Immerse your thoughts in the many exciting creative visions of Alex Face, Dustin Myers, Aof Smith, Anjastama Hp, and Angel Once and join Thinkspace Projects this weekend for an opening reception you don’t want to miss. Celebrating these new bodies of work, each artist ensnares our senses and invites us into their colorful, fantastical world. Come along and delve into the saturated surrealism and compositional specificity where imagination is limitless.
Thinkspace Projects also offers a full schedule of events, interviews, and much more to keep you and your creative needs fully immersed. Be sure to follow their blog Sour Harvest to stay updated on all the artsy things you love! If you’re looking to add to your own collection of art, take a moment and visit their online store to view available inventory.
“Fearless Fiona”
“See The World”
Thinkspace Projects Presents
Alex Face | Dustin Myers | Aof Smith | Anjastama Hp | Angel Once
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 4, 2023 | 6-10pm
Exhibition Dates: November 4, 2023 – November 25, 2023
With DJ, refreshments, live painting, video projections and more!
Thinkspace Projects
4217 W. Jefferson Blvd. | Los Angeles, CA 90016
#310.558.3375 | Tues. – Sat. Noon to 6PM
thinkspaceprojects.com
For all inquiries please contact the gallery via email at contact@thinkspaceprojects.com
Search their hashtags: #thinkspaceprojects #thinkspacegallery #thinkspacefamily
About the Thinkspace Projects //
Thinkspace Projects was founded in 2005; now in LA’s burgeoning West Adams District, the gallery has garnered an international reputation as one of the most active and productive exponents of the New Contemporary Art Movement. Maintaining its founding commitment to the promotion and support of its artists, Thinkspace Projects has steadily expanded its roster and diversified its projects, creating collaborative and institutional opportunities all over the world. Founded in the spirit of forging recognition for young, emerging, and lesser-known talents, the gallery is now home to artists from all over the world, ranging from the emerging, mid-career, and established.
The New Contemporary Art Movement, not unlike its earlier 20th Century counterparts like Surrealism, Dada, or Fauvism, ultimately materialized in search of new forms, content, and expressions that cited rather than disavowed the individual and the social. The earliest incarnations of the Movement, refusing the paradigmatic disinterest of “Art” as an inaccessible garrison of ‘high culture’, championed figuration, surrealism, representation, pop culture, and the subcultural.
By incorporating the ‘lowbrow,’ accessible, and even profane, an exciting and irreverent art movement grew in defiance of the mandated renunciations of “high” art. Emerging on the West Coast in the 90’s partly as a response to the rabid ‘conceptual-turn’ then championed on the East Coasts, the Movement steadily created its own platforms, publications, and spaces for the dissemination of its imagery and ideas.
ALEX FACE
Thinkspace Projects presents our sophomore solo show with Alex Face, ‘Fictional City’, following successful solo exhibitions in Bangkok, Thailand and Rome, Italy. This brand new collection of Alex Face’s work incorporates the character the artist has become known for, exploring new situations and elements, introducing the variety within his work to a new audience.
His signature subject, a quizzical smoking baby that shares a moniker with the artist himself, can be seen contemplating the future. With a worried look spread across its face, this baby turns an eye to the world around it, an extension of Alex Face’s identity as an artist with a social conscience.
The character was inspired by the birth of the artist’s daughter. As the artist himself describes, “The first time I saw her she looked angry or worried, I thought, are you not happy to be my daughter? Are you not happy to be in the world?” Ultimately, this moment became the catalyst for the character he is widely known for.
The baby, with its third eye to represent another dimension beyond what we can plainly see, takes on new situations and future possibilities in this new collection of work.
About Alex Face:
Alex Face (Patcharapon Tangruen) is a Thai street artist and painter who has captivated art enthusiasts worldwide, expressing himself through murals, canvas paintings, and enormous bronze sculptures. His street art is characterized by a unique style that combines the fresh and immediate language of graffiti with virtuoso painting technique, resulting in art with an indelible impact and elaborate content.
He gained recognition in Thailand and later achieved success internationally, thanks to his highly recognizable iconography that engages the gaze of city dwellers in the places he intervenes, through massive paintings in public spaces that encourage reflection on contemporary social themes.
His fame reached its peak in 2009, the year Alex Face became a father, a moment that brought about a strong sense of uncertainty about the world in which his daughter would grow up. Mardi, his daughter, is a constant presence in Face’s artistic production, with her curious and concerned gaze becoming the central theme of Face’s artistic vision. In his large canvases, she is sometimes depicted disguised as a bunny or as a totem with three sleepy and ironic eyes, observing the viewer and conveying a profound sense of weary vulnerability.
Alex Face has participated in numerous international street art festivals such as Peinture Fraîche Festival in Lyon, France (2019). He also boasts an artwork in the permanent collection of the MOCA in Bangkok.
DUSTIN MYERS
Thinkspace Projects presents ‘Perfectly Normal’ from artist Dustin Myers. ‘Perfectly Normal ‘is an ode to the idiosyncratic qualities that make us unique, the beauty in imperfection that is often overlooked during the pursuit of perfection. The exhibition challenges conventional standards and invites viewers to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, the exceptional in the everyday.
“My goal is to highlight the small things about ourselves that make us unique. Sometimes they may not be conventionally attractive, but they are perfect how they are. You can still be perfectly normal and feel extraordinary. By elevating the imperfect to the extraordinary, this collection aims to redefine our understanding of beauty and inspire a new sense of self-acceptance. Through meticulous attention to detail, I aim to highlight the subtle nuances that shape a person’s identity.”
The portraits are not about capturing a flawless facade, but about revealing the depth and character that lies beneath the surface. They are about the diversity and richness that exists within us, inviting viewers to see themselves and others through a lens of appreciation and acceptance.
About Dustin Myers:
Dustin Myers was born and raised in Southern California, and has been following his passion for painting for his entire life. He has been drawing and painting since he was a boy and spent a lot of time at his family’s auto body shop where he developed an appreciation for color and paint. Myers spends most of his time painting, and the rest of the time he enjoys teaching and cooking. His paintings blend his many interests which include mythology, philosophy, and religion.
AOF SMITH
‘Vibration’ from Aof Smith takes over Gallery III, our sophomore solo exhibition with the Thailand based artist. The Bangkok-based contemporary artist expresses his perception and imagination through the limitless possibilities of Pop-surrealism.
With loveable characters that create whimsical scenarios and dynamics, Smith balances an innate dark humor with lighter, brighter elements. Drawing inspiration from manga, science fiction, and other art forms, Smith creates the unique creatures he calls “Furries.” These fantastical characters are rendered in complex detail, often accompanied by unsettling elements like lit fuses and missiles, reflecting Smith’s satirical take on modern society.
Environmental consciousness is a driving force behind his art. In a world struggling with consumerism and waste, Smith contemplates what legacy humanity will leave for future generations. Smith’s goal for the future is simple yet ambitious: to continue creating, fueled by a commitment to his artistic vision.
About Aof Smith:
Born and raised in Bangkok, a city known for its complex mix of the ancient and the modern, Aof Smith was exposed to art from a young age—his father was an art teacher. He later pursued formal education in fine arts, earning a degree and MFA from King Mongkut’s University of Technology. He is one of the artists at the forefront of Thailand’s Contemporary Art scene.
ANJASTAMA HP
Myths of Ganendra (Gallery IV)
In Gallery IV, Thinkspace Projects presents Anjastama Hp’s Myths of Ganendra. Asking the question “how can a figure be created,” Anjastama displays pieces of his culture, bringing details of Java – the artist’s homeland – to his work.
Inspired by wayang (puppet shadow), Anjastama has created work that weaves the culture into his practice. In this solo exhibition, three wayang figures – Wisanggeni, Gatotkaca, and Antasena – are key to the work, both in the formation of the figures and the narrative contained. The artist deforms these three figures, creating new figures that are contextualized today. However, Anjastama has not created novelty, but rather imbued the classic wayang tradition with new creativity and freedom, using it as a narrative tool .
The result is a discourse that has become a sub-study in contemporary art, namely the gamble of form, contextualization, and aesthetic tradition. In his works, the figures he creates present the biased value of behavior, popular symbols, and ambiguity.
In this solo exhibition, Anjastama offers wayang scripts he himself has made that are executed on canvas using acrylic paint. He hacks and recreates the battle scene of the three characters Wisanggeni, Gatotkaca, and Antasena against giants. This script shares the same name as the title of the solo exhibition: Myth of Ganendra (The army of gods).
Complete Curatorial Statement:
“How can a figure be created?” is the right question to ask as a basis for reading Anjastama’s paintings. Of course, this is inseparable from how the artist grew up and consumed the culture around him. From an early age, he has placed wayang as one of his favorite ways to spend time entertaining himself while learning about culture. In Java – Anjas’ homeland – wayang (pupet shadow) culture was originally a part of local religious ceremonies. Over time and with certain factors, wayang has now become a cultural heritage that shows human stories from birth to death. Usually, these stories contain learning elements and philosophies about life.
Returning to the question above – about how figures were created in Anjas’ work – wayang culture plays a major role in his artistic practice. In this solo exhibition, three wayang figures: Wisanggeni, Gatotkaca, and Antasena are key to the work, both in the formation of the figures and the narrative contained. Anjas deforms these three figures, creating new figures that are contextualized today.
However, this does not mean that Anjas has made a novelty, this thing is common in the world of wayang – the dalang (puppeteer) has the creativity and freedom to add or modify the story, although there is a core story that serves as the foundation of the story. Dalang often has the role of author and storyteller of the wayang story that takes place on stage. They can improvise, add humor, or change dialogue to make the performance more interesting and relevant to the audience.
At first glance, what Anjas has done in his artistic practice can be said to be similar to what dalang do in general. However, a closer look at Anjas’ practice shows that instead of taking and imitating it, he presents a discourse that has become a sub-study in contemporary art, namely the gamble of form, contextualization, and aesthetic tradition. In his works, the figures he creates present the biased value of behavior, popular symbols, and ambiguity.
In this solo exhibition, Anjas offers of wayang scripts made by him self that are executed on canvas using acrylic paint. He hacks and recreates the battle scene of the three characters Wisanggeni, Gatotkaca, and Antasena against giants. In this chapter, they entered the scene of encountering and preparing for war, at the end of the story in this segment the three characters gather together to celebrate togetherness and strategize the war.
What needs to be underlined in this presentation is to see the practice of artists in managing tradition, identity, and their position on the global stage. This script shares the same name as the title of the solo exhibition: Myth of Ganendra (The army of gods), in addition to the title being titular for the sustainability of his artistic practice.
About Anjastama Hp:
Indonesian artist Anjastama was born in Sukoharjo, Central Java in 1996. He later completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts education at the Indonesian Art Institute Yogyakarta. Raised surrounded by Javanese culture, the artist was inspired to not only represent it within his work, but present it in a way that offers viewers a window into the culture itself. He has transformed the Javanese puppet into a human form, using it as a means to explore personal and global issues.
ANGEL ONCE
Icons: Pop Art Reimagined (The Doghouse Gallery)
AngelOnce Artist Statement:
Presenting my latest body of work, a vibrant and playful exploration of pop, culture icons, and the incorporation of my character, Charlie the Angry Elephant.
My intention with this body of work is to celebrate the spirit of pop, art, infusing it with my own artistic style and unique perspective. I have explored the world of iconic cartoon characters, giant inspiration from figures that shaped my childhood and influence popular culture. Through the use of acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, I have brought these characters to life with a twist of colors and smooth brushstrokes.
What sets this collection apart is the incorporation of my own character Charlie the Angry Elephant. Charlie brings emotions, luck, attitude, and a smile, of course.
About AngelOnce:
Something about the art of AngelOnce – the way he flows with a spray can has caught the attention of young and mature audiences alike. He is the original creator of the Pink Angry Elephant and graffiti artist. From painting walls, murals to galleries and most recently with his new obsession of hand crafting one of a kind designer toys. He came out with his pink elephant character and has been since seen painting across Southern California. His philosophy for accomplishment is to continue to push hard and spread the angry elephant love across all nations.
