Press Releases

Below is a list of press releases for The Box. For more information on The Box and events please call Johnny at 714-724-4633.

Aerosols to Airplanes

PDF Document: 
Aerosols to Airplanes

The Box gallery presents artist

Aaron Kraten

June 18, 2011

Costa Mesa, CA (May 20, 2011)—The Box contemporary art gallery proudly presents Aerosols to Airplanes, a solo show featuring the new works of artist Aaron Kraten.  This collection of original mixed media works will open at the Costa Mesa gallery on Saturday June 18, 2011, from 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM. The exhibition will run through Friday, August 5, 2011.

Aaron Kraten returns to The Box for an amazing exhibition of fashion, technology, beauty and angst.  His graffiti influenced artwork is literally taken from the streets as he incorporates found objects into his sometimes emotional, sometimes humorous, yet always stunning, impastos. Aerosols to Airplanes explores the connection of street and youth culture with the anonymity experienced in an ever-evolving technology-based society. 

Tupelo Honey

PDF Document: 

Tupelo Honey

The Box gallery presents artist
Jim Lorigan and Yevgeniya Mikhailik
March 19, 2011
 
Costa Mesa, CA (March 11, 2011) — The Box contemporary art gallery proudly presents Tupelo Honey, a two-person show featuring the works of artists Jim Lorigan and Yevgeniya Mikhailik.  This collection of original works will open at the Costa Mesa gallery on Saturday March 19, 2011, from 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM. Th
e exhibition will run through Friday, May 6, 2011.

Puzzle Over Jophen Stein's Surreality Programming at the Box Gallery

Press Release URL: 
http://www.ocweekly.com/2009-11-12/culture/jophen-stein-the-five-deadly-senses-box-gallery/
By DAVE BARTON Thursday, Nov 12 2009

Surreality Show

Jophen Stein’s puzzling, disturbing juxtapositions of images appeal to ‘The 5 Deadly Senses’ and beyondSomething mysterious and childlike but difficult to decipher currently resides inside the Box Gallery in Costa Mesa. Curated by Johnny Sampson, “The 5 Deadly Senses: A Jophen Stein Exhibition” is a one-man show that spurns viewer passivity, forcing you to engage if you’re going to get anything out of it. Few of the paintings on display are blatant illustrations of the exhibit’s title, so don’t feel too frustrated if you don’t “get” the paintings right off. Go with the flow of Stein’s images, and the elaborate puzzle boxes will reveal themselves, even if several don’t really kick into your brain until a few days later.

See Creatures With Kraken and Kraten at the Box Gallery

Press Release URL: 
http://www.ocweekly.com/2009-02-26/culture/kraken-keith-noordzy-aaron-kraten-box-gallery/
Emo squid: Keith Noordzy's 'Neptune's Guard'
Emo squid: Keith Noordzy's 'Neptune's Guard'
 
 
By DAVE BARTON Thursday, Feb 26 2009 See Creatures

Aaron Kraten’s stylish sirens don’t leave much of an impression, but Keith Noordzy’s charming sea monsters will follow you home, Sid & Marty Krofft-style

In the nifty, white-walled dimensions of the Box gallery—which serves double duty as boutique hair salon Splitends—you’re never more than a few inches from mixed-media artist Aaron Kraten’s smears of color. The twisty-twirly, finger-painted teal, green, brown and blue and the upraised surfaces of the work all beg to be stroked or, at the very least, gone over with a magnifying glass to catch all the details. Containing an overwhelming amount of visual information, his fever dream of pensive emo girls (and a few boys), tumor-like electronic equipment, buttons scavenged off remote controls, newsprint, black-and-white photos, and random digits is an Ikea instruction sheet run amok, all images and lines and numbers. While an understanding of graffiti and skateboard cultures will help sort out his influences, you have to wade through the work on your own.

The Cyborg Supermen March Into Costa Mesa's Box Gallery for 'Übermensch'

Press Release URL: 
http://www.ocweekly.com/2008-09-18/culture/ted-von-heiland-matt-linares-box-gallery-ubermensch/
Creepy little people-bots
Ted von Heiland, "Stink Eye"
Creepy little people-bots
 

By GREG STACY Thursday, Sep 18 2008

In-between Days
The cyborg supermen march into the Box Gallery for ‘Übermensch’

People tend to get very twitchy (and all too often bitchy) about the in-betweeners—those of us who are not quite one thing and not quite another. Barack Obama is biracial—the man had a white mom. But while Obama has often referred to himself as biracial, that word is simply too complicated for many of us, and Obama looks more black than white, so the media tidily simplify the narrative, and Obama becomes the first black candidate to secure the presidential nomination of a major U.S. party.

Visions of art

Press Release URL: 
http://articles.dailypilot.com/2008-03-14/entertainment/dpt-cmartscene031408_1_costa-mesas-artistic-crowd-artists-community

From action-sports apparel to combined salons and galleries, Costa Mesa has become a haven for artists and their creations.

March 14, 2008 By Josh Aden

The moniker City of the Arts has become a self-fulfilling prophecy for Costa Mesa. Long established as a destination for the performing arts, Costa Mesa has become a hot-bed for visual artists as well.

The Arts of March in Costa Mesa

Press Release URL: 
http://articles.dailypilot.com/2008-03-13/entertainment/dpt-artnight031308_1_surrealism-art-brut-box-gallery

March 13, 2008|By Josh Aden

Certain Roman emperors should beware the Ides of March, but it will be a good night for Newport Mesa art lovers. Four Costa Mesa art galleries will open new shows Saturday.The Light Gallery

EXHIBIT: SurfBEAT

WHERE: 440 E. 17th St.

WHEN: 6 p.m. to midnight

Retail Roundup: Thinking inside the box Paintings by local and outside artists line the walls of Splitends.

Press Release URL: 
http://articles.dailypilot.com/2008-01-11/business/dpt-retailroundup11_1_retail-roundup-box-gallery-saks-fifth-avenue

January 11, 2008 By Michael Miller

The Splitends hair salon in Costa Mesa is a work of art in itself. The small building near The Camp shopping center boasts a symmetrical room with a sink, two chairs and two mirrors on each side. Around them, the interior is the ultimate in minimalist chic: white walls with only a few dashes of red for color.

The Box Gallery Grand Opening is Here

Press Release URL: 
http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/the-box-gallery

The Box gallery is celebrating its grand opening on January 12th showcasing a new collection of mixed media figurative paintings by artist Aaron Kraten. The Box gallery is a collaboration between Splitends owner and stylist Christopher Hall and curator Johnny Sampson in Costa Mesa. 
Kraten began to create his art in 1999.  His work has been featured in various art museums and galleries throughout Southern California and New York.

“These paintings reflect my interest in fashion and society and how they translate outside their domestic context,” says Kraten. “My art is from society, mostly young adults and their views on fashion and culture and mechanics. I use discarded objects to give my work a more meaningful and personal effect to the viewer.”