Create: Fixate Presents
I Art You
Ten Year Anniversary Valentine-Themed Art & Music Celebration
At Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, February 11, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – January 16, 2012 – Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) celebrates 10 years of existence with its next exhibit I Art You on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at the Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles. C:F’s signature blend features vibrant artwork and music produced by over forty local artists, DJs, and musicians. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview.  The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.  Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists works, please visit www.createfixate.com. C:F can be reached by phone at 310-590-7199 for other inquiries.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. There is a $5 suggested donation during this period but kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry.  Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone.  Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the exhibit.  While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be 21-years old or older to enter after 7:00pm.

I Art You will be filled with Valentine-themed merriment:

• The Love Car Art Competition – a live painting face-off on a 2003 Nissan Sentra
LA’s favorite live painters take on a Nissan Sentra in an art competition like no other! Through a live drawing on the spot, each artist will be assigned a section of the car and then randomly assigned a rock song title - love ballad, of course - to paint their own interpretation of the song on the car!  They have two hours to complete their painting.  Who might the winner be?  The crowd will be called upon to express their inner art critic when their cheers are measured by our judges!  Participating live painters include some of LA favorites  – John Park, Christina Angelina, Max Neutra, and Michael Pukac.

• Valentine’s Day Card Making Station Open All Night Long – Adult Friendly!

• The Art of Romance: Singles Mingle – Guided by relationship & passion consultant Barry Selby
Barry is The Passion Consultant, and his life purpose is inspiring people to live authentic lives. The vehicle that most effectively expresses his purpose is his facilitation and guidance with singles and couples to have amazing relationships, living purposefully and authentically, and fulfilling their highest potential.  About to be released through Amazon, his new book, Rules of Romance – 50 ways to love your lover, is your answer to many questions.  Comprised of 50 powerful relationship and romance principles, it will inspire and give you food for thought and will show you how to have what you want (in relationship and romance), whether you are single or in relationship.

Create:Fixate Founder and Artistic Director Michelle Berc explains the Valentine’s Day theme… “For ten years, we’ve been loving Los Angeles with art, music, and all things creative. I Art You seemed like the perfect title to express this accomplishment of serving our mission and reaching this milestone.  And as always, I love using our event themes to inspire people to think about who they are and who they are becoming.

“I Art You focuses on appreciating the special people in our lives and how we can express our gratitude by giving a gift that is made with our very own hands. I teamed up with a dear friend, Jessica Viola, who helped write our theme, which opens up with the line “We are how we hold each other.” It continues to say “to understand another, selflessly, purely and with good intention is the fire that feeds the desire to give and to find new ways of expressing our love… True love knows the greatest joys are not in receiving as much as in giving.”  This Valentine’s Day, we want to inspire everyone to remember that some of the greatest gifts can only be felt by the heart and to touch those hearts with art!”

All participating artists along with high school students from C:F’s community partner A Place Called Home will be creating one piece of artwork that expresses the show’s theme.

As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts the organization continues to empower youth through arts education projects. For the first time C:F will join forces with A Place Called Home (APCH).  APCH is a safe haven in South Central Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well being; and are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world.

I Art You will feature the creativity of over twenty visual artists in the Optical Lounge, the evening’s visual feast, presenting a stunning array of painting, photography, multi-media, interactive installation, and performance art. Highlights include:
• Curtis Brooks, who is motivated and driven most by the materials he works with in the home improvement industry, uses sheets of acrylic and latex enamel paint skins to create paint sculptures.
• Brian Robertson bridges the terrain between abstraction and representation. One finds in his collaged paintings meticulous geometric patterning and a highly developed sense of rhythm and movement.
• Emily White works with code to explore the aesthetics of inundation. Her recent drawings exist at the threshold between control and chaos. She has exhibited, lectured and published on topics ranging from manufactured islands to the use of code in engineered textiles.

The Audio Lab, otherwise known as the music portion of the evening, completes Create:Fixate’s vision.  Highlights include:
• John Tejada – “LA’s own techno hero” – LA Weekly
• Silver Pesos – a blend of tropical bass rhythms, soulful Spanish & English female vocals, and West African guitar psychedelia
• Valida – as heard on KCRW’s The Lab, late-night Saturday’s
• Aimé – electronic artist/hip-hop beat-maker, occasionally likened to artists such as Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss, Amiina and Air

Create:Fixate is an arts organization that has now completed a decade of serving the emerging art and music community of Los Angeles.  The organization is best know for its signature blend of art and music, along with thousands of art lovers and party goers in massive – and at times intimate – warehouse locations and alternative spaces on a quarterly basis.  Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple art show into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.

Optical Lounge:

Annie Terrazzo
Annie Terrazzo has been creating mixed media portraiture for almost 10 years and has sold over 450 works of art in that time. “Detritus”, Terrazzo’s current artistic endeavor is made completely out of newspapers from around the world. Her latest series, entitled “Head Lines” will be completed  in January 2012. Her latest work, Power Lines had a very well received exhibition in Toronto, Canada in September 2011 at Communication Art Gallery And Toast Gallery. 6 out of 10 pieces sold in 3 weeks time. Other projects include “Art Is Trash”, born in 2001, which mainly focused on creating portraits made with objects found on the streets of L.A. at 3am.

Annie spends most of her down time in Los Angeles, but travels most of the year doing shows in other countries and collecting new newspapers. She is inspired by the likes of Ralph Steadman, JR, Roy Lichstenstine, strippers that don’t speak English, box tape and expensive champagne.

Art Weeks
Formerly an advertising Art Director for over 20 years, Art Weeks had always had a dream to one day quit the advertising world to become a full time artist, and in 2007 he did just that.  His work often incorporates graphic elements, patterns and precisely rendered shapes, an obvious influence from his former career.  Since then, Weeks has participated in over 60 group shows, including five solo shows, even having had the prestigious honor of being chosen to exhibit a painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Brian Robertson
Los Angeles based artist, Brian Robertson bridges the terrain between abstraction and representation. Within the artist’s figurative works, a convergence of disparate styles and technique combine to create a blended aesthetic. One finds in his collaged paintings meticulous geometric patterning and a highly developed sense of rhythm and movement. Robertson’s highly graphic and vibrant pieces – themselves a hybrid of processes – invoke a fusion of personal and referenced mythologies to create works of great emotional weight.

Curtis Brooks
Curtis Brooks is a southern California native and self-taught artist living in Santa Monica. A carpenter and house painter by trade, his work has evolved out of his twenty years of experience in the construction industry.  His wood sculptures and paintings, each with their own unique visible history, are inspired by and created with the left over paint, paint sticks, and scraps of wood used in his work as a home improvement contractor.

Donna Trousdale
Donna Trousdale considers herself more of a scientist than an artist – a scientist of Consciousness. She became interested in Sacred Geometry several years ago as a way to understand the fundamental structure of the Universe. Her paintings depict the Flower of Life and the Torus, which represent the underlying architecture of Conscious Vibration. It’s the geometry that naturally forms as Unity divides and expands itself. The sacred image of the Flower of Life has been found across the globe and its formation holds innumerable secrets to the mysteries of Creation. Its structure is a divine expression of L.O.V.E. – the Law of Vibrational Equilibrium. Trousdale has spent the last several years studying the dynamics of this Universal principle and has given talks around the world regarding the constant whole number solution to the Pi ratio, which was revealed to her while working with and painting this geometry.

Emily White
Emily White is an artist and architect working in Los Angeles. She graduated from Barnard College and holds a Master in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Together with partner Lisa Little, she runs the design office LAYER. LAYER’s installations and buildings have appeared in the LA Times, Interior Design magazine, the 2010 California Design Biennial, the New Children’s Museum and the Skirball Cultural Center. White has exhibited, lectured, and published on topics ranging from manufactured islands to the aesthetics of inundation. She is currently on the faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Erik Abel
Born in Ventura County, Erik Abel is an artist inspired by the subtle dynamics of the ocean, ancient cultures, and patterns of the natural world. With over 15 years experience as a freelance designer, Abel has fused his curiosity of nature and design with his passion for surfing and the sea. Through his unique mix of acrylic paint, markers, and colored pencil, Abel’s pieces intrigue clients and collectors to explore their affinity for the environment and appreciation of visual balance. Abel’s clients include private collectors along with notable brands such as Reef, Patagonia, Billabong, and Oxbow. His work has been featured in Surfing Magazine, Fluir, Tide, Juxtapoz, PDX Magazine, Citizen LA, and Oddica.

Gus Harper
Gus Harper was born and raised in Santa Monica.  For the last eleven years he has worked full time as an artist.  His first show was at Ground Zero in Marina Del Rey and since then has shown his work in New York, Denver, New Orleans, Mexico City, and Puerto Vallarta.  His best known work is from the series, “Signs of A Benevolent Universe.”  His most recent solo show, Daydreams, the Awakening was at Gus Harper studios, which he maintains full time at 11306 Venice Blvd. (90066).  His art can be viewed at www.gusharperart.com.  The work on display at Create:Fixate is from the “Signs of Life” series.

Isabelle Alford-Lago
Originally from Santa Cruz, CA, Isabelle Alford-Lago came to Los Angeles to receive her BA from University of Southern California, and has since been working as a painter.  Her current work is distinctly defined by her Gorilla portraits, which are both oils on canvas as well as large public murals.  The Gorillas are a satirical representation of classic portraiture, using an unlikely subject to portray real human emotion and individualized presence.  Alford-Lago is now based in Venice, CA.

Jeremy Crabtree
Jeremy Crabtree’s paintings are made to evoke a comparison between the dreams when we sleep and the dreams of our waking existence. Behind the many layers of color and texture lie varying methods of communication felt collectively from moment to moment, or from space to time. He uses whatever forms of paint or plaster is convenient at the time to maintain the spontaneity felt in our daily lives. He lives and works in downtown Los Angeles.

JK Wasson
JK Wasson is a Venice-based painter and filmmaker. His current series explores the heart– it’s mechanics as a pump, it’s place within the body, it’s rhythms, it’s mood swings. He draws inspiration from his own heart’s struggle to balance order and chaos.

John Park
John Park is an artist and teacher living in Venice.  He received his training at the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied classical figure drawing, painting, sculpture and anatomy.  His current body of work is an attempt to reconcile these classical influences with the modern aesthetic of the New Contemporary Art movement.  The paintings themselves are executed in a public setting in front of an audience at the various galleries, clubs, bars and music festivals that serve as his studio.  He teaches drawing and painting at Concord Prep in Santa Monica.

Jon Measures
Jon Measures is a British artist, designer, and educator based in Los Angeles. Measures produces intriguing mixed media images depicting Los Angeles, and in particular, the East side of LA. These pieces often combine multiple views; slicing and dicing bits of the city’s rich fabric together. The images are usually digitally edited, and collaged together with painted elements. Paint is used to stylize or emphasize aspects of the photographic materials and to add texture and layering. Measures has described his approach to image making as a hybrid between painting, photography, and collage.

Kat Shoa
Kat Shoa is an artist, a world traveler, and a businesswoman. A self taught artist, she combines her art influences from late 19th century to early 20th century impressionism with her unique ink drawing style. As an art collector from around the world, she uses acrylic painting as her creative outlet. She’s a late bloomer who discovered her artistic talents in 2008 with custom portrait paintings, and quickly expanded to figurative paintings, trees, vines, and other subject matters.

In real life, she’s the Managing Director of The Directive Group, a management consulting practice providing strategic business services to companies developing products, services, and intellectual properties. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club, a 60 year old nonprofit organization helping disadvantaged youth with education, sports, and citizenry programs. She has degrees in Computer Engineering and Executive Management.

L. Croskey
Inspired by vintage pin up art, design, and advertising, LC creates a world of imagination, a very distinct world of his own, an image that reflects a metaphor or fantasy or delusion, a false paradise. By using magazines and books ranging from vintage pin up to children’s books and numerous others, he takes these classic beauties and other collected images and places them in a modern design setting. Years of collected wrapping paper, wallpaper, scrap booking paper, and magazines are the materials LC uses to build this girl inspired world, luring you in to find out that the story might actually be saying more than what it may have initially alluded to.

LC’s art is a diary of emotions from his past and the lessons he has learned from these various, funny, sometimes dark relationships, and sometimes just good old fashioned sex.

Luis Sanchez
For his paintings, Luis Sanchez utilizes a number of mediums, including acrylic, dry pigments and stucco. His two-dimensional works are often noted for his masterful use of trompe l’oeil, leaving viewers with the impression that he has used photography, collage, or other techniques when he has only used the brush. His work seamlessly combines the past, present and the future.

Born in 1968, Sanchez lived the first ten years of his life in Mexico City with his family (a Cuban born father, a Mexican-Lebanese mother, and an older brother and sister.) He and his family immigrated to Seattle, WA in 1979.  He attended Cornish College of the Arts and the Academy of Realist Art in Seattle, WA.  In 2002 Sanchez moved to Los Angeles to pursue painting and sculpture full time. He exhibits in Los Angeles, Indiana, Chicago, Miami and New York.

Michelle Nielsen
Michelle Nielsen is a young Bolivian visual artist educated in San Francisco, Chile, and Mexico. Her oil paintings use a combination of narrative figuration and pop influence inspired by fashion and photography. Letting the canvas capture frozen moments in liquid environments filled with color and transparency, her latest work shows a different stroke of what her development as an artist can offer to the eye. Determined to stay true to her feminine sensibility, imagination, and sense of humor, Michelle’s artwork invites the spectator to enjoy the pleasure of looking.

Mike Russek
Mike Russek graduated with an MFA from Maryland Institute of Art in 2001, with a focus in sculpture. He started his own company,1028 Designs, in 2005. 1028 Designs is a custom design and fabrication facility utilizing laser tooling to create furniture, interiors and various products and solutions. Russek is also the co-owner and curator of d i a l e c t satellite gallery, a cutting edge mobile gallery which travels to special events and festivals around the country, showcasing works from established and emerging local and global talents.

Sal Escobar
An advertising creative during the day and conceptual artist at night, Sal Escobar originally from Puebla, Mexico, started his artistic expression in Mexico City doing videos and installations. In 2005 he moved to Los Angeles where he explores new techniques using recycled materials to create diverse objects. For his collection “Banderas” (Flags), he uses mixed-media to express the wear and tear of relationships and the confrontation of ideals where love is the battlefield.

Sean “Chango” Caffey
Sean Caffey came into the arts naturally with a painter for a mother and a jazz composer of a father. With a family full of artists ranging from photographers and graphic designers to fine mixed media artists, he was exposed to the raw knowledge used to create art.  At a young age, Caffey learned drawing, painting, carpentry, costume design and various forms of dance all before he entered high school.  Over the last ten years he has developed into a metal artist.  His latest permanent installation can be found at the Holy Cow night club in San Francisco where he integrated edge glowing fiber optics into his sculpture to make a dynamic lighting display over the DJ booth that pulses to life with the music.  As of late “Chango” has found perforated sheet metal to be his favorite material, the Moiré patterns from stacking the material allow for significant light and shadow play.

Sebastian Halmagean
Residing in San Diego, Sebastian Halmagean is an emerging artist whose education in art is rooted at the Watts Atelier in Encinitas, CA. His paintings can be defined as “snapshot narratives” that have a tale to tell… an asymmetric and riddled tale that is fueled by longings, nuanced by reverie, laced with a dreamy romanticism, and punctuated by a flare for elegance.

Stephanie Han
Stephanie Han emigrated to the U.S. in 1978 from Seoul, S. Korea. She obtained her MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1999 and now pursues careers in painting and graphic design.  She exhibits all over Southern California and also works as an Art Director at a graphic design firm in Long Beach. She explores themes of loss and hope with her current series of abstract expressionist paintings.

Tari Karkanen (Video Projections)
- bio coming soon

Terry Hutton
Terry Hutton was born in London, England in 1960. With no formal education, apart from a long spell in Florence, Italy, and some junior college credit, he is self-taught. Undecided if this is an advantage or not, he works closely with a silent voice, many call it a natural instinct, or intuition. As a direct result of this, he is setting a new purpose, by veering away from representational work he’s known for, to peer closely into color and just sheer paint. There is nothing under the sun that has not been done before, so with this in mind, a new endeavor has evolved to let the paint sing louder then his brush.

Zig Gron
A performing musician (percussionist) born in Detroit, sound and rhythm are often integral components of Zig Gron’s films and videos, which he has been making for the past 25 years.  Fascinated with the way seemingly insignificant images can merge to form something more powerful than any individual part (the way a musical ensemble is the culmination of separate instruments), his work often results in complex visual graphics based on simple tropes, using time-honored compositional techniques such as theme and variation, repetition and counterpoint.

• Fashion / Jewelry / Crafts:

Irene LAVA Jewels
Irene LAVA jewels, a line of vintage-inspired beaded jewelry, was started by Interior Designer/Personal Shopper/Photographer Janet Grey as an antidote to a debilitating e-bay habit.  Thankfully, it worked out!  Named after her two grandmothers, Irene Jeanette Goldman and Leona Lava, each one-of-a-kind Irene LAVA creation is lovingly hand-assembled by Grey using a unique combination of vintage, czech glass, Swarovski Crystal, gemstone, rare, unusual and just simply SPECTACULAR beads from the early 20th century through current times. Gems include onyx, amethyst, labradorite, garnet, peridot, jade, aventurine and more.

Delevo Designs
After graduating from Columbia College, Deborah Vogt became a founding member of The Conjugate Projekt, Transamoeba Studios and The Chicago Art Department, participating in the creation of many collectives, multitudes of events and performance art installations throughout Chicago. She began creating her line of jewelry, Delevo designs, in the year 2000, even traveling to Bali to teach her stylized designs to the master artisans there. Upon landing in Los Angeles, she worked with several high end designers, and early in 2010 co-founded d i a l e c t gallery on 6th Street downtown. She now divides her time between curating and singing in her band, Early Bird Circus. Her jewelry is hand-crafted, elegant and simple, using fine woods, sterling silver and gold, precious and semi-precious stones and recycled materials to create universal and distinctive designs.

Luv Warrior/WittyKitty
Witty Kitty is all about fashion with flavor!  We are inspired by anything and everything Witty! Our “Kittys” also known as leather sleeves or fingerless gloves are all handmade, no two “Kittys” are a like!  Whether casually worn or dressy they complete any look! The buttery soft leather makes them so comfortable, and there is no thumb or finger cut-outs so your fingers are literally free! Our “Kittys” definitely qualify as a classic in the right wardrobe! Enjoy!

Viola Living Jewels
Jessica Viola is a botanical designer and the founder of Viola Living Jewels and Viola Gardens. For the past thirteen years, Viola has been cultivating her design portfolio and practice based on sustainability, whole-system solutions and artistic vision.  Viola Gardens was born nearly six years ago, specializing in permaculture-based botanical design, CA native plant restoration, drought-tolerant water-wise artscapes, edible gardens and organics.  Viola Gardens has worked with a large range of clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, both residentially and commercially.  Viola lectures on sustainable landscape design and permaculture at Santa Monica College, Venice Community Housing and Pepperdine University.  After many years of working in design, studying, stretching, exploring holistic living, traveling to South and Central America, playing music, singing, making art, creating gardens and teaching, Viola Living Jewels was born.  The collection features fashion-forward botanical jewelry; amulets of our wild essence.

Jenneration Fix
Jenneration Fix is a small company made up of two Jennifers:  two women who wanted to help the environment in their own way.  They aim to make a difference in the world by transforming rescued materials into art and supporting various non-profit organizations at the same time.  Jenneration Fix, in effect, makes a complete circle back into the community by taking potential pollutants in the world from businesses and individuals, creating fun and useful items and then donating a portion of their profits back into a wide variety of charities.  The crafty ladies use materials such as discarded fabrics and clothing pieces, leather, scrap wood, e-waste, warped vinyl records, corks, and plastic packaging to make art work, jewelry, purses and clutches, pet toys, clocks, greeting cards and other quirky and fun gifts!

(soy’-ka designs)
Natalie Sojka found her first elements of inspiration for this line at an antique shop in rural Pennsylvania. After seeing the unique blend of metal shapes and textures she was inspired to produce her current line of jewelry.  Her goal with this line is to give her clients something unique, sexy, authentic, and edgy to wear, as well as a conversation starter.  All pieces are handmade, one of a kind, and made from all recycled materials.

Audio Lab:

Silver Pesos
The Silver Pesos blend tropical bass rhythms, soulful female vocals in Spanish and English, and West African guitar psychedelia. Formed in 2009 by producer/instrumentalist Peter Brambl, singer Chloe Conger, and guitarist Robert Weber, the group’s debut album Born at Midnight features the single “Regresando,” which has created a buzz on and offline.  Currently based in Los Angeles, the Silver Pesos also feature jazz bassist John von Seggern, percussionist Jason Kadlec, drummer Krishnanda Adipurba and vocalist/keyboardist Joanna Ellis.
www.thesilverpesos.com For free download of album, enter: http://www.thesilverpesos.com/create-fixate

John Tejada (Palette)
Normally associated with his peers in techno from Detroit, Europe and elsewhere, John Tejada has embraced electronic music as a personal frontier, expanding on his formidable resume as a techno recording artist as producer and remixer, DJ, and label owner. With dozens of singles, remixes, some film and TV work, and contributions to sample CDs to his credit, this recent expansion has born a slew of tracks deeply informed by his uncompromised aesthetic honed over years of diligent production, which finds its roots in Detroit techno but references a far broader range of music, both in and outside of electronic music. His musically formative years were steeped in classical music, growing up in family of performing artists – his mother a soprano singer and his father a conductor – which then widened to include hip hop, DJing and finally, electronic music. www.paletterecordings.com

Valida (KCRW)
Dubbed by LA.com as “one of the most important figures in L.A.’s nightlife scene,” Valida’s steady rise comes from her uncanny ability to seamlessly blend a variety of music styles that include house, hip-hop, indie rock, b-more/electro, and some classic 80s, disco and pop tracks thrown in for good measure. Since purchasing her first set of turntables in 1998, Valida has straddled the music and modeling arena with skills and ease. Worldwide bookings have brought her musical eloquence to Winter Music Conference in Miami, Regine in Paris, Dragon-I in Hong Kong, Mystique in Kuala Lumpur, Budoir in Dubai, Nuphoria event in Tokyo, Candela Party in Puerto Rico, Organic Party in Mexico, Barbados and her native Bosnia.  She can be heard on air on KCRW (89.9 FM) in Los Angeles on rotating Sundays from 3:00 to 6:00am as part of their program The Lab. www.valida.com

HouseMates (Venice)
HouseMates are a DJ trio reigning from Venice Beach consisting of founders Jacob Vaynshtok & Aidan Ramos of Jacob’s List and Matt Xavier of Railyard Recordings. After a series of convivial Venice gatherings the trio continue to provide an indubitable source of thoughtful art and house music events at unique venues along LA’s westside.  http://facebook.com/housemates.venice

Mr. NumberOnederful (Cannibal Flower)
LC has been passionately spinning vinyl since 82’. Specializing in remixes, mash ups and covers. But what creates LC’s sound is the hip hop, lounge, reggae, trip hop, dance and some pop music mixed together to harmonize this DJ’s acoustic signature. A sound that has made him a vital piece of the musical group Bitter:Sweet, as featured on 89.9fm KCRW.  LC spreads his vibe and sound around to various events around LA such as, Cannibal Flower, Bacchanal,  at the Del Monte Speak Easy, L.A. Beatdown at the Henry Fonda, the Mar Vista Farmers Market every second and third Saturday of the month, and is the tour DJ for Shana Halligan formerly of Bitter:Sweet. But his creative spirit doesn’t end there. Out from behind the DJ booth, LC is a collage artist and also a co-owner and curator of Thinkspace Gallery and Cannibal Flower. If you like the vibe LC spins you can download mixes, contact, and book him at www.lcroskeyart.com

Santana (TruthSeekers Radio | KPFK)
Santana Westbrook is the host of TruthSeekers which airs Midnight-2am every Friday Night/Saturday morning on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles. The musical selections cover a wide range of genres from downtempo electronic instrumentals to soul and beyond. Santana also produces music under the aliases of BuddhaSupreme and Nexus102. The show can be heard on demand at www.truthseekersradio.org.

Aimé (Aimemusic ltd)
Los Angeles resident Fran Dominguez a.k.a. Aimé is an electronic artist/hip-hop beat-maker, occasionally likened to artists such as Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss and the Icelandic band Amiina and French duo Air, for his more hybridized orchestral styles. Following the success of his first album Place Your Hands Over Your Eyes, that included accolades (Los Angeles Music Awards “Electronic Album of the Year” 2007) and diverse college and internet radio airplay, Aimé has since gone on to produce music for cable channels (Plum Television, Comcast Cable Programming), short films (“Cop” 2009) and has remixed the work of artists both mainstream (Radiohead, Minus The Bear, Gorillaz, Brian Eno & David Byrne) and underground (Pinklogik, The Dead Amps). A highly anticipated follow up album titled Times When I Know You Will Watch the Sky will be out in 2012. http://www.facebook.com/aimespace

Dj Sebiseb (SD Mixmasters)
Originally from France, DJ Sebiseb  brings European feels to her mixes. Her versatile skills on either vinyl or CDs lets her play different style of music to accommodate many different types of music lovers. She has started to incorporate her music skills into the music producing world. For more info, schedules and booking www.djsebiseb.com.

Theory Abstract (Deep funk records)
Theory Abstract is a 20 year experienced DJ coming from a strong family musical background. He has embraced many styles of music and incorporated them into his sets. He has appeared in small lounges & LA underground events to large clubs in Vegas. He has opened and performed with the likes of MAW, Osunlade, Mark Farina, Doc Martin, Nickodemos, Dj AM, MixMasterMike, Thievery Corporation, and the list goes on. He has collaborations with live bands such as the funk sensation “Kool In The Gang”, as well as the live nujazz project “Modern Groove Assembly”, with singer Sy Smith. www.mixcrate.com/theoryabstract

Charles Guilterre (Fallen Fronds)
Producer/DJ Charles Guilterre is a recent transplant from Brooklyn to LA. Best known for his Hump Wednesday parties in New York City’s East Village in the late 1990s, his electronic sound incorporates elements of lounge, experimental, electro, synthwave, heady house, and a hint of industrial, the latter heavily influenced by music from Chicago’s WaxTrax! label from the mid-1980s. He is currently concentrating his production/remixing efforts on his production team, Fallen Fronds.  http://www.facebook.com/guilterre

Christos Kedras (Kapa Music, SOAK Brasil) -
Originally from Greece and based in Los Angeles, Christos Kedras is a globetrotting ambassador of music sophistication thanks to his ultra-unique music style. Kedras hand-picks the finest ingredients from all over the world: African & Latin rhythms, Disco/Funk/Soul grooves, Brazilian bossa, Jazzy brass & pianos, and dancefloor-adorned Deep House beats. He mixes these into unmatched music cocktails that caress the senses, move the body, and expand the mind. With DJ gigs in Europe, Japan, Brazil and several US cities, a radio show that airs globally, and a constant supply of high-quality productions, Christos Kedras is one of the most international Los Angelinos in the house/electronic genre! www.christoskedras.com

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For more information, images, or to request interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

For Immediate Release:  March 11, 2011

Create:Fixate Presents
RISE
Celebrating 9 Years of Emerging Art & Music
Saturday, April 9, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) celebrates nine years of infiltrating Los Angeles with curated events of emerging art and music for culture seekers of Southern California. After a brief hiatus in 2010, C:F returns to its downtown roots with a spring-themed show entitled RISE at the Premiere Events Center. The exhibit will take place on Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 7:00pm to 2:00am and features over forty local artists, DJs, and musicians with vibrant artwork and music. Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists’ works, please visit www.createfixate.com. C:F can be reached by phone at 310-590-7199 for other inquiries.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. There is a $5 suggested donation during this period but kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry.  Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone.  Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the evening’s exhibit. While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be 21-years old or older to enter after 7:00pm.

Create:Fixate Founder and Artistic Director Michelle Berc chose the title RISE to describe the spring-timed event. “During this time of year, the season brings renewal in all forms. The theme of this event speaks to the awakening of creativity.”

RISE will feature the creativity of over thirty visual artists in the “Optical Lounge” – the evening’s visual feast – presenting a stunning array of painting, photography, multi-media, interactive installation, and performance art. Highlights include: Danuta Rothschild’s otherworldly landscapes and portraits capture the scope of the human experience – from the ominous to the magically affirming. Nighttime is when Garret Suhrie explores, contemplates, and photographs the world; from surreal cityscapes to serene landscapes he utilizes long exposures on transparency film.  Rachel Schultz uses the less traditional technique of reverse painting on plexiglass.  The energetic applications of vibrant paint colors bring a unique livelihood to the stillness in her abstract “tree-scapes.” Gwen Samuels wall sculptures consist of multiple transparent film prints sewn together by hand, like patchwork quilts, forming compound images that hang unframed. The “Chromastrobe” produced by Leif Maginnis is an interactive kinetic light installation that mixes moving elements with electronically-controlled colored lights and ultra violet strobe lights. A Create:Fixate exhibit is never complete without the spontaneity of live painting. On-site painter Ashley Montague will be joining the festivities all the way from Portland, Oregon. He uses his work to explore the unseen around him.

The “Audio Lab” – otherwise known as the music portion of the evening – completes Create:Fixate’s signature blend of art and music.  After a long history of hosting many of KCRW’s finest DJs, C:F finally welcomes award winning, critically acclaimed radio personality, DJ, and culture critic Garth Trinidad. The LA-based DJ is known for finessing the airwaves to expose new and progressive international music while paying homage to the classics, by weaving together intergalactic tapestries of sound. Whether on the radio or live, Trinidad artfully explores a multitude of genres and movements. With skill and ease, he anoints with jazz, indie rock, hip hop, world rhythms, and electronic music to make his point. Felix Bloxsom aka PLASTiC PLATES will be joining us all the way from Australia. As a musician, Bloxsom has toured and recorded with many artists including Empire of the Sun, Sam Sparro, Jamie Lidell, Sia, The Presets, and Sneaky Sound System, performing at music festivals including Coachella, All Points West, Capital FM Summertime Ball, V Festival UK and Radio 1′s Big Weekend. By embracing all moods and genres, Pumpkin is the music producer and curator behind the Wandering Marionettes and their eclectic event, Kabinet Theatre, as well as member of the famed Los Angeles collective POCKET Underground. His remixes and DJ sets – that walk the line between hip-grinding rhythms and bittersweet lyrical melodies – have been known to inspire lust, love and laughter.

See below in the bio section to learn more about the musical acts rounding out the evening.  Don’t miss a special “Leisure Listening Lounge” hosted by SuperTall Paul Newman.  At 6’6” the improvisational musician/magician/MC/street performance clown will bring his multi-instrumental, live sampling, silly ukulele stage show to an intimate, interactive, headphone lounge. SuperTall creates a world ‘inside’ where the listener gets to experience this audible art as a process.

Since Create:Fixate is all about building community around Angeleno artisans, The Equation will be joining the festivities with an interactive project that will be revealed the night of the event. The Equation’s mission is to create opportunity and to keep the arts alive by cultivating community within creative industries.  They bring people together through unique and interactive events that support and nurture our fellow artists.  To become a part of The Equation go to www.theequation.org.

As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts the organization often works with nonprofits facilitating youth empowerment through arts education projects. For the second time, C:F and Youth Speak Collective (YSC) will join forces. YSC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Pacoima, California. Youth Speak’s mission is to empower low-income, at-risk youth and their families with the skills necessary to pursue higher education and create strong communities. The organization provides teens throughout the Northeast San Fernando Valley with creative, high-quality programs that channel their intellect and talent, build their academic skills, and strengthen their investment in their own communities. Create:Fixate has saved a wall to exhibit student artwork – as it often does – so that kids from YSC can create an art piece inspired by the RISE theme.

Create:Fixate is an arts organization based in Los Angeles completing its 9th year producing art/music events that bring together emerging artists and musicians, along with thousands of art lovers and party goers in massive, and at times intimate, warehouse locations and alternative spaces on a quarterly basis.  Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple ‘art show’ into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.

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For more information, images or to set up interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

For Immediate Release: February 5, 2009

Create:Fixate Presents
“Wisdom Within Us”
Saturday, March 7, 2009

LOS ANGELES, CA – Arts organization Create:Fixate kicks off the new year with its first event of 2009, “Wisdom Within Us,” on Saturday, March 7, 2009. The event will take place at the Premiere Events Center where two large warehouses filled with vibrant artwork and music will present over 40 top local artists, DJs and musicians. The venue is located at 613 Imperial Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021. The full-blown event runs from 7:00 p.m. – 3:00 a.m. Admission is $15.00 before 10:00 p.m., and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. All ages are welcome. For more information please call 310-590-7199 or visit www.createfixate.org.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. There is a $5 suggested donation from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m., and kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry before seven o’clock. Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone (4 – 7 p.m. only). Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the evening’s exhibit.

“Wisdom Within Us” is a theme exploring the convergence of the word and the picture; the text and the vision; the concept and the manifestation. On March 7th, emerging and established visual artists and musicians come together to celebrate language and the images it inspires. Each artist has been asked to choose a meaningful quote to influence the creation of a new art piece to be shown as part of their body of work.

Highlighted artists include Gabriel Rivera whose paintings are modern versions of ancient cave paintings and markings, seeking to communicate yet falling short of being too specific. Rivera has also referred to his paintings as cityscapes roughly depicting the urban metropolis which he’s lived in for his entire life. Michelle Perone is inspired to create atmospheric acrylic paintings that stir emotions and memories, recalling both the movement and stillness, and the interconnectivity that exists between present moments, dreams and spiritual realms. Michael Pukac’s work has been said to be reminiscent of the old masters such as Rubens, Titian, and Rembrandt. However his acrylic and reflective paint lends a fresh edge combining a classic style with a surrealist and contemporary composition that can only be recognized as Neo-Mannerism.

Ever curious how the art at each Create:Fixate show gets made? Spontaneous visions will be free-flowing by live painters Carlos Vera, Hans Haveron, and Michael Pukac, who will WOW crowds by giving them a behind-the-scenes peak at their creative process.

Not to be outdone, the Audio Lab portion of the evening boasts an impressive line-up of the city’s very best DJs and musicians. These are just a small cross-section of all the great musical acts in store March 7th… check out the Audio Lab section below for the full line-up. Globally recognized west coast house DJ legend Steve Loria brings his fascinating style, ranging from deep house to progressive to acid house, to the mix. Paper Magazine describes Irwin of Irwin’s Conspiracy as someone who, “doesn’t just play his electronic (music) – he makes it on the spot, creating all the beats and sounds right in front of you… see it if you dare pussy.” While Vancouver, Canada-transplant Square-1 brings his special blend of hip hop to the night.

Create:Fixate is dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging and mid-career artists in a unique environment. Usually, every three months, Create:Fixate founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these stunning group art shows that present creative people from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes music coordinator Andrea Giardina, technical producer Andre Freimann, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple ‘art show’ into the city’s most anticipated Art Event.

PHFE Management Solutions (PHFE) helps to provide a comprehensive administrative and fiscal structure for Create:Fixate’s nonprofit division. PHFE Management Solutions, also known as Public Health Foundation Enterprises, is a 41-year-old 501(c)3 nonprofit organization providing back office support and management services to other nonprofit organizations.

~ Optical Lounge ~

Angie Jones
Storytelling and self-exploration call Angie Jones to paint. Jones is inspired by traditions in symbols, rooted in nature and fantasy. Dreamy tales filled with beauty, lost innocence, enchantment, struggles, wonder, and despair are the heartbeat of her work. With every painting there is a singular visual story to be told. These are the worlds she wishes to live in. Jones earned her BFA at the Atlanta College of Art in Atlanta (now SCAD), where she studied under noted artists Marcia Cohen and Dana Cibulski, both experts in color theory. For the past 15 years, she has worked on movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, X-Men 2, Stuart Little 2, Scooby Doo 2, Garfield, The Cave, Stealth, Freddy Vs. Jason, Chronicles Of Narnia and many others.

Ashton Trujillo
A 24 year-old Los Angeles native, Ashton Trujillo is a visual artist who utilizes acrylic, wood, light and found objects to execute his works. His carpentry background and affinity for nature are displayed through his explorations of space, texture and color. Pushing the boundaries of traditional two-dimensional art, Ashton’s recent works deliver depth, and probe functional art.

Betsy Ullery
Betsy Ullery paints uniquely organic, feminine shapes that are mixed with brave conceptual undertones. Her work requires more than a simple glance, as she likes the idea of fluidity and blending one recognizable form into another not so recognizable. Ullery’s art reflects her belief that reflection and perception are all shown to us through our subconscious and that our subconscious is governed by nature. Using oils on canvas and wood, Ullery lets the mood of the piece determine her palette.

Christopher Dingle
The art of Christopher Dingle is a meeting of opposites. Whether it is two lovers, two forces, two ideas, or two sides of the artist, Dingle’s paintings are about conflict. A Los Angles based artist, his paintings reflect the influence of his many years designing key art for major motion pictures and advertising.

Daniel Mercadante
Daniel Mercadante was born on October 13, 1984. He now lives and works in Los Angeles. He believes in flow ship and the consilience of creative media. His exhibited works, Routines: Contact Sheets (20” x 30”, Light Jet prints) are assemblies of every frame of individual parts of his continuous video series, Routines.

David Phillips
David Phillips’ paintings fall between the line of pop and avant-garde. The American Abstract Expressionists of the late 1950s and Ed Kienholz also influence his paintings. Phillips is originally from Oklahoma. He now lives in Venice, California, with his studio located in the Marina.

Ela Boyd
Ela Boyd is a California native. She studied at the Art Institute of Boston, Scuola Lorenzo de’ Medici (Art Institute of Florence, Italy) and California College of Arts, San Francisco. Boyd is intrigued by time, space and light as means for measuring the nature of reality in our physical universe. She works artistically with such ephemeral phenomena to create awareness of the limitations of our faculties for knowing, and experiencing, objective truth. We are challenged to discover what makes up the veil that is our own perception. To explore this phenomenological dynamic, Boyd uses ephemera to evoke nostalgia/memory, transparent media to generate space, and video to transfigure our internalized temporal models. She also records, depicts and creates light to offer a visceral experience of a metaphysical shift towards perceptual freedom.

Eric Grimes
Eric Grimes is an artist living in Kansas City, MO. Grimes sees himself as a connoisseur of decay and documents this fascination with large-format, highly detailed photographs. With his work, he hopes to redefine aesthetic guidelines, pushing the boundaries of what typifies beauty. By day, he works in a scientific research facility as an image technologist and microscopist. He also writes critical reviews for the Kansas City-based arts publication, Review, and curates shows at local galleries.

Gabriel Rivera
Gabriel Rivera is a Los Angeles based artist who paints mixed media works predominantly on raw cotton canvas. His works are data driven chaotic surfaces that incorporate numbers, scratched out calculations, writing (sometimes legible, sometimes not) and various forms of iconography. The idea behind most of his paintings is that they are modern versions of ancient cave paintings and markings, seeking to communicate yet falling short of being too specific. Rivera has also often referred to his paintings as cityscapes roughly depicting the urban metropolis which he’s lived in for his entire life.

Hans Haveron
Hans Haveron’s artwork has been lauded by both the street culture audience as well as high street. Bridging the gap between raw and refined, seemingly effortlessly, Hans’ work fuses raw natural elements along with pure beauty to form a striking end statement. His amazing talent has not gone unnoticed, Hans has done work on top-tier Disney films, and most recently the Paul Oakenfold Perfecto campaign.

Jason Hadley
Jason Hadley was born and raised by artists in Norman, Oklahoma. That family connection and the influence of the rusty red Oklahoma soil have followed him to Los Angeles where he works as an artist for the film industry as well as the real world. Hadley creates multimedia works from wood, wax, copper, paint, and found objects, sometimes deconstructing a single piece of equipment like a gas mask and reworking each tiny part into a series of sculptures that comment on the original item. Many of his current pieces feature lights, sound and movement, and have a strong focus on the wax life-casts of his friends, parents and children.

JC Jaress
JC Jaress studied painting for ten years under Art Silva, Marciano Martinez and Deborah Davidson. Jaress’s work has appeared in multiple print publications, as book and CD cover art, on the label of Longoria Winery’s Blues Cuvee 1999 and 2000, and three of his paintings appear in the recently released DreamWorks film, I Love You, Man. An active member of the arts community, Jaress served on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Art Association for three years and as President and Chairman of the organization from 2001- 02.

Joseph Fernandez
Joseph Fernandez is a sculptor whose work in clay makes the human or animal figure present in gesture. Each piece, though made in the same way with the same techniques, resonates with its own personality. Born in Long Beach and now residing in L.A., he currently works as a bronze caster, fine metal finisher, and large metal sculpture fabricator. He is also attending and working at El Camino Community College. He plans to transfer in spring of next year to study sculpture in Chicago.

Keri Rosebraugh
Keri Rosebraugh attended Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors in Illustration. Her illustrations have been featured in newspapers and magazines worldwide, with clients that include The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Disney Consumer Products, Mattel, Inc., Dreamworks SKG, and Coca Cola, Inc. She has recently served as the president of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles for two years and has shown her work in numerous group shows including La Luz De Jesus Gallery in Hollywood and The Ecological Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Currently she is concentrating on her fine art pieces and murals for private clients.

Kerianne Connor
Kerianne Connor is a contemporary abstract artist who graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Art from the School of Art at UCLA in 2005. Her work combines sculpture, painting and design, blurring the traditional strict separation between the genres of design and fine art. Connor’s work reflects the experience of a younger generation that has grown up immersed in the prominence of design in their everyday lives. She subtly compels her viewers to consider this relationship as she seamlessly combines elements of popular and emblematic designs with the fine art of sculpture and painting. Sharp edges, block colors, and calculated rows of stretched strings raised against severed canvases are characteristic of Connor’s current body of work. By representing contemporary landscapes through abstract works, Connor successfully acknowledges and brings to the surface for viewers the importance of the dialogue and interconnectivity between design, form, and function.

Liz Brizzi
A native of France and born of Italian parents, Liz Brizzi grew up in Los Angeles. Her individual mixed media technique begins with a collage of her original photography, which she then blends within layers of colorful acrylic washes. She is inspired by urban themes and loves the raw and industrial beauty of city life; her most recent series portrays the streets and alleys of Downtown Los Angeles, where she resides. In a city that is changing and developing rapidly, her artwork captures the disappearing traces of history and the authenticity of a neighborhood in full bloom.

Michael Pukac
Michael Pukac (poo-khash) is currently a Los Angeles-based artist who has painted for over 17 years, focusing in acrylic and mastering a new technique involving reflective layering with metallic and reflective paints. Pukac was born on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and grew up in the swamps. He graduated from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, with a BFA focusing on painting. Thereafter, he has made painting a full time gig, traveling the country, making a living off of his fine art, murals and illustrations. In the last 5 years, Pukac has co-founded three small nonprofit art organizations, has hosted and curated art events, art walks, and produced other live performances around the country. He has participated in over three-dozen art shows, starting from the age of 19, with close to a dozen solo exhibitions. These recent endeavors have brought him to Long Beach, CA, where he now resides and continues to show his work and participate in live painting performances throughout Southern California.

Michelle Perone
As a working artist, Michelle Perone has experience drawing realistic images for themed entertainment, animation, television and film. Painting has been her respite, and her way of communicating most authentically to others and herself. Perone is inspired to create atmosphere that stirs emotion and memory, recalling both the movement and stillness, and the interconnectivity that exists between present moments, dreams and spiritual realms. She paints softly – blurring edges, subduing colors, using line with motion, suggesting at the essence and the mystery of form and feeling. Perone is currently working with acrylics on canvas, creating symbolic landscapes and figures, and exploring further the different perceptions they call forth.

Monica Roache
Monica Roache is a multi-media artist from Los Angeles. She received a degree in Art from Cal Arts and is currently working at The Museum of Contemporary Art. Roache’s works ranges from photography to acrylic paintings, drawings and sculptural installation. In this exhibition, she presents new work of organic and intricate ink drawings. Highly associated with filth and poverty, Roache plans to demystify the fear of the roach by producing a line of plush toys inspired by the out casted insect.

Neil Simon Poyuzina
Originally from Watkins Glen, New York, Neil Simon Poyuzina has resided in California since the age of 14. During his third year of college, he decided to pursue the arts regardless of the consequences inherently involved. He left school… his thinking: “if you’re looking for a degree here you won’t find one.” Poyuzina believes that the true source of learning is in the doing of your personal interests. Since then he has produced more than a thousand works, curated many group events, opened a gallery in Downtown LA, and participated in more than 80 group/solo shows.

Robert A.D. Frick
Robert A.D. Frick is known for creating artwork that is totally non-representative at inception and remains so upon completion. Frick prefers to allow the viewer to derive representative imagery from abstractions. As a result, Frick finds most challenging aspect of creating digital art is knowing when to quit. With digital imagery you are able to evolve pieces as long as your imagination will allow, therefore, one of the more difficult aspects is picking a point when which to call a work finished.

As of late, Frick has diverted his attention to a simplified style focused more on color and form in order to allow for various output options such as textile design and metal casting, and less on detail and complexity. He is also a digital artist, by trade, for Digital Domain, in Venice, CA, where he lives. Apart from Create:Fixate, he has also exhibited at Siggraph Art Gallery, LACDA and Cannibal Flower.

Seth Balliett
Based on a foundation of painting and graphic design, Seth Balliett creates unique torn paper/collage portraits using only materials, artifacts and memorabilia specific to the subject, adding depth and significance to each piece. Born in upstate New York, Balliett has been creating, inventing and building his entire life. A BFA graduate of Alfred University, Balliett now resides in Venice, CA.

Treiops Treyfid
Treiops Treyfid strives to create artwork that is bold, unique, of high quality, and speaks to the age in which we live. His materials vary from the exotic to the recycled and always complement his conceptual vision. Whether through sculpture, assemblage, performance, painting or video, Treyfid’s bold and focused concepts are always elegantly and efficiently realized.

Vincent G. Madrid
As an artist, Vincent G. Madrid tends to reach into the collective unconscious to evoke imagery that speaks to the subconscious – the inner workings of the psyche, where the basic truths of the human spirit lie dormant. Being completely self-taught, Madrid has made a commitment to bring an awareness of the beauty that exists in this world as well as bringing a sense of the mystical knowledge that there is more to reality than what we see on the surface.

Walt Hall
Walt Hall was born and raised in North East Los Angeles. Although an active artist from a very young age, he has cut his creative teeth in the world of commercial art restoration rather than the traditional art school. Until 2000 his main focus was music and a series of local punk bands that he formed with friends. Since that time he has returned his creative focus to the visual arts. Although painting is his first and foremost creative method, he also employs a wide variety of surfaces, forms, objects, and mixed media, and enjoys collecting discarded materials for assemblage work. He paints primarily with acrylics and produces work that ranges in size from several square inches to mural-sized works on un-stretched canvas.

Yuki Miyazaki
Born in Kumamoto, Japan, Yuki Miyazaki came to Los Angeles as a girl, deeply interested in continuing her family’s tradition of creating art. Yuki’s paintings have been described as “Eastern pop culture meets classic Western children’s book illustrations.” Recently selected to appear in the Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage 2008 Calendar and Cultural Guide, she continues to explore her childhood influences with Western culture and expresses them through her paintings.

~ Live Painting ~

Carlos Vera
Carlos Raphael Vera was born in Los Angeles, California on May 3, 1973. He spent his childhood in Los Angeles before he moved to Boston in 1992 to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. After leaving the Museum school Vera spent time in New York City and Louisville, Kentucky before returning to Los Angeles in 1996 to pursue a career in the art world. He began work in the film industry as a conceptual illustrator, which helped further establish his craft. Vera continued to work on many group, as well as solo, art exhibits, which included his live painting shows. He opened an art gallery in North Hollywood in 2000 and in 2001 utilized the gallery as a springboard for a youth based entrepreneurship program in the arts (California Artists for Humanity). Carlos is currently working as a designer, fine artist, and an aggressive live painter.
When asked the question, “What is your inspiration?” Carlos’ answer is…”all of you.”

~ Edible Sculpture ~

Hip Hop Chocolate
Marcus Gray is a 32-year old artist living in Los Angeles. He conceived of a confection that could act as a meditation on the potential of culture. The product consists of a series of chocolate sculptures made in
the shape of various symbols associated with the hip hop culture.

~Video Projection~

Museum/ of/ Traffic (M/o/T)
Museum/ of/ Traffic (M/o/T) is a traveling audiovisual production collective promoting expression through digital technologies and audiovisual products. M/o/T was founded in the fall of 2004 in Los Angeles by Manwell H.Hernandez (Art Center College of Design 2003 BFA-Multimedia) and Eddy Vajarakitipongse (Art Center College of Design 2002 BFA-Multimedia).

M/o/T activities to date include “expanded cinema” performances, impermanent audiovisual installations, digital projections, performance art, “institutional” events, TV commercials and live audiovisual.

Paul Zelevansky
Paul Zelevansky is an artist, writer, and teacher living in Los Angeles. The work presented in Create:Fixate is drawn from his Flash animation website GREAT BLANKNESS (www.greatblankness.com). GREAT BLANKNESS is composed primarily of found material selected from clip art, old text books, puzzles and games, music samples, sound effects, quotations, and video clips both identified and anonymous. Running between 20 seconds and a minute+ in length, these animation loops encourage multiple viewings, repetition serving to extend a joke, reveal the text, build anticipation, or generate unease in order to establish a kinetic link with the content. The collective title of this now five-year project–A GREAT BLANKNESS THAT INSPIRES AWE–refers to a sense of inspiration and surprise before the declarative speech of the stereotype, but this blankness is “great” and expansive to the extent that it seduces the viewer into the oscillating web of meaning that the mix provides.

~ Fashion/Jewelry ~

Billie Shane/Bronze Age Modern
Designer Billie Shane has been thrilled by the idea of discovering beauty in unlikely places since she was young. While growing up in Los Angeles, she could be found plowing through flea markets, antique shops, and even trashcans for hidden treasures. These days, she creates visceral forms inspired by the rich dynamic sculpture and ceramics of the 20th century combined with earthy textures.

Bronze Age Modern is a unisex line of pendants, lariats, bracelets, cuff links, and rings cast in bronze and sterling silver. Many of the necklaces and bracelets are available on both leather and chain.

Brooke Benson Designs
Brooke Benson is an emerging designer working and living in Venice, CA. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in Theater, her creativity began to extend to other art forms. Her jewelry designs are inspired by her extensive travels throughout Southeast Asia, Nepal and the Middle East. There is a distinct style that is captured in the designs, revealing a uniquely raw, but refined, style. Using spiritual symbols, gold, wood and semi-precious stones, her pieces are created to ignite the divine creative energy within each of us and enhance our awareness to the beauty that lies within. Each one of these energetic adornments carries a special essence that is felt by all who wear it. Recently written up in Daily Candy, her creations “blend the earthy with the ethereal.”

Creasol by Soledad Proaño
Soledad’s functional art is mainly characterized by organic, abstract designs (as images that give impressions and feelings, more than the recreation of people or landscapes) and an eye-catching use of color. In the process of making her mosaics, she looks not only for harmony for herself but also for the final recipients of her work. The final objective is to always give some beauty to other people’s lives, and in the pursuing of this objective, she works on every piece until satisfied with it, no matter how long it takes. Although she uses ceramics, glass, mirror, and glass pebbles, most of her mosaics are made from vitreous glass, a material that comes in squares, normally 3/4″ wide, that are carefully shaped to make them fit one next to the other. Each one of her mosaics is one of a kind.

Doe Studio
Doe Studio is the line of Los Angeles-based jewelry designer Susanna Rödder. Her collection is handmade in sterling silver and 14kt gold vermeil. Her pieces are modern and clean, but never exacting. No line is ever straight, no circle perfectly round, no shape symmetrical. Her designs are effortless, elegant, quietly clever. Born and raised in Cologne, Germany, Rödder now lives and works in Hollywood, California.

Sasha Bell
Sasha Bell is a well-versed Canadian silversmith and jewelry designer who has recently returned to this passion full-time since moving to Los Angeles this past year. Her desire to create jewelry and work with precious metals was first piqued at the Kootenay School of the Arts in B.C. Canada, where she completed a 2-year program of small object and jewelry design. She is a popular designer on the well-known Etsy website and sells her jewelry at many stores throughout the US. Her style is both modern and edgy, with an organic feel presented in soft brushed finishes and deep patinas. Through her jewelry design process, she intends to create completely handmade miniature wearable works of art to be treasured by women of all ages.

Victoria Reyna Designs
Victoria Reyna, native of Argentina, earned a Master’s Degree in Interior Design in Buenos Aires. Her excitement about design brought her to many ways of expression: interior design, landscape design, and now jewelry. The concept of her work is minimalist, contemporary and architectural, and her pieces are handmade, one of a kind. For her, beauty is the illusion painted in materials; it is the combination of expressive materials, interesting color palettes and clean sleek lines.

~ Audio Lab ~

Anthony Plamondon
Detroit born and Los Angeles based DJ Anthony Plamondon has been DJing and throwing events since the early eighties. He has deejayed in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Detroit, Las Vegas, and other cities. His musical interests vary from Funkadelic, Bowie, Air, The Pixies, Sufjan Stevens, Deerhunter, Blonde Redhead, Matthew Dear, Four Tet, Moodymann, and Theo Parrish. Plamondon has a residency at Bar 107 and plays regularly with the experimental collective Big Thaw.

AudioMoe
Whether it’s producing original music and remixes or killing it live behind the decks, AudioMoe (AKA Moses Truzman) combines his passion for music and expression to create something truly unique. Born in New York, he was influenced by many styles of music ranging from rock, Latin and hip hop. According to him, “Music has no labels. It’s all just soul music to me.” And with that mindset, he creates music that crosses genres and styles but still hits you in the same place. As for his DJ sets, be prepared to get taken on a journey that touches on funk, hip hop, house and everything else in-between.

Cajami
Cajami is the alias for Michael Callon, a Los Angeles native whose dad was the sound engineer for Funkadelic and founded JDC Records, an early dance and hip hop label and distributor. Cajami was always highly passionate about many different styles of music, but became hooked on electronic and dance music in 2000. At the end of 2002, he started mixing records and now has deejayed at parties and clubs throughout Los Angeles. He started producing music in late 2006 and will be putting out his first release this year through TechnoHop Records.

Irwin’s Conspiracy
Irwin is known for melding the spontaneity of jazz and power of rock with a pulse like hip hop on steroids, though rarely sounding retro. His unique performances have merited four return tours to Europe and praise from the most critical music and art aficionados. All beats are performed live, while other sounds are designed and generated from computer, accessed via theremin, composed and looped on the spot. “Irwin doesn’t just play his electronic (music)- he makes it on the spot, creating all the beats and sounds right in front of you… see it if you dare pussy.” –PaperMag

Love Grenades
Playful, sexy, and eminently danceable, Love Grenades is a new, unifying force in independent music – in its most literal interpretation. The brainchild of 25-year-old mastermind Elizabeth Wight, Love Grenades is the unlikely beat-driven collision of electro-pop, Italo disco and punk that’s winning over Los Angeles audiences. Ever since the band began playing two years ago, Love Grenades has packed L.A.’s hippest venues, including The Echo and Silverlake Lounge. Tracks have been on heavy rotation in local underground dance clubs well before their official releases, in addition to making playlists on radio stations KXLU, KCRW and INDIE103.1. The LA Weekly has called the band “as scorching as they are seductive – a collective soundtrack for making out one-on-one or maxing out with a hundred sweaty strangers on the dance floor.”

Morgan Alexander
Morgan Alexander began building a sonic home in house music in the early nineties. Career highlights include his residency with LIFE, ¬Boston’s largest weekly deep soulful house night, traveling as part of Mountain Dew’s entertainment presence for the 2000 and 2001 X Games, regular features on the West Coast, and hosting “Wednesday Revolutions,” the deep installment of Boston’s revered electronic dance music show on WERS 88.9FM. Morgan cites his influences sure to be found in his record bag ¬as producers prolific in their ability to squeeze soul out of machines.
Spain
Formed in Los Angeles in 1993, Spain released three albums (Blue Moods of Spain, She Haunts My Dreams, I Believe) between 1995 and 2001. A compilation CD, Spirituals: The Best of Spain, was released in 2003. In 2007 Spain founder Josh Haden reformed the band with all-new members Tom Gladders (guitar), Randy Kirk (keyboards, guitar), Matt Mayhall (drums), and Marcel Camargo (guitar). A brand new album is forthcoming produced by Soulsavers’ Rich Machin.

Square-1
Square-1 (Stephan Jacobs) started deejaying in 2000, where he spun his special blend of hip hop at local house parties and clubs in his home town of Vancouver, Canada. Jacobs’ production style was fueled by underground music cultures, which lead him to Los Angeles. Here he made his appearance known in the L.A. underground where he plugged into the Burning Man and club scenes. Square-1 is currently working on his solo album, Hooked on Stephanix, to be released 4/20/09.

Steve Loria

West Coast’s legendary house DJ, Steve Loria is a globally recognized artist traveling all over Europe, the United States, South America and Japan. His fascinating style, ranging from deep house to progressive to acid house, has given him a respected name in the electronic music community. Loria has headlined parties such as Los Angeles’ largest New Year’s party Together as One three years in a row, San Francisco’s Gucci party and legendary By the People parties, Freedom Festival, and furthermore, he was invited to lead the grand opening extravaganza at Las Vegas’ now legendary super club Utopia. Loria was also chosen to be a part of the DUB Tour that traveled across America with other exceptional house talent and friends like Doc Martin, DJ Pierre, Josh Wink, King Britt, and Eddie Amador. Loria has produced and remixed tracks for world-renowned labels such as Plastic City, Stickman, Power Music, and Distant Music.

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For more information, images or to set up interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.