WHAT: Mike Stilkey Exhibit at the new “)( Space” Gallery
WHEN: Saturday, June 5, 2010, 6-10 p.m. Free and open to the public.
WHERE: Hurley Headquarters, 1945 Placentia Ave., Costa Mesa, CA
ARTIST MIKE STILKEY’S LARGE-SCALE BOOK MURAL ON DISPLAY AT HURLEY
HEADQUARTERS.
Rescued and unwanted literature turns it into a whole new work of art.
Costa Mesa, CA Hurley, the action sports and lifestyle apparel company, opens its gallery”)(Space” this June with an exhibit by artist Mike Stilkey.
With the advent of Kindle and other digital reading tablets, many books have been relegated to dusty shelves or donated into obscurity.
Using these recycled, unused treasures, Stilkey meticulously stacks books’ spines facing outward and uses this surface to create wall murals and freestanding painted book sculptures.
For the Hurley show, he is creating a 40′ by 16.5′ high wall mural out of more than 5,000 recycled books sourced from the homes of Hurley employees, local libraries (leftovers scrounged from library sales) and from publishers who had books destined for pulping machines.
“Giving all of these discarded or unwanted books a second life and reincarnating them into a new piece of art ensures that they are not going to be dumped in a landfill” said Stilkey, who will be working at )( Space from May 20th until his opening June 5th. Exhibit closes July 2, 2010.
Following this show, sections of the mural will be relocated, book-by-book to the Nike 6.0, Converse and Hurley co-branded store “225 Forest” in Laguna Beach, CA. A 10′ x 22′ foot high wall mural will be reconstituted in the middle of the retail space.
)( Space art gallery is located at the headquarters of Hurley, 1945 Placentia Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. The gallery is open Monday Friday10am 5pm. FREE.
About Mike Stilkey
b. 1975. Self-taught, Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but also on the books themselves.
Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and attimes a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery.
His work is reminiscent of Weimar-era German expressionism and his style has been described by some as capturing features of artists ranging from Edward Gorey to Egon Schiele. Stilkey returned this month from installing two ten-foot square wall murals at the Bristol Museum, Bristol England and will be installing another freestanding piece at the Laguna Art Museum’s “Art Shack” exhibit, which opens on June 12.
He has exhibited at Kinsey/DesForges Gallery, Culver City, CA, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO, Gilman Contemporary Gallery, Ketchum, ID, and Rice University Gallery, Houston, TX.
About Hurley
Founded in 1999, Hurley is an authentic “Microphone for Youth” brand rooted in surf, skate, art, music and beach cultures. Driven by creativity and freedom of expression, Hurley develops world-class products for guys, girls and kids, including sportswear, footwear, eyewear, accessories, loungewear, swimwear and wetsuits.
A wholly owned, independently run subsidiary of Nike, Inc., Hurley’s corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, CA, with international offices in Tokyo, Sydney, Barcelona and Bali. www.hurley.com
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