Thanks to Glen Warchol of the Salt Lake Tribune for the excellent article on Mondo out today. See full article HERE. We'd also like to thank Gavin Sheehan of City Weekly and Gavin's Underground for the great interview posted yesterday. See blog post HERE. We  greatly appreciate the amazing support from the arts community in Utah. If it weren't for our artists, our clients, our colleagues, institutions, art community, and press -  Mondo wouldn't exist.  So thank you for taking interest in Mondo and sharing! photo by Leah Hogsten  |  The Salt Lake Tribune  Wednesday March 30, 2011.

Hello friends of Mondo - we apologize for the noticeable lag on blogging recently.  We've been very busy, and have much to update you on. Check back for new posts soon! Thanks for your patience.  - the Mondo team

As we pass from Fall to Winter, and watch the close of 2010 with anticipation of a new year, we want to celebrate these shifts with a very special event to kick off the holiday season. Saturday, November 20th, Mondo Fine Art invites you to Transitions. For one afternoon, you will get a chance to step into the studios of 6 of our artists: Lane Bennion, Zachary Proctor, Carlisle, Roland Thompson, Angie Renfro and Olivia Pendergast for a very rare opportunity. You've seen the works that we've shown of these artists on our website and at shows, but whatever happens to the works not shown - the academic works and the transitional works between series? These are beautiful and technical pieces, but many times never seen by the public. These works include paintings, drawings, and artist sketches. Now you will have a chance to purchase these pieces for a special event price - some pieces up to 50% off retail. Perfect if you are starting a collection or thinking of giving the gift of art to a loved one for the holidays. We will be setting up the temporary artist studios at the Westgate Lofts in their luxury penthouse suites. We'd like to thank Westgate Lofts for hosting us in their space. To learn more about Westgate Lofts, visit their website: www.wgluxurylofts.com Date: Saturday, November 20th, 2010 Time: 12-4pm * Location: Westgate Lofts 328 West 200 South  Salt Lake City, Utah  84101 *Be sure to arrive early as these works at this price are sure to move fast. ALSO, we are so excited to have some fantastic Utah bands, Emily Allen, Red Bennies, Joshua Payne Orchestra and Theta Naught, performing during the event. Check out their music and get a sound sample on their websites: www.joshuapayneorchestra.com www.thetanaught.org AND - enjoy some tasty seasonal treats by Fleur de Sel: www.fleurdeselslc.com (for a map, click HERE) Happy Holidays from Mondo Fine Art!

What a great night! The Miss Utah USA Gala benefiting the Mondo Art Project, in partnership with Youthlinc, was a great success! Thanks to all the Miss Utah contestants and their families for helping raise the money needed to support our efforts with the Hser Ner Moo Refugee Center in Salt Lake City, and for all the art supplies donated for our international trips in 2011. The goal is was to raise funds to be employed locally to enrich afterschool programs at Hser Ner Moo Center in South Salt Lake, adding an additional afternoon each week of art instruction and expression for teen refugees through the Youthlinc Real Life in SLC mentoring program. We are so thrilled that we will be able to see this happen, thanks to the supporters of this event. Also, with all the art supplies donated at last night's event, we will be able to facilitate art projects and exchanges with our MAP trips through Youthlinc to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Peru, and Kenya next year. Special thanks to the organizers of the event - Laura Chukanov, Jessica Whitehead, and the current Miss Utah, Katya Feinstein, as well as all the others that made this event possible (donors, sponsors, volunteers). You are amazing - thank you!! Stay tuned for an announcement of when we will be officially kicking off the new programming at the Hser Ner Moo Refugee Center, scheduled for this December. Best of luck to all the contestants this weekend with the competition! MONDO ART PROJECT (MAP) MISSION STATEMENT The Mondo Art Project was created to connect children all over the world through the universal language of art.  Our goal is to give children from all countries, cultures, and backgrounds a voice – a chance to tell their story and communicate with other children through a medium that transcends language barriers. By partnering with schools, humanitarian groups and other non-profit organizations, we are able to reach out to children, organize art projects, and exchange experiences through artwork created -  connecting children all over the world.

Today is the last day to purchase tickets for the Miss Utah USA Gala, benefiting the Mondo Art Project in partnership with Youthlinc. It promises to be a great event and it's all for a good cause!

The goal is to raise $10,000, half of which will be employed locally to enrich after school programs at Hser Ner Moo Center in South Salt Lake, adding an additional afternoon each week of art instruction and expression for teen refugees through the Youthlinc Real Life in SLC mentoring program.The other half of the funds will be expensed at $1,000 per Youthlinc international site, serving youngsters in small remote villages in Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Thailand, and Cambodia through MAP art projects, murals and sustainable art programs. For more info and to purchase tickets, please visit the website here.

Thanks to all that made it out to "would you like to become a fan?" at the home of artist John Bell and made it such a successful event. We hope you enjoyed all the fantastic art and architecture. If you missed this show, but would like to still see the new artwork in person, please contact us at info@mondofineart.com and we would be happy to arrange a private studio visit for you with the artist. All artwork from the show is available online: CLICK HERE to view.

Mondo Fine Art & Artist John Bell present "would you like to become a fan", recent work by the artist, Saturday October 16, 2010 from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. at the artist's home -- 3851 E. Sunnydale Lane (Emigration Township) Salt Lake City. Bell will reveal several paintings that have recently been on display in Las Vegas and Miami during the renowned Art Basel international Art Fair, but rarely seen in Utah. Bell's home was just featured in 944 magazine.  To see the full article, CLICK HERE (page 16-17) Don't miss this opportunity to preview Bell's work in the unique setting of the artist's noteworthy mid-century modern home for one day only. Directions: 3851 E. Sunnydale Lane(formerly 1645 Sunnydale Lane – one mile up Emigration Canyon). Take Foothill or 800 So. (Which turns into Sunnyside Ave. at Foothill Blvd.) Head east on Sunnyside Ave. -- past the Hogle Zoo into Emigration Canyon Sunnydale Laneis the first right off the canyon road (below Ruth’s Diner) 3851 Sunnydale Laneis halfway down on the left where you will see a dark grey louvered fence. Enter through fence door. About the Artist: Nationally emerging artist John Bell explores multiple movements of contemporary art all at once, creating a hallmark painting style that comments broadly on sociopolitical issues, the impact of social media, and the ever-fluctuating values of contemporary culture. Bell, lauded as an “indiscriminate genre-blender” fuses abstract expressionism, geometric abstraction, pop art and many other artistic styles. He employs recurring images of iconic popular culture, snippets of news feeds, and social media references set against a brightly hued color palette, hard-edge, tense geometric lines and ethereal back drops. His work has been placed in many private collections throughout the U.S. and has exhibited in countless group and solo exhibitions, including Art Basel, Miami, New York’s Time Warner Center, Southern Nevada Museum of Art, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City. Bell’s work and mid-century home have recently been profiled in the Los Angeles-based, lifestyle, and culture-centric 944 Magazine. A profile of Bell will be published in the soon- to-be-released national fall edition of Blue Canvas Magazine. A cover editorial in Seven Magazine, (Las Vegas) entitledBeyond Pop; The man and message behind the paint. Hailed as an “artist on the rise” by Salt Lake Magazine, his work and home have been featured in a cover article in Utah Style & Design. He has received numerous acknowledgments and reviews in NY Art World, Blackbook, City Weekly, Salt Lake City, Seven and Deseret Companion magazines as well as a host of online publications. He is represented by Mondo Fine Art, Salt Lake City, Brett Wesley Contemporary, Las Vegas, Cancio Contemporary, Miami/New York. If you haven't already seen our video on John Bell, CLICK HERE and enjoy as John walks you through his creative process as well as gives you a peek into his home and studio.

Thanks for joining us for Road Trip: Landscape Perspectives last Thursday. We hope you enjoyed the show - featuring works by Angie Renfro and Aaron Bushnell. If you missed the opening, you can still see the show, which will be up until Oct. 15th at Poliform (3016 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT). The works are also all online - there are still pieces available! Special thanks to Poliform for hosting us in their beautiful showroom - it was the perfect space for this show. Also thanks to Elizabeth Gilman with Fleur de Sel for the culinary delights (as well as to Nancy Larson and Joan Kimball Steed for the tasty desserts) and to Mr. Jesse Walker for providing the great sound for the evening. If you would like us to email you a price list for the show, please contact us at info@mondofineart.com.

• Painting and sculpture by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami goes on view today at Versailles in France, a retrospective that has some traditionalists protesting against the colorful, comic-style pieces being shown at such an incongruous location (for the record, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst have exhibited there). With most of his current work being made by assistants, Murakami now claims he will return to hands-on painting. Check out the story at The Art Newspaper. • This weekend, Copenhagen will host its fifth annual Alternative Art Fair, an artist-organized experience “devoted to uniting and strengthening awareness of the self-organized and non-commercial exhibitions.” Much of the work will be produced on-site, through the duration of the fair. Read more about Alt_Cph at e-flux. • England’s Lord John Sainsbury has made a donation of £25 million ($38.6 million) to the British Museum, the Daily Telegraph reports. The money will help fund an extension to the museum and preserve rare artifacts in the collection. Sainsbury’s is the biggest donation to the arts in England since Paul Getty gave £50 million to the National Gallery and £40 million to the British Film Institute in 1985. Click here for the full story.