Fiber Artist Katherine Lawrie Reminds Us Art Comes in Many Forms

Sometimes we may forget that art is not always about paint and canvas. It is not always about ink on paper, or even spray paint on walls. Art comes in so many forms, and we’re thrilled to be presenting urban art in all its wonderful, creative media, including fiber art, at Hello World, opening this Saturday, April 20th at The Service Station. 

Katherine Lawrie is a talented fiber artist from Los Angeles, specializing in weaving, embroidery and quilting. Through narrative self-portraiture, she explores discovery, confrontation, and preservation of image and identity. Lawrie’s work has been shown in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Seoul, South Korea. You can see it this weekend in Los Feliz/Silverlake.

Totally Radi-COL

COL’s work is so powerfully magnetic, it drew urban art curator Luna George all the way across the country to New York last year on a mission to see it in person. Mixing 3d styles and letter silhouettes, COL (Wallnuts, NYC) creates a wide graphical palette with color and movement that pushes and pulls with the strength of street graffiti and the sophistication of avant-garde pop. Using an open medium of acrylics, spray paints, oils, papers and found objects, COL’s works become emotional with an array of surface life; heavy strokes, negative space and strong drip work, with the application of various textures and environments.

Now, as Luna prepares to unveil one of her biggest curation projects yet (Hello World, April 20th at The Service Station), she brings COL’s work to LA, and we are so excited to share it with you. “Without a doubt,” Luna shares, “COL is one of the most talented urban painters out there. I believe in him big time, and I’m so excited to have him in the show.”

We hope COL’s grandmother, a painter and one of his biggest early influencers and supporters, is smiling to know how much her hijo has achieved in his creation. <3

Armando Soria's Gonzo Hip Hop Surrealism

Armando Soria's intricate gonzo surrealism presents an alternate universe of undulating mindscapes that leaves the viewer slightly uncomfortable - as any good art should do. Incorporating elements of 90's hip hop graffiti with comic book influences and the tradition of surrealist painting, Soria infuses a stimulating new style that we're excited to share with you at the opening of Hello World April 20th.

Hailing from the San Fernando Valley (CA), Soria grew up watching his cousins write graffiti and discovered painting in college, where he studied graphic design as a career move, but fell in love with painting on a fluke in an elective class. Fascinated by surrealism, the nascent artist spent weeks on end with his nose in Salvador Dalí books, and remains hooked on the style today.

"Surrealism offers such freedom. You're not limited by anything, and you can just create without worrying about the set up, the composition, the subject, the background, the landscape. If you want to include something, you just find a way to work it in. It's so much freedom," says Soria.

View Armando Soria's work up close and personal this April 20th at the opening of Hello World at The Service Station.

Who is The Cat Cult?

Part of the experience of urban LA is the blur of colors and slogans and slurs shouting out at us from structures and walls in the form of graffiti, wheat pastes, signs and even sculpture as we whirl past in our cars, busy at life. And, from time to time, an iconic image begins to crystallize, borne of repetition, size and creative impact. And these iconic images, even neon cats, become embedded in our experience of our environment. Meow!

One creator of such public content is LA artist collective, The Cat Cult, presenting work at urban art curator, Luna George's Hello World, April 20th.

ARTIST BIO:


Cat Cult is a collective of artists who are based in Los Angeles, California. Its participants create work both individually and under the singular identity of Cat Cult, displaying work in galleries as well as on the streets. Cat Cult embraces a variety of mediums, including printmaking, illustration, photography, painting, sewing, and graphic design. From trickster characters to divining spiritual guides, cats have been used throughout history to represent important figures within ancient fables and myths in cultures and societies across the globe. Cat Cult embraces these multidimensional identities that the cat embodies and plays upon these iconic ideas in playful and ironic ways throughout the urban environment.

Straight to the Freight - with Dytch66

As graffiti continues to evolve and regenerate within the sphere of fine art, it is important to remember its genesis - the public spaces open to claims of heart and reputation, an ever evolving battle for expression. The essence of graffiti is in its public-ness; its unpredictability; its chaos. And, to honor that spirit of claiming and transforming the surfaces of the urban environment, Hello World will feature site-specific works on the surface of freight containers, in homage to the uncontrolled and uncontrollable nature of what the fine art world knows as Street Art.

This is the canvas we're offering to Dytch66 April 20th. WHAT?!?!

This April 20th, Dytch66 goes straight to the freight at Hello World.

A fine artist, muralist and graffiti head of the highest caliber, Dytch66's journey spans from early involvement in the inner circles of graffiti in LA to international acclaim as a muralist and painter of nearly unmatched execution and originality of style. We'll be unveiling the artist's site-specific work at the event April 20th, so stay tuned for more info and video as we kick off an ongoing public art series.

Dytch66 - courtesy of Dytch66.com

 
PS. The week after Hello World opens at The Service Station, you can catch a glimpse of Dytch66's curating talents at the GFA (Graffiti Fine Arts) Showcase in Los Angeles April 27th. Featuring an international line up of renowned artists from the US, Brazil, France, the UK and Japan presenting works on the sky high concrete walls of the Graff House. GFA events started in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and showcase graffiti murals, installations, sculpture, canvases and live painting. You can find out more here.