JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

Amidst a recent flurry of new work ranging from the creation of a couple of new identity systems, some gorgeous wedding invites, a stash of custom built and hand-painted signs, and a brilliant pop-iconified painting of Marilyn Monroe(wish we had a photo) for the Life as Legend traveling exhibition at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center - Scot Lefavor managed to fully handle the below commission. Courtland Urbano(left) and Sean Herman(right) are two all around super rad and way crafty dudes. Both are signigicant players in the perpetually emerging Colorado art & design scene. Courtland commissioned Scot to create a painting of him and his best bro Sean. While the attached photo does some justice to the piece, it’s lacking the required detail necessary for full appreciation. Lefavor is up’n the ante with some new techniques and odds are good they’ll be fully utilized for his upcoming show at Andenken with Amanda Marie. We can’t wait to see…

While takin’ care of business this morn we were reminded just how AWESOME the paste-up mural Lefavor handled in the JE/cypher13 John is. And, since we’re starting a major remodel of our studio and shop this Friday we figured we should start documenting some shit. Anyway, an oldie, but a goody. Look for new work from Scot to be dropping at Andenken Gallery in June alongside fellow wicked talent artist & JE contributor, Amanda Marie.

Hyland Mather, the contemporary artworld genius behind Andenken Gallery recently obtained a new space called the Block building. Due to circumstances somewhat unknown to us Andenken will be moving (along with Hyland) and Andenken’s new home will be inside the wall of the Block Building. Hyland solicited a number of our homies to paint relatively ginormous murals inside the communal portion (there’s all sorts of shit going on in here) of the building. We had a chance to visit prior to Shoe Shine and snap some pics. Have a look.

Thursday night at Den Gallery in Denver, four super terrific artists showed their latest and greatest work. Not only did I get the chance to see the newest work from some of my favorite artists but I had the opportunity to check out a new gallery space. Den Gallery is kind of tucked back behind Space Gallery. I have to say I feel a little behind on the whole scene thing. I was told its been around for about three months but haven’t heard anything about shows that have come and gone… Either way, it was a perfect introduction to the new space. To see The Yummies, Amanda Marie, Jeremy Charles Burns and Ethan Smith all in one space was more than enough of a treat. The Yummies have some super rad new work. They seem to be introducing a lot of fresh content in the pieces and developing their color pallete. Im always amazed by their craftsmanship and am waiting patiently to attain another piece of their production. Jeremy Burns brought to my attention an oustanding array of odd portrait style paintings. Super cool to say the least. Ethan Smith’s work was quite a bit different than I would have expected and had so much detail my camera couldn’t even capture it. I feel like the photos I have, don’t give his work any ounce of justice. Amanda Marie did what she does best and completely dominated all things art. I couldn’t believe how cool some of her work was. It was some odd 1950’s dreamlike interpretation of a “Howdy Doody” show. Very nifty! Hi-Five and a firm compliment goes out to you Amanda, for your work and the ability to get me to want something so bad. I can’t wait for the day I get to hang one of your pieces on my wall!

Aside from all of this excitement, I had the opportunity to meet AJ Fosik and rap about his recent show at Jonathan Levine Gallery. He did tell me that he has a lot coming up and is staying super busy with upcoming shows. Unfortunately he mentioned he isn’t going to be in the next show at Andenken Gallery because of how busy he has been. But rest assure, the next show at Andenken will be rad. He has a hellacious line up of artists that will be showing in his place. Check out the Andenken website for more info.

Jeremy Charles Burns | The Yummies | Jonathan Levine Gallery | Space Gallery | Andenken Gallery | AJ Fosik
Ray Young Chu | Scot Lefavor | Celeste

Our bro John Fellows just finished a super rad 12′ x12′ mural at Hyland Mather’s (founder of Andenken Gallery) new warehouse space in Denver on 30th and Larimer. Way to handle that shit John! Shitty Kitten, Jenna Wilson and Amanda Marie, all threw down their own 12′x12’s next to Mr. Fellows. We hope to have pics next week. Stay tuned cuz the Denver art scene is comin’ up - BIG TIME.

johnfellows.net | johnfellowsdesign.blogspot.com

Saturday was a big art day. We kicked it off with White Space 2 in partnership with BMoCA and Design Within Reach (find out more). A live painting art event at DWR. Our boy Markham “Shitty Kitten” Maes was ready to paint up a storm and did just that. The other artist participants included Pattie Lee Becker, Christopher Cox, Paul Kraus, Amanda Marie and Jenna Wilson. The art line up coupled with beats and vibes from DJ Segue made for a super fresh environment.

We gotta hand it to all the artists involved that put their shit on the line for everyone to see. Big Ups to our bro Chris Cox and Sherbert’s Jenna Wilson who to our knowledge don’t really paint (at least not traditionally) all that much - way to step up and crush it.

Ryan Batch of White Spacez and DWR handled shit to say the least. Nice Ryan. On two occassions throughout the night Ryan ceased the arty chaos, got everyone to shut the fuck up, and laid down the law… it went something like this - OK people, you all dig on this live art stuff, so SUPPORT IT. Make a donation at the door, buy some cocktails, buy some art for god sake - at least bid on it and help drive up the price, do something to support this scene. Ryan also made a point of repeatedly introducing the artists by name to really drive home their socio-cultural significance and get ‘em some name recognition.

Putting all bias aside (which is tough) we, well I, gotta make one last note: SHITTY KITTEN is nasty good and owned the room. Atta boy Markham!