La Luz de Jesus, capts
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Drinks and snacks are served in the backyard/parking lot of La Luz de Jesus gallery for the joint opening of In Memory of Water and Onward on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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La Luz de Jesus gallery owner Billy Shire talks with friend and owner-instructor at Glendale Yoga, Laura Bogner, who holds Shire’s dog "Floyd Shire" at the opening for In Memory of Water and Onward at La Luz de Jesus gallery on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Artist Bari Kumar and gallery owner Billy Shire at the opening of In Memory of Water and Onward at Shire’s La Luz de Jesus gallery on Hollywood Blvd. in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Owner-instructor at Glendale Yoga, Laura Bogner, holds La Luz de Jesus gallery owner Billy Shire’s dog "Floyd Shire" at the opening of In Memory of Water and Onward at Shire’s La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Behind Bogner is her husband Mark Johnson, who manages vacation rentals in Joshua Tree. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Artist Matthew Couper (right) from New Zealand, and for the last 9 years, Las Vegas, Nevada, talks with fellow New Zealand expat Jennifer Scott at the opening of his solo exhibition In Memory of Water at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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The Final Aspersion, 2018, oil on canvas, 64.75" x 121.5", $33,000, by Matthew Couper, the largest work in Couper’s exhibition In Memory of Water at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Detail, The Final Aspersion, 2018, oil on canvas, 64.75" x 121.5", $33,000, by Matthew Couper, the largest work in Couper’s exhibition In Memory of Water at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Man with Hat, 2019, oil on birch wood in antique Victorian frame, 9" diameter, $850, by Michele Melcher, in the group portrait exhibition Onward at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Melcher’s husband Brian Isserman described that they shop for the antique frames first, then prepare a wood panel to fit the frame, and then Melcher begins her painting. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Interior view of the books, posters, gifts, toys, and curiosities available at the densely packed shop Wacko, part of owner Billy Shire’s triad with Soap Plant and La Luz de Jesus Gallery, all located at 4633 Hollywood Blvd. in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. This is the fourth location for Shire’s ongoing pop culture venture which started as Soap Plant, a project by Shire’s parents Barbara and Hank Shire in 1971. Shire’s mother sold her hand-crafted soaps, his father designed graphics and ran the store, his brother Peter Shire made ceramics, and Billy Shire made leatherware that sold to clients like The New York Dolls and Elton John. By 1984 Soap Plant had moved from Silverlake to Melrose, and Billy Shire, now the sole owner of Soap Plant, added Wacko, a shop offering postcards, Japanese robots, tin wind-ups, ephemera, games, and novelties. In 1986 Shire added a third branch, La Luz de Jesus gallery, an early mover in the California "Lowbrow" art movement. Juxtapose magazine would eventually declare Shire, “the Peggy Guggenheim of Lowbrow.” In 1995 Shire moved Soap Plant, Wacko, and La Luz de Jesus gallery to their present location in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Moving through the densely packed aisles of Wacko, visitors arrive at La Luz de Jesus gallery and the opening of Matthew Couper’s solo show In Memory of Water on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Opening reception for Matthew Couper’s exhibition In Memory of Water at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Through the open walkway the opening of the group portrait show Onward can be seen in the next gallery. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Gallery visitors entering, exiting, and milling outside of Wacko, Soap Plant, and La Luz de Jesus gallery, owner Billy Shire’s three-legged art and pop culture retail project, at 4633 Hollywood Blvd. in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. This is the fourth location for Shire’s ongoing pop culture venture which started as Soap Plant, a project by Shire’s parents Barbara and Hank Shire in 1971. Shire’s mother sold her hand-crafted soaps, his father designed graphics and ran the store, his brother Peter Shire made ceramics, and Billy Shire made leatherware that sold to clients like The New York Dolls and Elton John. By 1984 Soap Plant had moved from Silverlake to Melrose, and Billy Shire, now the sole owner of Soap Plant, added Wacko, a shop offering postcards, Japanese robots, tin wind-ups, ephemera, games, and novelties. In 1986 Shire added a third branch, La Luz de Jesus gallery, an early mover in the California "Lowbrow" art movement. Juxtapose magazine would eventually declare Shire, “the Peggy Guggenheim of Lowbrow.” In 1995 Shire moved Soap Plant, Wacko, and La Luz de Jesus gallery to their present location in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Artist and illustrator Michele Melcher, and her husband Brian Isserman, a creative director in brand design, from Carversville, Pennsylvania, share a quiet moment at the opening of Onward, a group portrait show that features four of Melcher’s intimate, neo-baroque portraits in precious Victorian frames, at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Artist and illustrator Michele Melcher (right), and her husband Brian Isserman, a creative director in brand design, from Carversville, Pennsylvania, share a quiet moment in front of her paintings at the opening of Onward, a group portrait show that features four of Melcher’s intimate, neo-baroque portraits in precious Victorian frames, at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Artist Matthew Couper and La Luz de Jesus gallery director Matthew Gardocki talk in front of Couper’s large painting The Final Aspersion, 2018, at the opening of Couper’s exhibition In Memory of Water at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Artist and illustrator Michele Melcher (right) and her husband Brian Isserman, a creative director in brand design, talk in front of Matthew Couper’s painting The Final Aspersion, at the opening for new works by Melcher, Couper and others at La Luz de Jesus gallery in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Gallery owner Billy Shire (left), artist Michele Melcher (right), and Melcher’s husband Brian Isserman (center) gaze off to the right to watch Shire’s dog "Floyd Shire" do his thing near Shire’s office in the back of La Luz de Jesus gallery on Friday, May 3, 2019. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Exhibiting artist Matthew Couper (left), exhibiting artist Michele Melcher (right), and Melcher’s husband, brand designer Brian Isserman (center), talk at the "backyard" reception for the opening of new works by Couper, Melcher and others outside of La Luz de Jesus gallery in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles on Friday, May 3, 2019. Isserman came to support his wife’s exhibition, but wound up loving both Couper’s work and his engaging personality, so he also bought one of Couper’s works at the opening. Two shows are running at La Luz de Jesus from May 3 to June 2: Matthew Couper’s solo exhibition In Memory of Water, and the group portrait show Onward featuring artists Michele Melcher, Baldur Helgason, Yeo Kaa, Valery Pobjoy, and Sung Jik Yang. (Glenn Zucman/The Corsair)
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Gallery director Matthew Gardocki (left), exhibiting artist Michele Melcher (right) and Melcher’s husband, brand designer Brian Isserman (center) in conversation at the opening of Onward, a group portrait show that features four of Melcher’s intimate, neo-baroque portraits in precious Victorian frames, at La Luz de Jesus gallery on Friday, May 3, 2019.