Photos by Asia Morris. From left: artists and curators of Icons Lori Herbst, Chris Shary and Bonnie Robinson Stewart.
It was a packed house Saturday night at the opening of Icons, a group show featuring the works of over 50 artists whose imagery depicts legendary personalities such as David Bowie, Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix, to name just a few of those immortalized in paint and plush, now at SPACE853 on 9th Street and Pine Avenue.
Curated by Stockton-based husband-and-wife artistic duo Chris Shary and Lori Herbst alongside close friend Bonnie Robinson Stewart, each have their own works in the show and made sure to include Emmy award-winning makeup and special effects artist Garrett Immel, former lead singer of Operation Ivy Jesse Michaels, character designer for the animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy Cory Toomey, professional skateboarder Jason Adams and Yo Gabba Gabba art director Parker Jacobs.
Work by Garrett Immel.
“We all deal with very iconic characters, so we thought let’s just make this show about icons,” said Shary, who is well known for his punk rock illustrations, especially those for the band the Descendents. “Because I think most of the artists we know deal with people that are icons in some way and we thought, well that seems like a pretty broad umbrella and then everybody could do what they do, whether they’re photographers or textile artists or painters, and then we were able to get way more people involved.”
Shary and Herbst curated a show in 2016 at SPACE853 featuring textile, vinyl, stitch and plush art. A Los Angeles gallery had initially contacted Herbst to have the show there, but when the space fell through at the last minute, Herbst was pointed in the direction of Long Beach, where gallery owner and artist Sherry Ray-Von had recently opened SPACE853.
With no vested interest in the city, said Shary, they found it to be more than receptive to the art and decided they had to show here again. Based on its success the two opened it up this year to many more artists working in different mediums, whose works now fill the space almost from floor to ceiling.
“We set it up here and it was a success and we really liked it, we like the gallery, we like the area, so we thought it would be great to do it again,” said Herbst, whose vinyl painting of Bruce Lee was on display. “There’s a lot of art going on here right now.”
Works by Jesse Michaels.
Most of the artists created works specifically for the theme, Icons. Several pieces have been sold but you can still see the show up until August 12 by appointment. For more info and to contact SPACE853, check out the Facebook page here or call (949) 514-4016.
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SPACE853 is located at 853 Pine Avenue.
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