As a bit of a Pop fiend, it was a pleasure to discuss New Blood with Morgan Spurlock; as a bit of a Pop theorist, it’s something of a marvel to ponder the nine-minute manifesto…
Why New Blood, why now?
“I don’t know if it was a question of now, or if I just felt like there was a need to show – I feel like there’s still this shifty new movement in the art space where the people who kind of launched this whole “low brow” art movement, this street art movement, are now inspiring this whole new generation of artists; y’know these new kinds of Pop graffiti artists who are kind of coming up in their wake, and I find that to be really fascinating. You gotta think it wasn’t that long ago when low brow art and street art was being relegated to the lowest, smallest of the fringe galleries, to now where these paintings are being put up in the cornerstones of the modern art movement. So I think to see where that ripple effect is continuing to affect, not only our generation, but the next generation of artists is really inspiring.”
What started off as a bit of fun for collage artist Sammy Slabbinck, making cartoons and postcards, evolved into creating well-balanced and sometimes humorous snapshots of a forgotten world bursting with color and filled with images of yesteryear. The Belgian collage artist and illustrator love of old photographs and vintage magazines are the basis for most of his witty creations.
Somewhere in the ease and quietude of Montréal, a humble artist sits in the pale-blue light of a computer screen, creating. That humble artist is Pierre-Paul Pariseau and his creations are surreal collages, simultaneously dark and colorful, humorous and compunction. His stark, cartoon-ish juxtapositions may excite, enthrall, confound, offend, inspire and charm all at once. That may sound a little exaggerated, a little unlikely, even; but fact of the matter is, even ‘exaggerated’ and ‘unlikely’ are fitting adjectives. Superlatives aside, Pariseau’s work is the delicate marriage of old-school pastime (collage-making) and new-school norm (photo-editing). And that marriage is a happy one.
Shai Dahan is known for his iconic realistic rendition of the Swedish Dala Horses. Shai uses them as a metaphor for urban art to create a dialogue between the conformity and foundation of Royal history and the scorned graffiti culture that authoritative leaders have tried to prevent from advancement. In his latest exhibition that opens next week at The Scarlett Gallery, VICE & VIRTUE is a symbolic alteration of Swedish Royal figures and sovereignty ripped apart by unbound graffiti impressions. In vivid forms of graffiti tags, Swedish Royal and monarch names dating back centuries, are placed in almost an architectural manner to decorate figures to poetically carry vandalism into art.
In the heyday of rap and hip-hop, when what artists said, sang and did actually meant something, actually fueled real fire, a local from Los Angeles was tagging street corners in wiry stencil lettering. Almost two decades later, he’s a loud voice in the world of street art. You may not know his face (few people do; it’s a heavily protected secret), but you might know his work—you’ll certainly get his message.
South Wales-based Richard Davies is a graphic designer and digital artist freelancing under the name of Turksworks. Inspired by pop culture, with a background in traditional art, his brilliantly executed work has seen the insides of publications like Rolling Stone over the past couple years. Davies’ innovative nature and adaptable style and skills give him reason to be optimistic about the future of digital art in an ever-changing design industry.
“A man’s errors are his portals of discovery.”
– James Joyce
Tyler Varsell is a young collage and mixed media artist from CT who focuses on themes of identity, separation, eros, and serendipitous discovery. After graduating from the University of Hartford in 2011 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Multimedia Web Design & Development (concentration in Media Arts). She was employed with the University of Hartford from 2008-2011 updating and maintaining Admissions websites, and currently work as the Web Presence Manager for a girls preparatory school.
Painter Darryl “13” Bennett of TokyoThirteen Arts was born on Friday the 13th, and sure enough, luck has nothing to do with his success as an artist in his native Washington D.C. Taking the number and its negative connotations, and using it as a symbol for something positive and uplifting is what Bennett is all about. He says he paints from a surreal world he’s created in his mind, where a host of seemingly unrelated influences come together. Much like the city of Tokyo, a place that he connects to on an artistic and personal level. Tokyo is a city where traditional values and progressive ideas merge, and where so many varying subcultures like video gaming and tattooing have found a home. This massive convergence of ideas is the foundation of his brand, which he created in 2007.
Self-described as both student and teacher, Atlanta based painter Matt Hughes is best known for giving rise to Gothic Art Nouveau.
Tolstoy Aside, Where Do We Draw the Line Between What Is and Isn’t Art?
In 2012 the question of what is art remains as relevant as it was in 1896 when Leo Tolstoy published his seminal 132 page essay “What is Art?” on the aesthetics of art in which he wrote: “Art consists in one human consciously conveying to others, by certain external signs, the feelings he has experienced, and in others being affected by those feelings and also experiencing them.”
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