OZUMA KANAME-

The new show at Known Gallery is amazing. This exhibit brings the heart of Japan to Los Angeles. It’s a privilege and honor to be able to stand in front of these masters works.

If you don’t know Horiyoshi III, he is one of the most respected tattoo artist alive and bring a long line of Japanese tradition of tattoo to the modern day. Ozuma Kaname is also a master of the Japanese tradition of painting. His work is painted on silk and has a feathery watercolor touch only someone with years of skill could attain. It is very clear these men follow strict artistic practices and there is no possible way to mimic their style.

Over the years the Japanese style has been commodified into popular culture, like clothing, tattoos, etc.. and after seeing hundreds of Dragon and Oni images one can just right it off as typical, usually assuming some surfer tattoo dude hooked up his girl with a cool koi fish right next to a tribal tattoo. Endless t-shirts and fake posters blot the background of cheezy mall store walls hoping to sell regurgitated “Japanese” style merchandise. It’s the good old American way of taking something beautiful and downgrading it to a salable product, like almost every tattoo studio using these images as craptastic fake flash to push on the rebellious soccer mom for her “tramp stamp”.

This art show is a redemption of the masterful and elegant Japanese style. These works are a close look into the REAL traditional Japanese  world. It does not get better than this! These paintings should grace the walls of the highest museums.  It is a blessing to be able to experience this strain of work unfiltered. When you stand in front of these pieces you really gain a sense of the hundreds of years of Japanese history funneled through Horiyoshi III and Ozuma Kaname. It was an amazing opportunity to cleanse my visual pallet with the true Nippon style. Brought to you by Known Gallery through the hand and brush of the great Japanese masters.

MINI GILDED EDITION ONE: RED AND BLUE

MINI GILDED EDITION TWO: RED AND BLACK

Torn-Edge Flag Bleed

Flag Drip Squared

Pink And Blue Drip Flag

In The SHOP Now!

The insidiousness of  the oil spill in the gulf clearly had an affect on me……..

Here are photos of a recent wall I painted with three of the best, Revok, Askew, and Rime in Highland Park. I had to stay on my toes, free-styling next to these guys. I was felling a little rusty. We all decided to switch names for fun. I used Rime’s letters which are fun to paint, kind of chunky and angular. He rocked my name and completely twisted the letters in a way I never thought, fat and round. Askew rocked a Revok piece and vice versa. Of course Revok finishes like in half the time with all sorts of slick little tricks. Askew breaks his piece down with fat cap wisps and plays with a little over spray. Its always a learning experience to watch the best……..Hopefully I will get off my ass and paint some more burners………

There was an awesome old timer there that lived around the wall. He told us about some of his misadventures.  Check out Rime’s site to see him tell some of his classic tales.

Rime’s Website …Look around his site for the video of Old Man Johnson in front of the wall.

Revok’s Website …Ditto

Askew’s Website …Once again, ditto

Years back in San Fransisco I stumbled across one of Logan’s murals. Now at the time I had very little patients for stencils and wheat paste because of the hard work it took me to hand paint everything. I thought that this style of application  was a cop out in the overall sense of things (and lets be realistic, hand painting is always better, right?).

But, to the contrary I almost shit myself with excitement as I stood in front of Logan’s work. I didn’t know of him at the time and immediately tried to come up with a mental picture of who this person might be. I was so impressed with his level of detail. No one was really using very layered stencil work to depict an almost realistic urban setting. His work changed my perspective on stenciling instantly. His level of detail is so hyper is almost an OCD savant like approach to making art. I have a lot of respect for those who push themselves past the norm and he proves that any style of application can be pushed to a higher plain……..I am always looking forwards to his next piece.

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The Metropolitan Museum Of Art