Steve Powers
dal 9/9/2008 al 30/10/2008
Segnalato da
9/9/2008
Steve Powers
Galleria Patricia Armocida (vecchia sede), Milano
Separating Light from Dark. The american artist presents in this solo show his most recent works: on display are 25 never-before-seen enamel on aluminum paintings and the series 8 Day Week from his exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Galleria Patricia Armocida is proud to present Separating Light from
Dark, the first solo exhibition in Italy by the artist Steve Powers,
aka ESPO (Philadelphia, 1968), opening on Wednesday September 10, 2008
at 6:30 PM.
After participating in the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001, Powers returns
to Italy to present his most recent work: 25 never-before-seen enamel
on aluminum paintings and the series 8 Day Week from his solo
exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia in
2007.
His is an unmistakable style reminiscent of the graphic esthetics of
1950s hand-painted advertising signs combined with a raw, sharp visual
language, and ironically pungent texts. In his most recent works, the
artist plays with the concept of sacred and profane, the amazing and
the mundane.
Separating Light from Dark is not only a reference to a biblical
passage from Genesis where God, on the first day of Creation, separates
the light from the darkness; but also a reference to the most ordinary,
banal, and earthly act of separating the lights from darks when doing
laundry.
The combination of all the works on display adds up to 25/8, which
implies an impossible work rhythm: 25 hours a day, 8 days a week as
opposed to 24/7. An extra hour a day, an extra day a week, extra time
that does not exist which links the Stakhanovism of New York, the city
that never sleeps, to the biblical story of Creation. Through a clever
and humorous wordplay, the days of the week aren't Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; but rather Mundane,
Duesday, Whensday, Thirsty, Frieday, Sadderday, and Someday.
Steve Powers' work addresses the trials and tribulations of
contemporary lived experience: love, hate, frustration, desire,
insecurity, jealousy, rage, struggle, and the confusion of human
experience. In Studio Gangster, the catalog for his solo exhibition in
Philadelphia, the artist writes: "The result are maps of the emotions
that guides us toward divinity and doom. For all the cynicism that is
on display in my paintings, there is an equal amount of faith and love.
I believe the work depicts both sides of humanity; We' re capable of
greatness, but we usually just screw things up".
Stephen Powers was born and raised in Philadelphia, then moved to New
York City in 1994. After publishing On the Go Magazine, authoring the
book The Art Of Getting Over, and being a full-time graffiti writer,
Powers opened his studio practice in January of 1998. Since then he
has shown at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Deitch
Projects, The 49th Venice Biennale, and The Luggage Store in San
Francisco. In 2003, he founded the Dreamland Artist Club and partnered
with Creative Time to commission over 45 artists to paint signs and
rides in Coney Island. His book of pop art short stories, First And
Fifteenth, was published by Villard in 2005. As a 2008 Fulbright
Scholar, Powers painted a love story in the streets of Dublin and
Belfast. He lives and works in Manhattan.
Opening: September 10th at 6:30
Galleria Patricia Armocida
Via Bazzini, 17 - Milano
Free admission