This is a show amongst friends, some who are actual brothers, all of whom are actually weird.  The artists in this show are brothers in art, connected by psychedelic images, Saturday morning cartoons, graffiti, breakfast cereal, florescent drips, and the spirit of coloring outside the lines. Brothers of the Weird will be the first time these artists have exhibited together showing paintings, drawings, and sculpture.  This will also mark the inaugural exhibition at COOPER COLE.

Todd James is a self-taught artist whose commercial and fine art career spans over two decades.  With roots in graffiti, James is also known under the moniker REAS.  He has done design work for artists such as The Beastie Boys, Iggy Pop, Mobb Deep, and Eminem, amongst others.  Todd's paintings reflect a variety of influences, including pop culture and American expressionist painters such as Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.  His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the globe including Deitch Projects, Gering & Lopez, OHWOW, MOCA Los Angeles, the Venice Biennial, Tate Liverpool, the ICA in Philadelphia, and more.  James lives and works in New York City, New York.

Joe Grillo is the co-founder of artist collective Dearraindrop started in 1998 as a clothing line with Laura Grant. The collective is currently composed of three artists: Joe Grillo, Laura Grant and Billy Grant. In the past Dearraindrop has worked with a digital electrician Owen Osborn Chris Kuscinski and a painter Alika Herreshoff.  Grillo has exhibited his artwork in galleries and museums across North America and Europe.  Grillo lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Billy Grant's artwork spans multiple mediums including painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, video, animation, and performance. For over a decade he worked exclusively with his collaborative partners in the artist group Dearraindrop. Grant lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Devin Flynn is an artist and animator, who got his start creating music videos.  His award winning videos have been exhibited at the Liverpool Biennial, OHWOW, Canada Gallery, and MOCA Los Angeles. His animations have appeared regularly on Wondershowzen on MTV, a web series on Adultswim.com called Y’all So Stupid, and the title sequence for The Aquateen HungerForce Movie.  Flynn has curated multimedia shows at the Anthology Film Archive and Deitch Projects. Flynn currently lives and works in New York City, New York.

Ian Flynn has been showing his work professionally since 2003 and has been a practicing artist for as long as he can remember. Both of his parents are art makers and the act of creating is as natural to him as breathing or blinking. Most recently Flynn was included in the American Visionary Art Museum’s “What makes us SMILE?” exhibition, where he shared the walls with some of America's finest self taught artists such as Pedro Bell, John Root Hopkins, and John Waters.  Flynn lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

BROTHERS OF THE WEIRD / CURATED BY TODD JAMES
TODD JAMES / DEVIN FLYNN / IAN FLYNN / BILLY GRANT / JOE GRILLO
NOVEMBER 25, 2011 - JANUARY 22, 2012

OPENING RECEPTION - FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2011 -  6 - 10pm
FOR PRESS AND SALES INFORMATION PLEASE INQUIRE WITH THE GALLERY

GALLERY HISTORY

COOPER COLE is the second reincarnation of Show & Tell Gallery.  Incorporated in 2011 by Simon John Cooper Cole, COOPER COLE continues to blaze a trail in the Toronto art scene first set by Show & Tell Gallery.  The name change is meant to reflect the gallery's maturing roster of artists and artistic vision.

COOPER COLE represents a diverse roster of international and Canadian artists. Working in mediums such as painting, photography, sculpture, drawing, installation, and video, these artists draw upon the languages of figurative representation, abstract innovation, graphic design, and classic typography. The artists of COOPER COLE have had their work collected and exhibited worldwide at institutions including the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery, the MoMA, the National Gallery of Australia, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, MoCA San Francisco, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, amongst others.

COOPER COLE aims to contextualize this diverse group of artists and their works within an international fine art discourse by exhibiting in leading international art fairs. In addition COOPER COLE often hosts the debut Canadain exhibiton for many artists from across the globe.

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