JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

Josh Wills, is one of my favorite artists, designers, art directors (any real art director is both of the former), husbands, dads, business owners, friends, and well people in general.  Celeste just shot over a link to Josh’s Cargo site, and well, it got me thinkin’.  That’s all.  To see more of Josh’s work, and there’s a lot,  you’d have to enter the homes of his friends and dissect their walls, stop by the shoppe or The Fabric Lab (both of which Josh co-owns with his wife Tran), or attempt to digest his influence as a Sr. Interactive Art Director at F/.  You can also find bits and pieces of Mr. Wills over at WLT and occassionally, right here at Joyengine.

There is a insane amount of radness going down this weekend in Denver, it’s like an art orgy – dance party – plushed out free ride! Below is a small sampling of all things awesome…. It’s going to take some plotting & mapping, but done right you can hit up every spot and sneak into the background of every picture. Let’s make magic Denver!!!

Friday Night:
Andenken Gallery – Alex Pardee : 7PM – 10PM : 2900 Larimer St.
The Shoppe – The Horndribbles present Tote-Tacular : 7PM – 10PM : 3103 E. Colfax Ave.
Loops Tour De Arté – Group Art/Bicycle Ride – Starts @ Fancy Tiger 8PM
Beta – Submission w/ Starkey, N-Type, Cacheflowe : 10PM – 2AM : 1909 Blake St.

Saturday Night
The Shoppe – Sandi Calistro new works : 7PM – 10PM : 3103 E. Colfax Ave.
The Fabric Lab – Leigh Viner new works : 7PM – 10PM : 3105 E. Colfax Ave.
Plastic Chapel – Julie West new works : 7PM – 10PM : 3109 E. Colfax Ave.
Hi-Dive – Robot Dance Party : 9PM – 2AM : 7 S. Broadway

The Fabric Lab & crew are repping full force this Friday at the Untitled #23 “Old School” event taking place on the 2nd Level of the Denver Art Museum in Duncan Pavilion. Style Wars is a fashion battle pairing local fashion designers against each other, battling it out to create a high fashion ready-to-wear piece in 25 minutes! Each designer is supplied with 1 model, 1 assistant, 1 rack of materials stocked with fabric, recycled garments, raw materials, and everyday objects.

There will also be a DJ battle (The Postman vs. DJ Wigdan Giddy) & “Old School’ inspired art show featuring new works from: Robbie Maestas, Zshanna Kristoff, Deadly Daisy, Chuckie Martinez, Adam Sikorski, Josh Wills, Markham Maes, Snowblinded, Andrew Hoffman, Emerson Collective, Mike Graves , Chris Nguyen & more!

PEEP THE GRANDE FLYER & OTHER JUICY DEETS RIGHT HERE!!!
Dust off them shell toes or lace up your Pumas, back spins and fingers waves are a must!

The Fabric Lab presents “Style Wars” at The Denver Art Museum Untitled #23 “Old School” : Friday, July 31 : 6–10 pm : 100 W 14th Avenue Pkwy. Denver, CO

Seriously Super Fresh East Colfax July 4th Block Party!!!

May 9th is shaping up to be a night of extreme art overload here in Denver… though there is a bit of a silver lining… all the shows are all in the same general vicinity nestled in a quiet but vibrant little neighborhood off of the East Colfax strip otherwise known as the “Super Block”.

Basic Run Down:
Oxymoron by: Andrew Hoffman @ The Shoppe ● Fight or Flight by: Adam Reker @ Plastic Chapel ● ARTCRANK group show @ The Fabric Lab ● Seinfeld Sessions by: Keith Jive @ Newspeak ● Cephalic Combustion by: Nathan Reker @ Neopolitan

May 9th, 2009 : 2907 East Colfax – 3109 East Colfax : 7PM – 11PM : The Super Block Rides again!

There’s all sorts of great shit goin’ down on East Colfax this weekend, thanks to Josh & Tran at The Fabric Lab and The Shoppe, Dee and Dave at The Plastic Chapel, and the rest of the E. Colfax crew.

To get the full lodown on what’s shakin’ go HERE.

The Fabric Lab is kicking off the Prototype series for the new year tonight, with Baily Rose gracing the runway with new work. We’ve expanded the program, so that cupcakes and cocktails will be provided at Neapolitan the gallery right next door to The Fabric Lab. Hopefully we’ll see some fresh new faces in the crowd!!! Swing by if you get a chance!

This Saturday is shaping up to be one for the books. Tons of goodness happening around town, so get out early and start making rounds. Personally I’m super stoked on the line-up that we’ve put together along the sunny and vibrant corridor of East Colfax. Scot Lefavor shows us all how to improve our lives ten fold, in his solo show Products For A Better Living at The Fabric Lab. Snowblinded (Anthony Cozzi) will be burning retnas & birthing pure light, with his first solo show Snow & Light at The Shoppe. And last but not least Plastic Chapel channels the power of time and space in the second opening of the Square Footage show.

7PM – 11PM : The Shoppe 3101 E. Colfax : The Fabric Lab 3105 E. Colfax : Plastic Chapel 3109 E. Colfax

Tran and I are both super excited to have one of our favorite artists and good friend Scot Lefavor show at The Fabric Lab on Saturday December 13th. East Colfax is going to be running shit on Second Saturday, alongside Lefavor,  Anthony Cozzi will be opening his first solo show Snow & Light at The Shoppe, and the second opening of the Square Footage show will be dropping a few doors down at Plastic Chapel. Hopefully we’ll see you there… we need a secret hand sign or something… second though maybe not… a hand sign on could lead to a variety of mostly illegal activites around the way, keep your digits occupied or in your pockets.

In full Fabric Lab fashion, Tran & Josh and friends have assembled a new series of events under the moniker PROTO-TYPE: A Local Designer Trunk Show.  The definition of the word prototype is a first form from which varieties or duplicates are made.  Fitting language from some of Denver’s most original and ground-breaking thinkers.

The greater premise behind PROTO-TYPE is to enable designers, connoisseurs of good design, and boutique owners to interact on a more intimate level, showcase new ideas, special-order custom creations.  Sounds pretty amazing.

For more info hit up: thefabriclab.com/prototype

As usual, Markham “Shitty Kitten” Maes crushed his latest show, this time at Josh & Tran’s, Shoppe (a first of its kind cereal & cupcake bar chock full of the most coveted art & design books available).  Markham pushed the Sculpey around a bit further than usual, painted a number of albums, album covers, panels, skate decks, and kept it rollin’ all night long live painting both a large panel and a handful of models for The Fabric Lab’s fashion show at the Super Fresh Block Party later that evening (pics and details soon).  Saturday night was a must see Denver evening.  Thanks go out to all those who made it happen.  It sorta… ruled.  Nice work team!!!

March 8th looks more and more like it’s gonna be a big night on the calendar. Not only are the Shoppe and Plastic Chapel having the custom toy show, but The Fabric Lab is showing the work of Sandra Fettingis. Not that this is any sort of unusual soirée for the Colfax crew, it’s just another great reason to get out and enjoy a handful of things in this new and flourishing artistic community. Colfax is climbing the neat neighborhood ladder and inviting everyone out to be involved and support the progress. Make sure to check out Sandra’s website and set some time aside for another spectacular evening on Colfax, Denver’s new home for art, fashion, custom vinyl and cupcakes. Check links for details and extra info on artists and locations.