AUGUSTINE KOFIE | WORKING AN ANGLE
Working An Angle is a recent collection of work by Los Angeles-based artist Augustine Kofie. This will be Kofie’s first solo show with Known Gallery and will include 40 recent works including hand painted multiple screen prints, collage on wood as well as paintings on canvas and wood.
The works comprising Working An Angle feature found paper collage, clean line work, delineation of geometric forms and divisions of space with a technical precision that resembles a modernist like archtectype drafting. Kofie’s unique understanding of placement and line work results in a style of meticulous rendering that never seems cold or sterile due to the delicate sense of balance maintained within each drafted creation. Compositions incorporating found papers and ephemera from various hunts for the refuse of the past tend to help give these recent works an ‘old soul’ type vintage mood, while still holding a structural heart. Dusty pinks, mauves and mint greens compliment a muted palette to soften the sharp streaks of line work, and imparts a simple elegance to the complicated arrangements of each circular form and shape.
Half a dozen larger works will be on display as well as a number of pieces from the artists ‘Incising’ series where acrylic paintings on clayboard are lightly carved to exposing the underlining color forms, continuation in the artists curiosity with layering, movement and linear connections.
Augustine Kofie (b.1973, USA] is a self taught mixed media artist born, raised and based in Los Angeles, California. With a deep interest in process and structure, Kofie creates works of intense detail centered on the order of balance. The precision of Kofie’s “drafted” art is strongly inspired by modern architecture as well as the form and shape of deconstructed typography. In his quest for balance, Kofie harmonizes opposing and contradictory dynamics in his work by setting futuristic compositions against vintage earth-toned palettes, and creating organically complex formations through meticulously structured line-work and layering. Active in the Los Angeles Graffiti scene since the mid-nineties, the artist’s work reflects his ever-growing influence of culture, the craft of deconstructing lettering, contemporary music as well as 1960’s-70’s iconography.
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LEGOLIZE IT! | INDISPENSABLE: Art by the ounce
LOS ANGELES, CA. May 10, 2012. In compassionate compliance with CA Proposition 215, the LAgo brand, in a landmark partnership with The Seventh Letter and Known Gallery Worldwide, is stoked to announce the Grand Opening of the inaugural LAgo brand Collective – “INDISPENSABLE: Art by the ounce.” (Compassionate Care Clinic and Fine Art Dispensary). (cough.)
In the wake of increasing raids on Medical Marijuana dispensaries by local, state and federal drug enforcement agencies, the LAgo brand’s brand-new, flagship storefront is set to open on May 26, 2012 at Known Gallery located at 441 North Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The LAgo brand, as a perpetual “harvest” of healing power, has been especially commodified to meet the addictions of anyone who has ever wanted to experience the transaction of purchasing medical marijuana – or fine art – at a legal business organization.
Synthetic starter-plants, seedlings, clones, and a totally huge selection of intoxicating, fake plastic buds- all built with LEGO bricks to resemble some of the finest strains of medicinal marijuana ever grown will be on display and available for limited purchase. (cough.)
NO “SERIOUS MEDICAL CONDITION” NECESSARY! THERE’S NOT A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE! NO MEDICAL MARIJUANA ID CARD? NO PROBLEM, MON!
*WARNING: ART NOT FOR ACTUAL SMOKING…CHOKING HAZARD UNDER 3 YEARS OF AGE* (cough..)
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and special guest
JASON ALPER | LUXURY LOGO
“If LEGO were a luxury brand, I imagine they would make things like this. I wanted to make something that had the look of sophistication with clean lines. The marriage of these two great icons is a match made in heaven. I wanted to use brands that couldn’t be more different but find a common ground between them. Having been both a child and a costume designer, this is a fitting homage to them both.”
Jason Alper has been a costume designer and stylist for the past 20 years, mainly in the world of comedy. In 2007 he moved to Los Angeles, where he continues to design costumes for movies and create art.
In the past decade, Jason has been an influencer in the world of popular culture, collaborating with Sacha Baron Cohen. He is known as a fearless costume designer with an artistic and irreverent eye, and for creating the iconic and memorable characters of Ali G, Borat and Bruno.
Always one to push the envelope, Alper made the decision to use his inventiveness by expressing his talents in a new medium, one that has always been at his core, art. His wry fusion of contemporary and classic icons is served up with the same satire and irony that has characterized his work as a costume designer.
Alper is from east London, England. Exposed and inspired by an array of cultures around him, his life was and is an ongoing dichotomy. After his first sell out art show in Los Angeles, “It’s all Back On”, he has recently displayed new works entitled “Proletarian Drift & The Enfranchisement Of The Bourgeoisie In The 21st Century”, a collection of oils and sculptures. “Since oil has received so much bad press lately, I felt that it was time to do something positive with it.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION/MEDIA CREDENTIALS/SALES/SHOW CATALOG PDF:
Naheed Simjee / naheed@knowngallery.com / 310-860-6263
Casey Zoltan, Curatorial Director / casey@knowngallery.com
