BRIAN KOKOSKA OBSESSION

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Brian Kokoska VMAN 25

Also! Don't forget - Brian is featured in VMAN issue 25 guest edited by Carine Roitfeld. Photographed in his studio by Michael Avedon... grandson of Richard Avedon.

The article is called The Artists Are Present. Find it on newsstands now!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Brian Kokoska artist talk

Check out this flyer from Brian Kokoska's recent artist lecture at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Courtesy Emily Carr University of Art and Design:

http://www.ecuad.ca/about/events/190003

Brian Kokoska's Beige Infinity on VMAN.com

Pre-opening press for Brian Kokoska's solo exhibition Beige Infinity posted by our friends at VMAN Magazine, New York:

http://www.vman.com/blog/from-beige-to-infinity/

P.S. Rumor has it that Brian Kokoska is featured in the next print issue 25 of VMAN Magazine this February. Guest edited by Carine Roitfeld, former editor-in-chief Vogue Paris.

Beige Infinity limited edition poster

By the way! We just found out Brian Kokoska made a limited edition poster to accompany his show Beige Infinity at Blanket Gallery, Vancouver. Stop by the gallery to grab one while you still can (and please send us one too)!!!

Brian Kokoska solo show at Blanket Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

NY based artist Brian Kokoska recently opened his first solo exhibition in Canada at Blanket Contemporary Art in Vancouver. An opening reception for the the show, titled Beige Infinity, took place on January 14 and the exhibition is on display until February 25 2012. Comprised of a grouping of new paintings, small to medium scale, the exhibition deals with figurative imagery with a special consideration toward portraits, masks, and flowers.

The press release for the show states "Kokoska's modestly scaled oil paintings explore the surreal, the fantastical, but are at the same time an uncanny reflection of youth culture; its underlying tension and its chaotic, distracted language. Darkly jubilant figurative images amalgamate with abstracted, layered elements depicting scenes of unnamed ritual and fetish. Steeped in both the history of painting, and of costume, mask, and performance, implicit throughout the work is a sense of whimsy with an emphasis on decorations and adornments; headgear, hairstyles, flowers, and other embellishments". And "A palette all together garish, gloomy and vivid elaborates a simultaneity of figurative and pictorial elements in which figures seem tied down, trapped or forced to pose, but are mystifyingly true to life".

Kokoska's paintings hang in soothing gaps along the gallery walls. Some paintings are paired into twos or threes, while others are singled out all alone, but each painting seems to act individually. Scenes of chaotic bliss are combined with intimate portraits of youth and beauty in an arguably awkward manner. Select paintings such as Silk Prince appear almost as an icon or teenage heartthrob, while Honey references a sensual peek into an orgasmic bedroom scene with haunting undertones.

A lone figure with a landscape background titled Boardwalk Breeze introduces real life narrative space to Kokoska's character-driven vocabulary. Black and gray paintings such as Rub Club and Head Dress offset the disturbingly colorful palette seen in many paintings. Monochromatic Booster evokes a serene purpleness to the excessively large, white gallery space. A mixture of naturalistic figures play off ghoulish, deformed and accessorized figures maintaining a steady balance of innocence versus gloom.

The exhibition is a must-see if in Vancouver, Canada. We can't wait until Brian Kokoska opens his first solo in New York.

Installation shots of Brian Kokoska's Beige Infinity courtesy Blanket Contemporary Art Inc., Vancouver, Canada:

http://www.blanketgallery.com

Brian Kokoska on cover of Carousel Magazine!!!

We are so delighted to have come across Brian Kokoska on the cover of Carousel Magazine! I stopped by the local magazine shop to snag a copy. Issue 28 Winter-Spring 2012!!!

Below are some screen shots of the cover and inside article: