Horror Vacui
dal 17/1/2003 al 15/2/2003
Segnalato da
17/1/2003
Horror Vacui
Martinez Gallery, New York
The show attempts to open wider the continuous dialogue between graffiti art and the more universally accepted regular world of art, picking up where the show Noviembre Publico, at Martinez Gallery in November and also curated by Zaya, left off. At the same time, the current show takes a closer look at the phenomenon of graffiti itself, examining the now-universal movement from the roots up, from the early 1970s until tomorrow.
opening: jan 18 2003, 7 PM
after party: 10 PM - 4 AM
Martinez Gallery is pleased to announce “Horror Vacui,†a post-utopic, post-nomadic, neo-nihilistc, dual artist project, featuring the work of graffiti artists Bama and Tyke Witnes, running until
February 15. The show, curated by Antonio Zaya and designed by Marleen
Kaptein, brings the forces, talents and visions of two very different
artists -- exponents of different decades, coasts and styles – together
in a joint effort to penetrate the margins of that elusive concept,
underground, as it’s evolved over the past three decades.
“Horror Vacui†attempts to open wider the continuous dialogue between
graffiti art and the more universally accepted “regular†world of art,
picking up where the show “Noviembre Publico,†at Martinez Gallery in
November and also curated by Zaya, left off. At the same time, the
current show takes a closer look at the phenomenon of graffiti itself,
examining the now-universal movement from the roots up, from the early
1970s until tomorrow.
At the roots is New York graffiti legend and master of the form, Bama,
who first appeared in 1972. Approaching 50 years of age, the artist is
still at work, producing startling canvases with an intricate cellular
organization, without beginning and without end, as if some mysterious,
even dangerous, fragment of a greater, growing whole. Bama’s works
approximate a kind of genetic code spelled out in color and borderline,
a new kind of alphabet, with a strange and seemingly indecipherable
backbone, like some Ur-sprache, predecessor of language, like that
discussed by Jacob Boehme in the 16th century.
The Bronx-based Bama is often considered a mad scientist, or
proto-Edison, of graffiti history, inventing the use of quotation marks,
integration of music within the letters, and the idea of putting cartoon
characters in graffiti art. He was a founding member of the United
Graffiti Artists in the mid-1970s.
Meanwhile, sprouting from the greenest, newest branches of the tree is
Tyke Witnes, half the age of his counterpart, from Los Angeles and with
Vietnamese roots. His studio paintings appear to be more or less
orthodox (at least within the limits the term describes), crowded with
references to commercial comics that distinguish his work, and
complement his sculptures of warriors, all exploring the urge to escape
through fantasies of the future and the postgalactic or medieval and the
postmillennial.
This work appears to be in stark contrast to his urban, or street, art,
but the two do not negate nor clash – the same unmistakable self-assured
and graceful talent is evident throughout. Indeed, his works on canvas
and in three dimensions, taken as an integral part of all Tyke Witnes'
work, don't appear to be at all at odds with the current tally of his
interjections in the plenary conference of street language. His work
debates animation and commercial design, popularizing monochromes and
uplifting the comic art form. Tyke is a member of the notorious graff
crew, AWR (Angels Will Rise) as well as NASA (No Art Survives After),
and is considered the inventor of the Hybrid form, mixing styles learned
from other artists and making them his own; additionally Tyke Witnes is
considered the precursor of the union between writing and phenomenon.
In spite of the obvious differences of culture and generation, Bama and
Tyke Witnes are united by what appears to be a militant phobia of the
vacuum, of empty space. Both are children, though at opposite ends of
the spectrum, of the same all-encompassing saturation of the senses;
both are mortal foes of the conventional discourse of “established†and
“accepted†art forms in the second half of the 20th century – which
itself can only appear to be on its knees before the dissonant abundance
of these two poets of the city walls.
For more information and media queries: Blanca Martinez at 718-706-0606,
blanca@martinezgallery.com
Gallery Hours: 1 PM - 7 PM Thursday - Sunday.
MARTINEZ gallery
37 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
t 718 706 0606