PRISM Gallery presents ‘mindthegap’ with Barry McGee & Phil Frost

Last night I had the opportunity to check out a new gallery space here in Los Angeles called PRISM, which now resides in the space where Tower Records used to be on Sunset Blvd., for those of you who know the area. For the inaugural show they asked RVCA founder P.M. Tenore to curate it, bringing in two amazing artists, Barry McGee and Phil Frost. These guys have been two of my favorites since way back when, so having the chance to see their art up close was awesome.

The space itself is absolutely gigantic. It’s two floors of pure gallery space with a third roof level acting as a patio area. It was amazing to see that Barry and Phil were able to fill up that entire space, there wasn’t a nook or cranny that was left untouched. It must have taken these guys months of planning to fill up the whole gallery.

The work itself was great and it was really fun to be able to look close up at the level of detail and craftsmanship that goes into each one. I never realized that Phil Frost puts old comic books and newspapers behind his pieces, giving them an extremely layered feeling. Barry McGee’s work was so precise and perfect it was kind of annoying. He must tape off these geometric patterns extremely carefully.

I took a TON of photos at the event, and you’ll find 24 more under the cut. Enjoy them all and if you get a chance to see the show I highly suggest you do it, it’s definitely one of the best of the year.

EDIT: I just realized that I was standing behind Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue Carine Roitfield at the party. I needed to get by her on the stairs and she smiled and let me past. Crazy world.

Bobby