Mark your calendar!
Saturday September 12th is the next opening reception at BOLD HYPE GALLERY.
Aptly titled BELIEVE THE HYPE the next exhibit, the first to be curated by an outside curator (Dustin Orlando), features the artwork of 10 different artist. Variety being the spice of life, this exhibition will have an exciting mix of paintings, sculptures, installations, and interactive contraptions not to be missed!
Starting at 8PM and running Late, the opening reception offers free drinks, food, music by DJ KITTYBAT, and a chance to meet many of the artists! FREE ADMISSION
THE ARTISTS:
FRANCESCO LoCASTRO:
For the last ten years, Francesco LoCastro has been South Florida's thoroughfare to the national New Contemporary art scene, as both a respected artist and as the curator of intrepid art exhibitions.
"My paintings are inspired by pop culture iconography and cartoon imagery as well as the work of masters of varied genres and periods... By juxtaposing cartoon images with realism, I try frequently to address the opposing aspects of social and political issues: In today's Westernized world, the line between reality and fiction is increasingly blurred. Escapism is the new religion of a society destined to overdose on mind-numbing consumption; we stay indoors to view "reality programming." Maxed out credit cards temporarily fulfill the American dream that is not quite within our reach. Movie star idolatry rules the dogma of mediocrity and the government structure dictates the politics of greed and hegemony as basic characteristics of survival of the fittest."
BLACKBOOKS:
BLACKBOOKS is an experimental design house and custom fabricator that supplies agencies, museums, artists, galleries, designers, and corporations with top
quality production and design. Customized per project, using a number of analog / digital print methods, all fabrication is executed in house remaining hands on from concept to completion. Established in 2004 and based in the South of Florida, BLACKBOOKS has never tired. Maintaining a strong hold at the industries forefront, fabricating original concept, design, & product, in co-operation with some of todays most sought after artists and organizations.
PARAIL:
Started by Mat Curran along with Derek Toomes and Joseph Giampino, Parail Studios is a studio commissioned for murals, well rendered canvas pieces and one of the few places one can take a graffiti workshop. The three uphold the very key elements of street style in all that they do; spontaneity, immediacy, and the need to indelibly mark their environment. They are pushing the boundaries that the city authorities have set for them and also finding new, legal outlets for their work
MAT CURRAN:
Drawing from his international roots, Mathew Curran has developed a unique and personal style, which transcends a half dozen different mediums. Over the past decade, he has drawn from street life and hip-hop culture to focus primarily on stencil work.
Curran was born in Northamptonshire, England in 1979, and came to the United States as a teenager. His early years were influenced by American teen skateboarding culture, with its random and unchecked energy and raw sense of possibility. After studying fine art and graphic design at UNC Greensboro, Curran began to perfect techniques in wood, spray paint and ink. He also began experimenting with new subjects, including distorted figures and industrial objects, all the while retaining the urban street-art energy and style.
In the past few years, Curran has focused on his stencil work, and has remained at the forefront of the Raleigh arts scene by contributing to public works in Moore Square and at the North Carolina Museum of Art. His work has been displayed in galleries from his native England to Tokyo.
ROCKY GRIMES:
Rocky Grimes is a self-taught artist whose methods of creation may seem archaic to some. His do-it-yourself methodology is one that is becoming rare in this day of the quick buck, mass efficiency and max profit. He is all about the process.
"I don't really follow the rules of screen printing. I build my own frames that are often warped. I transfer my own images to my screens through a rather archaic method without the use of expensive high-powered machines. I use images that I produce from photographs of my own vs. sourcing material. I have very hands-on approach...When I share my artwork, I don't expect everyone to derive the same meaning that I do. I hope my work causes people to think rather than feel as though they are being dictated some meaning...I suppose my art is like creating a fictional world based on experiences in a more tangible world. Thus, applying the literary concepts of conflict: Human vs. Self, Human vs. Society, Human vs. Nature, Human vs. Supernatural, Human vs. Machine / Technology."
BRANDON DUNLAP:
His images and techniques resist the tendencies of the mechanical, and sometimes repetitive, nature of digital media. Brandon lives in Tampa, Florida where he received his Master's degree in painting and printmaking from the University of South Florida. For several years he worked as a production assistant at USF's Graphicstudio, working alongside many well known artists like James Rosenquist and Vik Muniz. In 2008 he branched out to pursue his own career and is currently creating new work for several upcoming exhibits.
Brandon works as an illustrator-for-hire, creating numerous gigposters and band flyers as well as custom portraits. He also applies his grungy, textured aesthetic to t-shirts, wallets, pillows and messenger bags for Resist Today.
Core to Brandon's process involves intuitive changes and happy accidents - and he encourages both as part of his ongoing personal exploration.
JOHNNY ROBLES:
Born into a multicultural family in 1984, Miami based artist Johnny Robles has been heavily immersed by contemporary urban culture and graffiti art since childhood, which he credits as a major influence in his work and lifestyle.
Robles approaches life and his work with a reserved, collective and methodical rationale that's apparent from his developing collection. His formal studies have taken him to Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy, to The Maryland Institute College of Art, where he received his BFA in 2006. The self-taught illustrator has received numerous scholarships and awards, including the 2005 Society of Illustrators Gold Award in New York and the 2006 bronze Award in Los Angeles.
Johnny continues to explore the unlimited possibilities of his talent and creativity with various exhibitions and positive exposure around South Florida.
DUSTIN ORLANDO:
Dustin Orlando was born in Los Angeles California on December 18th 1974. He shares the same birthday as Keith Richards and Steven Speilberg and is 1 of only 16 people in the world named Dustin Orlando. His artwork is a combination of graffiti influenced colors and cartoon styled characters, often outlined with bold solid lines. Dustin's artwork is mainly about color, composition and character development. Dustin creates his mixed media art pieces by using markers, acrylic paint, silkscreen, and wheat paste. His artwork is collected by interior designers, NFL players, bonafied rock stars, and fellow artists. Click on the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Dustin's work.
ADRIAAN MOL
Adriaan Mol was born in Detroit, Michigan. He became a Florida transplant in his early years when his family moved to the Space Coast. While attending a local college with an art scholarship, he had the opportunity to tour with his band and later dropped out. This eventually led him to Williamsburg Brooklyn where he resumed art studies. At this time it was not though an academic school system, it was vicariously through friends getting their MFA's and the overwhelming abundance of street art. In recent years Adriaan has been involved in many art shows in cities such as Costa Mesa, CA, Long Island, NY and Orlando, FL where he currently resides.
"Influences are lowbrow street art, abstract highbrow installations, as well as music. Adriaan Mol's paintings comment on pop culture past and present, as well as our relationship with musical icons and the full spectrum of sound waves. My interests in the current street art and pop surreal movements help shape the ideas. Pushing the limits of wood is a unique and exciting challenge I've only begun to explore."
ERIC ALTHIN (yours truly) [Theirs truly, not the MOVEMENTcrew.]
From an early age I've been painting small, whether it was model airplanes, tin soldiers, or vinyl toys, it was always on a small scale using super fine brushes. I enjoy delving into that micro zone and bringing small things to life with detail.
I've always had a fascination with nature and its strange inhabitants. But I am equally amazed by the human imagination so my work tends to be a mix of reality and fantasy, a juxtaposition that I hope will remind people of the weird, fantastic, and often crazy living world that is all around us. The works I am putting in BELIEVE THE HYPE includes a few creatures, real and imaginary, that were stirring in my head, including one which will be there in the flesh (or fur) and far from tiny, thanks to the help of creature and puppet builder Tamara Marke-Lares.
See you there!
-The Bold Hype Crew
BOLD HYPE GALLERY
1844 east winter park rd
Orlando, FL 32803
T. 407 629 2965
www.boldhype.com
