Post-It Show Deux

OK, now...I am one of 42 artists in this great show over at GR2 (Giant Robot) tomorrow night. You have to come see this massive friggin' thing. I helped for 6 hours to hang this entire show and it is a wondrous thing to behold. Come for the art...stay for the banjo music! Hope to see you all there.

GR2
Giant Robot
2062 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310.445.9276 www.grs.net

Saturday August 19th, 2006-------September 13th
Opening Reception Saturday August 19th 6:30pm until 10 pm

Joe's "Beer and Loathing" Show Preview

I'm finishing up a bunch of new paintings for The "Beer and Loathing" show at The ADM Project in Hollywood and here's a sample of the image I'm using for my promotion. I'm organizing this show with curator Matt Mascaro and it will include work by Georganne Deen (Fantastic!), David Goldin, Alie Ward, and Buddy Hickerson. We're all in our home stretch now to get it done and get the promotion out, but I know it's going to be one of those really great shows. Everybody is into this little show. I'll post more info as I get it, but enjoy my painting "Cat Fancy" for now. I used my cat Quigman's head as a model.

The Glamour of the Zine Show Reception!

Hello Zine Fiends!

Well, I went to the reception of the Zine Show at The Junc Gallery/ Giant Robot infusion there in the Silverlake Junction last Friday. A mere 6 days ago. I know, I'm a little slow to blog on this, but my work load has been getting top priority. And since I'm heading down to The Comicon in San Diego at the crack of Dawn Friday morning I figured I had better get moving on this. There were some very cool zines there by a wide range of people that I loved. I have pics of some of them here and shots of the crowd as it became ever thicker on an extremely hot evening in LA. But we were there for the love and for the zines. Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson were in full force signing copies of their new book "Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?" and shaking hands. The show celebrated zine makers and the launch of M and E's new book that we all were a part of.

Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?

In fact, if you go down to Comicon, please stop by the Giant Robot booth and meet Mark and Esther and at some point...meet me! Their book is fabulous and so are all of Esther's "Unloveable" zines. Between the 2 of them they must have a hundred different zines that are all good. I especially love Mark's zine "Malcolm" which is based on his dad, a great and multi-leveled personality to be sure.


So, here are a few of my favorite zines. Peter Hamlin had a gorgeous zine that was snapped up real quick and it was no surprise either because it was a crowd favorite. Ron Rege' had a zine that I drooled over.....as did Saelee Oh and Souther Salazar. Martha Rich's zine was hysterical and brilliant. It was hand-painted and collaged to the hilt. Full of personality, much like her. Calef Brown had a great little zine of drawings done with a fine point Rapidograph. If you are a fan of his work, as I am, you would want to pick this one up. David Miller did a beautiful zine of ink and washes filled with his characters. I just wish I had a better shot of it than I have here. There was a funny zine about all of Liz Taylor's husbands that I wish I had come up with. And of course there were my zines. (See previous post!) All of these are available through The Junc Gallery and their website See the link here to purchase them one and all.

Junc Gallery

Come See My Work At "The Zine Show"

It opens this evening at The Junc Gallery in Silverlake. So if you are in the Los Angeles area I hope you can come by. It's from 7 pm to roughly 10 pm at 4017 Sunset Blvd 90029 (Near the corner of Sanborn and Sunset Blvd) www.juncgallery.com Normal Gallery hours are from 12 to 7. I will be blogging about it tomorrow at Roccoblog http://joerocco.blogspot.com/

Curated by Wunderkinds Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson who will also be signing copies of their new book "Whatcha Mean What's a Zine", available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all major book outlets including Giant Robot. And check my work out on page 20! See you There Zinesters!

Exhibit: The Work of Peter Maier

I'm helping to spread the word about a great event and exhibit for the work of Peter Maier. I had the privilege of meeting Peter recently and was determined to help promote this since the show will only be up for a relatively short period of time at Art Center College of Design's S. Raymond campus in Pasadena. Hope to see you all there. Peter's work is amazing and worth checking out.

Peter Maier's site

Peter Maier Exhibit Schedule: Thursday, July 6 – Sunday July 9, 2006; 9:00am-5pm, Saturday, July 15;
9:00am-3:00pm, 3)Sunday, July 16 (following Art Center Car Classic ’06); 4:00pm-8:00pm, Wednesday, July 19 –
Sunday, July 23; 9:00am – 5:00pm. Art Center College of Design South Campus, 950 South Raymond Avenue,
Pasadena, CA 91105.
For information re: Peter Maier contact: Jan Maier at 570-595-9291 or Mort Cooperman at
802-823-0250, 413-212-9572 or @ mortubbs@yahoo.com

Squidbillies...Part 2

Watch the dang vidjo! It ain't brain surgree! Sheeyit!

Cast (Sculpture Show at Junc Gallery)

I just got back in from seeing the new show at Junc Gallery in Silverlake. The show features works by: Evah Fan, Gary Garay, Jungmin Koh, Albert Reyes, Florencio Zavala, Rachell Sumpter, Luke Ramsey, Patrick Roberts, Esther Watson, Mark Todd, Jess Hutch, Mari Araki

Junc Gallery

Don't forget to say hi to Mike Kelly, the wunderkind of this mini art muffin of a gallery. Go there and go there often. It's a great find to discover talent that are going to be huge in a few years time. The gallery is located at 4017 Sunset Blvd. in the heart of the Silverlake Junction.

Cast is a great intimate little show with diverse work. Have a look at some of the pics I took before it got very crowded at the reception. My photography skills are not up to par with the work though and not all work is showcased here in this blog, but I hope it spurs interest in anyone local to go and see this show. Of course I am partial to the work of Mark Todd and Esther Watson, but I loved Gary Garay's wooden man and Jungmin Koh's herd of creatures on the floor. Evah Fan had these curious little "Pillsbury Doughboy-like" characters that defy scale when you see them in person.

Minoriteam! Good Racist Fun!

I'm starting to really enjoy this show. It's just so bad that it's...well...good..I think. And I met Dana Snyder at The Dresden Piano Bar in Silverlake who does many of the voices on this show (like the Asian Character Dr. Wang among others). He also voices Master Shake on Aqua Teen Hungerforce and said that he had something like 23 characters he was now voicing for Cartoon Network. He and his wife just moved to LA and he's really really funny. Old School "Jerry Lewis" Funny.

The Tony Fitzpatrick Show

Over the weekend I went to the Tony Fitzpatrick Show at The Billy Shire Gallery in Culver City. This gallery is fast becoming my favorite gallery in Los Angeles because the shows are almost always consistently strong shows. It's a beautiful space to see work in because it can accommodate a big crowd during a busy opening reception and you can step back from large pieces and soak it all up. I nearly had an orgasm at the Dave Cooper Show there because he had all these sumptuous ginormous paintings of voluptuous women and you could really appreciate each piece without feeling that you had to keep moving out of the way of another patron.

Which brings me to the most recent show. I've only had the pleasure of seeing one or 2 works by Tony Fitzpatrick in person prior to going to this show and it was a real treat. His work was almost all of the same dimensions and his use of collage is incredible to scrutinze. He uses lots of common symbols and metaphors and nostaligic stencils and drawings in each piece. There's a lot going on in every single work. His colors are a very limited palette and used with a military precision. It reminds me of how some singers like a "Billy Holiday" for example are these great American singers and have a range of about 4 notes, yet their emotional range is as deep as the ocean. Tony Fitzpatrick's work is like that. He works within these very specific parameters, but it's very satisfying. You know what you're going to get yet it's still gratifying to see each and every piece.

Check out some of the pics in this blog from the show. I have a couple of the space itself there at Billy Shire Gallery. See if you can spot Tony in conversation with actor Jeff Garlin from "Curb your Enthusisam" in 2 of the photos.