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Category Archives: Paintings
“Signs of the Times”: The Pieces (11-14)
October 11, 2011
No more hope, we want action!
October 12, 2011
Where’s my
lobbyist?
Each piece in Stephen Seemayer’s new show of artworks at District Gallery in Downtown L.A. is built on a reconstructed front page of the Los Angeles Times from each day of Occupy L.A.
During October and November 2011, Seemayer and his wife, filmmaker Pamela Wilson, spent time nearly every day talking with and documenting the occupiers who were camped out in tents and makeshift shelters around L.A.’s City Hall.
October 13, 2011
Consensual handcuffs only.
October 14, 2011
I don’t believe anything until authorities
deny it.
The protestors were showing solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in New York, and pressing for fairness and compassion for working class Americans. They urged a shift in values and a closing of the rift between the wealthiest in our society and the “99%.”
Seemayer’s energetic collages incorporate the slogans and signage that got the occupiers’ messages across, along with photographs and graphic stencils of revolutionary symbolism.
Signs of the Times continues through May 26.
STEPHEN SEEMAYER
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
April 25 – May 26
District Gallery
740 E. 3rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213)814-7164
Map
The Los Angeles Blue Bum Paintings
"Reinvent Yourself." Aerosol Enamel and Latex on Masonite, 24" X 24"
"Big Questions" Aerosol Emamel and Latex on masonite, 24" X 24"
"Upend The Shit You Know." Aerosol Enamel and Latex on masonite, 24" X 24"
—>>> Go To the LA Blue Bum Website for more <<<—
Stephen Seemayer in his front yard displaying "Misanthropes 'R' Us". (Aerosol Enamel and Latex on masonite, 32" X 48")
Tricked Out Kicks @ Crewest Gallery
Opening night at Crewest Gallery (2011)
My sneakers are a reflection of my art, whether they are paint-spattered, burned or caked in dirt and mud. I have saved nearly all my used sneakers over the years, and recently, I started purposely painting on my shoes with the stencils and spray paints I use to make my L.A. Blue Bum paintings. Then I took it a step further and began creating brightly colored whimsical paintings on my old pairs of sneakers, incorporating their age and relative state of disrepair. I call them my Tricked Out Kicks. I wear them to openings and art events, and for the Art of Transportation exhibition at Crewest Gallery in downtown L.A., I was asked to exhibit some of them. Instead of a traditional display, I decided to show them in a way that fit the theme of the graffiti-inspired show and reflected the personality of my Echo Park neighborhood: I hung them from electrical cables strung across the gallery 14 feet off the ground.
The 'Tricked Out Kicks' installation at Crewest Gallery.
The 'Tricked Out Kicks' installation at Crewest Gallery. (2011)
Assembled shoes in the 'Tricked Out Kicks' installation.
Have You Seen My Privacy?
In the spirit of the Getty Foundation-sponsored project “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980,” the 18th Street Art Center in Santa Monica enlisted artists to create exhibitions commemorating California’s influential contemporary art movement. “Have You Seen My Privacy?” curated by artist Richard Newton, incorporated paintings, video, installations, ephemera and correspondence into a series of exhibits by artists whose work examines personal identity in this increasingly technological age. There were also weekly public discussions with the artists involved. Newton asked me to show examples of my work that explore issues of the loss of privacy, identity and depersonalization. I chose life-size photo blowups of my “Burning Mask” series — a performance in which I crawled in an alley wearing a flaming triangle mask — and my “Unit in Orange” performance — in which I marched around a gallery with a number shaved onto my head and an aborted human fetus cupped in my hands. I also set out three “Body Bags” on the floor of the gallery and two “Buddha on Money Bags” meditation mats. On the evening of my public discussion, I previewed “Being Human,” an 11-minute video documentary on my nearly 40-year career.
Click For ‘Being Human’ Video
Captions: Above: (L to R) ‘Buddha On Moneybags’ c. 1995 (Under) Body Bags c.1998. (To Right) Unit In Orange c. 1978. (Below) Stephen Seemayer wearing fire mask c. 1978. (Below) Installation shot at 18th Art Gallery.
Richard Newton’s Website
Richard Newton’s Video Channel
Richard Newton’s Watching In The Dark
18th Street Art Center/Gallery
STEPHEN SEEMAYER 