Here’s a new artwork by street artist SacSix that you’re probably already seeing all over the city. Break Through depicts the instantly recognizable hand of Mickey Mouse making the Peace Sign, where his two fingers literally ‘break through’ the fabric of the white glove he wears. Pretty heavy. According to the artist, “2020 is the time to break through the white glove of racism and oppression. Time for Equality. Justice. Peace. RIP George.” This piece is a ‘sign of the times’ if there ever was one.
Above Images Photographed in Freeman Alley, NYC.
Here it is Again, Sharing Space With an Outdoor Cafe on Mercer Street in Soho.
With the short span of time this year between celebrating Thanksgiving and the arrival of Christmas, it’s easy to forget that it’s still technically fall in NYC. That said, by Black Friday afternoon, fall decor was in a losing battle with Christmas decorations that started appearing on the streets and in storefronts shortly after Halloween. Crazy.
I doubt that this lovely autumn leaf wreath is made from actual leaves (it’s likely silk or some other fabric), but dang if it didn’t make me stop in my tracks and appreciate the beauty of nature when I saw it adorning the face of a Brownstone in Chelsea. And what a nice sentiment as well: Peace. Here’s the full shot below. Breathtaking.
Spotted on 22nd Street Between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan.
Bruce Nauman’s neon sculpture, Human Nature / Life Death (1983) is a circle of words corresponding to the defining contradictions of human existence — life and death, love and hate, pleasure and pain — are trisected by the words “Animal,” “Human” and “Nature.”
In the aggregate, the words form a colorful, illuminated peace symbol. Human Nature / Life Death is anything but serene or amicable, however, and not only because of its content. As the words flash and darken erratically, Nauman’s neon devolves into a jumble of disjointed signs that break the continuity of the composition and jerk the eye across the wall.
It’s been a few weeks now since I first noticed the Green Monster Hand giving what looks like some kind of a two-finger salute of unknown meaning (I don’t think the fingers are spread apart enough to make it a proper peace sign, but I could be wrong). I can’t say when exactly it went up, but considering I pass by this block (Avenue B between 13th and 14th Streets) almost daily, I think it’s relatively new.
Take a long look at this Sweet Ride: A custom-painted Peace Limousine!
Geoffrey and I spotted this car parked on Greene Street at the corner of Houston, in Soho, NYC. Not only does it display the word Peace painted on both sides, but it also has the slogan“Make Love Not War” painted on the hood. Peace Limo!
Who is Sir Ivan? I think it’s This Guy. Of course, if you don’t have Sir Ivan’s means, you can always try renting a Lubbock limo for those special occasions when you want to ride in style!
Okay, judging from the multiple layers this is probably a Wedding cake, dontcha think? It may be a Birthday cake, but whatever the occasion, it is the Greatest Cake Ever in the Universe of All Time, because The Beatles! I bet it tastes delicious also, but, honestly, it is almost too cool to eat!
Jack Shainman Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of What Goes Without Saying, Hank Willis Thomas’ third solo exhibition with the gallery. The show includes photographs, sculpture, painting and new media, all which delve into the construction of mythologies embedded in popular culture.
Known for his innovative use of advertising, the differences here is the globally ubiquitous language, he builds complex narratives about history, identity and race. This show brings together several facets of Thomas’ practice to explore objects and language, torn from their history, brought to our present, and repurposed to reveal the process of their agency.
The works in What Goes Without Saying draw from a section of Roland Barthes’ book, Mythologies, to explore the ideas of explicit and implicit representations found in objects, gestures and phrases. By separating language from the advertising in which it appears, he effectively deconstructs the relationship between the reader and viewer.
In Thomas’ new carborundum works, part of the Fair Warning series, he takes text from cigarette advertising in magazines from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, retaining the font while abandoning the accompanying visuals. The decontextualized slogans like Stronger Yet Milder, Measurably Long and Immeasurably Cool come to stand for more than just a cigarette, highlighting the adjectives used to connote power and elegance, often times with a sexual tone.
What Goes Without Saying focuses on subtext, shifting meaning and the complexity of historical actions embedded in visual culture. These ideas are important in the context of the current election and the theater of the campaigns.
Hank Willis Thomas’s What Goes Without Saying will be on Exhibit Through November 17, 2012 at Jack Shainman Gallery, Located at 513 West 20th Street, NYC. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
