Home Gallery Shows Dave MacDowell – “Low Brow Love Letter” – Thinkspace LA

Dave MacDowell – “Low Brow Love Letter” – Thinkspace LA

by Curt Anderson
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We had the pleasure of attending Dave MacDowell’s latest opus “Low Brow Love Letter” this past weekend at Thinkspace LA.
It was a long-ish drive down I-5 from San Francisco, but it was well worth the trip.

Rob Faucette and fan taking in Dave’s show.

The Gallery was electric that night, also showing was the work of Yosuke Ueno and Jacub Gagnon. It was a lovely Los Angeles evening on Gallery row and the weather was beautiful.

Early in the night there was a commotion, camera’s were flashing and local collector/art lover Christian Fogliani chose this spot, and this night to propose to his lovely girlfriend, she said yes, camera’s flashed and people cheered. There was a positive vibe in the air.

Photo via Thinkspaces Great Flickr Feed (View lots more photos there)

Thinkspace of course being a leader in the Low Brow movement it truly was indeed a “Low Brow Love Letter.” Dave of course didn’t know this was going to happen but it was, so very apros pos, and it was beautiful.

Dave’s studio, working on “Something wicked this way comes”

In this latest series Dave does what he knows best, he sets his sights on Pop-Culture, expertly seeming to always have his brush on the pulse of whats hot, and more importantly what’s funny.

The Big Lebowski has been hot the past few months  and Dave did not dissapoint, his “ABIDE” painting is one of his most iconic and popular yet. It quite literally looks better than alot of Hollywood posters today. (Has anyone seen the X-Men Academy posters? utter trash). We would love seeing more of his work in extensive publication, for Movie posters, magazine covers, and possibly some great Video Game covers.

The Lowbrow art scene has always been a community of outsider art. Art not meant for the bourgeoisie, art for real people, at attainable prices. There are few in the art scene who so consisitently and expertly deliver at the same level as Mr. Dave MacDowell. His work has a definate, unique look, and he is extremely well known throughout the Art community, particularly in Los Angeles. Dave works so hard that he has been in literally hundreds of group shows the past few years, his work has been seen and loved far and wide. As integral to the scene as Dave is, at times even he can feel like an outsider, Dave doesn’t live in Santa Barbara, Orange County, or Los Angeles. Dave and his family live a quieit life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Dave’s life revolves around painting, and we’ve had the pleasure of having many late night phone chats about the state of the art world, our frustrations, hopes, and observations. We are proud to call him a true friend.

Often when Dave calls you he will have something hilarious to say, usually doing a off the wall impersonation for laughs. He’s a delight to chat with.

For this show he focused on typical pop culture staples like “The Dude,” Charlie Sheen, Big Eyed Girls, Nudes, Antwone Dodson (Hide your husbands), but also some personal figures he admires in the art world. Such as Chet Zar, and Luke Chueh, and the venerable Mark Ryden. He takes his arsenal of skill and humour and integrates it with what he thinks of their work and style, to create a true and beautiful homage. Luke Cheuh attended the opening and absoutely loved his piece. Dave took Chueh’s bears and transposed them into a demented serial killer straight out of Silence of the Lambs, tormenting Winnie the Pooh and his crew to put the lotion on their skin. All done in the style of a Golden Book, straight out of hell.

Dave’s show sold very very well, but you can see what’s left at Thinkspace’s website:

http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2011/04a/project/works.php

Dave is at the top of his game, and will be feautured on Monday May 9th’s Late Night with Carson Daly, episode 272. (Monday night, early Tuesday morning) so be sure to set your Tivos! We’ll post up a Hulu link as soon as it’s up. So you can check back here later.

Last Call with Carson Daly

(Last Call with Carson Daly Courtesy of NBC Universal)

EDIT: Here’s the Segment!

We are so excited to see what Dave has in store for us in the coming months, we can be sure it will be expertly painted, topical, funny as hell, and most importantly beautiful pieces of art.

Dave’s work is powerful, it can be Sexy, funny, sad, joyful, angry, horrific, psychadelic, and even scary. Dave MacDowell is a true artist, an artist’s artist. A working man, who loves to paint, the world is his oyester, and he’s taking a big bite.

“Abide”

Charlie Sheen “Winning”

“The Vengeance of Luke Chueh”

“Something Wicked this way comes”

“Blood thirsty Savages”

“Beating the Meat Market” – Daves playful jab at Mr. Mark Ryden, with an Andrew Wyeth reference among others.

Copywriter and fan Rick Galiher stopped by and we loved the way Dave’s “ABIDE” postcard flyer accented his attire.

“Where the Boys Are”

“The Dude” – Heavy impasto (Impasto is very thick application of paint that gives the painting a somewhat 3 dimensional texture)

Super Zar – Daves Homage to Chet Czar

Dave laughing it up behind thinkspace with Apricot Mantle, Rob Faucette (WWA), and us. (taking the photo)

“Who you gonna call?”

“Hide your husbands!”

The man himself, Mr. Dave MacDowell basking in the Los Angeles sunset, possibly reflecting on many months of hard work, and conquests to come.

Visit Daves Personal Website Here: http://www.macdowellstudio.com/

His Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dave.macdowell

His Twitter: http://twitter.com/DavidMacDowell

Visit Thinkspace LA at:

http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2011/04a/project/works.php

Thinkspace Art Gallery
6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 558-3375

Review, Photos, and Feature by Curt Anderson (Decimus) for Urban-Muse.com

MAKE ART. PAINT THINGS. BE AWESOME.

[email protected]

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