mixing it up: a vibrant palette of memory at shockboxx - diversions la
Buzzing with lively energy, the group exhibition Mixtape, now at ShockBoxx Gallery in Hermosa Beach brings the invigorating result of an international open art call to life while stirring up some good ol’ B-side nostalgia. Remember years ago when you carefully and painstakingly curated a mix of your favorite songs and recorded them on cassette tapes?
THEODOSIA MARCHANT ON HER LIFE AS A LAWYER IN LONDON AND HER TRANSITION TO ART IN LOS ANGELES-OVERSTANDARD – Culture & Creativity
Officially, my art was shown in a gallery in LA in 2016 for the first time. I was pinching myself. Since then, I have exhibited in various galleries within the LA area, and one of the galleries that stands out for me for the level of connection and quality of the community is the Shockboxx Project. It is an artist-run gallery, and I help behind the scenes.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
LA Based Daniel Thorr Hustwit on His Creative Process, Inspiration and His Shockboxx Solo – OVERSTANDARD – Culture & Creativity
My art is based on, born of, and all about art. I disdain what I perceive to be the “art world” – they have been playing the same style over and over for 150 years. So, I guess you could say I am inspired by disdain, and my style is a combination of old school and new school.
“Unframed,” curated by Aimee Mandala, at ShockBoxx - Easy Reader News
Curator Aimee Mandala envisioned, in her words, “an exhibition focused on the artist’s process — on works that are sketched out, used up, slipped in a folder, forgotten and left behind. It is a look inside the artist’s mind and reveals how we work out a composition or idea, or simply practice our craft.
SUMMER CAMP - QUICK TAKES ON HOT ART:MON DIEU PROJECTS GOES ABSTRACT AND SHOCKBOXX HEADS TO SUMMER CAMP - DIVERSIONS la
Also fresh in the summer heat, Shockboxx Gallery‘s group show, Summer Camp delights with a wild array of artists in full seasonal splendor. From the campy (yes, pun intended) to the haunting, from stunningly detailed landscapes to fuzzy textile sculptures, this exhibition is as welcome as a cold glass of lemonade (spike it if you’d like) on a hot day.
Kat Alyst - she is all about dreamy vibes AND MEZMERIZING ART - jukebox times
Art is a language that unites people without the use of words. Kat sought to use her passion for design and photography to captivate the world by showcasing her storylines. In 2021, it happened at the Shockboxx Gallery, when Kat once more displayed her compelling artwork that had a subliminal emotional link to her idealized life.
Hermosa Music Company, Shockboxx art gallery create cultural hub in Hermosa Beach
The whole area, the Cypress industrial arts area, is so rich in history, with the surfing, with Jose Barahona, Jon Mangiagli, the Becker surfboards and Dan Cobley, it’s phenomenal.
Sugar-Coated is Bittersweet at Shockboxx
Sugar-Coated, at Shockboxx Gallery through the end of April, is a deeply personal show. Vivid colors splash and swirl against black backgrounds, and nearly hidden in those backgrounds are a darker black image of a daisy. The implication is that the viewer must peer into the abyss to see the beauty growing there, within these large-scale works.
Joy Ray’s Duplicated Spirits at Shockboxx Project
Like a headstone rubbing xeroxed endlessly, a song chanted backwards and upside down, faded denim worn then unworn, the spirit of a little object awoken by its transition to artifact, Joy Ray’s solo exhibition Ghost Visions haunts its October-long venue, Shockboxx Project. Ray’s work, for the living, demonstrates the supernatural forces that rest upon language, material, and process.
Meet Mixed Media Painter Joy Ray
Painter Joy Ray layers pigment and sand on rough textile, along with rusted metal and laid-in wool, needlework and cross-stitch. A punk and tribal goth is expressed in her rough symphonies of black pigments whose diverse textures variegate the canvases. The prominence of hand-stitching as a form of mark-making in Ray’s compositions highlights the aspects of her practice most engaged with the art and cultural history of textile, even as these marks reference coded, extraterrestrial and/or ancient pictographic languages. An exhibition of her new works opens in Hermosa Beach this week, with a romantic witchy energy perfect for calling forth spooky season.
Joy Ray Will Conjure the Other Worldly at Shockboxx
Opening October 9th, and closing on Halloween, it’s only right that Joy Ray should offer new works with a beautifully haunting theme – Ghost Visions.
“I think of ghosts as a kind of ambassador to an unseen world,” Ray says. “This could be an actual ghost, or a dream, premonition, or intuition, one of those moments of strangeness that makes us aware of the fact we’re surrounded by the mysterious at all times.”
Life, always hanging in the balance
The figures in Scott Meskill’s recent and not-so-recent paintings are pretty much cut from the same cloth. Generally speaking, they’re male, nude, and often in a curled or contorted position. None of them have smooth, flawless skin, and several call to mind an écorché, a figural study in which the skin has been removed in order to highlight the musculature of the body. Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius are two artists who drew these in order to better understand human anatomy. Think of Body Works; it’s kind of like that.
Shockboxx Rocks
Pandemic or no pandemic, the show must go on. The art show that is. Shockboxx has been providing exciting new shows for by-appointment viewing in the gallery’s airy space, as well as offering virtual opening and closing events and artists’ talks since the pandemic first began. If establishing a community is more important to the art world than ever before, then this Hermosa Beach gallery is upholding that important mandate big time.
Drica Lobo’s vibrant artwork at ShockBoxx
Drica Lobo’s ShockBoxx show is about connection, and being in the moment. The exhibition is like a big candy box with its vibrant paintings, tempered by several rhythmic black and white drawings, a sculpture or two, and a small room in the back of the gallery that will indulge your five senses.
Decoding the Flow, Exhibition by Drica Lobo
Los Angeles based artist, Drica Lobo’s latest exhibit, “Decoding the Flow”, will open to the public beginning on Saturday, August 29th, 2020. Hosted by Shockboxx Project, the opening reception will virtually take place from 6-8pm via Zoom in Hermosa Beach, CA.
Meet Mike Collins | Painter, Curator, Gallery Owner & Psychologist
We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike Collins and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Mike, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When we opened ShockBoxx we were sailing on more momentum than thought.
Shockboxx Vibes – Quarantine Style
Just closed, the solo show by Shockboxx program artist Kymm Swank did not disappoint. Vibrant and visceral abstracts are often a signature at the gallery, where recent shows, both group and solo, have offered a kinetic energy that feels synonymous with the gallery’s style.
Kymm Swank: Was There Any Reason That You Could Not Have Accepted Full-Time Work Each Workday?
LA-based abstract artist Kymm Swank has been using her time in self-quarantine to produce a new series of work and has an entire solo show, which opened at ShockBoxx Gallery last week, to show for it. Her show Was There Any Reason That You Could Not Have Accepted Full-Time Work Each Workday? showcases a departure from her previous style to study texture + explore the juxtaposition of structure + chaos. We chatted with Kymm all about the show, her process + the making of the largest piece she’s ever done (226x58 inches!!!).
Quarantine Q&A: Mike Collins of ShockBoxx
Art, Life and the Business of Art during COVID-19
Are you still changing exhibitions as you would if open and are the exhibitions virtual-only now? How’s that going?
We haven’t slowed our programming at all during quarantine. The opening reception for Sarah Svetlana’s solo show, “Secret Garden,” was on March 7th, with the show scheduled to run through the end of that month. The opening was well attended, but the effects of the coming changes were already being felt.
ShockBoxx in Hermosa Beach offers 3-D virtual tours to showcase artist’s work
Sarah Svetlana’s solo art show at ShockBoxx in Hermosa Beach was put in limbo when the novel coronavirus pandemic hit and the show was eventually shut down following a successful opening.
After the lockdown, with Svetlana’s work still in the gallery and unfinished works on the floor, ShockBoxx co-founder Mike Collins said they “didn’t want to rock back on our heels and wait.”
5 Ways Galleries Are Finding Success during COVID-19
California-based gallery ShockBoxx worked with a digital designer to put together a 3D model of its current exhibition, and has been streaming artist talks via Zoom. ShockBoxx’s digital visitors can make instant purchases through Artsy’s Buy Now and Make Offer selling options.
Mike Collins: The Funeral Party
Meet LA-based artist, psychologist + ShockBoxx Gallery owner Mike Collins. Collins has been working tirelessly on his upcoming solo show, The Funeral Party, opening at ShockBoxx on Saturday, March 23. The dark, massive pieces, constructed of any material Collins could get his hands on, are inspired by his personal struggles with alcoholism + have The Cure references dispersed throughout.
Scott Meskill: An Everlasting Itch
Painter + sculptor Scott Meskill expresses themes of hope, boundaries + current political issues through a series of captivating faceless, limbless figures. The LA-based artist is taking over ShockBoxx Gallery with his solo show An Everlasting Itch.
Sarah Svetlana: секретный сад [secret garden]
We’ve had our eye on LA-based painter Sarah Svetlana since first seeing her work around our longtime favorite spot ShockBoxx. This time around, she’s taking over the entire gallery with her upcoming solo show.
Theodosia Marchant: Domestic Animals
LA-based artist Theodosia Marchant paints a narrative of human nature in 16 frames in her solo show Domestic Animals. The collection is Marchant’s personal experiment on human behavior, combining her signature figures + love of psychology.
Preston M. Smith: Playtime Is Over?
Abstract artist Preston M. Smith asks Playtime Is Over? in his upcoming solo show at ShockBoxx Gallery, opening this Saturday, May 18th from 7:00-9:00pm. After chatting with him, we can confidently say that the playfulness is nowhere near over.
SHOCKBOXX gallery draws inspired crowds to Hermosa Beach’s thriving industrial arts district
By SARA DEBEVEC
Ever since Laura Schuler and Mike Collins began hosting events at their ShockBoxx art gallery in Hermosa’s Cypress Avenue District, a robust audience has been spilling out onto the streets several times a month.
Sharks invade ShockBoxx gallery in Hermosa Beach
By Mike Hixon
“Shark Week” opened Saturday at the ShockBoxx Project Gallery, located at 636 Cypress St. in Hermosa Beach. The exhibit was the brainchild of artist Chris Prenter, according to ShockBoxx co-founder Mike Collins.
“Off with their heads!” It’s a Queendom at ShockBoxx Gallery
by bondo Wyszpolski
“Queendom,” the installation piece by Patty Grau and Diane Strack, which was one of the highlights or hijinks of last month’s “CA 101.” Despite its resemblance to a kitschy photobooth, the work mesmerized nearly everyone who wandered over to it, and that included Mike Collins and Laura Schuler, the proprietors of Hermosa’s ShockBoxx Project Gallery.
Work of Art: Cypress Street fixture Keoni Boyd, after decades in surfboard industry, looks back with a Hermosa Beach gallery show steps from the places he calls home
By ryan mcdonald
Timing is everything in surfboard manufacturing, but Keoni Boyd does not wear a watch. Nor does he have a cell phone.
Hermosa Beach ShockBoxx, new art gallery, is ready to ‘Break the System’
BY RYAN MCDONALD
Mike Collins and Laura Schuler were gazing in wonder at the walls of ShockBoxx, the new art gallery they are opening on Cypress Avenue. The first official show takes place this weekend, but a sort of soft opening happened last month, when they invited fellow Hermosa Beach artists LG Givot and Josh Barnes to inaugurate the place by covering the walls. The two grabbed their cans and went to work, taking to the walls with vibrant colors and some 25 hours of aerosol-propelled intensity.
ShockBoxx gallery continues artistic tradition in Hermosa Beach's Cypress District
By Michael Hixon
Artists Laura Schuler and Mike Collins said their new Hermosa Beach gallery, ShockBoxx Project Gallery, will be a place to “challenge artists.” “It's a place to be experimental, a place to make more artists vulnerable in terms of pushing them outside of where they paint now,” Schuler said.
