Los Angeles based fine artist Patrick Martinez, known for his neon works and paintings of contemporary urban youth, is set to open a new solo show, Lovely Day, at Known Gallery this Saturday, June 16. Todd Mazer stopped by Martinez' studio for some beautiful shots of both inspiration and process.

Mazer told us, "We ended up hanging out and walking around his block and I kept stumbling upon things that he said did in fact inspire many of his pieces... It was a trip and finally we went to the nail shop that inspired him to make the last neon and he brought it all back home if you will. I guess what happened was very parallel to the show title."

As Known Gallery writes, "Martinez, a diverse young artist, is known for his lush colorful paintings and portraits set in the Los Angeles streets, his neon works that play on hip-hop themes, his sculptures and his limited-edition objects. For “Lovely Day,” he revisits the Los Angeles landscape. 'It's crazy to me that I wake up to beautiful days here in L.A., but they are juxtaposed with the ‘evil’ things that happen in this sublime city. That’s the inspiration for the show,' says Martinez."

PATRICK MARTINEZ / LOVELY DAY

Opens: June 16, 2012 | 8-11pm

Runs: June 16 - July 7, 2012

Known Gallery

441 North Fairfax Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90036