Events

Klughaus Gallery Presents: OBLVN “100 Paintings” (Manhattan, NY)

February 28, 2012 , , , , ,

OBLVN

AARON OBLVN “100 PAINTINGS”

MARCH 10—APRIL 1, 2012
OPENING: SATURDAY MARCH 10, 2012 FROM 6-10PM KLUGHAUS GALLERY
47 Monroe St. New York, NY 10002

Emerging Pacific Northwest artist OBLVN hand paints 100 exclusive illustrations in honor of New York City debut—New York, NY – Feb 27, 2012 – Klughaus Gallery is proud to announce the debut of “100 Paintings,” a solo exhibition of brand new, one-of-a-kind illustrated works by Portland, Oregon-based artist and cartoonist Aaron OBLVN. In honor of his first ever east coast show, OBLVN has been hard at work for months preparing one hundred illustrations exclusively for Klughaus; highlights of the character and cartoon-heavy exhibit include contemporary, tongue-in-cheek remixes of classic cartoon characters like ‘Felix The Cat’ as an art thief and ‘Dennis the Menace’ as a vandal, as well as many original works, from mischievous spray can characters to runaway inkwells.

Why one hundred works? “I’ve been drawing my whole life, but really focusing on this style for about three years now—but not on this scale,” says OBLVN. “I read once in a sign painting comic strip by [cartoonist] Justin Green that it takes about 100 hours of brushing before you finally get your lettering down,” says OBLVN of one of the motives behind sitting down to tackle the daunting task of creating one hundred pieces of art for a single show. “So I figured if I did 100 characters, I would definitely get some good practice in. I can tell from the first cartoons I started doing a few years ago that I’ve gotten better. It’s always great to see your own progress.”

In addition to breaking the gallery record for the highest number of works in a single show, the breadth and depth of OBLVN’s body of playful, accessible work makes “100 Paintings” a show with literally something for everyone. “I love cartoons,” he says of his trademark subject matter. “I’m picky, but I love a lot of styles. From Vaughn Bode, Basil Wolverton, Skip Williamson, Text Avery, Ralph Bakshi and John K to more contemporary artists like Barry McGee and Todd James.”

In this vein “100 Paintings” is both a one-of-a-kind body of work as well as a collective ode to the artists OBLVN emulates, and he is looking forward to piecing together his collection of puzzle pieces in New York City: “I’m really stoked on the work as a whole,” he says. “So much of my time is spent up close with the pieces, my face only a few inches from my brush and the ink that it’s sort of crazy to step back and see the work as a body. It’s pretty cool to see how much I cranked out. It’s so awesome that [the opening] is in NY, but seriously daunting. I’m excited.”

The opening for “100 Paintings” will take place Saturday, March 10th from 6-10 pm. Please RSVP to rsvp@klughaus.net.

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Whisper Gallery Presents: February Group Show (London, UK)

February 23, 2012 , , , , ,

Whisper Gallery

David Shillinglaw in Brooklyn in 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Exhibiting works on paper by our current gallery artists, including screenprints from established pioneer of British pop art Peter Blake, who combines vibrant images of Brit pop culture and fine art. Following in his footsteps is William Blanchard, distinctly influenced by the pop art movement whose works are a casually critical commentary about the modern world, seamlessly integrating commercial culture into simple ideas, subjective declarations, personal outlooks and feelings.

In a similar way, Pakpoom Silaphan takes symbols of commercial culture and corporate branding, transforming them into personal visual memoirs of his childhood upbringing. Originally from Thailand, Silaphan creates portraits of influential people using vintage foreign but recognisable advertising signs as his canvas. Taking Warhol’s elevation of everyday brands to high art, and combining it with his adoration of famous and influential historical figures, Silaphan highlights the power of advertising as a global dominator. Similarly, Russell Young’s vibrant portraits of iconic figures draw attention to the power of celebrity and media. Russell’s work is striking; using instantly recognisable images coupled with his own style and techniques, his pieces immediately resonate with his audience.

Also, showing their work for the first time at Whisper, David Shillinglaw and Remi Rough are two artists combining street and fine art in innovative ways. London based artist David Shillinglaw’s work moves between street and studio, small hand‐made books to paintings on canvas, and large scale wall murals. His work is a reflection of the civilised and monstrous side of human nature, and the day‐to‐day conversational poetry we use to demonstrate feelings and physical conditions. Friend and collaborator Remi Rough transcends the traditional and somewhat idealised vision of a graffiti writer, and creates work that simultaneously belongs on the streets and in the home or gallery without seeming out of context. Merging bold colours and modern abstraction with a clean, minimal style his work is a progressive example of urban art.

Far from bold and confrontational subject matter, Bruce French’s anonymous and faceless subjects express mass emotion through the simplest lines in oil, charcoal, pencil and print. Images of figures suspended in movement reflect the human form in its most simple and natural state.

Lyle Owerko is a New York‐based filmmaker and photographer, who has been collecting vintage boomboxes for years, resulting in an arresting and unexpected photoseries featuring these cult objects, giving life and personality to each one individually.

Finally, Whisper’s newest addition is Dutch artist LG White, who exhibits across a broad spectrum of artistic mediums. Her original drawings instantly highlight her remarkable talent as a skilled draughtsman. Beautifully detailed pencil on card depictions of imagined landscapes hang perfectly alongside strong photo etchings that portray the contemporary skull as an intricate and delicate icon.

27/28 Eastcastle Street London W1W 8DH Whisperfineart.com | +44 (0)20 7268 9851

STATIC is the creative output of two individuals who have been working as one since 2006. Their work combines elements of street art and fine art, merging a clean graphic style with stencils, spray paint, screen printing and paint brushes, to create unique pieces which have been exhibited on the streets of London as well as a number of international gallery spaces.

Whisper fine art

27/28 Eastcastle Street
London
W1W 8DH

Tel: 0207 268 9858
Email: ruth@whisperfineart.co.uk
or jake@whisperfineart.co.uk

Gallery Hours
10-6pm Monday – Friday
or by appointment

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QRST Studio Visit and Interview

QRST Studio Visit and Interview

February 23, 2012 , , , , , ,

The Brooklyn Artist Talks about Painting, Street Art, and Choking Chickens

You’ve seen his cats and dogs and birds and rats and people in wheat-pasted drawings and paintings on the street in Brooklyn the last couple of years, their big dark eyes staring plaintively at you, usually with some critters holding a banner overhead displaying his tag, QRST.

In a way, these are snapshots of his life, endowed with psychological drama and musings and universal or personal symbologies. Comedians and storytellers are always the most successful when they stick to the regular stuff that we all do and weave in the outlandish – just enough that it’s fantastic but not so much that it’s fantasy. QRST renders his characters without romance but maybe nostalgia,  their magnetic eyes drawing you past the still countenance, grounded enough to sort of convince a passerby of their realness, even though they can’t possibly be. These are his relatives, his friends, his loves, his memories melted with meandering.

In addition to his regular job he’s been painting on a heavy schedule lately so he can have his show ready for unveiling this Friday in Bushwick, Brooklyn at The Active Space. A visit to his studio reveals a spare, brightly lit quietly manic room with a laptop playing the Bush Tetras balanced on a stool and a careful collection of the tools of the trade – paint tubes, canvasses stacked on the floor against a wall, a small pile of pencil sketches, an easel with a painting of a chicken beating up a boy.

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Yeah, it’s called ‘Formative Years,’” QRST says as he describes it’s origin, “My aunt and uncle had chickens and a giant rooster and when I was like two or three, one of them just mauled me. So it’s that story … but it’s also a lot about sex in like a generic, formative way. It’s a cockfight… he’s choking a chicken… So it’s kind of like a joke at my own expense because I’m getting my ass beat by a chicken but it’s also about figuring out masturbation and sex hangups and weird sex issues.

Brooklyn Street Art: It’s all “nested” in there.
QRST: Yeah, and it’s all inside of a childhood.

If it is a battle, the boy in the painting doesn’t look like he’s going down without a fight. His stuff on the street explores the past plainly, including the painful parts, like his serious re-examination of the influence in his life of his deceased father, called “Patron”, laden with symbols and signifiers. The work can be odd, and oddly sensitive to meaning and nuance as QRST is compelled to continually assess and think his way through the battles of life, peering at it from all angles.

QRST does a painting of his mom in a snowy park. “She didn’t know she was posing for it.” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I think a lot of my work is always autobiographical. It always seems to come from stuff that I’ve experienced or thought about or people or places that I’ve seen, or been in, or things I’ve experienced. I think a lot of it is that. These paintings are not obviously exact. They are little seeds of actual reality that have all this stuff piled around them that comes from my mind wandering. So the stories kind of become fantastical and weird and their own thing but they really do start from a seed of, ‘I was walking down this street and I saw this thing’ – or ‘I was with this guy on the Mississippi River’, or ‘my aunt and uncle have a hummingbird feeder,’” he explains.

Brooklyn Street Art: Aside from studying painting, in a lot of ways I can see that your work is therapeutic for you.
QRST: Absolutely. If I’m not painting regularly I go crazy basically. I get all super depressed and mean. And I’ve had people tell me “I can tell when you haven’t been making art because you’re and a**hole.” (laughs) I’m like “Great! Cool.” I’ve had more than one person tell me that. You can tell when I’m not painting enough. I get really distressed. It can be also be drawing but painting seems to be the best.

One of the 50 hand drawn sketches QRST will be giving away at his opening. ” I just like the idea that a stranger that doesn’t know me gets a thing that I made just because they showed up.” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For QRST the work he makes for the street is the fun stuff, the place where he can experiment and get a little looser. His painting teacher from his youth would have cringed at the idea of painting as being fun. “He yelled a lot but was a good teacher,” he remembers. “He used to yell ‘Painting is not fun! Painting is in the blood!’” On reflection, QRST agrees that painting is something more for him. “There is a certain truth to that. I mean, I need to do it and it’s immensely satisfying in a way that is not parallel to anything else in my life. But it’s not “fun”, ya know?”

QRST painted this portrait of his cousins after creating a version of them for the street.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST. The wheat paste version tells stories of their youth in this painted version for the street. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It may still be a little perplexing to the average person passing a particle boarded construction site to see one of his elaborately hand painted, wheat-pasted pieces. To think that he’ll spend forty to sixty hours on a street work that ultimately gets destroyed seems self-defeating but he has clearly delineated in his mind what work is meant to have permanence and what needs to stretch it’s legs and go talk to the city.

“The street stuff is really nice. It can get really stressful too but it feels less formal. It’s hard to describe but I can do whatever I want, and it’s just for kicks. I can figure stuff out real easily and put it out and it really doesn’t matter because it’ll be gone soon. It’s like doing studies or sketches or something,” he explains.

Brooklyn Street Art: It’s also maybe a safe way to experiment with an idea or technique?
QRST: Yeah, it is. It’s easy to be experimental because with oil paint there’s a way you are supposed to do it. I’ve thought about being more experimental on the canvas but then, it doesn’t feel right, at least not at the moment.

Of the studio work and the street work, he sees separate goals and lives. “They serve different purposes, they go in different places, they are supposed to function differently. Also with the street stuff – at the end of it it comes with the adrenaline rush of doing something very barely illegal,” he smiles.

Brooklyn Street Art: They need to walk out that door.
QRST: They do! They want to go outside.

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST paints on three panels an homage to both his grandmothers in the gallery. In the family tree tradition his maternal Grandmother sits on the right while his paternal Grandmother sits on the left. The chair’s legs are represented by the roots of trees.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: That’s something I associate with your work is the symbolism and metaphor, the additional layers of meanings that can go in multiple directions.

QRST: I spend a lot of time – I come up with the idea and its something that is sort of stuck in my head and then I start to flesh it out.  As I’m painting it, I end up thinking about it a lot obviously. All of the language and connection to it comes out as I’m working on it. I’m like “oh yeah!”.

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST’s solo show “Dreaming Without Sleeping” opens Friday February 24 at The Active Space. Click here for further details.

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941 Geary Gallery Presents: NSM “Justified Scriptures” (San Francisco, CA)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

 

NSM

 

941 Geary is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Amsterdam-based artist, Niels Shoe Meulman (NSM), opening March 24, 2012 at 941 Geary. The new works of the show have been shaped by the wide variety of artistic paths NSM has traveled. The opening will be free and open to the public, and the show will run until April 21, 2012.

Before running his own design company, and later an advertising agency, NSM apprenticed with Anthon Beeke, a Dutch graphic designer considered at the top of his field. Through a classic master/pupil education NSM developed the required skillset needed to be a designer and typographer. This mastery of the mechanical aspects of design can be seen throughout the body of works comprising ‘Justified Scriptures.’ Each work, form the small to the large, demonstrates NSM’s superb sense of space and precision. NSM has said that that he draws inspired from television programs about nature and science, explaining in an interview, “Most laws of graphic design and graffiti are universal laws. Balance, continuity, those kinds of things. In a way nature is our only reference.” NSM’s new work brings a harmonious organization to chaos, with bold free-form strokes repeating themselves over and over until a pattern is formed.

The trained eye can decipher words written in NSM’s signature fusion of calligraffiti amidst the patterns in a few of the works, including in the huge (dimensions) linen canvas titled Unknown, though most of NSM’s latest work is a painting style which is self-described as “Abstract Expressionism with a calligraphic origin.” The intricate curves of NSM’s linework are derived from a long interest in the beauty of the written word, referencing an impressive range of forms, from Arabic calligraphy of sacred texts to the vertical writing of East Asian scripts to the richly illuminated manuscripts of medieval times. These influences are then dismantled into abstracted compositions, where the main focus seems to be the integration of natural forms and structured design.

‘Justified Scriptures’ can be seen as following in the footsteps left by the multitude of incredible Modernist painters, whereas famed art historian Clement Greenberg once noted, “The excitement of their art seems to lie most of all in its pure preoccupation with the invention and arrangement of spaces, surfaces, shapes, colors, etc., to the exclusion of whatever is not necessarily implicated in these factors.”

From the Artist:

“If these works remind you of mass graves, bookshelves, military parades, meditative exercises, blocks of text or people in general (all different but the same), then I’m happy.

I’m starting to abandon the idea of telling stories but acknowledge the beauty of communication. I don’t believe anything anymore and what’s left is language itself. That’s what this work is about.”

Event Information:

Justified Scriptures, New Paintings by Niels Shoe Meulman

Opening Reception – March 24, 2012, 6-9 pm @ 941 Geary (www.941geary.com)
941 Geary St,
San Francisco, CA

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White Walls Gallery Presents: Sickboy “Wonder Club” (San Francisco, CA)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

Sickboy

Sickboy (photo © Joanna Dudderidge)

White Walls is pleased to present Wonder Club, a new body of work from famed UK- artist Sickboy. The opening reception will be Saturday, March 17th, from 7-11 pm, and the exhibition is free and open to the public for viewing through April 7th, 2012.

Hot off the heels of his critically acclaimed UK solo show last November, Heaven and Earth, comes Sickboy’s first US major solo show, Wonder Club. The title refers to a meeting place in the mind of the artist, where his cryptic street messages, surreal abstraction and comical illusions all come together. Sickboy’s new works reveal inspiration drawn from anatomical studies, the age of enlightenment, romanticism, comic books and fairy tales.

A solid body of work has been produced for Wonder Club, including eight large-scale (all measuring around four by three feet) surreally intricate, paintings, focusing on the inner workings of the human body. These large paintings, which bring the aesthetic of Sickboy’s street work into the gallery, are paired alongside installations which will act to transform the entire space into a dream world.

Sickboy’s always innovative installations will be outdone with this show, featuring a few surprises and the “Artists’ Refuge,” an enclosed space built within the gallery that visitors may enter.

Amidst the dream land that Sickboy constructs you can expect to find smaller works exploring a new direction in mixed media ephemera, adorned on locally found San Francisco surfaces to place the artist’s imagery into a local context as well as a video collaboration with well-known London photographer Viktor Vauthier, capturing the creative process in motion.

From the Artist:

“I see art as escapism, it’s an addictive solution to the daily deluge of life, the ‘Wonder Club’ is a place I can visit in my mind to try and bring daydreams to life, I have been documenting ideas as they happen and making sure I capture their essence by developing them into highly intricate finished paintings, it has meant a progressive shift from earlier freestyle work and more towards structured pieces that focus on content and message. This exhibition is for me a revisiting of the inner child and questioning what my dreams represent today.”

A leading artist to emerge from Bristol’s infamous graffiti scene, Sickboy’s humorous work has cemented his place in the upper echelons of the British street art movement. He is one of the first UK artists to use a logo in place of a tag, and his red and yellow street logo known as ‘The Temple’ can be seen on walls and wheelie bins worldwide. Sickboy has built up one of the largest bodies of street art works in UK history. His work hit the big screen recently in Banksy’s Oscar-nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and he is tipped by the leading financial press as one of the movement’s most bankable artists. His temples, slogans and audacious stunts – including the caged heart installation dropped outside the Tate Modern in 2008 – have landed him global recognition.

Event Information:

Wonder Club, a Solo Exhibition by Sickboy Opening Reception – March 17, 2012, 7-11 pm On View Through April 7th, 2012,
@ White Walls (www.whitewallssf.com)
835 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA

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Drago and Wooster Social Club Present: Chris Stain “Long Story Short” Book Launch and Exhibition (Manhattan, NY)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

 

Wooster Street Social Club and Drago are pleased to announce the exhibition and book launch for Chris Stain’s latest project and Drago’s newest title Long Story Short – A Collection of Inspiration, at the Wooster Street Social Club on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012, from 8-11pm. The exhibition will show all new work that explores two perspectives of intercity life; that from the internal struggles of the individual as well as the circumstantial elements to which that life subscribes. Both the exhibition and the book present an autobiographical reflection of the artist’s life through a collection of writings, letters, photographs, memorabilia, and artwork that illuminate a lifetime of experience that is the source of inspiration for Chris’ poignant imagery. Chris Stain’s subject matter has been compared to themes echoed in the American Social Realist movement of the 1930s and 40s. More importantly, however, Chris’s work is a communication of things that are relevant to him, the things that he sees everyday and the things that most people tend to, or try to, ignore. His work is marked by a strong social tinge and is filled with the adversity and diversity that one faces in the intercity. This visual narrative of social sufferance explores not only his personal architecture of experience, emotion, and inspiration, but shares the untold tales of the overlooked and the left behind. Despite being viewed by many as political statements, Chris Stain’s work is more than that. It is an honest and direct presentation of the basic levels of humanity, for better or for worse, what it means to be human and to treat others with an elemental sense of decency. The balance of today’s delicate social architecture bears the weight of many who feel threatened by social and economic injustice. These sentiments run high as a result of the events inspired by the Occupy movement, which have made Chris’s work feel that much more relevant in contemporary society.

The opening reception for Chris Stain’s Long Story Short will begin at 8pm on Wednesday, March 14th. The evening will include a slideshow presentation and round table discussion on art and social activism lead by Josh Macphee of Just Seeds, an interactive screen printing demonstration by Bushwick Print Lab, a live DJ set performed by Billy Mode, catering provided by Laurel Bell, and refreshments from Brooklyn Brewery. The slideshow will begin promptly at 9pm with discussion and Q&A to follow. Long Story Short – A Collection of Inspiration will be available for purchase during the event as well as throughout the run of the exhibition (through April 15th). You may also order Long Story Short through Drago’s website, www.dragolab.com. Chris Stain will be in attendance during the opening to sign copies of the book.

About the Artist

Chris Stain grew up writing Graffiti in Baltimore, MD in the mid 1980’s. Through printmaking in high school he adapted stenciling techniques, which later led to his work in street stencils and urban contemporary art. Chris currently teaches art in New York City and is pursuing a BA in Art Education.

About the DRAGO

Drago has been involved in the urban street movement for over a decade as an international think-tank for the creative class, working in unison with artists to realize projects with lasting cultural impacts. Drago identifies and promotes artists, develops communication projects, publishes books, and stages exhibitions and events. The street represents today’s leading visual and cultural aesthetic and the forefront of social resistance. Drago embodies and promotes this System of Independent Culture, sic!

About Wooster Street Social Club

Wooster Street Social Club is a tattoo studio, art gallery, and event space that plays host to TLC’s reality show NY Ink. It is an environment where art, culture, media, commerce, and entertainment live together and can be understood as complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
Through a series of art shows, activities, lectures, tastings, and large-scale events, Wooster Street Social Club has established itself as an ever-changing nexus of NYC’s creative community. The bottom line is to bring something new to the table, a forum for creativity, and something that is uniquely New York.

Wooster Street Social Club ⏐ 43 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10013⏐ 646.545.3300 info@woostersocial.com ⏐ www.woostersocial.com

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Art Against Knives + Mother Drucker Present: “As The Crow Flies” A Group Show (London, UK)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

As The Crow Flies

 

Silk screen printed Urban Art Collection from Berlin Based Mother Drucker exhibited in cooperation with Art Against Knives Charity.

Exhibition: March 2nd - April 2nd 2012.
Opening Reception: March 1st - 7-10pm.
Art Against knives Gallery, BoxPark, UNIT 55, London, E1 6JJ

Mother Drucker and Art Against Knives are pleased to present As the Crow Flies, a straightforward print show which aims to highlight the direct lines between visionary urban art and fine production silk screen printing. Mother Drucker has joined forces with East London based charity Art Against Knives to raise money for their future youth community based projects through print sales from the collection.

Urban art and silkscreen printing have formed a strong relationship with each other over time. The stencil based process of silk screen printing often easily compliments the methods of application chosen by urban artists, with many concentrating their skills upon stencil cutting, spraying, collage and general paint works of every messy degree. This new collection is all about the real relationship between the artist and the printer, between the creative and the productive, between the conceptual and the deviceful. Artist and printer have put their minds together to make a quality collection of silkscreen prints.

‘As the Crow Flies’ features a range of works by European urban artists:

Penny, Nomad, Hannah Parr, Elmar Lause, Victor Ash, Various and Gould, Dolly Demoratti and Anton Unai. Limited edition prints will be available to buy from the BoxPark gallery space throughout the exhibition with donations being made to AAK from every print sale.

Art Against Knives is an East London based charity that focus on raising awareness about knife crime and creating positive youth led Arts community projects for young people living in the East London area. Since their initial hugely successful art auction in 2009 the charity has flourished and now has a great permanent gallery space in BoxPark – the world’s first pop-up mall, AAK sells afordable artwork priced from £20 – £500 from established artists, as well as students and emerging talent.

Mother Drucker is a print house and gallery based in Kreuzberg, Berlin; here they work with a wide range of artists to produce high quality limited edition silkscreen prints. They release work on their website and organise a range of shows and events. They also offer an out of house screen- printing service and screen printing courses in English.

The Opening reception for ‘As the Crow Flies’ will be held on March 1. 7-10pm. Art Against Knives Gallery, BoxPark, Shoreditch High Street, Shoreditch, London, E1 6JE

Gallery Hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday Saturday: 11am – 7pm, Thursday: 11am – 9pm, Sunday: 10am – 6pm

For more details, press images, advanced catalogues or other questions please contact:
Gemma Brewer – Exhibition Manager: gemma@mother-drucker.com

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Signal Gallery Presents: TRXTR “Pretty Lethal” (London, UK)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

TRXTR

 

Trxtr solo show – ‘Pretty Lethal’.

Date: 1st Mar – 24th Mar 12

The artist known as Trxtr has been building himself a very strong reputation on the Urban Art scene over the past five years, the evidence for this success being some recent notable auction results. He has shown his work in around the Bristol area and also in group shows in London and Los Angeles. This will be his first solo show in London

Trxtr believes that in using a wide variety of techniques, he can create the effect of spontaneity and freedom that he is aiming for. His own (incomplete) list of techniques used ‘Chemical, digital and Polaroid photography, high resolution scans, large format archival printing, collage, painting, drawing’ says a lot about where he is coming from. This is not an artist who is wedded to any particular medium, but for him a rather more Machiavellian ‘ends justifies the means’ approach is favoured. He sees purist attitudes to techniques and mediums as ‘Ludditism’.

The work Trxtr has produced for the ‘Pretty Lethal’ show at Signal is the culmination of this period of experimentation and creative self-discovery. The works will show us as an eclectic mix of atmospheres and emotions, as the techniques he uses to produce them. Their overall effect is disturbing and alluring in equal measure. Concerns about exploitation, globalization and corruption appear over and over again, but the tone is ambivalent. He is not preaching to us, but reproducing some of the sickly sweet images of commercialism in a way that it is genuinely hard to tell if he is celebrating them or railing against them. This interesting and unsettling approach has something of effect of Jeff Koons work.

The works Trxtr has produced for the ‘Pretty Lethal’ will make a very strong introduction to his work for London audiences. Like Koons, we may find that audiences are split, between those who can and those who can’t see beyond the surface seductiveness of the work.

 

Signal Gallery, 32 Paul Street, London EC2A 4LB
Opening Times: Tues-Sat 12-6 pm, and by appointment.

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Fifty24sf Gallery Presents: Saner new works (San Francisco, CA)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

SANER

 

We are excited to welcome Mexico City based fine artist and muralist, SANER, to our FIFTY24SF Gallery in San Francisco this March 16, 2012. The artist will be showcasing a new series of works with his first solo exhibition ever in San Francisco. After making waves in Los Angeles and Art Basel in 2011, and showing at our sister gallery, FIFTY24MX in Mexico City, this is our first time working with Saner in the States.

FIFTY24SF GALLERY
218 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA
94117-3504
(415) 861-1960
GALLERY@FIFTY24SF.COM

HOURS:
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY: 12-6

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