calendario eventi  :: 

X

8/2/2005

Current Culture

Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art, New York

Mike Peck and Dylan Blue Stone

The exhibit features two artists who make work that reflect current culture. Peck presents paintings that are derived from the Terrorism Alert color-coded system in force today, while Stone presents fantastical paintings that deal with personal expression derived from Japanese anime and tattoo imagery. The title “Current Culture” is often used in change management to describe existing conditions in contrast with Desired Culture, or the proposed ideal working environment that would help a company achieve its various goals. In this exhibit, the viewer finds statements about what is happening now in American culture through the eyes of two emerging New York artists.

In both instances, the artists offer a personal vocabulary in a volatile time. As individuals seek to affirm their own identities, they are further separated from an American identity. No longer is it likely that individuals call themselves Americans, especially with the current President in the Oval Office, as they are likely to identify themselves as New Yorkers or rather by their occupation, a stockbroker, for example. This shifting focus from nationalism to individualism is provoking interesting responses by artists and Peck and Stone offer their own viewpoints.

Visual artists are often avatars in terms of larger trends that will find public discourse at a later date. In the bright colorful paintings of Peck and Stone, the viewer finds hints at what that larger discourse may entail. Neither artist makes a particular judgment or moral statement. They rather present the “food for thought” and leave it to the viewer to interpret and to make his/her own conclusions. The show is inherently thought provoking.

Color field paintings in red, orange, yellow, blue, and green are marked by the other colors in small blocks, representing the hierarchy of danger in the terrorism alert system. Peck also includes in this exhibit a worn looking painting of an Iraqi flag, red, white, and blue stars on a sandy ground, and monochromatic paintings with the word “Freedom” embedded within in English and in Arabic.

Acrylic spray paint and brushwork animate the surfaces of Stone’s paintings. His imagery is bold and beautiful. He creates larger than life iconographies that reflect popular imagery. His take on the obsessions of 20 and 30 something year olds’ culture is a glorification of the apparent. The proliferation of tattoos as personal icons and the widespread popularity of skull imagery, as witnessed in a number of recent editorials in magazines like Cargo, for example, attest to the artist’s interest in popular aesthetics. Inspiration may come from the runways of couture fashion to the skate boarders who frequent Astor Place. In all his work, Stone offers the viewer his own unique insight into 21st century cultural icons.

Peck was last on view at PSCA in January 2003 in “New York Paints!”. This is his first solo show at the gallery. Stone has been seen in numerous group shows at PSCA and in two solo shows: “As I See It” in June 2001, and “Multiplicity: New Paintings and Multiples” in December 2002.

Opening February 9, 2005, 6 – 9 PM.

Image: Mike Peck - Green Alert - Oil on Canvas - 2004

paul sharpe contemporary art, 86 Walker Street, Floor six, New York, NY 10013

stampa

permanent link