Photo By Gail
Street art has a way of holding up a mirror to culture, and in Freeman Alley, that reflection comes in the form of Lisa Simpson — reimagined as the Statue of Liberty. The mural, by French street artist FREON , casts everyone’s favorite precocious saxophone player as Lady Liberty herself, torch raised high in the name of freedom, truth, and maybe a little sass (expected).
Continue reading Lisa Simpson as Lady Liberty in Freeman Alley
Three Fish (In the Evening), 2015 (All Photos By Gail, Click on any Image to Enlarge for Detail)
Fredericks & Freiser Gallery is currently hosting Topical, an exhibition of very fun new paintings by Keegan McHargue. In Topical, McHargue returns to the human figure, albeit broadly shaped, satirical versions. His paintings have been described as “Hairy Who meets South Park, where social commentary comes wrapped in the guise of humor,” and I can definitely understand why.
The Ick Factor, 2015
Though their expressions and gestures are generalized, McHargue defines his subjects in surprisingly specific ways. A woman’s lower torso is a single grotesque foot. A butterfly with human legs drifts in outer space. An artist paints the landscape wearing a Colonial hairdo sporting the body of a Centaur. The topographies are identifiable yet seem as intuitive as the figures. The New York-based painter’s use of childlike motifs, like a flat yellow sun appearing in the corner of the picture frame, lends his paintings a kind of innocence, despite the depravity that they sometimes contain in their weird scenes. All of these rather disparate elements come together with some kind of strange logic in McHargue’s world.
Ex Dilecto, 2015
In an essay on the artist, Ross Simonini writes “McHargue compresses and reduces and distills the image until it functions, like an icon, on the simplest, most unfettered visual wavelength. He thinks about the freedom inherent in minimalism while he works. It keeps his attention focused on the singularity of the idea, so that the image’s energy appears to emerge from a point somewhere deep within itself and ripple outward into a sea of visual ideas, each one nestled into its neighbor, like a liquid puzzle. The feeling of looking is not dissimilar from seeing ancient Islamic and Hindu art, where narrative and space and subject flow into a single current.”
Day One, 2015
Keegan McHargue’s Topical will be on Exhibit Through October 10th, 2015, at Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, Located at 536 West 24th Street in the Chelsea Gallery District.
Stoner-metal riff monsters, Romero, have revealed their tongue-in-cheek new video for the title track from their recent album, Take The Potion. I’ve never really played video games but I can certainly appreciate this hilarious and spot on parody of the 1980’s Nintendo – Legend Of Zelda 8-bit video games. This video is a combination of classic 8-bit in an almost stop-motion style that is animated frame-by-frame — similar to the process originally used by South Park, which can be very tedious and time consuming!
The funniest thing is that this video made me recall a one-off band called The Advantage that, in 2006, made a record of covers of Nintendo Game Theme Songs. So genius.
Coincidentally, the video for “Take The Potion” was directed by Aaron Romero (no relation to anyone in the band, as none of them are named Romero), who has recently directed videos for Wolf Bites Boy, Iron Reagan, Rebel Flesh, The Renfields, and Ratbatspider. “Take The Potion” is a kick to watch and it’s refreshing to find a heavy band that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Visit Romero on the web and download their music at Romero is Loud Dot Com. Enjoy!
Romero Take the Potion CD Cover
Clutter Media Group launches a new online experience as they join forces with internationally famed artist Ron English. One of the most prolific and recognizable artists alive today, Ron English’s rebranded website – www.popaganda.com – features a full art gallery, up to date news and a full service webstore with exclusive signed merchandise designed by the artist.
Continue reading Clutter Media Group Announces the Launch of Ron English’s Re-Branded Popaganda Website
Title Unknown by Greg “Craola” Simkins (All Photos By Geoffrey Dicker)
In celebration of South Park’s 15th anniversary celebration, Comedy Central and pop surrealist painter and street artist, Ron English have joined forces to curate 15 Artists Interpret South Park at New York’s Opera Gallery. The show kicked off on March 28th, but i just had time to get over to the gallery today. You have one more week to see the exhibit before it closes so get yourself over to 115 Spring Street in Soho ASAP!
Ron English (who has several paintings in the exhibit) hand-picked the other 14 artists, who were drawn from the street and the pop surrealism movement to join him in displaying their South Park interpretations. The artists are unified by their love of the hit series and the passion they bring to their work. Their interpretations feature the South Park characters and the iconic moments throughout the series history. The featured artists also include: Travis Louie, Colin Christian, Sas Christian, Beau Stanton, Kid Zoom, Dave White, KaNo, Kathie Olivas, Clark Fox, Greg Craola Simkins, Mark Dean Veca, Lindsey Way, Naoto Hattori and TrustoCorp. Also displaying his work is Mars English, Ron’s young son, who any fan of English‘s art would immediately recognize as the primary model for the majority of his father’s amazing paintings.
Kenny on Fire by Ron English
This summer the 15 Artists Interpret South Park exhibit will be traveling to Comic-Con in San Diego for Comedy Central’s Ultimate South Park Fan Experience. In addition, South Park fans can submit their own artistic interpretations at SouthParkStudios.com until May 15th. Ron English and the South Park staff will select the 15 best pieces and these will also be included in the Ultimate Fan Experience at Comic-Con.
Cartman Kaiju Death by TrustoCorp