This November, Factory Fresh brings together four elusive artists who each work seamlessly in between the worlds of graffiti and streetart. These two art forms look identical to the untrained eye but in actuality are more like brawling brothers to those who are part of the movement. Artists Armer, Darkcloud, Goreb and Deeker are a few exceptions. Each of their work ranges on the street one day a large scale mural, another day carefully placed signs or paintings, sometimes even a junk sculpture is installed onto a crowded street. As a result these artists cannot be dismissed by any group of urban artists and have been validated by their acceptance from multiple ranges of critcs.

The Darkcloud image has been a constant staple in the urban art scene since 2003 and can be seen all over the east and west coast. Darkcloud is attributed with having more hand painted stickers up than anyone on the scene today. The meaning being unclear for most, it stems from the concept that angst is always following us. A visual representation of the darkness in our lives we are unable to escape. Darkcloud will be showing a mix of paintings on glass, metal, wood, and more. Also, prints may be available for the first time in his artist career.

Deeker is a rogue, pessimistic bastard who comes out and paints when the weather is at it’s worst. This bottom feeder lurks around the other three, drops hints of doomsday, tells tales of perpetual unemployment and generally depresses everyone. His work will consist of ghastly character paintings and painstakingly fine cut wooden words and botanical elements. The likes of which you can find hidden all around the streets of New York, if you look carefully.

GoreB’s work was first noticed in Dumbo in the summer of 2004 and people discussed his work in tones you might use to talk about a griffin or a chimera, a former math prodigy who’d been corrupted in his teen years by something called hobo freight art, then spiraled into a life of nomadic polymath street-art savanthood and touched down, for a few years, in New York. Goreb currently resides on the West Coast in Santa Cruz and has created new oil paintingsfor the show featuring collages of birds, black and white photos, and fonts with hints of older paintings underneath.

With GoreB and Deeker as mentors and occasional sidekicks, young Armer paints large, uncomfortable faces on both coasts. His streetwork is powered by the painterly and gestural satisfaction he gets from working on a grand scale and from the belief in American graffiti as a way to respect the past while fighting the present. This show gives Armer his first crack at gallery walls. Pared down to a self-retrospective, mixed media work will echo his presence in the street (color combinations he loves; how he processes and releases information) but also will chronicle a day/night in the life.

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