Beginning in July 2004, Richmond, Virginia based visual artist Mickael Broth began serving a ten month jail sentence for graffiti he painted in the region. Since his release, he has worked as a fine artist and sign painter, showing work around the country in venues that range from abandoned warehouses to museum walls. In late 2011, he began writing a memoir detailing his experiences with incarceration and the relevance of his personal story to society at large. During his Artisphere residency, Mickael will be working on finishing the final edits to his book, Gated Community, and creating original works of art using the same limited methods and tools he used while serving time in a jail cell (i.e. ball point on legal paper; M&M’s soaked in a bottle cap full of water to make water colors and using q-tips as brushes).

Onsite residency hours: 
Wed April 18 – Fri April 20: 4-11pm,
Fri May 11: 4-11pm, Sat May 12: Noon – 11pm
Sun May 13: noon – 5pm

The other show is also curated by a good friend, Ed Trask. That show will be at Slingluff Gallery in Philadephia PA. We’ll be there! Come say hey. It’s called “Northward” since all of us rednecks in the show are from the South.

I’ll be painting a mural in the upcoming RVA Street Art Festival from April 12-15 in Richmond Virginia. The roster of artists involved in this is really exciting and includes Richard Coleman, Pose, Vizie, El Kamino, Jeff Soto, Ryan McGuiness, Ed Trask, Chris Milk, Hense, and a bunch more artists too.

Then I’ll be working in the Works In Progress Gallery at the Artisphere in Arlington Virginia. This will be a show relating to the process of writing my book, Gated Community. I will be in the gallery for four days to work on the book, make drawings, and talk to the public about graffiti and jail.

Double Break is very pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by Mickael Broth and Ryan De La Hoz. From Richmond, VA and San Francisco, CA (respectively) Broth and De La Hoz bring to San Diego a fantastic array of new paintings, drawings and collages. Both artists have very specifically graphic identities, and both lurk in the not-so liminal zone between drawing/illustration and fine art/design. Sharing a wealth of inspiration from art history, skateboarding, graffiti, DIY publishing and much more, this this show is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser— please join us!

About the artists:
Mickael Broth screwed up when he was twenty one. He painted graffiti in the conservative capital of the South, Richmond Virginia, and for his crimes he spent almost a year in jail. During his time behind bars, he refocused his creative energy into extraordinarily detailed drawings weaving together images and ideas related to his situation. In the years since then, he’s gone on show work in galleries and museums around the country, and after being awarded a prestigious Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, was invited before the Virginia General Assembly to be honored as a valuable member of the community. The irony being that the very same legislative body had passed a strict anti-graffiti law in response to his arrest only a few years earlier.

The work in this show is an assortment of pieces on paper created during the past two years. The work expands upon Mickael’s intricately articulated penmanship, as well as incorporating elements of painting and collage. Much of the work in this show focuses on the building of DIY skate spots, something which Mickael has been personally involved in, and promoted, as co-founder and editor of Born Ugly Magazine. In addition to a large body of new work, he’ll also be releasing two new zines at the opening, one featuring pieces from the show, the other being a complete alphabet of his intricately drawn lettering.

Ryan De La Hoz has been published by FLJ Magazine in Tokyo, Museums Press in the UK, and Beautiful/Decay in the US. He has participated in solo exhibitions in San Francisco and Seattle, and been in group exhibitions in the United States, the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. His work is a meditation on loss, hope, isolation, freedom from oppression, the destruction of natural resources, myth, magic, the pursuit of happiness.
“The work of Ryan De La Hoz exists in a very particular world, a world comprised of hauntingly nostalgic paper cutouts and drawings that look like a spooky cartoon reduced to the absolute minimum of expression. Delicate flowers, leaves and skeleton gloves contrast with gaping holes filled with dizzying Op-Art to create a landscape that seems like Tim Burton got together with Henri Matisse to make their own paradise. The works are so simplified they leave it up to the viewers to project their own narrative on the scene. (…) We are drawn to wonder about the age old truths, about death and what is left behind, and about what is hidden and what is revealed.” – Amir H. Fallah (Founder & Editor, Beautiful/Decay)
Opening Reception: February 17, 2012 (6-10pm)
Open to the public (and free!)

Exhibition runs through March 17, 2012

Double Break
1821 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
619.238.2325
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**Also be sure to check out Blown Up and Blown Out, epic, skate photography by Rhino from Thrasher Magazine, opening on the same night at Broken Heart Tattoo, 1833 Fifth Ave, next door to Double Break!