Quick and Painful: Sept. 3rd - Los Angeles, CA

I'm looking forward to going to the Quick and Painful exhibit this Saturday. If you are in LA, stop by Crewest Gallery. Starts at 7pm.

Quick & Painful

Quick and Painful which will feature today's most elite low brow artists doing original Tattoo Flash. I am honored to be among the artists and designers presenting Flash Prints for this traveling exhibit. The first event will be at Crewest Gallery in Los Angeles on September 3rd (I will be attending this LA event); Saturday, September 24th at Hope Gallery in New Haven, CT; Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago on October 8th; and during Art Basel in Miami, December 1st-4th.

I completed a new set of tattoo flash for this exhibit. It's been a long time since I've worked on a new set of flash as I've been focusing more on painting so I'm really happy to reveal/release it and to be part of this event. All of the Flash Sets created for Quick & Painful will be available for purchase at each of the show dates and available online at The Hope Shop starting October 9th. Click here for more info.

Click here to take a peek at my tattoo flash.

The Official Quick & Painful Limited Edition Shirt

Our amazing friends over at To Die For Clothing have taken Quick and Painful to the next level with the release of their latest shirt featuring artwork from many of the artists in the exhibition.

Limited to 500 pieces, the shirts will be available at all of the Quick & Painful events

while supplies last in Mens and Womens sizes for just $30.

"The Fighter" and Micky Ward

"Why are you doing a post about a movie that has already come out and is already on netflix Greg?" Well to answer that, simply, I've got a cool little story related to Oscar award winning movie that I would like to share. Last year I was part of Gallery 1988's show and marketing promotion for the film "The Fighter". As part of the show, a few of us artists including Dabs and Myla, Brandi Milne, Graham Curran, and Peek-a-boo Monster, were asked to paint on a couple of boxing gloves to be on display at the event following the private screening of the movie. It was a good time and I enjoyed the movie to say the least. Flash forward to about a month ago at the Crazy 4 Cult book signing I ran into Mickey Worsnup, the owner of one of the gloves I painted "Float like a... Sting like a...". Here is his story about this painted glove.

While working in Marketing at Paramount Pictures I was fortunate enough to get to work on THE FIGHTER. I am a boxing fan and have been a fan of Micky Ward since his fighting days- so it was a very cool opportunity to get to work on the film. I oversaw the online creative marketing efforts for the film which included working with Gallery 1988 to put together the awesome art event. I was extra stoked when Jensen said that you would be doing a piece. It was, of course, badass – and I had to have it- so I bought it as soon as it was available. Regarding the signature- once I had the glove it just sorta dawned on me the potential awesomeness of getting Micky to sign it. The only opportunity to get it done was the day of the 2011 Academy Awards. He and Dicky were at the Four Seasons prior to being taken over to the awards. I stood in the lobby for at least an hour waiting for them to come down. The place was a mad house as pretty much everyone was dealing with Academy actors and talent. I had the glove hidden in a bag and just had to stand around by the elevators like I was suppose to be there. Finally I was able to intercept them on the way out and get Micky to sign the glove and take a picture with me. He was obviously overwhelmed with the craziness of the day but was beyond cool, obliged my request and complimented the glove before being whisked away. The glove was in the room later that night as we watched Christian Bale win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and they showed Micky and Dicky’s reaction. ‘Twas very cool.

Here are some pictures of the glove amongst Mickey Worsnup's collection.





(Micky Ward with Mickey Worsnup)
Thanks for sharing Mickey, it's much appreciated.
-Greg

-oh and just to complete the pair, here is the other Glove I painted for the show:)

PRE-ORDER "The Nature of Nurture"

A new print by

Greg 'Craola' Simkins

Limited Edition of 30

Giclee on Elegance 320g Cotton Rag

32 x 20-1/4 in.

Hand signed & numbered

$165

PRE-ORDER NOW

(Orders ship September 6th, 2011)

Dabs & Myla's new Show!!!

Well the Dynamic Duo are at it again with a very ambitious and beautiful new show. Don't miss this one tomorrow night, Saturday August 13th 5-9 at Thinkspace Gallery. Sneek Peak HERE.

NEW PRINT: "The Nature of Nurture" COMING SOON!

Join my email list to receive info on pre-orders starting August 15th.

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Book signing this Thursday, August 11th

This Thursday, August 11th from 6-9pm I will be at La Luz De Jesus Gallery for an artist signing of The Art of Sketch Theater: Volume 1.

Click here for more info.

La Luz De Jesus Gallery

4633 Hollywood Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90027

323.666.7667

Book info:

The Art of Sketch Theatre Volume 1 is an inspiring collection of sketches, finished work and insightful profiles by 58 professional artists who have participated in the ongoing SketchTheatre.com project. In the words of Sketch Theatre founder Alex Alvarez, "Sketch Theatre exists for one express purpose - to expose young people to the myriad career opportunities available to creative individuals. There are scores of you out there who love to draw, make things and express yourself. Whether you are interested in drawing comic books, entertainment design (sets, props, creatures, etc), fashion, animation, creating films or making music, there are today more opportunities for you then there have ever been in history".

Painted surfboard auction & painting LIVE at US Open this Saturday

Greg "Craola" Simkins & Deph have parterned with Pac Sun at the US Open of Surfing. Both of their hand painted surfboards will be on display and auctioned off for to benefit Inner City Arts.

Both artists will paint LIVE inside the Pac Sun tent:

Deph
Friday, August 5th: 10am-2pm
&
Craola
Saturday, August 6th: 12pm-2pm

For further info, artist roster, dates, & times, visit: www.pacsun.com/usopen

THANK YOU Andy Serrao & Jon Halperin for all your love and support!