Categories
Interviews

Drew Brophy

One thing we hope to get across to young artists out there reading FIND is that following your passion can really pay off. If you love skateboarding, paint skateboards. If you like to surf, paint waves… it definitely worked for San Clemente artist Drew Brophy. We wanted to FIND out how he did it, so we asked the closest person to him – his wife and manager Maria Brophy – to interview him for us… Enjoy!

What’s the message you want to give the world with your art and your life?
I want to show people that they can live a great life making art.  What I’ve been doing for the past 20 yearsis all pretty selfish… I (just) want to surf and travel and make art. My message is to take your strengths and passions and meld them together to make a nice life.

Do your paintings have some deep meaning?
No, I paint what I love, which is surfing and simplicity. What can be simpler than a little shack on the beach in a warm place with great waves? It’s an idea that anyone who surfs can relate to.

How would you describe your art to a blind person?
My art captures moments that I experience, whether it’s the pure joy of riding a wave or a moment in a desolate place alone. They are full of life and movement.

Can an artist also become a brand?
Absolutely. A brand is something where people recognize a name and a style. Companies try to create a brand out of nothing but an artist doesn’t have to make something up, they are who they are.

Some artists would say that treating themselves like a brand is selling out. What’s your take on that?
I guess those same people won’t sign their paintings either. If someone likes your art but doesn’t know who you are, they can’t find you. Branding is letting people know this is what you do and who you are.

What are the three most important things you’ve done to “brand” yourself?
I’ve always insisted that my signature go on everything. I’m accessible to everyone. At trade shows I’m the guy that everyone watched paint. It became a selling point, and I continue to “up the ante”….  I started with t-shirt designs for small companies, then onto collaborating with larger and larger brands up to Converse and Walter Foster Publishing.

What’s been the most fun you’ve had with a project?
I really like painting painting graffiti on Escape Camper Vans. I’ve painted 15 so far, and I’ll be doing many more.  I like how raw the spray paint is. I get to paint anything I want. I can paint an entire van in eight hours, so in one day I get to see a beat-up van transform into a bad ass piece of art that somebody’s going to be driving around.

If you could change one thing about your art career, what would it be?
I’d like a bigger studio with everything I need to work more efficiently. I’m amazed at all the things I can pull off in my little piece of shit studio.

What’s it like being married to your art manager? Be honest, I won’t get mad.
It’s great… At least I have somebody looking out for me all the time.

To see more of Drew’s artwork and products, visit www.drewbrophy.com Maria Brophy is Drew’s manager and is an Art Marketing Queen who writes a blog to help creative people design the life and career of their dreams at www.mariabrophy.com

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Categories
Events

First Wednesdays

FIND Art Gallery is pleased to offer a series of Handmade Poster Art Shows the first Wednesday of every month.  This series is geared toward building artistic community in local Orange County, as well as neighboring Los Angeles.  Each show will include a pre-determined theme, and feature a variety of local and national artists, styles, and mediums – all priced under $50!  It is our hope that all patrons will leave our galley with something that inspires them – forming a platform to build local community and offering a great way to view original art.  Please take the opportunity to stop by the FIND Art Gallery:  located at 1640 Superior Avenue in Costa Mesa.

 

Categories
Tour

OKC to Springfield

Slept in the back of the truck after the show at A.K.A. Gallery, so waking up and going was pretty easy. Hard wood truck floor + cold = get up and head to Springfield. The drives on this first leg are proving rather long . . . and expensive. How much diesel does a truck really need? The gas station in Joplin is playing Tupac — awww California.

5/16 : Carthage, MO – Precious Moments Chapel. Ladies my grandmother’s age very sneakily creep up behind you to tell you how adorable they think everything is. Damn those orthopedic shoes are quiet!! We did find the creep-tastic version of Jamie Johnson, painting a bunny, haha to the irony. The strange truth is that this audience’s interest in Precious Moments schwag mimics our interest in our gallery and our expected audience. The difference being, we’re not in the middle of MO, on some huge plot of land – we’ll at the moment we are, but we’re MOBILE.

Onward to Springfield = flat, flat, flat. How would we find an art scene if we didn’t already have a contact or have phones with Google maps and search capabilities? Not a clue!!

Nick Tarr. Lemon Drop Gallery. Spacetones, Sincerely Yours with Nick Fury. Unsung Hero. Francois Lariviere.
Spacetones – when a white dude in short shorts, with a big red beard, starts dropping rhymes, and shocks you, you listen. Then you look at the person next to you and mouth, “WTF?” Francois’s multimedia approach dominates all corners of the show with paintings and sculptures throughout the room. I met his mom and she is justifiably proud of him, which is great to see. Unsung Hero showed some awesome work too – really digging his painting style – on canvas and rattle can. Check our facebook for more images, please.

We went through the night and talked to a lot of randomly awesome, new friends who dug our concept and came out to support our midwestern friends. If this is Springfield, what else do we have in store? Ooooweeeee, cannot friggin’ wait.

5/17: ‘Twas a good ol’ party in Springfield. Still worried about gas money though. The Fuel Fiend, now named Eileen because of her proclivity to bear the weight of the added gallery floor, needs a fix. She’s the Keith Richards of diesel-fueled, mobile-art galleries. Also, one of the most difficult things to do is to stay organized. It feels like we are losing a few things with bags all over the place and moving all over the place. What are you going to do? We’re 2 guys, on the road.

Categories
Tour

First opening – OKC!

Drove through New Mexico, through Alburquerque, through the night into Texas, into Sunday. Napped a bit at the state line and continued on to Amarillo. Happened to be on the 40 and passed right by Cadillac Ranch. Yes, please! Neight may, or may not, have taken a bit of liberty with the half empty spray cans that were lying around.

After having a bit of a break at this art site, I got to thinkin’ . . . there are art sites all over the country . . . send us a list of art sites that we should check out. Do it.

Tore into Oklahoma City — exhausted but glad. The city is being rebuilt from the ground up and there is construction everywhere and the roads are turible!!! Rattling roads + rattling art = rattling Neight and Sean. We found the A.K.A. Gallery in the Paseo Arts District and discovered that the Okies, they love their basketball – so we charged to Kinkos and waited for the basketball game to get out to hand out flyers. Gotta’ hustle I guess.

The A.K.A. Gallery is a great spot. Oklahoma City is a suprising city. A.K.A. had the work of Sarah Atlee,  who does phenomenally rad collage work. Each piece is heavily textured and rich with imagination.

We were nervous about the first show. Just a  bit. But it went well. Sarah’s work was great. Ashley and Andrea were very welcoming and supportive. The truck unfolded as planned. And I, yes your’s truly, added a big FIND logo to the front of the truck.

After the show, or during – I really can’t recall – I went next door to Picasso’s, a bar. It was loud, so I went. You can’t blame me after the drive from OC to OKC. We were unaware that the Paseo Arts district was the hangout for creative types but we met the members from Saturday Sirens, self-proclaimed desert rock artists; and a local arts and culture blogger, Ashley, who asked us to check out Ali Harter and Lindsey Oleck, also musicians – I think. Ashley feels the Oklahoma scene is undervalued. How many scenes are there just like this all over the country that feel they need representation? I say we should recognize regional talents but not all talents need national recognition, except by those who truly wish to classify American art. That’s why there are critics, right?

After sleeping in the truck that night and waking and walking to go get coffee, we realize we are officially in the land of accents, water towers, and overalls. MOCA may have Art in the Streets but we have Art on the Road. Game on!

Categories
Tour

Check ya’ later CA. Well, hello there OK.

FIND Art Across America national tour. 57 cities? 14,000 miles? What are we thinking?

The preparation has us running around like The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. We’re late and we haven’t even started. With so many elements, attempting to get it all in order was a labour of luck, effort, and magic. A national tour? Sure — get a truck, call some artists, day is done, right? At this exact point I don’t even know if we’re prepared and we crossed into New Mexico 50 miles ago.

We have to thank all those that helped get us on the road. Much thanks to Alex and Giovanni from So Cal Weld for the awesome build of the pop out wall that becomes our gallery floor. Thank you Bud and the OC Diesel Shop for getting the truck whipped into fighting shape. Thank you Ernie for the rubbery tires from Amato Tire. Thank you Geoffrey Doolittle for the marathon of help with wiring and final prep.
 
A special thank you to Lacey and The Living Room Salon & Art Gallery for hosting our send off party, Thursday the 12th, in Costa Mesa. The party was supposed to start at 1:00pm and the Dos Chinos taco truck was there with some amazing tacos – try the pork. But where was FIND? Where were we? Still building. Custom jobs never seem to be ready on schedule. We all got problems, you know?

A few hours late, the truck arrived, with a working door. Jamie Johnson hopped on the roll up door to finish his piece. TEWSR quickly got down on finishing his massive wall. FIND opened up boxes and laid out all the work from artists all over the country and began installing. And, 2 pallets of magazines were dropped off just as the sun went down. Could this be a plan coming together? You friggin’ know it.

As we closed up at The Living Room, we realized we still had a lot to do. So, instead of leaving Friday morning for Phoenix, we finished the final details and made plans to drive straight to Sante Fe – 850 miles – on Saturday.

Day one – Redux: trying to make Santa Fe, NM. Saturday morning, 5 AM departure, CA, AZ, NM. Grab the list, check it twice, and GO Go GO. Neight hasn’t slept but the truck is done. I expected a flood of thoughts on the first moments of such a grand trip but there are none – only thinking about getting to Sante Fe on time. There will be plenty of time and empty road for us to think.

After a fill up in Barstow, then a fill up in Needles, then a fill up in Kingman, then a fill up in Flagstaff, we calculated that we were getting 5 miles/gallon of diesel, at $4.90/gallon! This may be over before it has a chance to begin. This could indicate a large problem that can handicap the entire trip since we are budgeted so tightly. We made some calls, checked the air filter, checked the e-brake, checked the overdrive, changed the fuel filter, checked for leaks, and cursed the Mojave Desert and Arizona heat. We are burning cash and hemorrhaging diesel.

During our pit stop in Kingman, AZ, we dropped in on Mink Ink Tattoo where owner, Michelle, showed us the work of Francis Mann and her own zombie baby creations. This was officially our first stop to talk about the magazine and Michelle, her husband, and staff were all very welcoming and encouraging.

We also quickly stopped in Flagstaff, AZ and found ourselves amidst a pretty rad downtown scene full of shops, galleries, graduating seniors, and walls covered with stencils, posters, and murals. We tried to park the beast that demands 2 spots – such an ego – but couldn’t find a suitable place to open up the gallery. Instead, we canvassed the town and handed out some mags. We asked around about the local scene and those we talked to were well-versed in the artists’ work around town.  I think it should definitely be a planned stop for a future tour.

Back on the road, after our minor repairs, we are screeching across the Arizona, New Mexico highway like a possessed amalgamation of Hunter S. Thompson – at the hellish speed of 60 mph. With all the delays because of fuel economy, we are unable to make it to Sante Fe and decide to push as far as we can toward Oklahoma City. Just around midnight, we caught up on that hunger thing at a cafe in Albuquerque and listened to some local dirt-track racers recount their evening of malfunctioning cars, lap times, and near misses.

After a bit of food and plenty of coffee, we drove into Texas until Neight and I couldn’t drive anymore, indicated by the hallucinations of lights and figures in the roadway. We stopped at a rest stop just over the state border and slept for a little while in the single cab box truck / mobile art gallery that is our home.

Categories
Exhibition

Themed Group Art Show… April 1st!

The show will be based on the ideas of the writer Belacqua.

The history of Belacqua is difficult to gauge, he won’t let me visit him, he sees me at predetermined places. I’ve seen no pictures but I’d say he’s over 50. His health is poor after having a stroke while trying to write a pure piece of minor literature. His nurse or a health care worker wrote it for him so it’s not written at a seasoned writer’s level. She said he was a great writer technically but never brilliant before the idea to write, “Grey Matter.” The stroke was devastating for him, he says the stress of compressing language through a literary tactic known as deterritorialization, while trying to cover six, counter intuitive writing devices fractured his corpus callosum. After the stroke he couldn’t see or speak but his right hand still scratched the outline of the story with the little bit of language capability he had left. His nurse typed for him the best she could from his scrawl-some say she actually rewrote most of it. Other theorists say she put herself into the mindset as if she had a stroke herself to interpret Belacqua’s notes.

Belacqua shared the name the movement, based on the joy he got from a drawing by my protégé. The name of the movement is the minor literature principle that Belacqua thinks made him have his stroke. Out of respect this principle can never be listed with the other six. The secret principle is the deterritorialization of language, a writing device used to subvert the expectations of language syntax and structure, “a blur, mixed-up history.” Belacqua used a form of slippage in “Grey Matter,” where the characters identities become unclear as he inappropriately generalizes who he’s identifying. With general pronouns from one paragraph to another he switches character names into similar experiences making the character he puts us into at any given time unstable, forcing tension. These language functions, Deleuze and Guattari write, “can have ambiguous edges, changing borders, that differ from this or that material… Each function of language divides up in turn and carries with it multiple centers of power.” Let me explain the drawing first, It was a drawing of a powerful Kore, who holds her severed breast to show her heart the light of day; that is our metaphor says Belacqua. Now, let me show you an example of deterritorialization he uses. He name’s the drawing described above,”huerta-ta.” He said this is the name we shall fly our flag under to describe out collective intentions. The first word looks like the Spanish name Huerta, but in lowercase. If we slowly say the word without overemphasizing the Spanish tone it sounds like “her-ta-ta,” We should maintain that it’s meaningless like DaDa and that secret is only for us who know of the unlisted principle.

Belacqua says Mad magazine and the film “Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” is a minor literature. Oddly, he says the film “Fight Club” has an optimistic, messiah building ending and is not a minor literature but he likes Chuck Palahniuk. Kafka is a minor literature, so is Lennie Bruce’s cartoon “Masked Man.” He confuses more than he clarifies, but he opens clearings for me at times where I see the concept surrounded by the concepts. Difficult stories should be told in our difficult times. During the Great Depression Hollywood churned out fantasies for people to hide away from their real lives and the depression lingered until WWII forced the US into an unprecedented boom. We should show our ugly actions in art and writing until we see ourselves clearly and we should map out where our behaviors are leading rather than concentrating on where they are or have been. Belacqua cannot speak but dances his ideas out. The smile is permanent on his face. He follows his joy, learning to love every moment he has left and our attention gives him a jouissance that gives him courage to meet us in person.

The theme for submissions is the six points of a minor literature and will be called, “MINOR LITERATURES”

6 Major Points in a Minor Literature:

1. The hero should idiotic and morally ambiguous acting through intuition. Usually wrong in key moments, the hero is often lead by other people’s influence rather than constructing their own solutions.
2. The environment or milieu is beyond human control or understanding. It crushes, blindsides and dominates the characters, regardless of the character’s morality.
3. The characters are flawed never learning from their mistakes. They look for god, law and righteousness to guide their actions, which fail them consistently.
4. No ending ever ties everything up neatly or is happy. We are left with more questions than answers and feelings of doom.
5. Characters should not be constructed for the viewer to identify with or find sympathetic. Every time the reader does identify with the character, the character does something entirely out of character to keep the reader from getting comfortable or familiar.
6. No major ethical issue is ever clear in right and wrong. What we should be asking is why are we even arguing about the issue in the first place. Instead we should ask the question, “Who benefits from the argument taking place?”

Artwork deadlines must be finished and submitted by March 14. Painting, drawing, sculpture, video, performance, essays are welcome. There is no fee to enter.

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Categories
Events Exhibition Tour

FIND Art Across America

FIND Art Across America, a touring concept that brings the art to the people. Rather than waiting for the artists to come to us, we’re going to FIND them, and share their work with the entire world, creating both an unprecedented arts phenomenon while bringing together for the first time a national arts community! We have converted a moving box truck into a fold-out gallery on wheels aligning ourselves with social events, festivals, art openings and populated areas throughout America. We have curated the gallery with some of the best independent artists in the country and are now driving 14,000 miles to not only showcase the artists that we’ve found, but also to find new artists along the way. In conjunction with finding art on the road, we are presenting our first national issue of FIND Art Magazine that acts as an art show in your hand. It plants a seed in each city for more and more artists and followers to get involved and organically become unstoppable. It’s main purpose is to make art more accessible to more people often opening up opportunities for artists to be seen by a critical mass; dealers, curators, collectors, companies, marketing initiatives and many other opportunities. It is printed 5×7 full bleed making each page a frame-ready print to where even the people who can’t afford the art can still appreciate the work, hang it on their walls and collect their favorite artists—then when those people are ready to buy art, they will be more educated, know what artists they enjoy and might feel more comfortable making that purchase. We never repeat the same artist in more than one issue ensuring the accessibility for more artists to get involved. We focus on making each issue timeless, meaning that it doesn’t date itself, you can view the magazine 20 years later and still have the same feeling as the first time ever viewing it, making the magazine a piece of art in itself.

FIND Art Across America’s two month tour began in Orange County on May 12 and will culminate at the L.A. Art Machine International Urban Art Festival August 19 – 21, 2011. An event unlike any of its kind bringing artists from all across the globe to Los Angeles’ historic Olvera Street. The entire tour and the artists we FIND are being thoroughly documented through video podcasts, blogging, and maximized use of our vast social networking communities. These channels will ensure that the adventures along the way will be broadcast to not only a nationwide audience, but a global one as well, with all content leading up to the biggest international arts festival the Southland has ever seen!

Take Part in this Exciting Art Adventure!!!

If you would like to support us, the artists, and our mission, please feel free to buy a subscription at http://findartmagazine.com/membership/

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT US BY DONATING

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Categories
Exhibition

FIND Warren Heard March 12-30, 2011

Discover Artist Warren Heard at Costa Mesa’s FIND Art Gallery

Warren Heard: artist, and once Executive Chef of the prestigious Santa Ana’s Country Club, has been immersed in Southern California culture for almost the entirety of his life. Small excursions to Europe; an effort to embrace new perspectives, practice unconventional technique, and live the lucid, romantic dream of captivating the women he loved, served as breaks to re-examine and reflect on the multi-dimensional Southern California Art Scene.

Within Costa Mesa’s FIND Art Galley, layers upon layers chronicle Heard’s extensive undulation from lower class Venice Beach resident, to upper class Chef, and finally, his ever so tragic fall into poverty. Heard claims, “For any figure, there is probably seven layers, or stages. I let it evolve.” Despite covering almost every inch of the large FIND Art Gallery, it is the evolution of Southern California’s economy that has robbed Heard of more than half of his original art. When questioned about the missing pieces, Heard replies in a somber tone, “Sold…given away…painted over.” Without the resources to purchase additional canvases or space provided to fit another piece into whatever residence he had arranged for himself, he keeps reworking his originals; changing perspectives that he feels creates a “more effective and vivid narrative,” for the most experienced audience to date–a result of universal technology–specifically the Internet.

Utilizing unconventional techniques borrowed from an extensive study of inspirations such as Rick Griffin, Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Schiele, and the Late Picasso, Heard employs a mixed media approach that is grounded in, but not limited to: oil paint, oil pastels, and Pentel markers. Furthermore, Heard paints figuratively, rendering anatomical figures and exposing an expressionistic view of the human condition. His visual rhetoric transcends any class, race, sexual preference, or creed and suggests that there are aspects of every human being that are beautiful, yet horrific. This contradiction in context with his Southern California themed setting creates a compelling argument for viewers to ponder, and promotes discussion about culture in general, which, in turn, is one of Heard’s favorite topics.

Heard paints with a prolific passion that resembles spontaneous prose and never seems to run out of material claiming that, “I’ve gotten to a point where, it doesn’t matter, something will always keep coming. I never have a block; I’m never not inspired. I wish I could paint three at the same time.”

We cordially invite you to see this long awaited exhibition, opening on March 12th @ 7PM at the FIND Art Gallery in Costa Mesa. Come introduce yourself to Warren Heard, and experience the inspiring artwork that captures the beautiful, yet horrific chaos that is uniquely Southern California culture.

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For General Press information and interview opportunities please contact: Neight Adamson (949)278-6702 or email [email protected]

All Press, Media, Gallery Curators, Art Directors, Dealers and Serious Buyers will have an opportunity to join us for a soft opening on Friday, March 11 at 7PM. RSVP Only! Email your full name and guests names to [email protected]

FIND Art Gallery – 1640 Superior Ave. Costa Mesa, CA 92627

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Categories
Uncategorized

FIND Art Magazine

Past Issues

WELCOME to this FIND thing you’ve just found. It’s a treasure, really. An Art Show Mag focused on showcasing undiscovered talent for everyone to see, complete with 5X7 frame-ready artwork. We at FIND are working towards a tighter art community. Working for change. In a down economy, it’s the artist who never stops drawing. It’s the artist that never stops dreaming… There are millions of artists out there who haven’t had any exposure at all. Maybe they’re shy. Maybe they don’t have a car. Maybe they just don’t have any connections. Maybe their art hasn’t been seen outside their own home!! These are the artists we want to FIND. These are the artists we will FIND. We’ve even got MASTER FINDS to inspire us and show us what can happen when you never stop dreaming. In the meantime, continue to eat art, sleep art, breathe art, and (if you’re super gnarly) Make Art!!! Whatever you need to do to keep your creativity flowin, do it, and send us your best samples. We hope you’re truly inspired by what you’ve just found… FIND

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