I have been trying to accomplish for years. There will be work on glass, fine line drawing, charcoals, color studies and in addition, I will be debuting my photography. Basically, the pieces of Resurface have opened up a series of work that have grown beyond the borders of 111 Minna Gallery. Resurface is more than a body of work, but a new style of creating that will go beyond this opening. This show is an opportunity to view the beginning of my next journey.

111 Minna Gallery is proud to host NeighborhoodSF, a group show featuring some of San Francisco’s most exciting and prolific artists, co-curated by Ryan Malley of the ArtPrint.net and Martin Olive of sQuint. NeighborhoodSF is a collection of San Francisco’s finest artists who are each given the task of representing this City’s many unique neighborhoods, showing at 111 Minna Gallery from September 3rd through the 26th, 2009.

San Francisco is without a doubt, one of the most diverse cities in the world. Its neighborhoods are each legendary in their own way and it’s residents are iconic in their varied personalities.

NeighborhoodSF brings a visual life to the people, places and things that create our environment. With over 40 original paintings, illustrations and installations, the artists involved in NeighborhoodSF have created a body of work that is a worthy and relevant representation of of this great City.

To say the show is star-studded would be an understatement… With the likes of Mike Giant, Jeremy Fish, Sylvia Ji, MARS-1, Coro [Justin Kaufman], Nate Van Dyke and Adam 5100 just to name a few, this showcase of local, homegrown talent is going to be one for the history books.

Tattooed women combined with beautiful Black Sharpie line work are just some of the techniques that make up the signature style and imagery of Mike Giant [GIANT ONE]. Mike applies them adeptly to illustrate the best parts of what is dark and beautiful about the Mission. His original illustration will be accompanied by limited edition prints available throughout the show dates.

Jeremy Fish made the move from the Sunset to North Beach and never looked back. Whole-heartedly embracing the neighborhood that hugs him back. His medium of choice, painting on a large multi-layered wood cut that brings together all the best parts of San Francisco’s “Little Italy.” Jeremy sought to give something back to the neighborhood that has treated him so well, so he will also be showcasing limited edition silkscreen prints of a unique North Beach piece which will sell for an unprecedented low price of $40! Proceeds will go the homeless outreach organization; North Beach Citizens.

Coro has spent the last few years calling the Tenderloin home and he wouldn’t have it any other way. His dark vision of one of San Francisco’s most haunting neighborhoods will bring chills down your spine and have you begging for more like a TL junkie on Sunday morning.

Illustrations and an installation from Matt Furie will bring to life the psychedelic nostalgia of the Haight-Ashbury District. It’s definitely a fitting locale for his kaleidoscopic monsters and animals.

With all this San Francisco based talent; Adam 5100, Adam Flores, Akira and Helen, Brett Amory, Brian Barneclo, Collin Hill, Coro [Justin Kaufman], David Chong Lee, David Imlay, Eric Bailey, Ferris Plock, Jay Howell, Jeremy Fish, Lee Harvey Roswell, MARS-1, Micah Lebrun, Mike Giant, Nate Van Dyke, Romanowski, Ryan Malley, Sylvia Ji and Wesley Burt, NeighborhoodSF promises to be an amazing and inspiring showcase that truly represents the continuing story of this most wonderful of cities… San Francisco.

Limited edition prints of work by Mike Giant, Jeremy Fish, Sylvia Ji, Coro, and Brett Amory will be made available opening night and for the duration of the show.

Local band City Light and DJ’s Nick Andre and E da Boss will be performing throughout the evening.

The inhabitants of San Francisco make this city the great place that it is, so please come share great space with us.

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111 Minna Gallery is delighted to present Ferris Plock+Kelly Tunstall’s SEA OF LOVE, a new body of collaborative works, from August 6 – 29 2009.

The latest large-scale collaborative exhibition by San Francisco-based artists Ferris Plock and Kelly Tunstall, SEA OF LOVE is an entirely new body of work that explores relationships between sailors and mermaids, stories of lost love and misguided navigation, the diversity of creatures inhabiting the oceans and their individual roles as different vessels of possibility.

Plock and Tunstall share a studio space in San Francisco’s Alamo Square and their collaborative work for this exhibit exudes a playful, colorful and whimsical tone, with a fluid intermingling of each artist’s point of view.

Working in acrylic, collage, spray paint, pencil, pen and ink, gold leaf and some secret sauce, the experimental, yet classically grounded works live somewhat comfortably in a space between graphic expression, stylized representation, surrealism, and sketch. The simplicity of the messages are enhanced by the underlying vitality and complex layering within the work.

In her studied portraits, Tunstall renders stylized, leggy female figures and their pets, prey, powers, and dreams. Their physical forms and accompanying exteriors represent and mirror internal thought processes ad turmoil. For instance, frequent themes such as mermaids, twins, or extra limbs concede a desire, a reliance, an adaptation, or more simply, an aspiration to something greater than being a painting. Tunstall has gone on to exhibit internationally and nationally. Tunstall’s has been exhibiting regularly at 111 Minna since 2003.

In contrast, Plock’s work centers on the inner animalistic tendencies and reactions reflected by humans (transfigured into monsters, in some cases) in the context of modern life. Disgruntled animals trying to capture clowns, animals teaching their young how to escape their predicament and even animals that don’t always socialize coming together to aid each other feature prominently in this new exhibit. Born in New Jersey, Plock has been showing his work for over eight years.

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On July 2nd, Hamburger Eyes presents EXODUS at 111 Minna Gallery. This exhibition will showcase black and white photography from regular contributors of Hamburger Eyes Photo Magazine. Photographs will range in size from large murals of 8 feet x 10 feet, to the traditional standard of 8 inches by 10 inches.

The shows title, “EXODUS” evokes not only the feelings of mass migration, but of transmogrification. Hamburger Eyes Photo Magazine, subtitled “The continuing story of Life on Earth”, has dedicated their pages to the study of the human condition. And, in this exhibit they intend to display their visions of transcendence from past, present, and future-kind. It is a mission of containing time by setting it free, thus shall begin the EXODUS.

This event will also celebrate the release of Hamburger Eyes Issue 013. Hamburger Eyes Photo Magazine is based in San Francisco. It is off-set printed in black and white on glossy stock, perfect bound with a cardstock cover, holding 150 pages at a run of 3000 copies. Hamburger Eyes is carried in shops, stores, libraries, galleries, and museums across the entire planet.

A new installation of epic proportions from Sacramento, CA artist Skinner | June 4- June 27th, 2009

Watch this: http://vimeo.com/4976900
Artwork & Music by Skinner TheArtofSkinner.com
Animation by Jim Dirschberger of EightyFourFilms.com

111 Minna Gallery is proud to present “Worship Thee Kindly The Dark Hand That Guides Me”, an exhibition showcasing new and recent works from Skinner. This full bore installation of sculpture, paintings and mixed media work will mark Skinner’s first major solo effort and will be available for enhanced 3-D viewing on the night of the opening reception.

Like some fantastical LSD nightmare, the art of skinner is a full bore visual assault that maintains a vicious stranglehold on one’s senses. Rivers of blood cut valleys out of crystal mountains that cradle the battleground of the war for evermore. From the ashes and dust rises one warrior, a very strange warrior, on a mission to destroy preconceptions of visual art and paradigm all the while maintaining a very very dark sense of humor.

Sacramento, CA resident Skinner has carefully crafted a balanced triad of impressive mural work, overwhelmingly intense wall to wall installations and a prolific commercial career. A product of 80’s pop culture, early skateboarding scenes, a broken home, dungeons and dragons and a lot of heavy metal, Skinner’s mind is one full of meyhem driven by a calculated chaos.

Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 12pm-5pm, Saturday, 1pm-5pm and viewing by appointment. 111 Minna Gallery is located at the corner of Minna and 2nd Street in downtown San Francisco. The Gallery offers a full bar and welcomes ages 21 and over.

Curator Contact
Gabe Scott
415.974.1719
scott.gabe@gmail.com