Not long ago, I was asked to contribute a must-see show in the US for this article. Um, that’s really hard! There are so many amazing shows all over the place… but, I decided to go with one that I would really love to experience. “Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at the Broad Museum in LA. It had just opened last time I was in LA but I wasn’t able to go! The cool thing about this installation, other than all of the mirrors and tiny little lights that seem to go on forever, is that you go in by yourself. Yep, no gallery crowds, just you for one magical minute. Note: tickets are FREE but you need to make a separate reservation to see this exhibit.

{Images via 1. Broad Museum 2. Susan Xie 3. happyfamousartists 4. Mike Segar/ Reuters}

Prince, snake soup, drawing for nuns, and a handful of bleeps… yep, he does amazing things with oil pastels, and tells some pretty hilarious stories! I met Terrence Payne in 2012 when I was in Minneapolis for Girl Crush. Jennifer Davis was my co-host for that workshop, and it was held at SooVAC, a gorgeous gallery run by an amazing woman named Carolyn Payne… who happens to be Terrance’s wife! A small little world filled with talented, artsy people. Anywho, I got the chance to see Terrence “coloring” on some reallllly big pieces of paper while I was there, and I was an instant fan! Ok, let’s go look… you can listen right up there, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, his ornate yet ‘no one in particular’ figure pieces:

Ah! Those patterns, that detail, the color… how is that oil pastel!?

Next, TEXT. Oh, I love Terrence’s text pieces very, very, very much:

BOOM, indeed. Again… oil pastel?!

Oh, and here are the big beautiful bears we were talking about. I saw Terrence “coloring” this one in person when I was in Minneapolis way back in 2012, and it has to be one of my favorites:

I wish I could show you the scale (it’s 66″x 66″) because this does not do this piece justice.

Up next we were talking about “Drift”,  his two-man show with John Diebel. It’s showing at Rosalux Gallery right this very minute:

Gor. Ge. Ous. And then of course, there’s the snake ball that led us off on quite the crazy tangent. Here it is in progress, and finished:

Beautiful… but also, ew. I really hate snakes.

And finally, Terrence’s loyal studio mates:

Aw! I’d want to be home hanging out with them too! Thanks to Terrence “Cabbage Patch” Payne for taking the time to do this with me; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE {or to pick up any other book you might want} just use my link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator. And as always… thank YOU for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Jennifer Davis 
2. Girl Crush Minneapolis 2012
3. John Diebel
4. Rosalux Gallery Open Call – Submission deadline is October 31st

I have written about LA based artist Seonna Hong… a lot. So dreamy, so unique, so weird/wonderful. I love all of the tiny painted details, like the cactus and the people. Oh, but then there’s also all of those big, loose, multi-colored rocks and mountains. Sigh. I’d love to see them in person… well, you can if you’re in San Francisco this month. All of this work is from a new show that’s opening this Saturday, October 8th, at Hashimoto Contemporary. It will be up until October 29th, and yes, this show even includes a few of Seonna’s gorgeous paint chip pieces:

♥

Ok, it’s no secret how much I love LA-based, Tennessee-born Wayne White. If you heard the podcast episode I did with him last December you’ll definitely know! Well, I didn’t think it was possible for me to love him more, but that was before he got strapped to a truck and played his banjo through the streets of New York. Now that’s how you open a show! This gorgeous work is showing right now at Joshua Liner Gallery … but it comes down this Saturday, October 8th, so get over there RIGHT NOW!

ps. Here’s the video of Wayne strapped to said truck, created by the talented folks at Dress Code

Whoa, whoa, whoa… wait. I thought these were perfect key line drawings. They are… except that instead of pencil lines, they’re iron rods. Perfect iron rods welded into line drawings! This is the work of Toronto based artist, designer, and teacher James Maxwell. If you’d like to see these beauties in person, James has a show on now through the end of September at the Elaine Fleck Gallery {1351 Queen St. West,  Toronto}. Metal?!

Oh my goodness, I love these paintings so much! This is the most recent work from New York based Angela Fraleigh. I’ve written about her before, in early 2015, but I just found out that she has a new show, titled “Between Tongue and Teeth”, opening this coming Saturday. How could I not tell you about it!? Here is the gallery’s description of this exhibition/Angela’s work:

“Combining abstraction and realism, [Angela Fraleigh’s] visually seductive and complicated paintings reflect on art history, literature, and popular culture. For the Everson, Fraleigh presents new paintings inspired by works in the Everson’s collection, women of the Arts and Crafts movement and important female figures in the history of Central New York.”

If you’d like to see these beauties in person, visit Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY – September 24th till December 31, 2016.

Wow. Ceramic shards transformed into beautifully bizarre {very sharp} botanicals. I’ve written about Israeli artist Zemer Peled‘s gorgeous work before, but I just had to post about her current solo exhibition, titled “Nomad”. The up-close photos of Zemer’s pieces are gorgeous, but understanding their scale within a space makes them even more crazy amazing. These installation shots are from Mark Moore Gallery in LA where this work will be on display from now until November 5th, 2016. Go… but don’t touch anything. It’s sharp!

Oh, yes. Hauntingly beautiful chandeliers in all of their illuminated, mysterious, sparkly magnificence! This is the work of Los Angeles based painter Edward Walton Wilcox. These big beautiful oil paintings, and many more like them, are currently hanging at KP Projects (LA). This show, titled “Haunted”, will be up until October 1, 2016. GO.

What? A “Tell Truth Magic Rope” included too? Yeah, I’m going to need this in my collection. Ok, I don’t have an action figure collection, but if I did, this crazy little Wonder Woman would be the STAR! This is the fantastic and hilarious work of LA based artist/illustrator Mark Todd. All of these pieces, and many more, are in a new show that opens tomorrow night, September 2nd 8pm – 11pm, at  La Luz de Jesus in LA {4633 Hollywood Blvd}. The show is called “Covered” … here’s the gallery’s description:

“Todd reinterprets comics from his youth, as well as earlier, iconic ‘ultimate collectors items”. Most of the pieces in this show are based on these types of desirable comics, such as number ones in the series, or the first appearance of a character which were often unobtainable for a young, comic obsessed Todd and his small weekly allowance. In Covered he keeps his interpretations of these covers closer to the source than in previous shows, channeling a combination of confidence with playful naivety, injecting humor with purposeful “mistakes” such as misspelled text and truncated sentences.”

So awesome! If you can go, GO. The show will be up until October 2nd.

ps. I don’t have any Star Wars collectibles in my non-existent collection either, so clearly I’ll need to add a limited edition Mark Todd “CHEWBACK” to my list:

So. Good!

Bizarre, animal-covered vessels made with fluorescent resin. They look like crazy, fruit-flavored candy… that I kinda want to try {don’t worry, I won’t}. This is the work of Melbourne based artist Kate Rohde. All of these pieces are from an exhibition, titled “Ornament Crimes”, that opened last week at Karen Woodbury Gallery in Melbourne. It will be up until September 3rd, so pop over if you can. Here’s part of the description of this series from the gallery’s site:

Inspiration is drawn from the legacy of Baroque and Rococo art and design, a lavish aesthetic now near-abandoned in the name of good taste. Belonging to a former aristocratic order, art and design during these periods of embellishment signified decadence in excess. Rohde has long been attracted to excess and the spectacular, and ‘Ornament Crimes’ is unashamedly decorative with its hyper-colour, poised animal features, and entwined flowers and vines. The exhibition is labour intensive, each editioned work handmade and highly detailed.