DIY Gallery is tucked away on the literal edge of Sunset Blvd in Echo Park, a block with a suspenseful air signifying that really you have no business being there unless that's where you live. The space itself is tight and dry with a grate for a window, attracting a crowd with a refreshing instability and one that you'll not see anywhere else in LA: a group of folks that came to see some art and have a coupla cheap beers, goddammit, no irony intended.

Fittingly, DIY will be hosting SOLO: David Yow, a new collection of mixed media paintings by the Jesus Lizard's notorious frontman, opening Saturday, August 14th.

In addition to the original work for sale, also available at the gallery will be the special edition poster for the Queens of the Stone Age/Eagles of Death Metal benefit show for Brian O'Connor tomorrow, Aug 12, at Club Nokia), signed by Yow and the bands, framed or unframed. Proceeds from the poster will go to the Brian O'Connor medical fund.

Yow's work is at once naive yet sexually passive-aggressive, sometimes collage-like and always with a comic twist. Most notable is “Pus” a 6 foot by 8 foot mastery of macabre: A seemingly innocent, intriguingly textured background of muted colors, type and flowers enveloping the portrait of a simply labeled wax-paper pour. Grody. Would you expect anything less from the mind that unleashed “Monkey Trick” on the music world?

David Yow, "Pus"

David Yow, “Pus”

Get off your ass and go see some art.

SOLO: DAVID YOW, Aug 14 – Sept 11

DIY gallery: 1549 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

facebook.com/diygallery, twitter.com/theDIYgallery

Opening reception, Saturday August 14, 2010, 7-11 pm

Exhibition continues through Sept 11, with a special event planned for closing night.

Bonus painting: “You Can't Lose If You Don't Play,” David Yow's tribute to Marc Abrams the late Silver Lake Walking Man:

David Yow, "You Can't Lose if You Don't Play"

David Yow, “You Can't Lose if You Don't Play”

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