The Gold Coast Arts Center celebrates Graffiti & Beyond, an intriguing exhibition of work by international and American artists from different backgrounds and stages in their careers, working in various styles whose roots began in graffiti art.
Since hip-hop and graffiti emerged as an art form in the early ’70s, this movement has grown into a global phenomenon, driving innovations in music, fashion, technology and the visual and performing arts. The opening reception will take place on Sunday, June 4 from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Gold Coast Arts Center in Great Neck.
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop, the exhibition Graffiti and Beyond captures the extraordinary influence street art has had on contemporary art.
Works by artists in this exhibition help us to understand the evolution of graffiti. Although the artists are known as “graf writers” and have strong roots in graffiti art, the works of art on view defy the rules. With a tremendous sense of movement and color, compositions combine freestyle and hand-painted aesthetics.
Graffiti and Beyond is an intriguing exhibition of work by artists from different backgrounds and stages in their careers. Artists featured in this exhibit are:
Lenny Achan was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1976. Achan believes that art in all forms is a powerful vehicle for disruptive innovation and his work exists to influence the positive change of mental models in the world today.
His work takes complex relationships between nature, mathematics, and our visual sense, and translates them into simple messages that are more easily understood. He focuses on socioeconomic, political and cultural issues, and his art achieves connectivity to wide spectrum audiences by camouflaging self-taught mixed media techniques of street and graffiti art to develop contemporary fine art pieces.
Véronique Barrillot was born in 1969 in Lyon, France. In 2012, she switched careers from the corporate to the art world. 2015 was a pivotal year for her as she began to develop her remarkable ability to work on two images simultaneously within a single painting.
As an example, in her process known as Double Vision, she is able to paint a picture of Salvador Dali and Abraham Lincoln combining them as a single image, where you can see one image close up and another at a distance. She is the only artist currently working in this technique.
Chris RWK paintings frequently cite past conceptions of popular culture embedded in his psyche’s cache. Drawing influences from his childhood derived from nostalgic pop culture, ChrisRWK’s work creates a sense of familiarity from the initial form and the coloring to the personality of his artwork and characters.
ChrisRWK’s works frequently reveal everyday musings and people that one might pass by without a second glance.
Crash is a graffiti artist best known for his three-dimensional representation of lettering. Born John Matos in the Bronx he began spray painting on subway trains in his early teens, working alongside other pioneering American Graffiti artists. He has completed several public commissions, including the design of the Spectacolor Billboard in Times Square in 1981, and mural installations for the Musee d’art Moderne de la Villa de Paris in 1984.
Luis “Zimad” Lamboy began his career in the late 1970s as a graffiti and street artist, which has heavily influenced his style and global brand. As a self-taught artist, he began to combine his skills with formal training in design to develop the unique and contemporary style he is best known for today.
Today, his clients include many major brands such as Nike, MTV, Modello, Lions Gate Films, Jacob & Co. and State Farm as well as many private clients and celebrities. He has appeared in dozens of documentaries and has been interviewed and invited to participate in shows and projects all over the world.
Tats Cru, Inc. is a group of Bronx-based graffiti artists turned professional muralists. Tats Cru, aka “The Mural Kings”, started making their mark some four decades ago –– way before many understood the true impact they would have on Urban Culture.
In so many ways, this team of artists would redefine what it meant to be a part of life in New York City. The current members of TATS CRU are Bio, BG183, Nicer, Crash, Daze, HOW and NOSM. TATS CRU was founded by Brim, Bio, BG183 and Nicer. The artwork of Bio, BG183 and Nicer will be featured in this exhibition.
Graffiti & Beyond exhibition is curated by Gold Coast Arts Gallery Director Jude Amsel. For more information on this exhibition please visit https://goldcoastarts.org/art-gallery/graffiti-and-beyond/, or call (516) 829-2570. The Gold Coast Arts Center is located at 113 Middle Neck Road, in Great Neck, NY.
