New Brian Despain print available

The fine folks at Paper Tiger have released a gorgeous new print of Brian Despain's "The Exiles" (from his R la R show late last year). You can get one here. Additional prints are available on our site here.
Brian's next solo show will be at Roq La Rue this November, with John Brophy.

Femke Hiemstra LA Show

Femke Hiemstra will be opening a new exhibition this weekend at Copro Gallery in LA. Featuring an array of brand spanking new paintings, it's a gorgeous show that no one who is interested in Femke's rich, intricate style should miss!
Femke's next solo show will be at Roq La Rue this December, with Junko Mizumo.

Up Next! Nathan Ota and Anthony Pontius

We are really excited for April's show coming up- featuring two incredible talents in two separate solo shows. Contact us to be on the preview list, or swing by the opening on April 10th.





Nathan Ota has his first big solo show at Roq La Rue and he pulled out all the stops, creating his strongest show to date. These paintings are exquisitely rendered in person and can be interpreted as commentary on environmental issues as well as the exploration of personal relationships. He will be exhibiting 12 paintings as well as a selection of smaller works. We will post the full text of his press release soon.





One of the art world's best kept secrets (but not for long)Anthony Pontius paints with a looser hand and a darker, less playful tone. Gorgeously apocalyptic, Anthony uses a variety of media (mostly paint and pencil on panel) to create his stark narratives that have a strange resonance to the unearthly works of Bosch.

"Lush Life" Group show in May ~ First Peek

Melissa Forman "Rabbit mask"

We are starting to see glimpses of some of the work coming in for May's "Lush Life" group show, which will be our ONE big blockbuster group show for the year. The overarching focus of this show is on painters working within both the Pop Surrealism scene as well as the fine contemporary art realm, who exhibit masterful technical precision combined with a opulently fanciful imaginative quality. Artists in this tightly curated show include Joe Sorren, Chris Conn Askew, Mia, Melissa Forman, Travis Louie, Chris Berens, Madeline Von Foerster, Martin Wittfooth, Kukula, Ryan Heshka, John Brophy, Tin, Brian Despain, Glenn Barr, Dan Quintana, Femke Hiemstra, Laurie Hogin, Andrew Arconti, and more.


Laurie Hogin "Pink Mockingbird"

Lisa Petrucci Book Signing

OG Lowbrow artist Lisa Petrucci will be at the gallery signing copies of her new art book "Kickass Kuties" on April 24th 6-8pm! This book, published by Dark Horse (and featuring an essay by yours truly) features and extensive array of Lisa's tributes to retro dolls, pin up girls, kitsch culture, and psychotronic icons of film, all lovingly painted on wood plaques and varnished to a thick candy gloss. Come and meet Lisa on the 24th and pick up your copy. We'll send a reminder closer to that date!

New Chris Berens

We got a sneak peek at Chris Berens new pieces for the Hi Fructose show in LA this April at Copro Nason. Incredible! Contact Copro Nason if interested.
In related news Chris just scored his first museum show in the Netherlands at Noord-Brabants museum. Congrats Chris!

Up Next- Christian van Minnen

Christian in his studio

Christian van Minnen
"Neo- Grotesque"

Opening this Friday the Thirteenth!

Roq La Rue is pleased to present a solo show by (recently transplanted to Seattle) painter Christian van Minnen. Van Minnen's works feature biological monstrosities painted in portrait form with a Renaissance formality. Like a strange cross between Giuseppe Arcimboldo, H.R. Giger, and a natural history museum, van Minnen's painting straddle the line between disturbingly ugly and serenely beautiful.
His newest work is his "Keyhole" series, in which a painted riot of organics ooze and flower on panel underneath another panel that has been cut out with the outline of a famous historical painting and burnished in rusted metallics and placed over the top. Van Minnen will be exhibiting 11 new paintings and a small selections of works painted in 2007-2008 that showcase his "Neo- Grotesque" style, a term that was recently coined for the resurgence of artists working with subject matter traditionally deemed unattractive or repulsive, but representing them in a sympathetic manner in a highly formal technical style.

"My painting process incorporates abstraction and representation that result in a chimera of flora and fauna. I draw inspiration from the work of Dutch Golden Age painters and natural sciences in equal parts.This show presents 10 new works and several landmark pieces from 2007-2008 of neo-grotesque or chimeric portraiture and still-life. I have been painting within the context of portraiture and still life as I find that within these traditions there is a pre-existant, and nacent visual language in portraiture and still life paintings. The viewer interacts with a portrait or a still-life in a certain way that is different and unique to those traditions; an inescapable mirror to our humanity. Like all of us, I am a suffering thing and this is how I attempt understand it."
- Christian van Minnen

Also exhibiting is a very small show of work by Japanese painter Yoko d'Holbachie, whose work can best be described as Jim Woodring on acid. Her super poppy, psychedelic works also reflect a "grotesque" style, although more humorous and sweet in nature. D'holbachie works both with computer graphics as well as oil paints. Foe this show she will be exhibiting three small oil paintings.

There is a great interview with Christian at My Love For You Is A Stampede Of Horses


Christian van Minnen


Yoko d'Holbachie