Make sure and check out our next event, the Nay-Say closing! More about this show, and a couple Local Artist Interviews to follow in a few days:

I first met Louis LaPierre at a benefit for Michael ‘Eyedea’ Larson at Niccademus Art, for which I painted a portrait of the fallen artist.  Louis was childhood friends with Mikey and often collaborated creatively with him, and later created posters and artwork for Eyedea’s gigs and records.

Louis’s poster for Eyedea and Abilities gig…

I was drawn to his use of paint, and while you can see he obviously has street art roots, he is using classical applications with charcoal, spray paint and watery acrylic on carefully constructed panels and paper. He depicts urban landscapes at their most beautiful; washes of varying cool tones divided into the blocks and shapes of an urban environment.  He also uses figurative imagery, animals, flowers, vehicles and machinery of sorts, all interacting in their own haunting world.

Louis’s work is balanced by his long term studio mate, Jason Wasyck. Where Louis is monochromatic, Jason is the extreme opposite, using color as his main focus. Where Louis drips, Jason paints obsessively crisp lines, or even manufactures drips out of wood…

In some pieces, he displays an incredible amount of tenuous patience, meticulously cutting out graceful repetitive shapes from thin wood, and crafting boxes as the display vehicle.  They are objects which aren’t necessarily paintings or sculptures, they are a perfect balance of both.

In his 2D work, again using color as the main protagonist, he experiments with printing on panels.

Snowbank installation …

More about the show here:

access+ENGAGE  the definitive alternative

More about the artists:

Closing Party!

Closing Reception: Saturday, September 17th 7pm-1am
Music By: makr/brodR (Mark Mcgee and Andrew Broder)

Cult Status Gallery
2913 Harriet Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Cult Status Gallery is pleased to announce Nay-Say, featuring the art of J. Wasyk and Louis N. LaPierre. Cohabitants of the same St. Paul studio for four years, Wasyk and LaPierre have created all the work in this show within their studio walls. While both of their work explores contemporary issues of environment and space, their end results are polar opposites. Their individual approaches to making art have created an ongoing argument at the studio. J. Wasyk insists that there must be a vision of the final product and executes it to a tee without straying. He doesn’t start until he knows that his vision can be perfectly fulfilled in the end. Conversely, Louis insists that the vision must come through the process and never knows what the final product will look like until he is done. Their collaboration within the walls of Cult Status creates a body of work with vast differences and few similarities, all stemming from the same conversations and arguments.

Louis N LaPierre Related Info:
Artist Statement: By arranging paint on paper, I depict contemporary wastelands mixed with the mundane human existence that fosters our surrounding’s continuous state of flux. It is an exploration into bitter happiness and sweet despair. Diving into utter realities and the joys of being left in the dark. In the end, it is a search into finding comfort in the uncomfortable; a constant struggle to search out truth when there is no clear truth insight.
Bio: Louis N LaPierre hails from St. Paul, Minnesota. He was born, learned to walk, and then to create. He is still walking, but doesn’t remember when he began painting. His favorite thing to do is observe, and his second is to paint. Since his graduation from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2005, he has adopted a vigorous art practice that spans a variety of mediums. His work can be seen in many venues and on projects such as album covers, gig posters, steel, books, galleries, film, private collections, and murals across America.

J. Wasyk Related Info:
Artist Statement: As an artist, I attempt to create work that can be equally enjoyed and considered critically. Neither the viewers perspective of the former or later is more significant.
Bio: Originally from Richmond VA, J.Wasyk has a BFA from the Painting and Printmaking Department of Virginia Commonwealth University. He has exhibited nationally and has lived and worked in Minneapolis for the past seven years.