Tag Archive: 2MIL

  1. Art Is For Everyone

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    Art Is For Everyone – Gamut Gallery celebrates a decade of Art and Community in the Twin Cities. Our exhibit features artists Aldair Dosmil, Ash Hane, Barret Lee, Bunny Portia, James Zucco, John Foster, Kristi Abbott, Rodrigo Oñate, Lora Hlavsa, and Urban Camper.


    Gamut Gallery will be closed 6/1 – 6/5 for Independence Day.  You can shop our collections online while we’re away.

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    Gamut Gallery has thoroughly enjoyed a decade of art, music, performance, and collaborations! From our first location in the Handicraft Building to our current home in Elliot Park, the relationship that continues to define our space is the one we share with you every day. As we look forward to another year together, we invite you to join us in celebrating ten years by attending our first summer exhibition of the year: Art is for Everyone!

    As the gallery evolves from one show to the next, the heart of Gamut’s mission remains the same: we believe that art fosters community, and everyone should have access to becoming a collector! In honor of our tenth anniversary, ten of our supporters, from dabblers to devotees, have graciously agreed to lend us one of the pieces that first caught their eyes and captured their hearts. The loaned work will be displayed in tandem with new, original pieces by the corresponding artists. Gamut is delighted to welcome back artists Ash Hane, Barret Lee, Bunny Portia, James Zucco, John Foster, Kristi Abbott, Rodrigo Oñate, Lora Hlavsa, Urban Camper, and 2Mil for this group exhibit. As a special compliment to the month-long retrospective display, portraits captured within the homes of the featured collectors will be on view along with a few words of their own stories that embody Gamut’s mission of bridging artists and their communities to life!

    “Come for the art and stay for the party!” We couldn’t kick off a show as big as this without you!  Join our space on opening night for food and festivities with live music and performances back-to-back.  We can’t wait to celebrate all of our collectors who have supported small businesses and working artists over the past ten years. Whether you have been with us from the very beginning or are among our newest friends, our story begins and ends with you!

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    10-Year Anniversary Party:
    Saturday, June 11th, 2022 // 4 PM – 10PM
    $15 pre-sales available until June 10th
    • $20 at the door, FREE for members
    • Music by Daniel Volovets, Digital Nap, James Patrick & Sassy G 
    • Icy Icy Baby Snowcone Truck
    • Taqueria Victor Hugo Taco Truck
    • Live art by Hibaaq Ibrahim, Evan Weselmann & Jamie Owens
    • Photobooth with Caleb Timmerman 

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    Featured Artist Bios:

    Aldair Dosmil is a Mexican street artist, born in Morelia, Michoacán. He has dedicated his work to the appropriation of urban spaces with murals since 2015. With a varied and eclectic style, he represents through Mexican folklore an iconic character of his work, a personal reinterpretation of the torito de petate dance, one of the most traditional emblems of Morelia.

    Ash Marlene Hane can be found wandering amongst the myths and the stars, greeting the spirits of the animate cosmos, and dancing amongst the northern forests. A student of  *the way of things* she is in tutelage with the Great Mystery and a devotee of the Jovian path. Her current body of work is an intuitive collaboration with Creator, inviting re-enchantment and magic into the eye and heart of the beholder. Ash studied Printmaking and Art history at the U of M and MCAD, co-owner of the former Midnight Brigade Gallery, and creator of TLA Press. Ash Marlene Hane has shown at numerous galleries and is the recipient of an MRAC Next Step Grant. Her practice centers around an ethic of experimentation and is in collaboration with the Nymphs and Muses of creation.

    Barret Lee is a Minnesota-based fine artist and illustrator with a BA in drawing and painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in 2016. Barret is a multidisciplinary artist who works in a range of mediums. He paints a wide variety of subjects, including wide-eyed characters, playful landscapes, and pop culture. 

    As a representational feminist artist working in oils, encaustic, pencil, and video, Bunny Portia examines issues of aging, change, and traditional ideals of female beauty. Her work is based on personal experience and incorporates a retrospective view from her 70-year vantage point. Fifty years ago, Bunny Portia spent the summer of her sophomore year in college stuffed into an impossibly tight-fitting, padded costume, serving drinks and meals to customers who bought into the Playboy myth. Using that experience juxtaposed to her image today, she explores age bias and her experience growing old. Her large Memento Mori skeleton paintings made their debut at Gamut Gallery in 2017.

    James Zucco spent many years creating award-winning work as an art director in advertising.In 2015, he shifted his focus to fine art. His work resides in private collections around the world and was recently featured in New American Paintings. James has also created illustrations for clients including The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Mother Jones.

    Manipulating time and light, John Foster is creating works of art that evoke a visceral response. Through a radical synthesis of poetry and engineering, highly technical feats of geometry leave us with objects that do not appear to have passed through the artist’s hands. Foster draws on sacred geometry to provide the base parameters for an experience that grips viewers, drawing them into the moment with a kaleidoscopic play of color, texture, and rhythm. Colors dance and transform as the eye moves from one perspective to another, generating iridescent figures that metamorphize as viewers move around them.

    Kristi Abbott is an Australian multimedia collage artist. Kristi spent 8 years growing her art business in Minnesota, having her own gallery in downtown Minneapolis for 3 years. She has won several awards and public commissions and her work is collected across the US and Australia. As a collage artist Kristi is fascinated with the use of color, pattern, and texture. She combines these elements in her work in an innovative and exciting way using a combination of papers, paints, and other embellishment materials. Each piece and series is thoughtfully researched and conceptualized to tell a story through the use of familiar imagery richly layered throughout each artwork. She describes her amazing and innovative methods as “painting with paper”. After a year-long art residency in Texas, she has returned to Minnesota, where she looks forward to adding artworks to the previous series as well as creating completely new series and artworks inspired by her life and travels.  

    Lora Hlavsa is a self-described “professional dabbler”. Professionally, she solves creative problems as an art director and designer, but her personal fine art and illustration practice reveals an unconstrained world of color and energy. Inspired by femininity, pop culture, nature, and intersectionality, she uses color, pattern, chaos, and emotion to create multi-dimensional works that reflect the many (and often innocuous) layers of the daily human experience.

    The creation of characters and fantastic worlds is the universe that defines the work of Rodrigo Oñate (Rocodrilo). Originally from the city of Queretaro, Mexico, Roco embarked on his career as a self-taught plastic and graphic artist, influenced by the pop culture of the 80s, comics, graffiti, and various artists representing Mexican art. By extracting himself from his context and looking at it from the outside, he found a better appreciation and understanding of Latin American culture, thus conceiving a style with a contemporary and modern vision of Latino folklore, mixing techniques that since his career has gained great relevance as in graffiti or pop art.

    Urban Camper is a Minnesota-based photographer who primarily documents street art and graffiti. His focus is to give some permanence to a generally ephemeral art form. With the same sense of documenting a moment in time, Urban Camper journals life experiences with his camera.

  2. SINGULA

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    Singula will feature muralists Los Calladitos, 2MIL, Lelo Zaa and Roco Drilo from Mexico, (sub)urban warrior, Liz Flores and Elloo from Chicago, Chuck U and Joy Spika from Minneapolis, all whom incorporate whimsical characters and dream-like imagery. Curated by Rodrigo Oñate aka Roco Drilo.

    Artwork available for viewing and purchase until Tuesday, September 21st, 2021.


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    Singula (adj.) derives from the Latin word, singulus, meaning single or separate; each one being individually unique and particular, possessing its own essence. As individuals experiencing and interpreting distinct realities– from our physical surroundings to our imaginations deep within the subconscious realm; Singula honors the distinguishable and rare elements that continuously shape our identity and understanding of the world.  

    Singula is curated by Rodrigo Oñate and features muralists he has invited from Mexico, Chicago and Minneapolis, all whom incorporate whimsical characters and dream-like imagery to explore their cultural origins and storytelling practices that embolden critical connections across identities. Through a combination of colors, textures and intricate shapes and figures, this collection of muralists reveres the accessibility of public spaces to create vibrant and eclectic works that connect directly with the community. By highlighting everyday human experiences and marginalized narratives, this exhibition affirms street art is a powerful form of expression and solidarity among communities, stimulating the imagination and activism necessary for transformative change. 

    We hope this work engages the viewer to reflect upon their own innermost identities and the dreams that we carry with us throughout our lifetime. This Summer, we invite you to enter the gallery filled with environments most commonly found in our flights of fantasy.[/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”one_half_last_clear”]

    MEMBERS ONLY PREVIEW NIGHT:
    Thursday, July 15th //  6-8pm
    Meet & greet with Twin Cities with curator & artist Rodrigo Oñate
    Reserve your spot or become a member today!!
    • Memberships required, book your FREE pre-sale today
    • Members may purchase a guest pass to bring a friend for $7

    PUBLIC OPENING NIGHT:
    Friday, July 16th // 6-9pm • $7, FREE for members
    Pre-sales available and recommended
    • Entry will be available at the door

    Elliot Park Art Walk & Makers Market
    Saturday, July 24th // 11am – 3pm • $6.50
    Tour times at 11:30pm, 12:30 pm, 1:30pm & 2:30pm with Live painting in Gamut’s Courtyard.
    FREE pop-up makers market at Gamut featuring Twin Cities Makers and Icy Icy Baby shaved ice treat truck!
    Book your tour!

    Experience historic Elliot Park neighborhood through a comedian-led tour from the Theater of Public Policy. Learn fun facts about the neighborhood, check out historic landmarks, and explore experiences in the Elliot Park Arts Quarter featuring Gamut Gallery, Fades Of Gray Inc. Bee Ink Tattoo, Rose Salon & Segue Coffee Shop.[/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”clear”][/bscolumns]


    ABOUT THE ARTISTS
    The creation of characters and fantastic worlds are the universe that defines the work of Rodrigo Oñate (Roco Drilo). Originally from the city of Queretaro, Mexico, Roco embarked on his career as a self-taught plastic and graphic artist, influenced by the pop culture of the 80s, comics, graffiti and various artists representing Mexican art. By extracting himself from his context and looking at it from the outside, he found a better appreciation and understanding of Latin American culture, thus conceiving a style with a contemporary and modern vision of Latino folklore, mixing techniques that since his career have gained great relevance as in graffiti or pop art.

    Los Calladitos (The Silent Ones) was founded in 2015 by Ariadna Galaz and Jorge Peralta. When Ari and Jorge began working together they gave themselves Los Calladitos as a nickname because they believed that the work is more valuable than words. Passionate about their work and improving the environment through art, Los Calladitos creates unique characters based on legends, myths or real people representing the communities they visit, encouraging the viewer to be a part of their own community. Currently, they are painting murals around Latin America and helping communities through art education, and hosting workshops. Their studio is located in the quiet colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

    Creator and promoter of street art in Mexico, LELO is known for his colorful artwork, in small and large format, using spray, acrylic, latex paint and natural pigments. In his art, Juárez explores and recreates the worldview of native towns, with elements of his personal identity. He uses street art and graffiti as techniques of orality and image, aimed to build a universal language. His work continues to revolve around the worldview and cultural context of the native towns; articulated with the medical background he acquired at the veterinary school. In this way, he combines empirical and scientific knowledge.

    2MIL is a Mexican street artist, born in Morelia, Michoacán. He has dedicated his work to the appropriation of urban spaces with muralsl since 2015. With a varied and eclectic style, he represents through Mexican folklore an iconic character of his work, a personal reinterpretation of the torito de petate dance, one of the most traditional emblems of Morelia.

    Elloo is a Chicago based artist who is known for her bright colored compositions. Her work is inspired by her love for sweets, subconscious memories and fairytales. Her bright colored characters are a blend of her imagination and dark dream-like scenes. Behind every piece she creates: Life is Sweet. Currently, she resides in Pilsen and continues to paint from her imagination bringing her characters to real life. Her main focus is to create a body of work that is unique and that allows the viewer to dig into their subconscious and develop their own interpretations of what they see.

    Liz Flores is a painter and muralist based in Chicago. Her work experiments with how the human condition—with its interplay between emotion and memory—can be represented abstractly. She engages everyday human experience and the female body by using shape, color and the human form as a mode of visual storytelling.  Her mural work can be found throughout the Chicagoland Area and New York City. In addition to working with private and commercial clients, her work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Chicago and is driven by her interests in womanhood, belonging and inner life.

    (sub)urban warrior is an artist from the suburbs of Chicago, who views each piece as an opportunity to share her passion with the surrounding communities, and to leave something behind that will be thought provoking, emotionally significant, and mentally stimulating to the viewer. Influenced greatly by nature, something that is very relatable to all walks of life, (sub)urban warrior combines multiple creatures and sometimes humans in a whimsical playful way that oftentimes exudes an ethereal feeling. Her original creations are called beasties, all knowing omnipotent beings that are eternal and roam the earth, bringing a message of love and strength and stability to those around them. While her characters are known for their sweet nature and strong presence, incorporating bright colors and vibrant tones communicate a joyful message that is uplifting and smile inducing.

    Joy Spika is a black identifying artist with a mixed cultural background. She incorporates her personal stories into all of her work. She is a mixed media artist with a deep love for aerosol murals, painting, and textile art, who believes in the power of art to heal and connect people. From a young age she has used art as a fundamental form of expression and communication. Joy finds Inspiration through her intuitive understanding of the world around her and those things that aren’t always visible. Joy uses her art as a channel to retrieve messages from her ancestors and guides. Art has always been her primary spirituality. The characters she creates are often exaggerated or dream-like versions of her current emotions and still images of what her internal life looks like. In this show she is featuring paintings that have her deep truths hidden in them through symbols and the characters she creates. She wants to hold space for the complicated and non-monolithic nature of the lives of BIPOC, fat, femme and alternative humans.

    Chuck U is a painter, illustrator and muralist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who specializes in whimsical yet intricate works that celebrate the unusual and unexpected. His pieces are populated with fanciful flora, fauna and unusual landscapes that are playful yet masterful and aim to spark imagination and joy in the viewer. Chuck’s prints utilize a combination of traditional pen and ink technique with digital coloring applications that are printed digitally or as limited edition screen prints. His paintings and murals are approached with a similar sensibility but take on a life of their own transporting the viewer with scale, color, and the skillful line work that has become his signature.