PROJECT SPACE RETROSPECTIVE 2008-2016
Woodward Gallery has been a NYC institution for almost a quarter century. It is a pioneer in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a neighborhood with a rich history of art and culture. Woodward Gallery developed a Project Space at 132A Eldridge Street to offer street artists an authorized location to paint and display their work on a dedicated outdoor wall. Since the Project Space premiered in 2008, the Gallery had invited over 30 Artists to participate in creating their own four-panel works of art approximately 15 feet (457 cm) in total size. Over the years, this wall had become an iconic Lower East Side and NYC street art attraction, being featured by magazines, art blogs, and news stations. (Pictured here is what is considered by Woodward Gallery as the first Project Space installation. It is a collaboration between artists Matt Siren, El Celso, and JM Rizzi in 2008. Each of these Artists went on to be featured once again on the Project Space wall.) These outdoor murals were featured together indoors at “The Project Space Retrospective: 2008 - 2014” curated by Director John Woodward. Woodward Gallery then evolved their Project Space street level wall into a formal storefront exhibition gallery space.
Matt Siren & Darkcloud Summer 2008 Representing a true renaissance in urban art, these emerging artists surface from a subculture ruled by self-directed codes and complicated by its delight in youthful mayhem. They tag with their icons consuming the urban landscape with colorful enthusiasm; reveling in an ability to seep into and subvert the hyperkinetic visual surroundings most passersby take for granted. Matt Siren’s bold Ghost Girl image is characterized by black hair with bangs and a sweet round face. Her look is unassuming and Lolita-like. She is designed to pull the viewer in, like the bold image emblazoned on a magazine cover. He manipulates the environment around the girl to challenge her in bright new settings. Darkcloud’s rainy-cloud symbol elicits a feeling vaguely ominous. Thickly painted, oozing and unnatural, his clouds hover over doorways, on advertisements, and challenge protocol on street signs that once read: yield, stop, and obey.
JM Rizzi “Chinese New Year� September - November 2008 JM Rizzi, or better known as JMR, has adapted a unique mixture of neo-abstract expressionism with hints of contemporary pop to create a style all is own. Originally hailing from Brooklyn, New York, JMR has grown up with the influences of street art and the established art world constantly around him. Through his own individual, hybrid street style, he has dedicated himself to helping art fit into the outside world.
Terence Netter “Peace Joy Love Hope � December 2008 Terence Netter was raised in Bronxville, NY, after graduating from Georgetown Prep he entered the Jesuit Order. In 1965 Terry earned an MFA from George Washington University. He was Appointed Assistant Professor of Art and Philosophy at Fordham University in 1966. In 1967 he joined the Frank Rehn Gallery on Madison Avenue where he had several exhibitions. In 1968 he petitioned for and received Papal Permission from his religious vows to leave the Jesuit Order. Shortly thereafter he married. His second one man exhibit in New York City was held during that month. There after Netter continued to exhibit his work around the country. In 1979 his experience as an art educator lead him to the become the founding Director of the newly built Fine Arts Center at The State University of New York at Stony Brook, a position he held for eighteen years. In May of 2013, Terence Netter was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by the University of Stony Brook for his work in establishing the Staller Center as the major showcase for the arts that it is today and also for his work in establishing the Pollack-Krasner House and Study Center as part of Stony Brook University. Mr. Netter resided in Setauket, New York and St. Georges-Sur-Cher, France where most of the paintings exhibited at Gallery North were created.
LAII “Stop the War” January - February 2009 Excerpt from The Village Voice, “Haring’s Silent Partner,” by Colin Moynihan “...From 1980 until 1986, Haring and Angel Ortiz (LA II) met often in the Broome Street studio, painting and drawing for up to 15 hours at a stretch on both canvas and urban detritus like statues, urns, and pieces of metal. The partnership was recognized by both artists to be an equal one, Ortiz says, because their artistic styles complemented each other. Ortiz’s calligraphic, interlocking lines vitalized and filled out negative space between Haring’s cleanly drawn shapes. And while Haring was older and far cannier, the energy of Ortiz’s graffiti-like markings brought freshness and street credibility to his work. The association was important personally as well as artistically, particularly to Ortiz, who had never experienced life outside the Lower East Side before meeting Haring. He left school at the age
of 16 to create art full-time and was thrilled to receive attention from artists and collectors around the world. The two formed a strong relationship, which Haring likened to that of an older and younger brother. Haring invited Ortiz to clubs like Roxy and the Pyramid, where the young artist met Andy Warhol and Boy George. Ortiz took Haring to a Brooklyn train yard where they spray-painted subway cars. Even after the collaboration ended, as Haring’s increasing renown led him to concentrate on solo work, the two remained friendly....”
Sonne Hernandez “The Revolution Will Be Televised” March - May 2009 Our relationship to screens - televisions, gaming units, mobile phones and computers - informs our understanding of the world. The blurred lines of the screen exist as visual metaphor for the gaps between sensationalized media and reality. The “truth of the moment” inherent in our understanding of the photographic medium (i.e. the camera doesn’t lie) is packaged with compressed bites of information, and our perception of reality is siphoned through this mediated system. The lines of the screen are a physical and visual typo that demarcate the sight of the eyes from the passive glow of the screen. Immersed in media culture, the revolution will be televised and witnessed through the flattened plane of the screen.
Lady Pink “Pink Brick Woman Reclining” June - August 2009 Lady Pink was born in Ecuador, but raised in NYC. In 1979 she started writing graffiti and soon was well known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. She is considered a cult figure in the hiphop subculture since the release of the motion picture “Wild Style” in 1982, in which she had a starring role. While still in high school she was already exhibiting paintings in art galleries, and at the age of 21 had her first solo show at the Moore College of Art. As a leading participant in the rise of graffiti-based art, Lady Pink’s canvases have entered important art collections such as those of the Whitney Museum, the MET in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum and the Groningen Museum of Holland. She has established herself in the fine arts world, and her paintings are highly prized by collectors. Today, Lady Pink continues to create new paintings on canvas that express her unique personal vision. She also shares her 30 years of experience by holding mural workshops with teens and actively lecturing college students throughout the Northeast.
Royce Bannon “Conversation with Monsters� September - October 2009 Royce is an integral member of The Endless Love Crew, a street-art collective and has participated in various live painting events, group and solo exhibits throughout New York and Europe. Royce Bannon identifies with his monster character and enjoys the interaction between the public and his message. Where monsters commonly evoke scary, menacing or evil reproachfulness, his are neither unnatural or grotesque. Royce shrewdly diverges from what is expected- his monster tags are colorful and emotive, prompting familiarity and accessibility. Currently, Royce is the art director for Diamond Headz NYC, a new clothing line promoting the life and culture of socially conscious city kids.
Michael De Feo “New Territories” November - December 2009 Woodward Gallery Project Space features an extension of Artist Michael De Feo’s acclaimed self-portrait series. Painting on antique maps relate to his urban play between spontaneity and structure, universal patterns in nature and how the world is connected. Most recently, De Feo’s urban portrait installations have been seen in Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Miami, and New York. A professional artist for 17 years, Michael De Feo may be best identified for his ubiquitous flower image. Not limited to the streets as his canvas, his work has also appeared in galleries and museums around the world including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; MASS MoCA; Museo de Arte, Puerto Rico; The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY; the A3 Art Fair, Paris; Manifesta 7, Trento/Trentino, Italy; The National Gallery, Bangladesh…
Stikman “Double Vision” January - February 2010 The man on a wire image comes from the precarious nature of modern economic reality. The first large scale installation of the image was of the man on a wire that was stretched between two stacks of demolition debris. He was surrounded by a mass of falling figures that were reflective on one side and black on the reverse. There have been many paste-ups installed using the man (made of maps) on a line (wire) between two verticals. Since the early 1990’s the artist behind these images has been exploring the realm of a mysterious man made out of sticks and pressed into a soft clay tablet. The basic elements of the original stikman continue to reveal themselves in ever changing forms. Some observers claim to see shamanistic qualities in these feral glyphs and votives. The figures populate the urban environment with their endless repetition and variation, embellishing the ordinary streetscape while revealing the consequences of the physical world’s forces on an idea. They become alive in the natural cycles that grind them out of existence as we observe their deterioration day after day. Stikman is a self taught artist. The first stikman wooden figures began appearing on urban streets as early as 1991 and with a strong, continuous presence ever since. There have been thousands of stikman images placed in US cities and towns as metaphor for the fragility of human life.
El Celso “Sardana” March - May 2010 El Celso is featured this Spring on the Woodward Gallery Project Space. Inspired by Matisse’s La Danse, this street artist offers his interpretation of the peasant dance in France. El Celso’s spray enamel and acrylic panels represent liberating motions as ancient as the Sardana dance itself. Within it’s simplicity, boundless energy is discovered. The Art Newspaper described El Celso’s most recent show, “Art Burn,” an International contemporary art expo & immolation, as a “bonfire of the art vanities” and the Miami Herald declared it “a funky Basel sideshow.” The New York Times described his previous exhibition, “Post No Bills,” a street art gallery installation in Long Island City as “audacious.” The Brooklyn Rail describes El Celso as “a street artist with a taste for experimentation, a knack for making things happen and a predilection for drawing colorful naked women.” The Artist was born in Newark, New Jersey. He lives and works in Manhattan and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. El Celso’s work is featured in numerous publications, street art books, web sites and blogs.
FARO “Mood Swingz” June - August 2010 FARO is New York City graffiti/street artist, illustrator, painter & photographer. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, he moved to the USA at age 15 to attend school. While his father worked as a journalist in the United Nations, FARO took off with his friends to skateboard and attend heavy metal shows in the city. Over the last five years New York City has been FARO’s playground. With a distinct Mummy trademark, he has steadily been working his way up the ranks of street art. FARO created the iconic Mummy out of a love for drawing characters. His icon has taken on metaphorical significance; it is a reflection of his Egyptian nationality and takes on a playful appearance, mimicking cross-culture ironies and social issues. FARO’s steadily gaining exposure both on and off the streets. His work has been shown in prominent gallery exhibitions and was featured in “Bombin’” magazine (March, 2008). He has also created artwork for bands such as Ninja Sonik, Japanther and Horse the Band.
Kenji Nakayama “Brooklyn� September - January 2010 Kenji Nakayama is an artist originally from Hokkaido, Japan. He got involved with street art to document his surrounding environment and as a method to capture significant moments in his daily life. His elaborate process involves crafting original, hand-cut multi layer stencils which become one complete image when illuminated with colorful spray enamel. This deeply personal technique serves as a diary from start to finish. Kenji currently works and resides in Boston, Massachusetts. His hand cut stencil work was exhibited in a his self-titled solo show at Woodward Gallery in May 2012. Kenji has also exhibited around the world in various group and solo shows.
Cycle “Forest Spirit” February - May 2010 CYCLE grew up in rural Connecticut very close to nature. He remembers being young and curious about the woods and animals directly out his back window. He knew NYC was a playground full of adventure, but felt a connection with the nature he was familiar with. It didn’t take long before the urban landscape became his new back yard. The greens of a thick tree, spring woods was replaced by the grays of concrete and the damp rusty smell of the subways. “I find the juxtaposition between the graffiti of the urban setting and elements of nature such as animals to be a fascinating combination. They seem diametrically opposite of each other, but both have influenced me to be the person I am today. With Forest Spirit, I try to once again to explore this contradiction.” CYCLE received a BFA from George Washington University in Washington, DC and a Masters Degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. He has been featured in galleries in NYC, Washington, DC, LA, San Francisco and Paris, as well as at the prestigious, Art Basel, Miami fair. He has done exterior murals and installations in New York, San Francisco and Miami. CYCLE has been commissioned by Kid Robot, Think Skateboards, and Disney XD for projects. CYCLE’s work has also been profiled in publications: Juxtapoz, Mass Appeal, Complex, and Time Out, New York and is illustrated in numerous books on street art. CYCLE currently lives and works in New York City. Museum in Aachen, Germany. Daze continues to live and work in New York City.
UR New York “Eye of the Beholder” February - May 2011 Mike Baca, aka 2ESAE, and Fernando Romero, aka SKI, are a New York based artist collaborative team known as UR New York. 2ESAE and SKI spent years painting the streets before forming the collective UR New York based on the philosophy of creation from destruction– transforming the illegal graffiti perception into positive urban art. 2ESAE and SKI work collaboratively challenging each other to become better individuals, and more creative talents. Each adds not only a long history of graffiti experience, but also different styles, tools and creative elements to their process. As a result 2ESAE and SKI have developed a trusting bond, which identifies them from singular urban artists. “Eye of the Beholder” is a montage of cities across the world and a special presentation for the LES of New York. UR New York have exhibited work in U.S. and international venues including the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, VH1, Sundance Film Festival 2007, Israel, Vienna and Australia. Aside from creating and selling art, they give back to the community with motivational speaking at elementary and high schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey. They offer hope to inspire and support children’s artistic dreams. As a collective, they strive to work together creating, showcasing, and educating about the urban art world. Their highly respected unified vision is an exemplary force to be followed.
Chris DAZE Ellis “Taxi Ride Uptown” June - Sepember 2011 Chris Daze Ellis began his prolific career painting the gritty New York subways in the mid-1970’s while attending the High School of Art & Design. He is one of the few artists from that period to make the successful transition from the subways to the studio. Exhibiting alongside Artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, in the now legendary group show “Beyond Words” at the Mudd Clubb in 1981, Daze sold his first painting, an impromptu collaboration with Basquiat. Daze’s premiere solo show was held a year later in 1982 at Fashion Moda, a gallery in the Bronx. Since then he has had countless solo exhibitions around the world. His work has been included in numerous group shows and museum surveys internationally as well. Alongside these museum and gallery exhibitions Daze has also completed many public art projects and art lectures over the years. Daze’s paintings have found themselves in the private collections of Madonna and Eric Clapton among others.
MOODY “Products” November - December 2011 “Moody: Products” featured on the Woodward Gallery Project Space clearly demonstrates the artist’s wit and original artistic direction. Mutz, aka, Moody, started to make his mark in the graffiti world in the late ‘80’s smashing the streets of Brooklyn, New York and continuing on to the other four surrounding boroughs. After ten years of writing “Mutz”, he started to attract much attention from other writers---and policing vandal squads. In 2000, Mutz decided to redefine his focus and created the alias “Moody”. He hit the street art scene with the same drive and passion as he did in his bombing career, now by plastering his patent sneaker “M” logo from New York to Japan! On January 4, 2012 the “Absolute Addict” panel was stolen from the Project Space by an unknown thief. The story was included in several local news stations and listed in the IFAR Stolen Art Alert. Shortly after the theft MOODY created a second version of the panel to once again complete the set.
Ka “Welcome to New York” January - February 2012 Born in Queens, New York, Ka’s work is heavily influenced by his environment. He has been in the graffiti game since the 80’s. Ka has developed as an artist to incorporate natural elements with movement and depth into his urban compositions. The organic texture and dimension of Ka’s art, sets his imagery apart making it instantly recognizable. In addition to the street art and more formal gallery exhibitions, Ka has been involved in successful graphic projects creating and designing t-shirts, company logos and stickers. Though he has been featured in numerous gallery shows, Ka still is very much inspired by the urban experience; getting his work out in the streets is important to him as a graffiti writer. Ka’s “Welcome to New York City” mural is a beacon on Eldridge Street compelling the public that this is where the action is.
SKEWVILLE “Not On Sale” March - April, 2012 Skewville is an art collective consisting of two twin brothers born and raised in Queens, NY. The term Skewville has many meanings, referring to the warped structure of the home Ad & twin brother, Droo lived in 1996, as well as to the twins’ crooked sense. Skewville is most known for its public art, the most popular example being their hand made wooden sneakers that they have been tossing over telephones lines and documenting since 1999. Since then thousands have been silkscreened, hand cut. drilled, laced, and then tossed all around the globe.
Darkcloud & David Pappaceno “Raining on Your Plaid Parade” May - July 2012 Artist David Pappaceno was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1975. He attended Boston University majoring in art and athletics. Pappaceno was wrestling on the varsity level throughout his college studies while refining his skills in fine art and design. David moved to Brooklyn in 2006 where he currently lives and works. Pappaceno considered the conceptual blue collar workers when he first conceived of his painted plaid design several years ago. He equated plaid as a more traditional, average working class pattern–more of something for every man. As a design element, Pappaceno found great inspiration for his plaid from artists like Josef Albers who developed spatial perception within a pattern. Pappaceno uses bold bright colors and a specific width of the plaid lines to compliment the current collaborative painted mural with Darkcloud. Darkcloud’s imagery has been a constant staple in the urban art scene since 2003. His work can be seen all over NYC, as well as adorning surfaces in various other cities and countries. The dark drippy, iconic repetition metaphorically represents the angst that is always a part of us. His cloudlike image serves as a visual reminder of the things in our lives we are unable to escape. Darkcloud has been exhibiting with Woodward Gallery since his acclaimed 2008 “Street Language” Exhibition. Darkcloud and Pappaceno’s new conceptual mural subtly accentuates the positive and negative aspects of our time.
Cassius Fouler “Visions Scmisions, All Damn Day” August - September 2012 Cassius Fouler is a painter, illustrator, architect, and graffiti artist based in New York City. Fouler’s fine art documents the American urban experience using simple iconography and colloquialisms (those often based on the New York Metropolitan area). With a background in architecture Fouler stresses function and narrative in his art. Through his graffiti work, Fouler sees his work in the street bridge the gap between the naive disenfranchised hooligan graffiti kid and the pretentious overzealous contemporary gallery artist.
NOSEGO “Daily Spontaneous Excursions” October - November 2012 NOSEGO is a Philadelphia-based artist with a passion for illustration and media arts. He mixes fine art with a contemporary style to deliver highly energetic work. His designs feature an assemblage of patterns, vibrant colors and characters derived from his imagination and his surrounding environment. In “Daily Spontaneous Excursions” NOSEGO is expressing an energenic feeling with elements of childhood nostalgia and features from daily inspirations. The Artist’s compositions are often inspired from what you would see when you look into a cluttered toy box and all the toys are overlapping and forming one unit.
MOODY “A Very Moody Christmas” December 2012 “A Very Moody Christmas” marks the second feature of Graffiti Artist MOODY on the Woodward Gallery Project Space. This holiday genre piece clearly demonstrates the artist’s wit and original artistic direction. Mutz, aka, Moody, started to make his mark in the graffiti world in the late ‘80’s smashing the streets of Brooklyn, New York and continuing on to the other four surrounding boroughs. Feeling the need to further progress his street brand, Moody began creating hand-cut, hand-painted wood “M” tags and installing them high over the streets of New York, as well as many venues across the country. From the streets of Bensonhurst to fine art gallery walls, Moody has achieved the respect of his peers and art patrons alike. Moody’s vision is in social response to our visual culture today.
KOSBE “Borrowed Time” January - February 2013 The outdoor urban environment is the ideal and most natural place for Kosbe’s work to be shown. His figures are left vulnerable and exposed. His art achieves a relationship with the public and reacts to the public with a soft freneticism. Kosbe gathers energy from his environment igniting the canvas with organized chaos. The Artist’s creative process involves a push-and-pull between subconscious and conscious gestures. Kosbe’s murals reflect the affinity between his art and his surroundings. Each must coexist lending to the organically dynamic and spontaneous expression within his original paintings. Maybe Kosbe has borrowed time in this life from masters of years past? His signature street art style has become increasingly more recognized. A finalist/winner of the Red Bull Canvas Cooler Project, Kosbe was chosen to represent NYC in Miami Basel, December 2012. Although never formally trained as a painter, his naïve vision has created a lasting indelible impression in our collective sights.
Thomas Buildmore “WHERE DO WE COME FROM WHAT ARE WE WHERE ARE WE GOING” March - April 2013 Artist Thomas Buildmore relates the title of his new mural to today’s state of contemporary painting and street art. Taking inspiration from old masters paintings, Buildmore consciously reconceives work with his colorful flare. It is the case with his new grand scale mural WHERE DO WE COME FROM WHAT ARE WE WHERE ARE WE GOING, that Buildmore uniquely defines references from the Impressionist style with contemporary materials. He deconstructs the formal elements of Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian women by remarkably maintaining the essence of the 19th century painting. Thomas Buildmore delivers an excitingly current and fresh relevance in this composition while expressing his own individualistic mythology.
NohJColey “Oh, Deception of Independence” May - June 2013 After an early interest in creating CD and DVD cover designs, NohJColey became highly fascinated with street art. He began by pasting 22x17 posters in public spaces throughout New York featuring graphic and textual commentary designed to change how individuals function in society. Following a period of disillusionment with the mechanical aspect of this approach, NohJ revisited his early love of fine art and returned to his work with a more nuanced and crafted aesthetic. Juxtapoz Magazine describes NohJColey as “…a New York beacon of a storytelling…” He expresses a surrealist tale for the viewer through imagery and text hoping they have gained something in return. “NohJ studies and presents the personal and the social throughout his work on the street and here also in the gallery. The webs of connective tissues that create a sense of equilibrium to seemingly disparate elements in the storytelling are metaphorical and visually (sometimes structurally) functional devices. Portraits of faces full of expression are anchors in a small universe of rotating objects, each signifiers of greater interrelated subplots and story lines.”- Brooklyn Street Art, September 2012.
Chris RWK “Those Summer Daze” July - August 2013 The founder of Robots Will Kill, Chris RWK, is a child of the 80’s. His world was often completely flooded with the imagery and ideas presented by television, comic books, and music and movies of the time. Immersed in these various mediums, Chris began to store the images brought forward through these everyday experiences in what he refers to as a “mental journal”. This journal was a haven of his thoughts that he could refer back to whenever necessary. Chris’ paintings frequently cite past conceptions of popular culture embedded in his psyche’s cache. Chris’ art frequently reveals everyday musings and people that one would pass on the street without looking or thinking about twice. Through the repetition of his familiar iconographic imagery, Chris offers a unique visual language allowing notions within his pieces to form the many stories to be elaborated as a viewer perceives his work. Chris from Robots Will Kill brings summer fun to the hot city streets in this exciting, new mural!
ICY & SOT “Peace Protest, dedicated to REEFA� September - October 2013 Brothers known as Icy and Sot are international stencil artists from Tabriz, Iran. Their public art addresses war, peace, hope, despair, society issues and human rights. Icy & Sot provide a positive, humanizing conceptual message contrary to what is expected from their worldly view. They continue on a creative crusade to dismantle pre-conceived perceptions of a fleeting Iranian tradition through the mastery of their striking and colorful stencil paintings. Since 2006, this Skater-Artist duo has made important strides in Iranian urban art culture. With exhibitions throughout the world and public art on the streets of Iran, Turkey, Paris, San Francisco and New York, Icy and Sot have gained international recognition from the press and a wide multicultural following. Now as American residents, we look forward to a future of great projects conceived by this talented Iranian import!
ROBERT JANZ “GHOST ROCK MOUNTAIN” November - December 2013 “Variations on ancestral glyphic art, echoes of our origins : active meditations on transience, exercises on emptiness” - Robert Janz 80 Year old Robert Janz has travelled extensively throughout the world painting what needs to be painted. He has placed his “glyfitti” (a term he has coined) primitive, ancient and contemporary forms most recently all around Tribeca and SoHo garnering the enthusiastic attention from local press. Woodward Gallery is delighted to exhibit Artist Robert Janz on the Project Space for November and December 2013. …Robert is not an active participant in either graffiti culture or the streetart movement. He’s a completely original artist taking risks to share his work and enliven the city…” -12ozProphet, Martha Cooper, March 2013
Diana Garcia & Gabriel Specter “Sin Nombre” January - February 2014 Diana Garcia was born in Monterrey, México in 1982. She is a fine artist and accomplished actress now based in California. Garcia uses line drawing, inspired by the human figure and fantastical, animal amalgams. Her multi-perspective approach to representing the human body and unconventional combinations of animals all point to an appreciation of form, both external and internal. They articulate a beauty that is dark, whimsical, and elegantly streamlined. Diana Garcia’s street art projects have been featured in Mexico City, Austin, NYC and LA Gabriel Specter is a Brooklyn-based artist internationally recognized for his vast vocabulary of styles, subject matter and techniques which skew the expected and create a simplified visual language. Specter takes an anthropological approach to his work by contextualizing and recording the mundane and marginalized aspects of our lives. In doing so, he is able to find common language in the everyday and adapt to new environments with ease. His works have been featured in Tokyo, London, Paris, Rome and St. Petersburg.
L’Amour Supreme “Ghost Crypt” March - April 2014 Discovered as a teen by the seminal skateboard/punk rock/heavy metal graphic designer Pushead, L’Amour Supreme has reinterpreted decades of comic books, action figures and monster movie references and twisted them into his own lexicon of 21st century hyper-pop imagery. He continually created genre challenging work for brands as Mishka, Nike, Fools Gold, Nickelodeon as well as doing visual animation for Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz tour.
BLUdog “JustUs League” May - June 2014 NYC’s BluDog10003 considers himself a furry, four legged adhesive artist who believes sticker bombing is a much more hygienic form of marking his territory than what his instinct dictates. BluDog’s work includes dozens of public sticker campaigns in cities and towns on five continents. His work both reflects and respects the environment it is found in. Blu explores his obsession with the power of symbols and the natural deterioration of them using creative materials, reclaimed items and a little ingenuity. Although his imagery often addresses complex social issues, it remains true to the whimsical nature of stickers with bright colors and simple iconic images. BluDog’s work is featured in the definitive sticker-art book,“Stickers: Stuck-Up Piece of Crap: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art”, published by Rizzoli NY. The “JustUs League Revealed” is an assembly of several members of Blu’s Cru that all reside inside his often crowded head. Stay up, stay rising!
City Kitty “Early Bird; Deep Thought; Two Tone; Bump It” June - August 2014 This body of work stems from encounters with the unique NYC people and beings. City Kitty’s keen observation plays a big role in creating signature iconic caricatures of the ordinary. He pays homage to the everyday oddities that make NYC an unforgettable place. Born in 1982, Artist City Kitty lives and works in New York City.
Taek & Ozmr “Five After Meridian” September – October 2014 Taek and Ozmr are two creative artists reigning from Queens who are breaking barriers with their meticulous designs. A current project relying on their graphic and advertising experience and has been the subject of much attention. Compelled to bring street art into popular culture, they have altered ads with their own imagery to appear in Bus Stop Shelters.
Cali Killa “Beware Hipsters” November – December 2014 Cali Killa is a nationwide and internationally known visual artist from Los Angeles. He primarily works in the urban environments of Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston and New York. His bi-coastal exposure blended with pop culture, fashion, music and historical relevance sets him apart from other artists. Cali Killa is best known for his various stencil images, especially “Beware Hipsters.” In addition, his art has been recognized and published by The New York Times, acclaimed Author Hank O’Neil “Ex-CIA: Street Art Project” (May 2012), “Stay up!: Los Angeles Street Art” (December 2012), and Los Angeles Magazine (July 2011 edition). Cali Killa was chosen by Red Bull to participate in the 2014 Los Angeles Canvas Cooler Event.
Sweet Toof “Chomps” January – February 2015 Woodward Gallery Project Space features acclaimed street artist Sweet Toof with his signature street mural. Known throughout London for his prolific street projects, this British native “cuts his teeth” in NYC with grinning flare. Sweet Toof ’s paintings are a masterful blend of urban detritus with bygone decadence. Fusing ancient methods with modern materials, Sweet Toof ’s imagery combines layers of historical and current cultural references to create unconventional, iconoclastic art that is a fine dichotomy of traditional and contemporary styles.
BK FOXX “Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel” March – April 2015 BK FOXX works in a realist style inspired from the shape and surface onto which she is painting. BK is a real mammal enthusiast pulling from surrounding nature and transforming it into a public street interaction of human verses mammal. This recent mural titled “Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel” was created as a role reversal to remind the passersby they are not the only creatures with a keen awareness of their environment. It is through this street and art interaction that BK FOXX aims to intrigue viewers opening a universal visual dialogue.
Brad Robson “Urban Screams� 2015 - 2016 Woodward Gallery is proud to feature Australian Artist Brad Robson at the following locations this Summer Season: The Pool Room Mezzanine of the historic Four Seasons Restaurant at 99 East 52nd Street with large scale urban-scene canvases; with a 15 foot new mural on the Woodward Gallery Project Space at 132A Eldridge Street; and with food paintings at Gourmet Garage, SoHo Windows 24/7 located at 489 Broome Street, NYC. Brad Robson was born and currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Robson started on a graphic designer trek at the age of 19 years. He is a self taught fine artist who developed his technique as he completed studies in Graphic Design and Advertising. Robson became a teacher on Album Sleeve Designs for a college in Sydney while continuously pursing his painting career. The city, as a representation of vitality and space, galvanized his inspiration to paint with colorful abstracted forms. In 2011, Robson completed a residency in Illustration and Visual Storytelling at the famed School of Visual Arts in NYC. In 2013, Robson had his premiere solo exhibition at the Berlin Collective in Manhattan. Since then, he caught the eye of Director John Woodward and is featured in three simultaneous New York City solo exhibitions.
Jamie Hewlett “Suggestionists” May - August 2016 International Artist, Designer and Co-Founder of the Gorillaz band, Jamie Hewlett’s his premier USA exhibition. Jamie Hewlett’s idiosyncratic, breathtaking interpretation of the world of tarotica was concurrently shared on the Woodward Project Space during the Artist’s solo Gallery exhibition, The Suggestionists. Extrapolating from magic realist Chilean art film auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky’s reconstruction of the original Tarot de Marseille – which he considers the one true Tarot – Hewlett has produced 22 larger than life Tarot cards, reconciling Jodorowsky’s uniquely psychoshamanic sensibilities with his own distinct stylistic signature. In Hewlett’s playful, beautifully rendered appropriation, familiar looking creatures clamber over “La Roue De Fortune”, the finely detailed expressions of the characters in “L’Amoureux” belie the romantic dilemma the young man faces, a trademark monkey even replaces the traditional dog in “Le Mat”; it’s a welcome intrusion of sly absurdity into the arcane and divine.
Woodward Gallery E s ta b l i s h e d 1 9 9 4
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