While The Cats Are Away The Mice Have Very Little Free Time

Sure, you could still read about the Miami trip, but what if you just couldn't get away? Well, don't worry, because half of us here know how you feel. Much like the runners-up on American Idol, we have to sit and watch all the fun from afar. But we'll show 'em. We're gonna do stuff too.

Sunday, December 7th is our closing night for Liz Brown: OMGWTF. If you haven't had a chance, be sure to visit us to see this fantastic show. And if you have, stop in again, because we might have a few surprises for you.

Then on Friday, December 12th, we've got opening night for It's A Small World. This group show focuses on the little side of art, mixing sculptures, limited edition prints and other artwork, all in the 11"x17" range. Our artists are attempting to use this restriction to cut right to the meat of the work, leaving pieces that remind one of "fun size" Halloween candy (or perhaps we should say haiku). We expect you'll be pleased, and hope you'll be there.

Finally, Friday, December 19th at 8:00pm will see our Hold Me Closer Tiny Dinner Cocktail Party. We'll tell you more about this soon. Just start planning now.

So if you're in Miami, stop by Booth 473 at Scope and tell our weary travelers that everything is fine back home. But if you're still in town, feel free to visit us at the gallery. The cats aren't going to be gone forever, you know, and us mice want some fun of our own!

Liz Brown @Like the Spice ( Written by Julian Duron)

Liz Brown @Like the Spice
Written by Julian Duron
Monday, 17 November 2008

Brooklyn hosted a bunch of openings in Williamsburg on Friday including this show at Like The Spice by Liz Brown titled OMGWTF. The show exhibited many new works by the artist revolving around a whimsical narrative set in outer space, at retro retail establishments and twisted movie sets. The work is solid and painted with a rigid edge creating a shiny like-new feeling that directly ties into the title of the show... Witty sense of sarcasm much? Anyway, get down to Like the Spice and check out this great little show before it closes December 7th.


Check out full post with loads of great images from the opening of Liz Brown:OMGWTF!! (Thanks Julian & Fecal Face, XO LTS)

ONFLBOMGWTFAIYWTYSHB

...which, naturally, means "Opening Night For Liz Brown's OMGWTF And If You Weren't There You Should Have Been!" And that's how we feel in a digital nutshell.



Friday, November 14th was opening night for our current show, OMGWTF. And it was great. If you missed it, STFU with the excuses and get here as fast as you can!



For the digital types, head over to our special Internet sneak preview and LOL in the privacy of your own browser. But we're telling you, these things so hot in person.



Keep in mind that we've got our Monthly Dinner coming up on November 21st. The artist will be in attendance, and if you've never met Liz in person, you've totally got to come. We often fill up fast, so RSVP PDQ, thx.

OMGWTF runs until December 7th. Be sure you visit. TTFN.

LTS and Dylan Peet skip over a Bridge into Miami beach!

This year, we are also privileged to be joining Dylan Peet in a co-curation at Bridge Miami. Bridge leads the way for contemporary art fairs worldwide, and South Beach will be filled with art from more than 80 galleries. Come find us in the Catalina Hotel: Room #209.

Like the Spice’s enormous success at last year’s Fountain Miami left us so excited to return to Florida. We’ll be taking the state by storm with an awesome arsenal of new work by up-and-coming artists.

Also as you might know from previous posts!

Like the Spice is thrilled to announce our participation in December’s SCOPE Miami. SCOPE, Miami’s original emerging art fair, is in its seventh year. Its reputation for adventurous alternative art and a museum-quality program of tours, lectures, and special events has made it one of the most respected art fairs currently in operation. LTS will be at booth 473 in the brand new SCOPE Pavilion, located in the famous Wynwood Art District, alongside 84 other exhibitors from 28 different countries.

Here are all the artists we are Bringing with us for the festivities!




Rachel Beach's multifaceted wood veneer and oil paint constructions are derived from details of art, architecture and design history. Her works have been described as " tough, precise and disciplined with a hard edged cheeriness" and "steeped in a pleasant pluralism, bound by a shared material intelligence".

Liz Brown’s subjects are intended to be amusingly romantic, assembled from the ideal world that is delivered by traditional media. Her goal is a work that exists as itself, rather than a revelation of the thoughts other process of the artist.

Jason Bryant's unique approach to popular culture shows in his lavishly detailed, pristinely finished drawings and canvasses, reinvesting their stars with a bit of privacy, a bit of agency.

Anna Druzcz built her current visual methodology using a combination of photographic and digital techniques. Her most recent series features digitally composed photographic landscapes cobbled together from organic and synthetic sources.

Allison Edge works primarily in oil on canvas and watercolor on paper. Her work captures recurring themes of youth worship and idealized beauty, and are influenced by fashion advertising, boyfriends/friends, Pre-Raphaelites and growing up in the 80’s.

Dean Goelz’s sculptures and drawings depict the slightly odd ways we interact with each other and our environment, and the tenuous grip society and culture have on our gentle animal natures. Using a kind of reverse anthropomorphism, the characters depicted in his work evoke protective instincts usually reserved for cute animals and babies.

Abby Goodman combines animal imagery and manufactured products , creating a visual metaphor for the nameless longing for ideal balance between man and nature. Inspired by her own personal experiences, Goodman’s creatures become characters in a fantasy world that parallels the reality of her daily life.

Eric LoPresti paints from photographs using oils, sometimes with an airbrushed acrylic background. His imagery alludes to hidden forces, the world that exists beside us, and beyond our control.

Jenny Morgan’s physiological portraiture manipulates the figure to expose an individual's idiosyncrasies. Working with people from her own life as subject matter allows Morgan to hone in on specifics of their character and present their personalities as she experiences them.

Ross Racine’s digital prints are drawn completely freehand, on the computer. Joined together the pieces reveal familiar opposites of handmade and digital, organic and mechanical, subjective and technological, physical and virtual.

Michelle Hinebrook: More info coming!

We Prefer To Think Of It As OURami

Alison Edge

Who doesn't like Florida in December? Only TERRIBLE PEOPLE. And you're not terrible. That's why we want you to visit us at Scope Miami, from December 3rd to December 7th.


Nicole Stager


Rachel Beach

We'll be in booth 473, and we'll have some great art along for the ride. You're looking at some examples right now, and we're working on a few surprises. Have we ever steered you wrong?


Eric LoPresti


Jenny Morgan


Anna Druzcz


Abby Goodman

Scope Miami will be located at 2951 NE 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33127 (between NE 29th & 30th Street). What else will you be doing at the start of December?


Liz Brown


Dean Goelz


Jason Bryant

We'll see you there, right? Right?

The Hottest Show Of The Season. Literally.

Opening night for Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? was huge! Huge! Look at how many people came out to join us at the Leo Kesting Gallery on 812 Washington Street, New York, NY 10014. It was a traditional New York summer's night, which means it felt like the heart of a volcano. But you don't really understand art until you've suffered, right? So thanks to everyone who stopped in to understand the art.



Since we just happened to bring it up, we might as well talk about the art a little. Here's the very talented Allison Edge posing by her painfully fabulous new painting "Tomorrowland". And trust us, it's even better in person. Right behind Allison is a bit of Eric LoPresti's "Rocket Flare, Pink & Tan".



Oh, what a coincidence! Here's Eric LoPresti now! He's with David Sampliner, Eric's wife Lisa, and Rachel Shuman. Rachel and David were with us for Force Fed. Eric's also coming off his solo show Force Against Force and we're always happy when he stops by. Incidentally, the happy foursome are standing in front of a work by Anna Druzcz, who'll have her latest solo show in the fall. Don't worry, we'll keep you posted.



Here's Ross Racine and Frontroom Gallery curator Daniel Aycock. If you don't already know them, Ross is the one being attacked by the UFO and Daniel is the one who seems to be on fire. Ross has previously featured his freehand digital drawings as part of There There and is a great guy (as is Daniel!) and we love working with him. That uppity alien, however, is a creation of Liz Brown.



And we can't forget about Dean Goelz and Rachel Beach. Rachel was a part of Flip! and Dean has his solo show coming up in a September, so watch this space. Rachel and Dean got along very well, and they are both fans of sculpture, so naturally they wanted to take a closer look at each other's pieces...





Despite the heat, it was a fantastic night, and we thank everyone who came out, as well as all the artists! Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? will be at Leo Kesting until August 3rd, 2008, and the trip will be worth your while. But don't forget we've still got it goin' on in Brooklyn as well! Forming Lines opens on July 25th!

Tonight, the Meatpacking District...Tomorrow the world. MWAAHAHAHAHA.

Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?
Like the Spice curates at...
Leo Kesting Gallery
812 Washington St.
New York, NY 10014

July 17th – August 3rd 2008
Opening Reception Thursday July 17th 7-10:00pm

Have you seen a horizon lately?
If you have, watch it for a while.
For you never know,
It may not last so long.
-Yoko Ono

Allison Edge, Tomorrowland at Night, 2008
oil on canvas, 48 x 48"


Like the Spice is proud to present Have You Seen the Horizon Lately, an exhibition featuring contemporary landscapes by Rachel Beach, Liz Brown, Anna Druzcz, Allison Edge, Dean Goelz, Nora Herting, Eric LoPresti, Ross Racine and Nicole Stager and hosted by the always-on-the-cutting-edge Leo Kesting Gallery in the meatpacking district.

Landscape art has historically had more to do with artists and the cultures they live in than with the actual lay of the land. Today, as natural landscapes are further than ever from our day-to-day lives, landscape art is even more tenuously connected to any sense of a natural pristine beauty. Landscapes today are phantasmagoric representations of communities, ecologies, memories and consumer fantasies. Most places we spend our time in are either haphazard mishmashes of the architecture of necessity or environments purposefully designed to encourage our consumption.

The artists in this exhibition combine the fantasy of and longing for a place we belong with a deep understanding of the near impossibility of finding it. Dystopian visions of landscapes in ruins, works depicting the sublime horror of battlefields, fantasy suburban developments with nonsense layouts and abstract memories of what nature was like populate this show. There are also moments of levity. A spaceship presides over a stuntman’s ring of fire in the desert, a duck-human hybrid contemplates nature and we get a peek of Space Mountain as we stroll through Tomorrowland in a technicolored photo-memory.

Now We Have To Party Like It's 2099

Packed? You don't know the half of it! Friday, June 11th, Like the Spice hosted our first Second Birthday Party And Raffle! For about fifty bucks, anyone could get a raffle ticket and a chance to pick up some fantastic pieces from Like the Spice artists like Eric LoPresti, Anna Druzcz, Grace Teng, Allison Edge... hey, we could list our artists all day, but if you wanted to see their names, you'd be looking at them. You're here to read about the party, right? Cause it was HUGE!



The honor of being picked first went to Peter Feigenbaum, fresh from his show There There where he shared our space alongside Ross Racine. Peter's work brought something special to our gallery, so we were happy he got to be Draft Pick #1. Look at that lucky guy!



The lovely Liz Brown gave us two pieces that went pretty quickly. Here she is with Like the Spice family member Dylan Peet, who's first curated show, After Everything, just finished a very exciting run. But we did say two pieces, right?



Here's Liz with the other lucky winner, Clint Downing of Downing Frames. Clint also gave away a free framing to one lucky winner. Clint's an expert framer and we recommend him very highly. If you want to know more, drop us a line!



Here we have artist John Zaso showing off his newly acquired Rachel Beach. Also featured: Rachel Beach! Isn't it nice when our artists can play together so well?



Here's Chadwick Whitehead, Steve Tabbut, and our good friend Himkar, who has an eye for art. Steve and Chadwick are two of our artists and they have each admired the other's work for some time, however it wasn't until tonight that they finally got to meet in person! We're sure they talked about many lofty and artistic things. Or maybe they just got trashed with Himkar. You never can tell at artist parties.



Our entertainment for the night was Young Man About Town, who joined us before during Make Music NY and they were fantastic. Everyone left happy and everyone enjoyed their art. All smiles at Like the Spice!



What a great night. We should do this again next year... or sooner! Think we could start counting our birthday in dog years?

And If By "Affordable" You Mean "Amazing", Then YES

Join us at the Affordable Art Fair from June 12th through June 15th. We'll be showing work by Rachel Beach, Liz Brown, Anna Druzcz, Allison Edge, Nora Herting, Eric LoPresti, Ross Racine and Beka Goedde. Come and take a look!


Don't want to pay at the door? Come by or call us here at the gallery before Wednesday, June 11th and tell us you're one of our loyal online readers and we'll give you a free pass that will get you in as our special guest (while supplies last, of course). Call us at 718-388-5388 if you need more information. We want to see you and we want you to see us!

Bridge Art Fair, 2008

Please join Like the Spice at Bridge Art Fair
Thursday, March 27 – Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Waterfront,
222 12th Avenue, New York
Booth 6



Showcasing the work of

Anna Druzcz:
Born 1979 in Poland, Anna Druzcz studied photography at Ryerson Polytechnic University in toronto and earned her masters degree in fine art photography from the Rochester institute of technology. There, using a combination of photographic and digital techniques she built her current visual methodology. Her most recent series features digitally composed photographic landscapes cobbled together from organic and synthetic sources.

Rachel Beach:
Was born in London, On Canada in 1975. She received her MFA from Yale University in 2001 and BFA from NSCAD University in Halifax, Canada in 1998. Beach's works have been described as " tough, precise and disciplined with a hard edged cheeriness" and "steeped in a pleasant pluralism, bound by a shared material intelligence". Beach lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.


Liz Brown:
{b.1977} earned her MFA from the Mount Royal Graduate Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2004. Her subjects are intended to be amusingly romantic, assembled from the ideal world that is delivered by traditional media. Her goal is a work that exists as itself, rather than a revelation of the thoughts other process of the artist.

Jason Bryant:
{b.1976} grew up in rural North Carolina. Receiving his BFA at East Carolina University, he then earned his MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art. Bryant's unique approach to poplar culture shows in his lavishly detailed, pristinely finished drawings and canvasses, reinvesting their stars with a bit of privacy, a bit of agency.

Nora Herting:
Nora Herting received her BFA from the University of New Mexico in 1999 and her MFA from Ohio State University in 2005. Nora has showed her photographs, installations and performance works across the country and internationally. She was an artist in residence at the McColl Center for the Visual Arts and was a winner of the Vermont Studio Artist Scholarship both in 2007. This is Nora’s first show at Like the Spice.

Eric LoPresti:
{b.1971}, lives and works in New York. In 1993 he received a BA in Cognitive Science from the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, then in 2002, his MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art, Maryland Institute, Baltimore MD. His imagery is often made as allusions to hidden forces, the world that exists beside us, and beyond our control.

Dean Goelz:
Dean Goelz graduated from The Maryland Institute
College of Art in 2001 where he earned his Bachelor in
Fine Arts. He works as a freelance artist doing
anything from design work to commissioned sculptures
while operating a successful mural and faux finishing
business. His work has shown nationally as well as
internationally. He lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.


Chadwick Whitehead
Born in Greece in 1977, Chadwick Whitehead, grew up an American in Michigan. He attended collage in chicago and Tokyo, receiving his MFA in 2006 from the School of Visual Arts. Whitehead currently lives in Brooklyn, making image filled with distinct strokes, narrative and character driven marks. Through printmaking, he has found a gauge for reducing forms and color.

Allison Edge:
Allison Edge lives in Brooklyn, New York. Originally hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, she received her BFA in painting from the University of Georgia (1997) and her MFA in painting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2000). Primarily working in oil on canvas and watercolor on paper, her works captures the reoccuring themes of youth worship and idealized beauty, influenced by fashion advertising, boyfriends/friends, Pre-Raphaelites and growing up in the 80’s. Allison’s work has been exhibited at Caren Golden Fine Art (NYC), Jack the Pelican Presents (NYC), Lincart (SF) and Lump (Raliegh, NC), among others.

Ross Racine:
Born In Montreal (quebec), Canada, Ross Racine currently lives and works in New York. His digital prints are drawn completely freehand, on the computer. Joined together the pieces reveal familiar opposites of handmade and digital, organic and mechanical, subjective and technological, physical and virtual.

Brian LaRossa:
Was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He received in Master's degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2002. His digital drawings are a careful arrangement of many smaller instinctual compositions. LaRossa's work is influenced by the equivalence of energy and matter, biological differentiation and conversion, the nature of moderation, and the superficiality of time.

Abby Goodman:
Influenced by consumer culture, mass media, and contemporary society, Abby has created a world of fantasy, calling attention to the artifice which occurs when the lines between fact and fiction are blurred. From installations of painted-on newspaper clippings, to embroidered canvases, to welded steel, her technique is as ecclectic as her subject matter. Ms. Goodman's work has a dominant personality marked by humor and humanity ties each piece together, making them cohesive as a group, but individually strong.