JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

Last week Gallery 1988 opened their latest thematic endeavor, aptly titled titled “Cover Band”. The concept is simple, the gallery chose from some of the most beloved albums of all-time and handed them off to an eclectic grouping of artists for defacing. The results were mixed, but overall an interesting experiment. Some notable participants include Alex Pardee, Krista Huot, McBess, Jim Mahfood and Shannon Bonatakis.

The show can be seen online in its entirety HERE.

The following are some snippets of my favorite pieces from this show. Check out the original artwork if you’re unfamiliar, there’s some really clever stuff in there.

On Friday night Gallery 1988 opened the second annual “Crazy 4 Cult” show, hosted by infamous film director Kevin Smith. The show’s theme centers around a list of films affectionately known as cult classics, and features artists as varied as the films they represented. Some notable participants include Shepard Fairey, Jim Mahfood, Chet Zar, Plasticgod, Reuben Rude, Camilla D’Errico and Shannon Bonatakis. I did not have the pleasure of attending, but the show can be seen online in its entirety HERE.

Smith made sure to snatch up every single piece that featured his film alter ego Silent Bob, hopefully not to look at himself, but to support those artists that have supported his film career all these years… Yup, that’s what I’m going with. Love me some smodcast. Rumor has it that Weird Al will be hosting next year, look for UHF to dominate.

The following are some snippets of my favorite pieces from this show. Enjoy!

The dynamic duo that is Josh Holland and Shannon Bonatakis activated their collective creative energy to manifest their contribution to Denver’s Manifest Hope Gallery exhibition.  These two can do no wrong when it comes to paint and brushes and the below piece, provoking a sense of both awe and discovery is a testament to their powers.  Having been in and out of the gallery a great deal over the past week, and witnessing all sorts of all-star art activity,  it’s been pretty amazing to see not only how well represented, but how high the level of execution is amongst our local Colorado contingent is.  The force is strong with us.

Shannon Bonatakis just put the finishing touches on her piece for Gallery 1988’s “Crazy for Cult” show in LA, and you’re getting a first look at it! The show is hosted by film making duo Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, of Clerks and Mallrats fame. We’re all big fans of Smith’s and Shannon’s work, and super excited to see the two names in a single sentence. Her contribution is a beautiful little painting of a Tim Burton cult classic that’s near and dear to her heart. The rest of the group show is looking promising thusfar, check it out! We’ll keep you posted on news and a final recap of the best pieces in the show. Snoogens!

We’ve dropped various photos of our close friend Shannon Bonatakis’s recent “Princess of Power” painting (acrylic on 24″ x 26″ canvas), but none of this quality.  Shanny repeatedly blows our minds and we can’t push her painting prowess enough.  Being regular guests of the Bonatakis/Holland household we’re privy to some extra-ceptional artwork.  For those of you that have never been… imagine a studio filled with paintings of this caliber - if you can…

cypher13’s latest art/toy endeavor, SOFT&FURRY™ is moving along at a blistering rate.  The S&F™ logo design contest is in it’s final week.  Deadvolt of Copenhagen, Denmark dominated week #7 with a super awesome logo treatment.  Thanks Adam!!!

And so, It’s time to drop some toys - all handmade, all hand-cast, and totally “man”ufactured in-house.

Please say hello to the cast of SOFT&FURRY™: LOOFT and DOO and GROOND!

This is their tale…

The soft and furry are very, very old.
They have been since here was here.
When here was new, there were the three.
LOOFT helped all to breath, DOO helped all to drink and GROOND made all things grow.
The three were one.
Many creatures, both large and small, of water, of air, and of land arose.
They breathed the air, they drank the water, they fed on all that grows.
They took only what they needed.
But one such creature took too much.
This creature misunderstood the natural code.
Green things grayed, blue things blackened, and clear things turned to cloud.
Those who were soft and furry, hardened with gloom.
The three may be soft and furry once more.
But, for now their hardness has saved them.
LOOFT helps all to breath, DOO helps all to drink and GROOND makes all things grow.
The three are one.
None can live without them.

SPECIAL NOTE: Keep your eyes peeled for an extra-special S&F™ collab with regular JE contributors, artist extraordinaires, and mega-plush magicians, Josh Holland & Shannon Bonatakis!!!  Oh yeah.

On Tuesday night Gallery 1988 opened a massive group show aptly titled “Toys” and featured all toy related artwork from a wide range of artists. Some notable participants include Greg “Crayola” Simkins, Kathie Olivas, David Horvath, Camilla D’Errico and Shannon Bonatakis. I did not have the pleasure of attending, but the show can be seen online in its entirety HERE.

Some of my favorite pieces from this show are the customized toy VW busses, done up by heavy hitting artists such as Peekaboo, Reuben Rude, Tokidoki, Cameron Tiede, Jeremyville, Jason Limon, Mark Bodnar and Plasticgod. There’s a video of the Hotwheels exhibit HERE. Awesome stuff!

Shannon Bonatakis will have a piece in Gallery 1988’s upcoming show “Toys.” We were lucky enough to swing by the Holland/Bonatakis residence last night before the piece shipped out. The painting is absoultely stunning in person, the photo doesn’t come close to doing it justice. If you’re in LA or can get out there we would highly recommend it as the piece is more than likely not coming home. We don’t even know what to say about the painting other than it will knock yer frickin’ socks off!

Local art heroine Shannon Bonatakis recently interviewed with denversyntax, and the result was a candid look at her early development as an artist. If you’d like to know more about her and where her stunning imagery comes from, this is a great place to start. Expect some new workings from this budding artist in the very near future. We can’t wait!

It’s been a while since we dropped any of our close friend, Josh Holland’s work on the site. Josh has been super busy. He’s changed jobs, he’s now working with his gal, Shannon Bonatakis, they’re both illustrating full time (as they should be) and they’re fired up. Both Josh & Shannon are gettin’ rollin’ on new bodies of work, redesigning their websites, and yes, everything we’ve seen is awesome. Josh has recently revisited some of his “ADAPTATION” screen prints on wood and has been experimenting with our boy, Mike Dunn, the wood wizard, on some new framing techniques. The pic above is of a one-off frame Dunn designed for himself. There’s also a super lo-profile recessed variation thats lookin’ hot. It’s amazing how changing the frame style of large, intricate works can really change their feel.

josholland.com | shannonbonatakis.com

We need your help!

JoyEngine has recently experience its first major theft. Probably the most revered and asked about painting in the JoyEngine/Cypher13 studio was taken the weekend of Saturday the 15th, and Sunday the 16th of September. The Shannon Bonatakis painting shown below, is what was stolen from the JoyEngine boutique. None of us here can understand why or how a person could steal something that held such importance to another. We are not concerned with motivation or reason, we would just like it back - to return it to the artist. We are asking for your help. PLEASE, let us know any information you have regarding the location of this painting. There is a reward for its return, or if you would like to be anonymous, you may leave it by the front door. In addition, the painting wasn’t even for sale, for it held tremendous value to the artist. She was kind enough to give us the opportunity to display the work so the public could enjoy it as much as the creative team here at JoyEngine and Cypher13 did.

Shannon Bonatakis

The “real” Josh Holland is our close friend. He’s a brilliant artist/designer living in Boulder, CO. He’s a Mixed Martial Arts maniac, comic book aficianado, anime junky, lives with the ultra-talented Shannon Bonatakis, and works with our close ally Ted Church over at Anthem Branding. He’s definitely not to be confused with Joshua Holland the obscure acting star of “USA High” or “Legally Blonde 2″, nor is he to be mixed up with Josh Holland the Northwestern Oklahoma State University guard. In a recent JoyEngine Artist interview, the “real” Josh Holland stood up and had this to say, “So suck it Josh Holland, obscure star of “USA High” and “Legally Blonde 2″. You’ve had a good run, but I’m guessing your following of 13-year-old girls is fading fast.”

You see, the “real” Josh Holland has been in the midst of an all out guerilla warfare sort of mortal combatesque battle with the two other “imposter” Josh Hollands. This battle has been ongoing since the launch of josholland.com in early 2004. The stage for this battle has been Google servers worldwide. It recently has come to our attention that “our” Josh, the “real” Josh is winning. Round 1 was focused on gaining top status in Google searches worldwide under the search term “Josh Holland”, and thereby bumping the other “imposters”, particularly the day time soap star Holland, down the list. As of Friday we received confirmation that the artist, Josh Holland took down the “ass-clown” actor, Josh Holland and now is atop the Google charts. While we’d (the JoyEngine posse) like to take some credit for this (due to our agressive online promotion of “our” Josh Holland), we’re pretty sure the Google algorythm saw right through the “imposter” Hollands and sorted things out. Round 2 of the “real” Holland’s battle entails taking down “collegiate-baller” Josh Holland from global google image searches, and slowly replacing jr. high basketball pics with those of the “real” Hollands artwork. Good luck Josh! We’ve got your back in this worthy effort.

REMINDER: The “real” Josh Holland will be having a solo gallery show at the Engine on April 13th. You don’t wannna miss it. Here’s some sneak peeks (below).

josholland.com

THE IMPOSTERS… BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR THESE GUYS.