John McGuire Olsen: Path of Beasts

ShoeboxLA Presents

John McGuire Olsen: Path of Beasts

Saturday, December 15, 2012 from 4-7pm

Half Off Clothing Store, Los Feliz

1748 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

“Sometimes in the mountains the animals make paths by using the same route again and again. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you might think it’s a path made by humans—it looks that way. If you follow that path, the path of beasts, you won’t get anywhere at all. People lost in the wilderness, they follow these paths and only get more and more lost. Sometimes they lose their way and they die. It’s not a path for humans, it’s a dangerous diversion.”  Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein

  

ShoeboxLA is pleased to present John McGuire Olsen: Path of Beasts. Video games offer worlds which can be accessed from practically anywhere.  In John Mcguire Olsen’s case, he accesses these worlds in his studio and collects particular “moments” from these games which may eventually become paintings. Olsen uses these snapshots to create dreamy, trance-like images that are pensive and quiet - something missing in most contemporary, mainstream video games, which favor kinetic action over thoughtful reflection.  Olsen embraces the idea of becoming lost or sidetracked from the original intention of a game and sets off on a path to dissect the rarely celebrated act of failure (or in video game language, “failure state”) and, in turn, creates visionary paintings which gently whisper for the viewer to pause and reflect.

John McGuire Olsen received his BFA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, California.  He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Email: shoeboxla@gmail.com for more info or press images.  

(Half Off Clothing Store in Los Feliz offers men's and women's contemporary clothing always at 40%-70% off the retail price.  www.halfoffclothingstore.com)

John McGuire Olsen: Path of Beasts

Saturday, December 15, 2012 from 4-7pm

Half Off Clothing Store, Los Feliz

1748 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

ShoeboxLA in the LA Weekly

We are thrilled and excited to have been included in Carol Cheh's article in the LA Weekly on the top 10 art spaces in Los Angeles that are changing our idea of what art spaces can be!  We are doubly thrilled she covered one of our favorite shows, Cut Both Ways, with artist Jay Erker.  We love being an alternative, alternative space.  Thank you Carol and the LA Weekly: 

 http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2012/11/alternative_art_spaces_galleries.php?page=4

ShoeboxLA: Art on a table
ShoeboxLA is a specially constructed display table about the size of two shoeboxes laid side by side. This highly portable space -- which, like Open Arms, uses the simple, rectangular structure of a traditional gallery but in a whimsical manner -- roams the streets of L.A. for three-hour pop-up shows in random public locations.

Founders Sophia Allison and Paul W. Evans, artists themselves, wanted to create a mobile art experience that interacted closely with the environments it found itself in. After about a year in operation, the shoebox has appeared in a bookstore, an ice cream parlor, a bowling alley and a shopping mall. Artists are invited to create new work that is specifically geared toward the dimensions of ShoeboxLA (no pre-existing work is accepted).

Back in September, the gallery planted itself in the also tiny Los Feliz Triangle Park to show artist Jay Erker's Cut Both Ways, a handmade book of sliced and layered fashion-magazine images. On a boiling hot day, Erker (who also runs the nearby Weekend Gallery) stood under an umbrella, turning the pages for a steady stream of curious and enthusiastic passersby.

photo: Carol Cheh

Thank you, Carmine!

We had record turnout for Carmine Iannaccone's IAmTheGravitySurfer at Alias Books in Atwater Village on Saturday, Nov. 17.  Despite the rain and a power outage which lasted 40 minutes, you all kept coming and Carmine kept us all captivated by his words and beautifully elegant installation.  We met so many new people and can't thank you all enough for coming out. 

If you didn't make it, please go to Alias Books often and repeatedly.  It's simply a great bookstore run by some special people.  Thank you, Patrick.  We love being in your store.

Here are some shots from the opening.  If you'd like one of Carmine's zines, let us know via email and we'll see that you get one.

*SAVE THE DATE - Saturday, December 15: JOHN MCGUIRE OLSEN (location TBA)