On March 13th, artist Mikal (M11X) Hameed ended his art tour at Kingdom in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  But instead of doing it at a gallery he decided to go out with a bang and took the whole show into a Brooklyn nightclub.  Nathan Lee Pickett was on hand and created an incredible live mural and street art favorite Ellis G. wowed the crowd with his fire tags (outside the club, of course).  Photographer Joe Russo was on hand and took some incredible photos that we just had to share with all of you.  Also, last but certainly not least, the event was sponsored by the newly formed artist collective 800LB ARTISTS, which has already started to turn some heads in the New York art scene and beyond with their unique approach to artist/client relationships.  You can read more about them on their website.  Enjoy the photos!

LINK TO ALL PHOTOS HERE:

(left to right) Chris Peters, Last Rites Gallery Director Andrew Michael Ford & David R. Choquette

On Saturday, March 6th 2010, artists Chris Peters and David R. Choquette unveiled their first ever solo exhibitions at Last Rites Gallery in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.  Below is a link to the opening photos, along with links to all the new incredible paintings these two created for their new shows.  Enjoy!

LINK TO OPENING PHOTOS

AMF Gallery is proud to present a mini-solo exhibition of new works,
for the month of March 2010, by artist Jeremiah Ketner.






CLICK HERE TO SEE ONLINE SHOW AT AMF GALLERY
ABOUT JEREMIAH KETNER

Jeremiah Ketner paints a world to which fairytales long to belong.  With candy-floss landscapes and vivid imaginary images, his work enraptures and transports one into the world ethereal and the life celestial.  He has the inimitable ability to transform the natural into the sublime, terra firma into terra ephemera, the defined figure into the delicate, exquisite figurative.  Renowned throughout the US and internationally, Ketner attributes his influence to Art Nouveau, Japanese Aesthetics and Manga. He resides and creates from his home and studio in Chicago, IL, USA.


ABOUT AMF GALLERY

AMF Gallery makes available work by a variety of artists who have been inspired by comic books, animation, graffiti, tattoos, children's books, commercial illustration and many other forms of pop and subversive imagery.  These artworks, which have been described in the past by such words as Lowbrow, Pop Surrealism, Contemporary Folk, Street Art and other such labels, have come together to form a powerful and exciting new movement in art.  We hope to strongly promote these artworks, in an effort to help reveal the extreme importance of this New Contemporary Movement in the global contemporary fine art scene.

AMF GALLERY
www.andrewmichaelford.com

Following in the footsteps of the early Dadaists and Fluxus sound experiments, artist M11X (aka Mikal Hameed) has exploded on the scene with a new, more contemporary form of sound art. Blending his musical history and technical skill as a craftsman and visual fine artist, designer Mikal Hameed and his alter ego artist M11X, calls on us to forget our individualized nature and relationship with our headphones and demands that we start to share our music as it was meant to be; unplugged from our ears and free.  M11X’s manifesto blends the iconic image of the boom box and alters the platform to which music is brought to the masses. Mikal’s personal relationship to the early 80s, boom boxes and sound in general, creates a strong foundation from which he explores through collaboration with many traditional fine art mediums.  This Friday Hameed will be bringing a recent tour of his artwork to a close at Kingdom in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The tour ran through galleries and art spaces in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Jersey City before making it's final stop in Brooklyn, New York.  I sat down with Hameed to ask him a few questions about his artwork and what to expect from this upcoming event on Friday, March 12th in Brooklyn.



Where are you from, where have you lived and where are you at now?

I'm from punk rock, hip hop, early skateboarders, mixed with 80's b-boyism.  I grew up in Los Angeles, drinking Budwiser under age and singing punk rock in back yard pool parties.  Later I found myself in San Fran, drinking red wine with Doze Green, during the return of the DJ revolution.  Now I'm a working class artist living in Brooklyn and father of three being a good husband.



Speaking of influences, which artists (not just visual) have influenced your work the most?

My influences span from David Ellis to Nikola Tesla...from Doze Green to Charles Eames.  I could go on forever, like from Futura to Stevie Wonder.......



When did you make your first sound sculpture and where did the idea to make something like that come from?

I made some hats that retrofitted headphones in the early 90 called head-bangers. I guess it kinda grew from there.  I always had a fetish for what I call 'musicfunitureart'.



When did you decide to put together this tour of your artwork and why?

I was in my studio cranking out this body of work and no one would give me a show.  There was always some excuse (you are too new, my gallery don't showcase this kind of work, etc, etc, etc).  So I said fuck it and I submitted my art to over 500 galleries and decided who ever bite back and give me a show is where I would end.  When bites started coming back from several different cities, it only made sense to do a tour instead of just one show in one town.



After this Friday's event, what is next for you and your artwork?

Back in the lab working on some new shit.  I'm also in the Barnstormer group show coming up at Joshua Liner Gallery on the March 18th.


Mikal Hameed (aka M11X)

As far as this Friday is concerned, what can art lovers expect if they decide to come out to this event?

This is a celebration and it's also the launch of an artist collective called 800LB ARTISTS.  I have team up with some great people who are planning to make this event pop.  There will be live dancers and also live installations by Ellis G. and Nathan Pickett.  Of course I will be showcasing all the work from the tour.  If you didn't make it to Los Angeles, San Fran or Jersey City, stop by Williamsburg, Brooklyn Friday night and check out some dope sound art!
This event will take place at:
KINGDOM - 170 North 4th (btwn Bedford and Driggs) - Williamsburg, Brooklyn

EVENT STARTS @ 9PM and goes till 4AM!

MIKAL (M11X) HAMEED OFFICIAL SITE: www.mikalhameed.com

VIDEO ABOUT THE ARTWORK OF MIKAL (M11X) HAMEED: www.vimeo.com/8700736
MORE ABOUT 800LB ARTISTS: www.800lbartists.com

Jeremiah Ketner - The Longest Nap, 10 x 10 Inches, Acrylic on wood, 2010