Unconventional Forces

Dates: May 14 - June 4, 2016
Opening reception: Saturday, May 14th, from 7:00PM - 10:00PM

Buckshot Gallery presents, in association with Eddie Donaldson, co founder of GuerillaOne and long time Los Angeles art community supporter, a collaborative exhibition between acclaimed artist and printmaker TAZ and graffiti icon RISK, showcasing a selection of collaborative posters, originals and other genre related printed ephemera, created exclusively for “Unconventional Forces“.

The inevitability of TAZ and RISK joining forces seems preordained. Both artists dig through the detritus left by the body of pop culture to create their own vision of the past, present and future, all of it disguised as utilitarian art. Searching the signs and signifiers of everything from surfing to speed, rock music to science fiction, the two have attacked every surface presented to them. Posters, massive street murals, musical instruments, advertisements, and every other genre-specific form of visual culture have been decorated by TAZ and RISK.

The piercing sense of passion and brand recognition that they share make their art inseparable from the world in which it finds expression. The current exhibition shows artist and writer at their most ingenious, merging art with entertainment. “Unconventional Forces” will represent the first collaboration between these two Southern California based artists.

Artist and designer Jim Evans, aka TAZ, learned his trade in the San Francisco underground scene. He has illustrated comics, album covers, rock and film posters, as well as advertising and magazine illustrations. Evans is the founder of the TAZ collaboration, which is responsible for hundreds of gig posters, album covers, and rock ephemera. TAZ has turned out numerous posters for bands like the Foo Fighters, U2, Oasis, Porno For Pyros, Green Day, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys, Ramones, Rage Against The Machine, Wu Tang Clan, Metallica, and Nine Inch Nails. TAZ also did a number of high profile album jackets for The Beastie Boys, Beck, Aerosmith, House of Pain, and Face To Face. TAZ has been exhibited and disseminated worldwide. 

Kelly Graval, the multi talented fine artist, illustrator and graffiti artist known as RISK has been synonymous with the Los Angeles art community for decades. With a career spanning 30 years, Risk has solidified his place in the history books as a world renowned graffiti legend. He has come a long way since he pioneered the painting of freeway overpasses, signs and billboards, dubbed "heavens". Although Risk loves aerosol art, he sees it as merely one genre in his life's work. From his days as a student at the USC School of Fine Arts to gallery and museum exhibits around the globe, Risk has transformed from a street artist to a rising star in the contemporary art world. 

Risk's works are a cross-section of color field painting, light and space conceptualism and finish fetish sensibilities. Experiential methods exploit transparent aspects of kandy and pearl paint utilizing hi-tech materials, from California car and surf culture while staying true to his adaptive graffiti roots, recycling or repurposing materials all the same.

Risk's work is a constant juxtaposition of advanced color theory. The work depicts an ethereal Yin and Yang quality visually and conceptually.Risk applies paint to his surfaces in multiple layers of various techniques starting with graffiti and ending with fine sprayed lacquer or resins over vintage candy, metal flake and pearl car paints. The finished product evokes emotion as the coats of atmospheric colors and gradations are trapped between the layers of lacquers and pearls. The end result is a dynamic, well-balanced and organized chaos.