Underground art stars BARRY McGEE (in the guise of alter ego LYDIA FONG), CLARE ROJAS, and ANDREW JEFFREY WRIGHT came together last weekend at West Hollywood art hotspot NEW IMAGE ART to present the artistic tour-de-force that was their stunning joint "American Realities" exhibition. Punctuated by a comedic performance by Mr. Wright (how many times has he introduced himself to the ladies as such?) and folk singer PEGGY HONEYWELL (who looks an awful lot like Clare Rojas), as well as the mandatory lengthy autograph session by Twisto (with daughter Asha Kilgallen-McGee tagging alongside him like a pro), the scene was one of the highlights of 2009's spring gallery season with an appropriately massive (and sweaty) crowd of admirers to match. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

A lot has changed in the LA underground art world in the last five years. While a frighteningly huge array of marginal painters popped up during the unprecedented art boom of recent times, the rather small contingent of the town’s heavyweight talent scaled back, seemingly hiding out until either the false-as-fake-tits art bubble burst or the scene purged itself of wannabe “street artists” and “lowbrow” rejects, or both. Luckily, we’re in the process of seeing that last option coming into play and the timing for the re-emergence of one of Hollywood’s foremost painters in the form of one Mr. TODD SCHORR couldn’t be more welcome. Unveiling “The World We Live In,” a small collection of staggering large-scale new works at MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY last weekend, Todd left hanging the collective jaws of his legion of loyal fans that have been wondering where exactly he’s been all this time. Dripping with allegory and nearly impossible technical virtuosity, Shorr’s new work represents a more streamlined stylistic evolution for the artist who has been flaunting his copious chops in a series of secretly produced massive-scale commissioned works in recent years. While these staggering works have all but secured his mantle as “King of the Brush” in the world of so-called Cartoon Surrealism for years to come, the sheer density of these masterpieces demanded a more minimalistic visual counterpoint, amply provided in Schorr’s gorgeous and well focused new work. Hosted by legendary local collector DAVID ARQUETTE with the help of wingmen collectors LEONARDO DiCAPRIO and his father GEORGE DiCAPRIO, the opening recalled the heyday of the late-90s hotbed art scene while simultaneously setting a new high water mark for the town’s young artists-in-waiting. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

This year's installment of the legendary SOUTH x SOUTHWEST music festival in Austin, Texas again proved to be one of the last fleeting moments of relevancy in a modern music world gone post-apocalyptic. Aside from washed-up metal has-beens Metallica playing a gig in honor of their new signature Guitar Hero video game (if only Satan would rise up and strike them down now, lord), the dusty Texas town played host to a staggering array of ripping new talent proving there might still be hope for Hollywood—if not the big box chain record store—yet. On the scene to wheatpaste the town red, white, and black was Supertouch's own SHEPARD FAIREY who went big on the side of LANCE ARMSTRONG's personal bike shop, MELLOW JOHNNY'S immediately after touching down. He pretty much slammed the rest of the town too. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Thanx for hanging in there while we were MIA last week as Supertouch has finally been fully uploaded to new servers. Stick with us while we work out the last little bugs during transition this week, ST should be working at peak performance shortly…

Art-starved Midwesterners don’t get many chances to indulge their optic nerves but Supertouch buddy CHERYL DUNN’s compellingly-titled new show of photographs “Spit & Peanut Shells: American Pictures” at Cincinnati, Ohio’s COUNTRY CLUB GALLERY is just such an extravagance. Known for her unflinching eye and affinity for street-level imagery ranging from portraits of her downtown artist friends to visual slices of everyday Americana in all its innate weirdness, Cheryl’s body of work offers a fascinating glimpse of urban life. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Ground Control to Major Tom: your face seems to be melting…

In these dark days the kaleidoscopic psychedelia of the ERIK PARKER’s amorphous portraiture provides a much-needed dose of visual overstimulation. Working with an incredible sense of whimsy and dynamism, the German-born painter is truly free as he creates these incredibly bizarre semi-representational renderings of what seem to be melting characters from some bizarre futuristic space opera gone wrong. Bold in both color and composition, the works on display at his “Crisis Creation” show at PAUL KASMIN GALLERY in NYC are truly a reflection of the artist’s reeling imagination and disregard for convention. In the words of the NY TIMES‘ art scribe KEN JOHNSON:

“Working under the influence of acid rock posters, underground comics, Mad magazine, Ed (Big Daddy) Roth, Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Peter Saul, Mr. Parker has created a series of zany, neon-bright, imaginary portraits: goggle-eyed heads that are disintegrating into spaghetti-like strands and countless little blobs. Viewing them is like seeing into a mirror through the eyes of a furiously hallucinating drug fiend.”

Consider it a must-see show. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Supertouch’s own master painter ERIC WHITE makes some interesting food choices in his life as a NYC bachelor. That and the fact that he was raised in Michigan more than explain his latest dinner of redneck sushi…

Skateboard P shows the love in the city of buried pyramids…

Supertouch homies PHARRELL and RICARDO CAMPA teamed up to blow kid’s minds in Mexico City last weekend when Skateboard P made a lengthy meet-and-greet appearance at Campa’s legendary streetwear hotspot HEADQUARTERS. At a time when most American stars won’t even set foot on the streets of D.F. for fear of being kidnapped, hats off to the hitmaking art collector for bucking the trend and going big. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »