Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Orly Locquiao solo show at Empire Seven Studios

Life is a linear journey. It beings at a birth and rides along the peaks and valleys of our days and nights, like lines drawn from one point to the next. Through The Lines takes a deeper look into the life, artwork, and craft of Orly Locquiao.

Lines are pathways, connecting history with the present day. From his earliest years of writing graffiti, to his journeys across the United States and overseas, Orly has pieced together culture these last decades through the end of a spray can tip, camera lens, paintbrush, and electric needle. Though all the mediums say many different things in their expression, it is about the person behind the tools who is telling the story.


Join us as we explore the visual talk-stories by a man who has started much (Humble Beginnings, Cukui) and continues to inspire many in his walk for enlightenment through art. Stay Rooted.


Opening reception: Saturday, August 11 from 7-11pm



Thursday, July 12, 2012

Sam Rodriguez solo art exhibit at Cukui

Opening this Friday at Cukui.
Our friend Sam Rodriguez explains his most recent works: 

FUSION MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND: This show is the preface to an ongoing body of work which involves questions and ideas of classification and identity. I am intrigued by visual and social catalogues and their relativity to ones own experience and learned perspective. I have observed this in so many aspects of day-to-day living as I’m sure everyone else has in their own way. For example, here in the U.S I am legally considered “Hispanic”, in Mexico, I am to them an “American”, and to some folks I’ve been considered Middle-Eastern, European, and even part Asian! Visually, the perception of ones identity or how we identify with a given sight changes from one perspective to another.
 There are countless ethnicities, cultures, genres, styles, chemicals, and elements that have meshed together throughout world history, so fusion literally drives the universe. This has inspired me to paint study portraits of dissected faces using visual ingredients and cues, similar to a land map and all its imposed borders.



Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Japantown Mural Project Dedication Event

You're invited to the July 14th dedication of the Japantown Mural Project, a remarkable art and design project by Japantown artist Tamiko Rast and Rasteroids Design that has been in development for the past two years. 
The Japantown Mural Project will be a colorful "urban gallery", a celebration of the vibrancy of the Japantown neighborhood and community through images and artworks by 50 San Jose artists. The content also includes references to the historic Heinleinville Chinese settlement that predated Japantown in the area.

It will contain more than 60 artist panels, each one about 5'5" high by 9' long, installed on the City's Corporation Yard fence along Jackson Street between N. 6th and N. 7th Streets and extending part of the way up N. 6th Street.
 
Empire Seven Studios will have two panels for this project.
One panel will be photographs by Jennifer Ahn and another panel will be a mural I had painted earlier this year (see below).

DEDICATION EVENT
The dedication of the Japantown Mural Project will be in conjunction with the 2012 Obon Matsuri Festival in Japantown on Saturday, July 14. The Mural Dedication is at 3:45pm at the corner of Jackson Street and N. 7th Street. There will be a short program, followed by a walking tour of the entire mural project with lead artist/designer Tamiko Rast and some of the project artists.
This event is free and open to the public.
All are welcome.

More information about the Obon Festival is available at: