CARMICHAEL GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY ART PRESENTS
HEAD SPACE
a solo exhibition of paintings by Labrona
Canadian artist Labrona is best known for his extraordinary paintings on freight trains that roll all over the US and Canada. “I’m just a guy that paints trains, does art, doesn’t want a regular nine to five. I use my art as my voice,” he says. “I send my thoughts and emotions on to the railways for people to see…A train yard is like a forever-changing outdoor art gallery.” The hulking thirty-five year old lumberjack from Ottawa has been working for years with many of Canada’s best known graffiti artists and his work has been shown in galleries all over the world. It is only recently, however, that people have really begun to take note of his unique skill, giving him the opportunity to design a new line of hand-crafted skateboards and solo shows in various North America cities. Drawing his inspiration from 80s skate culture, rundown industrial areas, and German Expressionism, Labrona’s fascination with painting heads comes from his desire to convey raw human feeling – “You can tell so much from an expression, the eyes and mouth… there are many different stories within each painting.”
The paintings in HEAD SPACE continue this enthralling narrative exploration.
Opening Reception
Saturday, November 3, 2007
From 7:00 PM - Midnight
Show closes November 15th
Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art
1257 N. La Brea Avenue
West Hollywood, CA 90038
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About Labrona (written by his artist friend, Other):
“Labrona’s name was concocted one night in some ski pub in the echoing mountains of Banff National Park by one Anil Dular, a mythical hip-hop speaking Cherokee navigator turned selective logger up off the coast of Alaska...This is the world that Labrona runs in. A French Canadian house builder who spends as much time in Riviere de Loup (River of the Wolf) as the beer-swilling metropolis of Montreal, Labrona is a collector of disco blues Chicago style albums and an old school 360 boneless type of skateboarder. Most importantly, he is a painter of metal beasts that roam his habitat – Labrona has made a name for himself painting poignant faces on the sides of boxcars, wheaties, and any old freight car that shifts off into the night a bit happier for the addition, yet retaining the sad air only a freight train can convey in its creaks and squeals and stand still mosquito silence... So you see it is hard to describe a Labrona...maybe you will find the meaning in his paintings…”
The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday, 3:00PM - 8:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday 2:00PM to 7:00PM and by appointment.
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