Supertouch’s own resident tattoo genius SCOTT CAMPBELL will be unveiling his first major American solo show on April 11th when “Make it Rain” opens its doors at O.H.W.O.W. GALLERY in Miami. A bona fide artist-of-all-trades, Campbell will be showcasing his unique aesthetic via sculptures, paintings, drawings and photography, a sneek peek of which we see here today.

Scott Campbell was born and raised in a fishing camp, perched alongside a muddy bayou in rural Louisiana. With a clever knack for drawing and a fondness of stories, he began his career by doing illustration and assistant editing. Curiosity soon led him to experiment with tattooing and his immediate mastery of the art was undeniable. After a subsequent 18-month stint in Spain honing his craft, he packed up his skills and his tattoo machines and traveled for the next 5 years taking inspiration from the art and folklore of tattoo cultures all over the world.

In 2004, he opened Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Since then, it has grown to be the East Coast’s premier tattoo shop with a devout following of celebrity clientele.  Campbell has the taken the blue collar grit and lore of tattoo culture and extracted a visual language and wit that are supremely refined and deliberate. He has an uncanny ability to tell a story with any medium, flesh or otherwise.

Recently, Campbell has been featured in group exhibitions at the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre in Greece, the Massimo Carasi gallery in Milan, Italy, Colette in France, Moeller Snow Gallery in New York, and O.H.W.O.W. in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Stay tuned to Supertouch for full coverage of opening nite and for all residents of the 305, don’t sleep…

With the most inspirational name in the art world, AL MORAN’s vanguard O.H.W.O.W. GALLERY is bringing serious heat to the Miami art scene. Celebrating the lengthy interconnectedness of the tropical city with sister metropolis NYC, their current exhibition, “Better History” takes a look at Manhattan’s storied art legacy, presenting the next generation of youngbloods alongside some legendary veterans in a wide array of media. Guest curated by New York’s NICK POE and the SEVEN ELEVEN GALLERY, the show’s exhaustive roster is a knockout, and includes Tim Barber, Sebastian Bear-McClard, Sebastian Black, Max Bode, Scott Campbell, Eneas Capalbo, Sarah Charlesworth, Francesco Clemente, Billy Copley, Patricia Cronin, Lance De Los Reyes, India Donaldson, Lena Dunham, Judith Hudson, Fab 5 Freddy, Francesco Galetto, India Donaldson, Alex Kalman, Maira Kalman, Tibor Kalman, Mel Kendrick, Victor Kerlow, Barney Kulock, Eva Lewitt, Judith Linhares, Troy Lumpkin, Alex Massouras, Michael McClard, Thomas McDonnell, Harry McNally, Casey Neistat, Van Neistat, Deniz Ozuygur, Peter Passuntino, Grear Patterson, Paolo Pelosini, Nick Poe, Nico Ponce De Leon Dios, Paula Poons, Steve Powers, Alex Rickard, Alexis Rockman, Theo Rosenblum, Ed Ruscha, Tom Sachs, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Kenny Scharf, Laurie Simmons, Gordon Stevenson, Billly Sullivan, Jon Waite and Robert Waltzer. On view through April 11, the show should be considered required viewing for sunbathing art lovers in need of a downtown fix. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

The Brutal Knights earn their moniker…

Miami’s punk contingent went sleepless last week while the KILL YOUR IDOLS/PUNK IS EVERYTHING installation, sponsored by CONVERSE, “with love,” shook ART BASEL. A poignant tribute to the lasting vitality of underground punk culture, the exhibition was curated by author, artist, and punk historian BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE, whose books “Fucked Up and Photocopied” and the newly-published “Punk is Dead, Punk is Everything” are virtual textbooks of punk art over the years. Classic punk flyer imagery from Turcotte’s books formed the foundation of the exhibition’s visuals (and the exhibition’s tear-away wallpaper) and was augmented by a show of original photographs by lenswoman EILEEN POLK who captured early visions of everyone from the Dead Boys and The Clash, to The Misfits and The Ramones, in her 30+ year career. Nightly entertainment in the form of live music by punk upstarts like THE BRUTAL KNIGHTS, MATT & KIM, NODZZZ, CAUSTIC CHRIST, SEX/VID, and HEX DISPENSERS, to name a few kept the crowd sweaty till morning, while old school Chuck Taylor product tosses kept everyone’s feet on the ground. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Julien Hoeber renders his verdict on the state of the art world…

Sculpture of all kinds, big & small, took center stage at this year’s ART BASEL with amazing offerings seemingly around every corner. The work of young LA artist JULIAN HOEBER, however, kept us coming back for more. His recent “bullet hole” series of bronze busts has us mesmerized, along with Japanese Pop Art master TAKASHI MURAKAMI who recently ponied up $15K for Hoeber’s bullet ridden self-portrait bust. Expect big things from Julian on the horizon. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

“Art damage” might just be an understatement…

NIKE SPORTSWEAR took the hipsters to town at this year’s ART BASEL in Miami on Friday nite when their AARON ROSE-curated “Art Damage” party broke open in conjunction with the NADA art fair. Featuring visual displays drawn from the label’s “Being True” photography campaign, video portraits of NSW athletes by acclaimed artist ROBERT WILSON, and elements of their recent alliance with the “Beautiful Losers” documentary film, the party shifted into overdrive when the evening’s real entertainment kicked in courtesy of musical guests THE SADS, NO AGE, and PANDA BEAR. Needless to say, heads were rocked, sweat was poured, and art was damaged by all. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Art Basel saw Ryden and White at the top of their game…

Having seen an astounding array of high quality offerings at this year’s ART BASEL, we still can’t help but marvel at the insane quality of the new work put forth by Supertouch’s own resident modern old masters MARK RYDEN and ERIC WHITE. Debuting the centerpiece of his forthcoming Tokyo solo show opening in February, Ryden showed off the 7′ wide oil painting “Sophia’s Bubbles,” announcing a new, more simple style and palette in the process. Meanwhile, master of figurative detail Eric White continued his “Psychology of Interiors” series of oil paintings to great success with five amazing new dreamscapes. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

At Art Basel, the writing was on the wall this year…

After days of tepid sales, guarded optimism, thinly veiled terror, and defiantly happening parties, ART BASEL 2008 was still a good year for, well, art. Spread over dozens of fairs were epic pieces by Barry McGee, Tomoo Gokita, Friends With You, Chiho Aoshima, Richard Prince, Mark Ryden, Barbara Kruger, Hyungkoo Lee, Josh Keyes, Robert Williams, Colin Christian, Todd James, Ron English, KAWS, Dearraindrop, Tony Oursler, Raymond Pettibon, , Eric White, Usugrow, Chris Mars, Fafi, Dash Snow, Aurel Schmidt, Scott Campbell, Phil Frost, Shepard Fairey, The Clayton Brothers, Takashi Murakami, and Kehinde Wiley, to name but a scant few, and celebrity buyers like Brad Pitt, Pharrell, Sofia Coppola, Jay-Z, and Dennis Hopper were still out shopping—though not necessarily buying—in full effect. Even Paris Hilton made her usual appearance. All in all, it was a good year to look at art, just not necessarily a great one to buy a lot of it. Following is a flashback of some of the cool stuff. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Guns on the streets in Miami…

Artistic comrades-in-arms and emissaries of Franco-American relations SHEPARD FAIREY & WK INTERACT were literally some of the busiest artists on the streets in Miami last week at ART BASEL. While both were represented by galleries at several fairs, the pair also managed to get extremely busy in the streets, posting up large-scale pieces throughout the Wynwood district with Shepard’s installations featuring political imagery from his recent Shooting Gallery SF show, while Frenchman WK illustrated a monochromatic futuristic-cops-and robbers scenario gone wrong. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »