Poster installation by Justin Allen. Photo by Roger Davies.
Poster installation by Justin Allen, leather bags by Chosé General. Photo by Roger Davies.
Leather bags by Chosé General. Photo by Roger Davies.
Hand-painted silks by Katrin Jurati, Karandash armchair by Fernando Rodrigues, leather bags by Chosé General. Photo by Roger Davies.
Leather bags by Chosé General
Hand-painted silks by Katrin Jurati
Stationary by Chosé General, hand-made books by Justin Allen, displayed pop-up book by Justin Allen, hand-painted silks by Katrin Jurati, Karandash armchair by Fernando Rodrigues. Photo by Roger Davies.
Hand-painted silk necklaces by Katrin Jurati. Photo by Roger Davies.
Ceramics by Pilar Wiley. Photo by Roger Davies.
Hand-painted silks by Katrin Jurati, wooden shelf and Mountain by Louis Gabriel, reclaimed poster artwork by Nicolau Vergueiro and Marco Antonio Prado. Photo by Roger Davies.
Exilo is pleased to present The Shadow Known, a solo exhibition by Louis Gabriel. Using wood as his primary material, Louis’ pieces communicate a deep engagement with the handmade and a reverence for historic methods and techniques. Formal decisions are simultaneously guided by the nature of the material and a desire to explore the unknown in everyday and familiar objects. Cut and carved forms are hand sanded, scorched, toned with natural stains, coated with oil finishes and cured in the sun.
The Shadow Known presents a body of new work that repositions the former factory bathroom space at Exilo into a more personal and domestic setting. An African mahogany wardrobe screen, zebrawood peg rails, and a hanging walnut clock all speak to the possibility of an imagined space.
Louis lives and works in Los Angeles. He has worked with a variety of artists, architects, designers, and others in bringing his pieces to personal collections, private residences, and commercial spaces in Los Angeles and New York. Bespoke commissions include a hand-carved walnut rocking horse, a scorched douglas fir dining room table, and an arched bookcase in solid walnut.
An opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 16th from 6 to 8 pm, and will be on view by appointment through August 21st.
Exilo Studio is located at 435 S. Broadway, 3rd floor, Los Angeles, CA – 90013
EXILO STUDIO showcased new pieces from Brooklyn-based fashion designer Katie McKay earlier this year.
Katie created tanks, tees and hats with fabrics printed in her original patterns. Highlights include
an Egypt-themed pattern, printed on jersey, and a snake with prey pattern, on silk. A feast for the eyes.
Katieʼs work ranges from fashion and textile design to art direction and fine art. Her subject matter is
often inspired by disparate facets of popular culture.
The Scarface pattern, which breaks down some of the movie’s scenes and themes into a multi-perspective composition:
Scarface
Scarface detail
Katie’s sense of 2-d narrative representation is pure wonderment, conjuring up the compositions of Islamic illuminations from the 1500ʼs or even the surrealist in-your-face world of Robert Williams.
Nomi Ruiz models Katie McKay's creation. Photo by Bek Andersen.
Nomi Ruiz models Katie McKay's creation. Photo by Bek Andersen.
Nomi Ruiz models Katie McKay's creation. Photo by Bek Andersen
Nomi Ruiz models Katie McKay's creation. Photo by Bek Andersen
Tiffany Roth performing with Midnight Magic wearing accessory by Katie McKay.
Katie’s fashion design brings to mind the mind-blowing work of Chinese-American, San Francisco-based, fashion designer Kaisik Wong, who dressed flashy acts from the 70′s such as the incomparable funk diva Betty Davis and The Cockettes.
Cover of Betty Davis' album They Say I'm Different with fashion by Kaisik Wong
Fashion by Kaisik Wong
Fashion by Kaisik Wong
Vest by Kaisik Wong
Spring 2002 Balenciaga show, where Nicolas Ghesquiere found inspiration in Wong's designs
As with Wong, Katie’s aesthetic procures the occult, almost in general terms, as a vehicle to imagine and produce a world full of ceremonial attitude.
Commonly Katie’s subjects represent occult imaginaries of supernatural proportions themselves, as she has interpreted Sun Ra’s idiosyncratic universe through graphic renderings, patterns and most recently a painted mural in Brooklyn, NY:
8' x 8' painting part of a community mural on the corner of Eastern Parkway and Franklin Ave. in Brookly, NY.
Katie manages to find and rearrange the ornamentation imbued in our cultural narratives – from Egyptian mythology to S&M culture to Scarface.
Though touching on fundamentals of recent fashion – loud colors, heavy patterning, neo-tribalism, neo-psychedelia (found in some fashion of the whites gone wild and hip-hop youth cultures), Katie’s composition are so unique, perceptive and timeless, they surpass all expectations. Think Sun Ra!
Katie has also developed the logo of Jessica 6, and art direction for both Jessica 6 and Midnight Magic’s cover art (seen here featuring original artwork by Pilar Wiley).
February 12 -13, 2011 Exilo Studio and Sitko Studio presented their first joined open studio event. A curated collection from each studio featured furniture, art, ceramics, textiles, utensils and accessories. Overall these two studio’s displayed the range of various artist’s reach: from the dramatic gesture of a photographer designing their first furniture line, to the subtle gesture of a ceramic artist testing new glaze patterns on simple ceramic forms. Exilo studio artists and designers include: Noah Albert, Chose General, Louis Gabriel, Alexander Khan, Vanessa Prado and Katie McKay. Sitko Studio artists and designers included: Joel Otterson, Willem Henri Lucas, Chelsea Novalle, Shoshi Kanokahata, elf-shelf co., utensils by Marcus Perez/Kuan Hwa and Taidgh O’Neil.
This past winter EXILO STUDIO welcomed members of Brooklyn-based bands Jessica 6 and Midnight Magic on their L.A. tour.
With caipirinhas in hand, a nice mix of friends/fans watched the premiere of Jessica 6ʼs ʻWhite Horseʼ music video, directed by Marco Ovando and styled by Ava Sanjurjo. The video is nominated for an award, and the band is also performing, at the Mad Video Awards in Athens, Greece, on 06/14/2011.
In the video the boys of Jessica 6 – Morgan Wiley and Andrew Raposo – are clad in vintage biker stylings as the ever-effervescent front woman Nomi Ruiz seduces the audience with her tantalizing showgirl/bombshell/femme fatale image.
The video professes a kind of nostalgia for a New York of the past, where seediness reveals a romantic take on the possibilities of an underground lifestyle. The feeling of longing for an urban freedom and exhilaration is also evoked by the easy beats of a perfectly crafted dance-pop tune…with a dark side.
In grainy high-contrast black and white shots of marquees at night, iconic triple X’s blink and glow, as Nomi promises we can get back to that place on the dance floor.
The endless bank of references to New York nightlife, and its figures, fittingly characterizes a nostalgic take on nostalgia itself. As Nomi confesses on the chorus: “…I know Iʼve lost my memory. Although Iʼve lost my memory…”
The night-to-day cycle of the video is a nice touch. On the last scene we see Nomi in morning light in a lively walk-of-shame. The day-after becomes a tender moment amidst the usual hardness of the leather and chain nightlife.
pics from the evening:
Tiffany Roth,of Midnight Magic and Andrew Raposo, of Midnight Magic and Jessica 6
