Hero Complex Gallery Shoots First With: “Young Guns” This Friday, September 20th!

The folks at Hero Complex Gallery are giving some love to the next class of uber talented artists with their “Young Guns Of Print” show that hits this Friday, 9/20. The list of talent for this show is chock FULL of Poster Posse members (7 to be exact) and I can’t WAIT to go check this one out.

**** CHECK OUT OUR INSTAGRAM FEED FOR TONS OF PICTURES FROM THE OPENING RECEPTION WITH THE ARTISTS ****

Artist Bruce Yan turns in a phenomenal Glow In The Dark print for one of my all-time favorite flicks, “The Incredibles.” (time to scrounge up some money cause I HAVE to get this one!)Each artist will have a mini-theme and contribute between 2-15 pieces for their theme. This show will exhibit every type of print imaginable…screen prints, letter presses, giclees, and even 7′ tall life-size portraits. So if you’re a print collector who loves the raw talent of today’s newest artists you have to come out to Hero Complex Gallery and meet several of the artists involved.

Beetlejuice by Marie Bergeron ( I can only HOPE that this is one of the 7″ pieces that HCG referenced in their press release!)

Cloud Atlas Triptych by Paul Shipper

Here is a list of the artists who are participating along with their themes:

Ale Giorgini – ‘Greetings From Los Angeles’
Andrew Kolb – ‘Mused on Tattoos’
Bruce Yan – ‘Tribute to Animation’
Florey – ‘Busted’
JP Valderrama – ‘The 27 Club’
Khoa Ho – ‘Superheroes Past and Present’
Marie Bergeron – ‘Tribute to Tim Burton’
Mark Lone – ‘Creatures’
Mark Reihill – ‘Hunters’
Marko Manev – ‘Tribute to Lord of the Rings’
Matt Ferguson – ‘It’s the End of the Word As I Know It (And I Feel Fine)’
Matthew Johnson – ‘Tribute to Harry Potter’
Paul Shipper – ‘Alternative Movie Posters’
Peter Gutierrez – ‘Mechanically Acclaimed’
Phillip Ellering – ‘Geniuses at Work’
Tim Anderson – ‘Harrison Ford Gun Show’
Tim Jordan – ‘Bettie’’
Zeb Love – ‘Emblems’

We spoke to Hero Complex Gallery’s curator Adam Smasher about the exhibit and here is what he had to say…

How did you go about lining up the talent for this show? Where there any commonalities or preconceived requirements between your decisions with choosing these artists?

From the outset we really wanted to have a diverse group of artists in this show, so the only real commonality between the artists is that they are all relatively new to the scene. It was heart-breaking to not be able to extend invitations to artists who are a little more established than this group, because there are so many incredibly talented artists out there, but we really wanted this show to highlight the art of relative newcomers to the field. It was also heartbreaking to not be able to include a few artists who simply weren’t available because their stars have already caught fire, but we are overjoyed by their successes, hopefully we see the same of all the artists in this show…I think we will in due time!

The Road Warrior by Matt Ferguson

Dredd by Paul Shipper

How will the Young Guns show differ from your past shows?

The biggest way that Young Guns differs from our previous shows is that this is for the artists involved. They selected their own concepts, decided how many pieces to include, and were given free reign to create anything they wanted. There’s a wonderful aspect of creativity that comes with that type of freedom, and it has created an entirely different type of show. Of all our shows this year, and there have been some great ones, this is the one that we are the most proud of…it will bring together so many artists of different styles, and for many of them it will be much closer to a mini-solo show, because some artists are submitting a serious amount of work. With a few artists topping 10 pieces total, and one artist, Florey, exhibiting 15 pieces, this will be quite a special event.

Creatures – Mark Lone

Harry Potter – by Matthew Johnson

Are you guys working with a specific charity for this show? If so, who and why?

We are working with College Access Plan (http://collegeaccessplan.org) on this show, a non-profit group that helps under served students to succeed in college. Like the burgeoning artists in this show who are striving to succeed in the art print world, so many of America’s youth, especially those whom are underprivileged, have a particularly difficult time transitioning and excelling in college, so we are hoping to help them in their endeavors. We feel that it is incumbent upon the current generation to create better educational opportunities for the next generation, so that’s why we’ve deleted this charity component.

Finn – by Florey

Stanley Kubrick – Phillip Elering

Like past shows will you be doing any auctions, show specials for attendees, etc?

Something to note is that we will be giving away Paul Shipper Iron Giant mini-prints for every print of his that someone purchases! And UK artist Matt Ferguson has sent signed mini-postcards of his amazing 24 x 36 screen prints for the show, that will go to anyone who purchases his prints. We will also be giving away a prize pack of select prints to a few lucky winners in attendance.

Iron Giant Mini Print by Paul Shipper

Matt Ferguson – Postcard set

Adam also added:

JP Valderrama is flying in from the NY Metro area.
Bruce Yan is flying in from Seattle
And Paul Shipper is flying in from New Zealand
LA area artists Peter Gutierrez and Phillip Ellering will be there as well

(We expect a few other artist confirmations this week.)

Kurt Cobain – by JP Valderrama

As you can see, this is going to be a phenomenal event that you will HAVE to go to if you are in the area. The only thing that could make this better is if Marie Bergeron and Matt Ferguson could fly in! (There’s still time to book a flight yew two!)

DL-44 Letterpress by Tim Anderson

The opening reception will be this Friday, September 20th from 7-10 pm. There will be frosty pops, music and a grip of artists in attendance. The display will be up from September 20th – October 5th, (Wednesdays through Saturdays 11am – 6pm). If you can’t make it to the event, the online release will go live Saturday September 21st around 1 PM PST at HCG’s STOREFRONT HERE. Head over to HCG’s FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE and RSVP today.

The Nerd by Khoa Ho

Come out, throw back a few cold ones, meet some incredible talent and say “Hi” to me. I’ll be the guy in the BLURPPY tee shirt drooling and maxing out his credit card. Hope to see you there!

**** CHECK OUT OUR INSTAGRAM FEED FOR TONS OF PICTURES FROM THE OPENING RECEPTION WITH THE ARTISTS ****