Bassim Al-Shaker’s Phoenix art studio was robbed on the morning of Monday, August 18. Ten paintings were stolen from Al-Shaker’s space at Fourth and McKinley streets in the former location of Nancy Hill’s Hazel & Violet. He’s been painting there since July. The studio is a quick walk from his…
Phoenix is looking colorful lately, and it’s not just the usual hues of light and dark beige. Though street art culture dates back decades, the past several years have heralded a new era for murals in our fair city. We’ve documented the progress in our ongoing series Mural City, but…
Who says astroturf can’t be classy? On Friday, August 15, The Sandlot is hosting the pop-up exhibition “Soirée in the Garden” featuring sculptures by Mikey Estes and photographs by Abigail Lynch (who was recently featured in our 100 creatives series). The show is only going to be up for one…
It’s almost festival time again. The Grand Avenue Members’ Association and the Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts will team up for the 6th Annual Grand Avenue Festival on Saturday, November 8, held in the Grand Avenue District in downtown Phoenix…
Misery loves company. I guess that’s why people won’t stop talking about the fiery furnace that is a Phoenix summer. Arizonans have a complex when it comes to the heat, which isn’t entirely unwarranted because it does, in fact, get heinously hot here. The unbearableness of it becomes a rallying…
Listen up, HGTV lovers. If you’ve been feeling like your home decor is stuck in a rut or are starting fresh in a new space, grab your pens, notepads, and color swatches and head over to Lowe’s of Scottsdale this weekend to get some style tips and tricks from Emma…
This week, Bentley Gallery added a new artist to their already impressive roster. Jonathan Cross is a recent MFA graduate from ASU, who spent time working as a studio assistant to Don Reitz, another ceramicist represented by Bentley. Cross joins the ranks of popular sculptors Jun Kaneko and James Marshall,…
Paul Wilson might have been the Phoenix art scene’s best-kept secret. Until recently, that is. The 50-year-old artist’s creative endeavors, centered on his obsession with 1950s and ’60s pop culture, have spanned both decades and media including photography, video, and performance, while he makes a living freelancing as a set…
For local muralist Francisco “Enuf” Garcia it’s impossible to activism without art — and vice versa. The artist, who won the Eric Fischl Vanguard Award at the Phoenix Art Museum in 2008 and spoke at the White House for Youth Summit in Washington D.C. in 2012, will display a new…
First Friday heats up tonight with creative works going up all over the city. Here are our picks for shows you will not want to miss this Friday. “Animal Party” The latest exhibition at Modified Arts really does feel like a party at first glance, with all of the saturated…
Ten years old might sound way too young to have a facelift, but it isn’t if you’re Mesa Arts Center. This week, MAC announced that internationally renowned artist and designer Cecil Balmond has been selected to create a shade structure that will connect the Mesa Arts Center’s North Plaza with…
Say what you will about modernists, they are magnets for attention in the art world. Chippewa artist George Morrison had a long and varied career that included forays into Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. With work that took the form of drawings, paintings, prints, and sculptures, Morrison often explored the…
Juanito Laguna and Ramona Montiel are fictional characters, but you can find them on Facebook. Created by Argentinian multimedia artist Antonio Berni in the 1960s to address some of the socioeconomic stresses plaguing his home country, Juantio and Ramona have since gained cult status as popular folk heros whose stories…
The Legos are back. And, once again, these colorful interlocking plastic bricks and mini-figures are housed at a local museum — this time at the Heard, in an exhibition called “BUILD! Toy Brick Art at the Heard” that’s timed, no doubt, to cash in on The Lego Movie, recently released…
The fate of the historic WPA Civic Building in Phoenix may still be up in the air, but thanks to a last-minute meeting called by the Arizona Exposition and State Fair Board, the demolition has been once again delayed. On Tuesday, July 22, the Arizona Exposition and State Fair Board…
If you’re still looking for a loft or apartment in Tempe, the clock is ticking. And while some of the more coveted complexes are already leased out it, it doesn’t hurt to make a mental note for next time. From affluent ASU-adjacent digs to small-scale Sun Devil living, here are…
Phoenix preservationists acted fast on Monday, July 14, when they noticed construction fencing pop up around the historic Civic Building on the Arizona State Fairgrounds at 19th Avenue and McDowell Road…
It’s easy to feel sluggish during the Phoenix summers, but that’s no excuse for becoming a total shut-in. You know what museums and galleries have (in addition to really great art)? Air conditioning. And if that’s not enough to get you excited, the artwork will be. To help you out,…
When local art broker Gregg Edelman announced earlier this month that he was closing his space Exposed Studio & Gallery, it wasn’t so much a goodbye as it was a “see you later” sort of thing. That’s only because the local art enterprise will still exist in virtual form and…
A wave of nostalgia is sweeping the nation for a decade that, in reality, was not so long ago. The 1990s brought with it flannel and grunge, crop tops and pop, and gold chains and hip-hop. Each has had a lasting impact on not only fashion and the music scene,…
It seems like the onslaught of summer blockbuster super hero flicks always brings a new female hero into the spotlight. This summer’s likely will be Zoe Saldana as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, who plays opposite Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill. If you’ve seen the trailers, you’ll see an ass-kicking…
Painter Ishmael Dueñas has gathered together an impressive list of some of the art scene’s most well known for “Future Shock,” a collaborative collection that opens at Grand Avenue’s Frontal Lobe Gallery this Friday. The seven-person show is mostly made up of paintings — which, despite the name, have little…
