INLE @ Gallery 1988 - Melrose (3/11/11)

[sleepboy]

[saL]

this looks like something I'd like to check out.. looking forward to seeing the pieces..

[lovetoburn]

From Daily Dujour:

INLE, a group art exhibition celebrating and reinterpreting the anti-hero from Roger Adams’ ‘Watership Down’, opens on Friday, March 11th 2011 @ Gallery 1988 in Hollywood. Here’s a quick preview including pieces by show curator Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins (flier image), Joshua Clay, and an in-progress shot of Chet Zar’s piece based on his signature Black Magick painting as well as close-up teaser of Fred Harper’s piece.

While artists draw inspirations from multiple sources, many of the strongest are encountered at an early age. As a boy, Simkins read Adams’ classic novel, a gift from his Grandfather, and was drawn to the tale of the ‘The Black Rabbit of Inle’. Within a world populated by rabbits, Inle represents death – a grim reaper of sorts. As he pondered death, whether it was to be feared or acknowledged as an end to a life well lived, Simkins’ obsession with the use of rabbits in his art took hold.

For INLE, Simkins and the invited artists will reinterpret the story of the feared black rabbit, which has proven to be quite influential for many of them. A group show is defined by its theme and its artist lineup. Simkins has put together an incredible group of over 100 talented artists including:

Joe Vaux. D. Ross Scribe, Miss Mindy. Peter Gronquist, Nicholas Charles, Shaun Kasl Singer, Sergio Hernandez. David Flores ATC, Chase Tafoya, Chris “Devious” Gliebe, Joe Capobianco, Eric Merrill, The Beast Brothers, Attaboy, Persue’/BunnyKitty, Chet Zar, Anthony Ausgang, Aaron Jasinski, Annie Owens, Dave Pressler, JAW Cooper, Mike Mitchell, Amanda Louise Spayd, Man One, Tara McPherson, Vic Back, Sam Flores, Rask Opticon, Chris Ryniak, Fred Harper, Molly Crabapple, Christian Rex van Minnen, Nate Van Dyke, Josh Keyes, Luke Chueh, Buff Monster, DEPH, Jason Maloney, Alex Garcia, Misha, Graham Curran, Audrey Kawasaki, Matthew Bone, Roland Tamayo, McEvoy & Rodriguez, Dave Correia, Camilla d’Errico, Johnny Vampotna, Gunnar, Brandi Milne, ZOSO, Michel Gagné, Amy Sol. Naoto Hattori, Charles Wish, Jeffery Page, Jon Beinart, Aaron Della Vedova, NoMe Edonna, Thomas Lynch III, Dytch66, Haste, Jen Lobo, Dan May, Nicnak, Joshua Clay, Ron English and Jeremy Fish.

INLE, curated by Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins
Opening: Friday, March 11th 2011

Gallery 1988 Melrose
7020 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323.937.7088

[sleepboy]

Here's Audrey's piece and another flyer.

[virtu]

Must have read "Watership Down" five or more times. (also love Adam's "Shardik")
What a fantastic show theme.
Can't wait!

[lovetoburn]

Full line up:

Aaron Della Vedova
Aaron Jasinski
Adam Hathorn
Alex Garcia
Alex Pardee
Amanda Louise Spayd
Amy Sol
Annie Owens
Anthony Ausgang
Anthony Filo
Attaboy
Audrey Kawasaki
Augor
Axis
Beast Brothers
Belin
McEvoy & Rodriguez
Bob Dob
Brandi Milne
Colin Christian
Brian Despain
Thomas Lynch III
Haste
Buff Monster
Camilla d'Errico
Carrie Ann Baade
Charles Wish
Chase Tafoya
Chet Zar
Chris "Devious" Gliebe
Chris Ryniak
Christian Rex Van Minnen
DabsMyla
Dan May
Dan Quintana
Daniel Danger
Dave Correia
Dave Flores ATC
Dave Pressler
David Choong Lee
Deph
Dytch 66
Scribe
Eric Merrill
Eric White
Jason Limon
George Thompson
Fred Harper
Graham Curran
Gris Grimley
GUnnar
Tomi Monstre
Jenny Mollen-Biggs
Johnny Vampotna
Jon Beinart
Jordan Buckley
Steven Daily
Jeff McMIllan
Johnny "KMNDZ" Rodriguez
Joshua Clay
Joshua Keyes
Shaun Kasl Singer
Kevin Dickinson
Kevin Knight
Kevin Peterson
Kris Lewis
Logan Hicks
Luke Chueh
Man One
Mark Bodnar
Martin Wittfooth
Matthew Bone
Maxx 242
Meggs
Michael Page
Michel Gagne
Mike Mitchell
Mike Stilkey
Misha
Miss Mindy
Molly Crabapple
Naoto Hattori
N8 Van Dyke
Nathan Pearce
Natoe
Neko
Nicnak
Nicholas Charles
Nome Edonna
Peekaboo Monster
Persue/BunnyKitty
Peter Gronquist
Poor Al
Pose
Rabodiga
Rask Opticon
Retna
Revok
Robert Bowen
Roland Tamayo
Ron English
Rory Keating
Sam Flores
Sas Christian
Sergio Hernandez
Skinner
Skot Olsen
Sram
Tara McPherson
Jason D'Aquino
Jason Maloney
JAW Cooper
Jeffrey Page
Jeff Soto
Jen Lobo
Jeremy Fish
Jeremy Sutton
Jersey Joe
Rime
Jesse Smith
Joe Capobianco
Joe Hahn
Joe Ledbetter
Joe Vaux
Tim Hendricks
Tony Curanaj
Travie McCoy
Travis Louie
Tyke Witnes
Vic Back
Yosuke Ueno
Lyte
Werk
Zoso

[rhythmgtr5]

What an amazing line up. Who can I contact to get on the preview list for this?

[rhythmgtr5]

Thanks Tim. I'll drop him a line

[lovetoburn]

From g1988.blogspot.com:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2011
Interview with Greg Simkins about INLE
In anticipation of the upcoming INLE show here at the Melrose location, artist, and curator of the show, Greg Simkins and I sat down at computers and talked over this new upstart Internet company called Skype. This thing is gonna be huge.

Anyway, here's the transcripts from that chat.

----

Jensen Karp
Hey man. I think we may live too close to each other to actually use Skype for its intended purposes...

Greg Simkins
by intended purposes you don't mean you are going to ask me to undress right?

JK
FOILED!

GS
not going to do it man, not for any amount of cookies

JK
fair. so your first curated show ever is right around the corner and my first question is super important....ISN'T IT HARD CURATING ART SHOWS?

GS
YES! thanks man, you didn't say that I was going to actually have to do work... I've got a whole new respect for what galleries have to go through and I am not even responsible for half of it this time around. I mean my involvement is still just a fraction of what y'all have to do

JK
Now you're just being sweet. So explain to me the concept of this show and what it means to you

GS
Well as you know the show is called Inle,´which is a character from my favorite childhood story "Watership Down" by Richard Adam's, which I believe was published in 1972. As a kid my mom rented me the movie on BETA, yup beta. I was abbout 5 or so and as she left the room with her little boy entertained by the movie about bunnies, then something weird happened. There were pools of blood, rabbits tearing each other to bits and it was a lot more gruesome than she probably inteded to let me watch. Years later, when I was about 12, my grandparents took us on a road trip and my Grandpa purchased me Watership Down to read along the way. It made sense of all those images and became a real important book to me. It was about heroes escaping oppression and good versus evil and all that good stuff that can leave an impression on a young kid. It was at that age that I began drawing rabbits.... a lot.. I even raised a bunch of them and gave them the names of the ones in the book.

JK
And that was always kinda of the slippery slope for me as a curator and gallery owner, when people would ask what some of the references in your paintings were referring to. It wasn't a secret per se, but it also isn't something you just come out and say in regards to "Watership Down." Was that intentional? Because once you told me about the show's idea, my initial reaction was to tell you "I don't know what you're talking about."

GS
Yeah, I have always snuck tiny references to my favorite story in my pieces, be it "INLE" scribed in a wall or a tree or the number 280 which is the page which references the Black Rabbit of Inle in the edition of the book my grandfather bought for me. I was always fascinated with the dual idea I had gotten of this charachter from the movie and the book. Since he is Death per se´, at least to rabbits, they feared him, but what they really were afraid of was the unknown. In the movie, Inle leads Fiver to a wounded Hazel which ultimately saves him from death. It is Inle who appears for a fraction of a second again to Hazel at the end of his life and takes him to a future of unknown adventures on the other side. I just found him mysterious and created my own stories for him since he isn't mentioned a whole lot throughout the book. He is more of an under tone, or a shadow present throughout much of the book

JK
What was it like telling artists about the using this point of reference to create new paintings for the show? Did any of them know exactly what you were talking about?

GS
I was surprised by how many of the artsists had similar occurance as kids seeing the movie. I also found that a lot of them were just as taken with the story as I was. Especially Josh Keyes who enjoys listening to the sound track at times while painting, which I found fascinating being that I had a suspicion he was a fan of Richard Adams before I had even thought of doing this show. A bunch of the artists went out and bought a copy of the book and read it and enjoyed it which I was super stoked about. Part of me wanted to do the show just for the purpose of inspiring our collective audience to read the book. So much of our world is focused on entertainmant via movies and television and the internet these days, it is my way of saying, don't forget about the millions of great stories out there just pages away

JK
I don't want you to pick favorites, but tell us about some of the artists you're excited to see contribute to the show, especially when imagining them reimagining your favorite character and book ever.

GS
Wow... there are too many and they were all selected because of my respect and admiration for their work. But to answer your question - Josh Keyes of course, Alex Pardee, Gris Grimley, Martin Whitfooth, and Ron English definitely stand out. I am super stoked to see Matthew Bones and Colin Christians work especially since he works in 3D. Gosh I am looking down the list ight now and don't feel it is right to choose favorites, too many man. They are all going to be dope

JK
It has to be considered one of the best line-ups in our scene's history, let alone just at the gallery. It feels like everyone is going to bring their A game. Tell us about your contribution to the show.



GS
I had to take this piece serious since it is one I have been wanting to do for a while. I haven't ever fully tackeled a straight up "Watership Down" piece more than hinting at it and hiding various portions of it through my work. I'm looking at it right now and it is one of my favorite pieces I have painted to date. I toned down my color pallette using only black grey and red. I based it upon all the creatures that "The Lord Frith" which is the God charachter in the book, made to hunt and kill rabbits. Inle sits on a clouded mound of these creatures almost the king over death. He sits among the gravestones of our favorite heroes from the book who inevitably will have to pass on. Their ghosts are seen flying upwards to the moon in the background and onto other adventures and life after death. It's almost as if the dangers in life be it the fox, owl ,cat and weasles are no longer a threat to them in Death and Inle has just ushered them on.

JK
I've only seen the pictures and it's stunning. The opening is March 11th, 7-10 PM, and we're just excited to see the who's who of artists walking around the gallery to be honest. And to see the debut of Greg Simkins' curating (which by the way is a "hard job" said by Greg Simkins). Thanks for doing this interview!

GS
I'm excited too, man, it should be a good time, I am surprised by the emails of artsists who are flying out for the show! it should be a real good time. Thanks Jensen for the opportunity!

[saL]

Craola:


Jason Limon:


Luke Chueh:


Jeffery Page:


Beast Brothers:


Amanda Spayd

[grit]

The Simkins is insane! Anyone got any idea on what size it is?

[lovetoburn]

Dan May

[saL]

that Dan May is beautiful!!!.. was just gonna post it..

here is Chris Ryniak piece too:

[virtu]

Their all wonderful, looking to be an magical event.
Hats off to Simkins.

[saL]

Brian Colin


Gris Grimley


Christian Rex van Minne

[nevertrained]

Robert Bowen

Attachments:

[virtu]

Amy Sol's piece, just beautiful.

The Rescue

[saL]

Josh Keyes

[mistersmith]

Dave Correia:



Robert Bowen:



Alex Pardee:

[saL]

Chet Zar (almost finished)

[virtu]

Excellent Chet Zar.
Love the Playboy Logo on the gun.

[nicholasnak]

When the snare is set in the gap, the Black Rabbit knows where the peg is driven...

18x24 pen and ink

Attachments:

[saL]

Brian Despain


Carrie Ann Baade


Dave Pressler


Jason Maloney


Jeremy Fish


Joshua Clay


Scribe


Molly Crabapple


Steven Daily


Michel Gagné


Martin Wittfooth


photos via www.ransom-notes.net/?p=552

[sleepboy]

Audrey Kawasaki's piece.

[saL]

few more previews from g1988.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-inle-blog-debuts.html

DabsMyla


Daniel Danger