Opening under cover of night somewhere in Paris, four stories beneath la rue, a secret subterranean gallery in a sealed tunnel appears suddenly. While activity on the street overhead is hectic and dense with cars, trucks and pedestrians, the dry dust is ankle-high here in this darkened silent morgue, its cool dank air now permeated with fresh aerosol. The Underbelly has been here, and if you discover this curated collection of Street Art and graffiti in the chilled dim light, you are officially lost. And lucky……..

READ MORE AND SEE MORE IMAGES HERE

Above Second is pleased to present East West Connect, a group exhibition curated by online art magazine Arrested Motion, featuring the work of Luke Chueh, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Evah Fan, Stella Im Hultberg, Tat Ito, Akino Kondoh, Travis Louie, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Brendon Monroe, Edwin Ushiro, Nick Walker, and Yoskay Yamamoto. The exhibition will run from November 25th until January 12th 2012 with an opening scheduled for Friday, November 25th (6-10 pm).

East West Connect brings together 13 participants chosen carefully from a diverse selection of artists covered by Arrested Motion for their inaugural curatorial feature at the Hong Kong showspace. Despite differing ethnicities and nationalities of the participating artists, all of them either have an Asian heritage and/or have utilized imagery inspired by the Far East in the past. But despite this common interest in the region, most of the artists have not had major shows in Asia. By bringing their collective work back to its geographic “source”, the exhibition hopes to deal with themes of identity for those who have dual cultural allegiances, explore the melting and fusion of artistic influences, and foster the discussion of the work when brought into local context. No other place would have been more suitable to host this exhibition than the vibrant city-state of Hong Kong, long considered as the gateway between East and West and the epicenter of the region’s booming art market.

About Arrested Motion (http://www.arrestedmotion.com/):

Arrested Motion is an art culture hub started up in 2008 by a group of collectors who saw the opportunity to share their love for artists they knew through extensive online and onsite coverage. Along with the associated Artchival Forum (http://artchival.proboards.com/), the website has grown from its humble beginnings to over half a million hits a month while reporting on the contemporary, street/urban, and so called low brow art scene in all the major art centers of the world. Their goal is to provide unique and exclusive content while demonstrating that art is for people of all ages and socioeconomic groups.

Strictly RSVP: may@above-second.com

www.above-second.com
www.arrestedmotion.com

tel: +852-3483-7950
mob: +852-6330-7759
address: 31 Eastern St, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
(between 2nd and 3rd st)
Mon-Fri 12pm – 7pm
Weekend by Appointment Only

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Hung-Hei Yung or Tanley Wong

Shepard Fairey
Faile
Luke Chueh
Evah Fan
Stella Im Hultberg
Tat Ito
Akino Kondoh
Travis Louie
Tomokazu Matsuyama
Brendon Monroe
Edwin Ushiro
Nick Walker
and Yoskay Yamamoto

On Saturday, November 19, graffiti artist POSE and photojournalist KC Ortiz will unveil Whitewash, their second exhibition at Known Gallery, and their most cohesive to date.

For POSE, Whitewash references society’s attempt to eradicate graffiti and stifle human expression. “Shortly after I started writing graffiti, Chicago took an extremely hard-line stance on its eradication, outlawing the sale of spraypaint and implementing Mayor Dayley’s Graffiti Blasters program,” POSE explains.

With this exhibition, POSE will recall a time before the buff. “I am digging into my fondest childhood memories of riding the train and seeing all the colors, letters and cartoon characters along the lines. Making these paintings has been an incredibly rich process, and it makes me thankful that no city official can eradicate my memories.”

POSE will show 15 new works in the main gallery. The work is rendered in his signature style—aggressive, hand-painted collages of pop-culture icons and ephemera—but feature deeper abstractions and new mediums. “I have six paintings on Plexiglass that were kind of an experiment,” POSE explains. “I wanted to be challenged by a new medium and process.”

For KC, Whitewash is about the people and places he photographs. “Much of the work I do covers those who have been ‘whitewashed,’ so to speak, by history and policy,” KC notes. “Specifically, the work I will be exhibiting is from West Papua and Burma. You won’t find either of those ‘nations’ on the map, as both have been essentially ‘whitewashed’ away. Burma has been renamed Myanmar by its ruling junta in order to establish the fantasy of a unified nation, and West Papua has been occupied by Indonesia since 1963 after a very controversial handover from the Dutch that was orchestrated by the United States.”

In the project room, KC will show 12 photographs of West Papua and Burma’s armed struggles. “The struggles are unified in their nature under the theme of resistance, the victimhood of whitewashing by the world at large, the beauty of their people, and the strength of the human spirit and dignity,” KC notes.

About the artists:

POSE
Hailing from The Windy City, POSE has made an indelible mark on a multitude of cities around the globe. Best known for his progressive letter style and technical precision, POSE is an influential contributor to the contemporary graffiti movement, and his work has appeared in numerous magazines, books and films. POSE grew up a half block from the CTA’s elevated train line, and started sneaking out to practice graffiti there in 1992. Coming of age during the golden era of Chicago graffiti, POSE put in endless work on the streets. His prolific output led him to become a local legend, and the city’s most internationally recognized graffiti artist. In addition to his achievements in graffiti, POSE set out to conquer every medium visual art has to offer—both on and off the streets. His artistic exploration led him to become a jack of all creative trades, with successful endeavors in the commercial and fine art worlds. POSE currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the acclaimed West Coast artist collective The Seventh Letter, as well as a founder of his own Chicago based design and art firm We Are Supervision. He has traveled internationally on his own and with The Seventh Letter, specifically to showcase his skills as one of the best graffiti artists out there. Almost two decades into his artistic career, POSE shows no signs of slowing down.

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KC Ortiz is an award-winning, self taught photojournalist with a split base between his hometown of Chicago, Illinois and Western Thailand. Ortiz’s work focuses on the world’s forgotten and overlooked people and issues. He has covered conflict throughout Southeast Asia, focusing on the human suffering and the policies that enable conflict, as well as humanitarian issues throughout the world. The aim of his photography is to bring awareness to the masses of those that are suffering most, often times completely unseen by the majority. His work has appeared in A-Magasinet, Global Post, Juxtapoz, Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications across the globe. Ortiz’s work has been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries including The Newseum, The Corcoran, The Frontline Club, Known Gallery, Rivera and Rivera Gallery, Guerrero Gallery, and others. In 2011, Ortiz’s work was recognized with a first place award from the prestigious Pictures of The Year International.

POSE & KC Ortiz | Whitewash

Opening Reception Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 8‑11pm
On View November 19 – December 10, 2011

Known Gallery
441 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
T: 310-860-6263

KNOWN GALLERY

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KC ORTIZ

DON’T MISS THIS ONE!!

@KnownGallery

Perseverance at Known Gallery. This show is an amazing display of contemporary artists dealing with the struggle of transitioning from Graffiti artists to  the title of just plain amazing artists. Revok, Rime and Roid each bring with them over twenty years of experience of making art, where ever it was executed. Their unique vision is validated by the years of prolific art making using many different materials usually at a large scale. The art world will not be able to deny the pure artistic integrity of those who have built their respectable credibility of  painting in the public sphere. The art work always speaks for itself…….

A superhero among the spray-can set and one of the L.A. Sheriff’s Department’s most wanted vandals, the artist known as Revok, aka Jason Williams, has had quite an eventful year. On the heels of his work for MOCA’s “Art in the Streets” show, Revok captured headlines after his most recent arrest (for missing a court appearance) April 21 at LAX. His subsequent bail was set at a record high for vandalism, $320,000, and he was sentenced to six months in jail for unpaid property restitution of $3,700. He served 44 days, yet hasn’t painted an illegal mural or committed art crime in Los Angeles for years……  READ MORE

By Shelley Leopold

REVOK1.COM

KNOWNGALLERY.COM

SABER Plain and Simple from MTN COLORS USA on Vimeo.

Estevan Oriol X Spaghetto: Art in the Streets collab short film from Levi's Film Workshop on Vimeo.

THESEVENTHLETTER.COM