It's in the BAG! Art Hamptons 2010

Yes, you can say it. It's hot and Like the Spice Gallery is on fire! Well...not LITERALLY, but with the reception from Art Hamptons 2010 we might as well be called a shooting star. Booth number 423 attracted on lookers from all ends of the venue. The fabulous scenery of Bridgehampton was the backdrop for an exploration of what our gallery has to offer. As one of the top new art fairs in America Art Hamptons ceases to amaze guests. We came, we hung, we conquered and we loved every minute of it.


Even with the ninety-two degree weather visitors came in droves, accompanied with commentary such as, "This is really spectacular.", "How wonderful.", and a simple but affirming "Oh yeah."

The artist works' that traveled with us included pieces from Dean Goelz, Rachel Beach, Ross Racine, Treasure Frey and Reuben Negron. Also new works by Jenny Morgan, Jason Bryant and and Jessica Stoller were on display, rounding out the Like the Spice team.





Time seemed to zoom by as our artists' continued pulling in fans with their abundant technique and skill on canvas.

To sum it all up we had a wonderful time and absolutely looking forward to the next, as you should be too! If you didn't make it you missed out on some fun under the blazing sun. But you can always stop in to Like the Spice and check out the pieces up close and personal. We have been as busy as bees providing YOU with the best.

P.S.
Check out the wicked awesome "Camera Panoramic Effect Action" in this photo, Oh yes. We went there.

Our booth, our booth, our booth is on fire...

We don't need no water let the... wait we do need water, at least that's what the kind young gentleman told us as he walked into our booth. Feast your eyes on our space at Art Hamptons.
Like the Spice booth number 423.

Hop on the Jitney and get your butts out here.

Art Hamptons, ho!!!

Just when you thought that we couldn't possibly have the time to participate in anymore events this summer this post is here to inform you that next week we will be at the beach! Well, sort of... Next week, July 9th - 11th we will be in Bridgehampton for the ArtHamptons Fair inhabiting booth #423. Set in Sayre Park’s 5 bucolic acres in Bridgehampton, this year's fair is going to be awesome. Of the work accompanying us will be new pieces by Jason Bryant and Jessica Stoller.


We will be unveiling a new piece by Jenny Morgan as well. Fabulous works by Reuben Negron, Rachel Beach, Dean Goelz, Ross Racine, and Treasure Frey will also be up in our booth. Make a weekend getaway of it and take the Jitney or the LIRR; take in some rest and relaxation at one of the Hampton's lovely beaches and then come to the fair for a spectacular art-filled adventure. This isn't your typical fair either as there is plenty to do inside and out and about in the surrounding area of the park...



ArtHamptons returns as one of the highlights of the Hamptons summer season. Now in its 3rd successful year, ArtHamptons has established itself as one of the top new art fairs in America. Expect to see a mesmerizing display of post-war and contemporary art, presented by a renowned lineup of international galleries. It’s all assembled in a museum-like setting. There’s important art pieces for every budget and level of art collector. It’s all here for you, from paintings, works on paper and printed editions to photography, art glass, ceramics and sculpture.

Begin your visit with a little sculpture exploration; enter the grounds through Hans de van Bovenkamp’s spectacular sculpture “The Sagg Portal”, destined to be one of the most dramatic art fair entrances ever. Meander through an acre of memorable sculptures in the pastoral Sculpture Garden featuring welcoming hospitality tents. After that get a little history when you peruse a museum-like solo booth display dedicated to the Russian modernist and Hamptons Bays painter David Burliuk (1882-1967). Explore a 1950’s-70’s retrospect on legendary East Hampton painter Syd Solomon (1917-2004). See? Plenty to do so make sure to e-mail us for your complementary day pass! Hurry while we still have them! See you there...

Good Things Are Happening

If you've been keeping up with our calendar, you know that the past 48 hours have been SO busy here at LtS. We hope you came out, but if not, you'll be seeing our digital recap soon. But first, please let us take a moment to brag about our artists!

Over on the other coast, our pal Ross Racine is part of a group show known as Environments at Cain Schulte Contemporary. We hope that, if you're in the area, you'll stop by and see his work! Also Ross fans should continue to keep an eye on us, because we're expecting to have something to say about some brand new work in the autumn...

Meanwhile, artist Jenny Morgan continues to become the darling of cyberspace. This time the chain begins with We ♥ It being moved to speechlessness by one of Jenny's self-portraits they found at Look In Art, who cross links back to the interview at Variations In Northern Degradations from earlier this year. After you see all these lovely images, remember, Jenny's got work right here in the gallery as part of Marked, and we think you should come in and see that work in person. And don't forget our other artists as well!

At Like the Spice, we love it when our friends become successful! So take that, Morrissey. Nyah.

Like Appreciative Vuvuzelas, They Buzz About Our Glory

We're entering another week for our very latest show, Marked: A Show Of Figure, and we have to say, the press has been pretty darn kind. Take a gander at Brooklyn The Borough who put us under their "Art Buzz" category. And then there's Edmund X. White who took a special interest in Jenny Morgan's Inner Island, a piece that traveled with us to Chicago and is currently a part of this fantastic figure-based show.

Remember, we've got Inner Island, two more brand new Jenny Morgans, and a whole host of other works from artists such as Chino Amobi, Alison Bickle, Brendan Lott, Reuben Negron and Robin Williams, all waiting for you to come and enjoy. Marked will be running until August 8th, so make plans to join us this week!

But we're not done! We're not done yet! Because we've got some other artists that have been getting attention of late! Our pal Ross Racine has been making the rounds again, getting some kind words from local boy Chris Hamby, as well as Texas based We Are 1976. See how wide Ross's appeal can be? Keep an eye out, guys, and maybe we'll have something to say about Ross Racine this fall.

Someone else who deserves a little love is Dean Goelz. Thankfully, he's got some! Myturtleneck.com takes a very nice look at the depth of Dean's insanity skill with dot-making. We think you should take a look, and stay tuned, because we can't wait to see what Dean's going to be showing us next.

See? When we say our artists are cooler than our air conditioning, we're not kidding. Hope to see you soon!

Bloggers Love Him, Artists Love To See Him

Of course we're talking about good ol' Ross Racine, who once more has been noticed by an online art aficionado. This time it's Love You Trick, who described him as "surreal" and "spooky" but clearly in a positive way.



Head on over to Love You Trick and check out their adoration. Way to stay cutting-edge, Ross!

Roger-ing Our Artists

Have you been keeping up with our flurry of activity? Of course you have! That's why you already know all about our happy little trip to The Roger Smith Hotel. But what you might not know is that, on Saturday, April 10th, we'll be having the next installment of our Like the Spice Dinner Series on the 16th floor, surrounded by the wonderful view through the windows of the solarium, and catered by Lily's, the restaurant located inside the Roger Smith Hotel. In attendance will be artists Jason Bryant, Allison Edge, and Ross Racine, the very artists we have featured in the Roger Smith show. Opening night was an amazing amount of fun that we want you to experience for yourself!



We'd love to have you join us for this chance to meet and talk with the artists, but the dinner is filling up fast. In fact, there are only three places remaining! So go ahead and visit our online RSVP page to save your place right now. And then, take a look at our special Roger Smith preview page and see what you'll be enjoying when you join us for dinner at the Roger Smith Hotel!

Whose House? Ross' House!

Good ol' Ross Racine has been a Like the Spice artist for some time now. In fact, we've even taken him along with us to our current off site show at The Roger Smith Hotel. While the work of Jason Bryant and Allison Edge will be showing in the solarium, Ross will be adorning the walls of the lobby. Opening night is March 19th, so if you haven't seen his stuff in person before, it's a great chance to take a look!

Also good news for Ross is all the attention he's been getting! First, one of his images has been featured in Data Flow 2, a new book from the Gestalten publishing house. He's very proud to be included, and we're very impressed with him for it!

Secondly, Ross was recently interviewed on Australian art blog The Art Life. This interview also appeared on another blog, Science Fictional, proving that Ross really has wide appeal. Take a peek and enjoy learning a little more about the man behind the images!

Of course, we're just as proud to be working with Allison and Jason, and, in fact, all of our artists (including Allie Rex and Michelle Hinebrook, now being featured at the 92nd Street Y Tribeca). But, just this once, it's Ross' turn to shine. So well done, Ross Racine! You'll still remember us little people... won't you?

We Created A Pretty Good Time In This Here World

In fact, we had so much fun, we broke the camera!



This is the very last picture our sweet little device managed before it conked out and we had to switch to iPhones and what have you for the rest of the night. But c'mon, look how much fun everyone is having! That's because it was a non-stop party atmosphere during our Friday night opening extravaganza for The World We Live In, The Worlds We Create. Here artist Brian LaRossa says Cheers!



It's been a while since we had a group show, so it was quite the thrill to have so many wonderful artists scurrying about the gallery. Plus, seriously, can you believe how great all of this sculpture is? If you haven't already, head to the sneak preview page and get a sneak preview. Just don't think we're showing you everything. We have to keep a few surprises to make you come and visit!



It's been nearly a year since LtS made room for sculpture, so we're very pleased to be showcasing it again. From Diana Puntar's beautiful Lived Live Evil Devil (you can't miss it, it's hanging from the ceiling in almost every single shot) to the incredibly delicate porcelain from Jessica Stoller (pictured below), this show has already started captivating our guests, both new and old.



And that's not the half of it. We're also boasting the complex geometry of R. Justin Stewart, the eye-catching marvels of Langdon Graves, the battery-operated animals of Misako Inaoka, the brilliantly exciting peephole of Patrick Jacobs, and the fascinating map-based creations of Matthew Northridge. Honestly, it's such a joy to come to work! But this show isn't just about wowing the staff. The World We Live In, The Worlds We Create has been a hit with all our visitors, including many other terrific Like the Spice artists. Below's a shot from when we bumped into Rachel Beach and Ross Racine and some guy in the middle we don't have a link for. But you know what? We like him anyway. And see how they're all smiling? That's what visiting The World We Live In, The Worlds We Create can do for YOU!



The World We Live In, The Worlds We Create is open from this very second until April 4th. Come and create your own little piece of it.

Extra, Extra! Read all about it! Ross Racine is Totally Famous

So, we don't really know what happened, but somewhere between the beginning of Summer and Like the Spice's Costa Rican vacation, the digital drawings of LTS artist Ross Racine went Viral.

I mean we know that his strangely haunting, unbelievably intricate drawings are always a favorite at LTS art fairs and group shows, and now the blogosphere is actually exploding with over twenty mentions in the past four months.

What's really interesting is to see how the different people who write about Ross's work come at it from such different angles. There's the architectural viewpoint, for one. Architecture for geurillas observes " Row after row after spiral after spiral of organized, seemingly generic homes is supposed to be a system of order. But Elm Court, Sycamore Lane, and Poplar Street all share such similarities that it's often impossible to identify where one is." There's the voyeuristic. GPCB says "his images immediately fulfill my love for traveling via Google Earth and obsession with maps and aerial images." There's the vaguely befuddled Eins, Zwei, Drei. "i’m not bougie enough i don’t have enough art savvy to get how it’s a comment on the dreams of suburban culture." And a comment on Swiss Miss hits the nail on the head, saying "Love his stuff. Somewhere, someone mentioned that these works remind them of The Twilight Zone. I can see that… Everything looks perfect and clean, riding your bike down the street… until you pan out and see the layout of the suburb and realize something just isn’t quite right."

Yes, Ross is pretty much a weblebrity at this point. And we're glad to be just one of the many blogs to join his fanclub! After all, in the words of Urbanophil.net "Wer schon einmal durch Suburbia gefahren - und im schlimmsten Fall gelaufen ist - kennt die Problematik: Gleichförmigkeit und fehlende Orientierungspunkte. Mit diesem Dilemma einer städtischen Siedlungsform, die leider in großem Maße unsere Städte mitbestimmt (erinnert sei hier an den Vortrag von J. H. Kunstler) setzt sich der Künstler Ross Racine auseinander. Er zeichnet in einer Mischung aus Handzeichnen und Computerarbeit suburbane Landschaften."

Chow Down Before The One You Serve

People said, "Like the Spice, how could you try have a dinner with all that assorted sculpture in the way?" We said, "You mean all that WONDERFUL assorted sculpture, don't you?" and then we laid the tables like this:



Our Artist's Dinner for the fabulous Rachel Beach was the absolute best way to spend a Friday night. The eggplant was excellent, the salmon sublime, and the beets were... would you hate us if we said they were unbeatable?



Rachel's dinner was also like a Who's Who of the Like the Spice artist community. At this table, starting from the back right corner, we saw Colette Robbins, Jenny Morgan and Allison Edge. And across the table we found Olympia from Oly's Musings, Brent from Heart As Arena and Micah Ganske, Colette's husband.



And at the next table, we found Ross Racine! It's always a lot of fun when our artists make it easy for us to take their photos. Plus artists make for great dinner conversation.



The place was packed with art lovers. There was a great energy all around the gallery. Being around so many fantastic sculptures really made everyone hungry and excited. And you know what comes when you're hungry and excited, don't you? That's right...



Dancing!



When that magical moment had ended, Rachel got up to speak about her work. By creating her portals and towers, Rachel inspires a world to exist that sometimes hadn't existed before. Her sculptures force a new perspective from each angle, making a piece that comes to take your hand and lead, rather than a piece that just stands shyly by the punchbowl. Oh, sorry, we're still thinking about all the dancing.



Rachel's Towers & Portals is still here at the gallery, now until April 12th! If you haven't been here yet...



...look what you're missing! You'll believe a sculpture can fly! Or at least hover.



But the dinner wasn't quite over yet. Allison Edge gave up her seat at the cool table to tell us a little about her upcoming show. Her work is a combination of real experiences and that strange imagined world of adolescence just before the arrival of MTV. In Allison's pieces, Polaroid cameras are still a cool Christmas gift and the family trip is just an excuse to hide behind your portable cassette player. Allison's show is coming up on April 18th, and we couldn't be more excited. In fact, we're thinking this is a great excuse... for more dancing!



If you missed out this month, get ready for next time. Our next dinner will be April 24th. Watch this space!

Like A Bridge Over Troubled Waters, We Had To Lay Us Down

But now we're awake, sort of, and ready to talk about how much fun we had at the Bridge Art Fair last weekend.



Being out amongst our peers is always great, because LtS is all about seeing and being seen. We decided to show off a little by bringing some of our favorite pieces.



Over on this wall, we were rocking Ross, Rachel, Dean and Nicole. It's okay to covet our wall. We understand. Take a closer look.



Ross's digital drawings are always a big hit at the art fairs. You can probably figure out why. Check out his other work too!



Rachel Beach's "Rabbit Hole" got us a lot of attention. And, in case attention is something you haven't been paying, Rachel's solo show, Towers & Portals, is here at the gallery right now. You really need to make time to see it. You know you do.



Making up that arrow-like shape were the cubes of Nicole Stager. We can't get enough of Nicole. She'll also have work on display at the Tribeca 92nd Street Y, starting March 19th, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. If you'd like to see those fantastic little cubes in person, stop in.



There was a different feeling on the other side of the space, but it was no less wonderful, as you can plainly see.





The work of Dean Goelz is really so much better in person, but these photos will give you a rough idea. Dean's been with us for a while now, and we've blogged about him before, so we won't go into too much detail here. Besides, we think the quality of his work can speak for itself.



Another artist we can say that about is Jenny Morgan. Jenny's just finshed a very successful solo show. In fact, we often found ourselves wishing for a bigger gallery, so we could keep her show up forever!



Jenny's collaborations with David Mramor are up to her usual high standards. We noticed this particular piece catching more than a few eyes. Not even counting the staff.



Our lovely and talented assistants (you can decide for yourself which is which) worked so hard keeping the booth together. So many, many people passed through! It was great to see our friends new and old, and we're already looking forward to next year. Thanks to everybody who came out! Oh, wait, you want to know more about that flamingo painting?



Allison Edge will be our next solo show here at Like the Spice. Her new stuff is so new that we don't even have images ready. So keep an eye on our web page. We're pretty sure that once you can see it, you're gonna love it.