BUFFALO, N.Y. — We're celebrating Western New York with one of its many up and coming local artists.
Inside a quirky hideaway in the city's Allentown neighborhood, which boasts a curiosity shop, a tattoo parlor, and an art gallery, you'll find dozens of musicians memorialized in bold, beautiful colors and gold.
Johnny Flowers is a local pop artist. When he's not tattooing clients, he's been furiously working on 28 paintings of dozens of musicians you might recognize.
Inside the art gallery at the 125 Art Collective, you'll spot artists ranging from Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lady Gaga, The Beatles, and Bruno Mars.
"As I create art throughout my whole life, I constantly listen to music. So I will range anything from jazz, to rock, to country. So I just kind of came up with an idea. I sketched something out on canvas, painted it, and I like the idea of it. And I just kind of took off from there."
They're all a part of Johnny's Redemption series.
A glance at the Redemption Art Exhibit
You'll notice all of the paintings have their own, unique look. Flowers describes his style as pop-art, with influence from Andy Warhol. To create this series, he utilized a little bit of mixed media, including acrylics, enamel paints, markers, and even gold leaf at one point.
It took some time to get to this point in his art, hence the reason behind the name, "Redemption."
"I was supposed to have an art show two years ago, my signature series, which was jazz portrait artists. A couple of weeks before the show, circumstances arose, and the paintings were actually destroyed. So they never actually got to see the public," Flowers recalled. "So this one is kind of a way to redeem myself, you know, back in getting into art."
Not only does he want to redeem himself, but Flowers also wants to build up other artists, too.
"I would love for the community to take a bigger part in going to see local art. And backing those artists, and kind of help build a name for people. We live in such a great city where you know, local restaurants and businesses thrive, especially in downtown right now, to where art is just another part of that, and I would definitely like to see that on the rise and see more, newer artists have art shows and art exhibits, and kind of get their work out there."
He's already getting a jump start with that. In this exhibit, Flowers will also be featuring guest artist, Shelby Law.
His advice for other artists?
"Art is something that we get to create whenever we want, out of whatever we want, wherever. No matter how many times you fall down, you just gotta get back up, and it's our creations. ... I don't care if I sell a piece in this gallery, I got to create it, it was something for my heart and my mind. And that's what satisfies me as an artist."
DETAILS:
You can check out the Redemption Art Exhibit at the 125 Art Collective at 125 Elmwood Avenue, Saturday, March 30th.
It runs from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
There will also be an after-party at Exchange on Allen from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
If you miss out on Saturday, the Redemption series will be left up at the 125 Art Collective through the first Friday in April.
For those interested in purchasing any of the pieces, Flowers will have a gallery manager at the time of the show. You can buy originals or prints of the paintings on stretch canvas, shipped right to your house. Prices vary on the size and detail of the piece.
If you're interested in being a featured artist at the 125 Art Collective, contact Aimee Yavno at (818) 612-8359, or you can stop into the shop Tuesday - Saturday, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
And be on the lookout, Flowers says he is already planning the next series.
MORE ON WGRZ.COM