STRAAT is proud to announce SHARED EXPERIENCE, a two-person exhibition at STRAAT Gallery, featuring artists Kayla Mahaffey and Carlos Ramirez, co-hosted by Los Angeles-based Thinkspace Projects.Ā
This exhibition celebrates one of the galleryās ongoing and long term aims; to show the diversity and popularity of our worldwide street art and graffiti culture. Ā
These two American artists, along with Thinkspace curator, Andrew Hosner, will be in attendance for the exhibition reception.
The opening reception for SHARED EXPERIENCE is Saturday, August 20th, 2022 from 5-9 PM, and will feature refreshments and live DJās.
For those not able to attend the opening reception, the exhibition is on view through Sunday, October 30th, 2022.
The STRAAT Gallery, including the opening reception, can be visited with a general admission ticket to STRAAT.Ā
For more information, please contact STRAAT Gallery curator Hyland Mather: hyland@straatmuseum.com
Kayla Mahaffey (aka Kayla May) is a contemporary artist and muralist specializing in illustration and fine arts.
Her style being a mixture of pop art and Afro-surrealism, makes for a bright and colorful experience that packs a punch and sends an important message with each piece.
Born on the Chicago South Side, she has a strong sense of resilience and community that is displayed in her art time and time again.
She studied at the American Academy of Art in downtown Chicago, taking some classes, before leaving in 2017 to pursue art full-time
Instagram: @kaylamay_art
Carlos Ramirez' painting and sculpture work often speaks of the inequalities within Mexican-American communities and champions the common man as underdog.
Snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other bits of nature from his former life as a date farmer in the Coachella Valley in Indio, California, appear mixed in with Catholic symbolism, aliens, gang members, pop-culture references, and commercial imagery, giving brand logos and religious icons the same attention and placement.Ā
Carlosā work is tremendously resourceful, scavenging for creative materials within various abandoned desert locales.
As a former member of the seminal street art duo āThe Date Farmersā, Carlos' paintings continue to evolve, becoming denser and more meaningful while remaining alluring and magical.
Instagram: @c.ramirez2323
Thinkspace Projects was founded in 2005; now in LAās burgeoning West Adams District, the gallery has garnered an international reputation as one of the most active and productive exponents of the New Contemporary Art Movement.
Maintaining its founding commitment to the promotion and support of its artists, Thinkspace has steadily expanded its roster and diversified its projects, creating collaborative and institutional opportunities all over the world. Founded in the spirit of forging recognition for young, emerging, and lesser-known talents, the gallery is now home to artists from all over the world, ranging from the emerging, mid-career, and established.
The gallery has in recent years expanded its projects beyond Los Angeles, exhibiting with partner galleries and organizations in Berlin, Hong Kong, London, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, and Honolulu among many others, participating in International Art Fairs, and curating New Contemporary content for museums.
Committed to the vision, risk, and exceptional gifts of its artists, the gallery is first and foremost a family. From the streets to the museums, and from the āmarginsā to the white cube, Thinkspace is re-envisioning what it means to be āinstitutionalā.
Instagram: @Thinkspace_art
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