Collisions Zine Released

    One of my ongoing personal projects these past few years has been the Collisions series. These photos document simple graphic BW patterns illegally installed into outdoor advertising around the world. On the street, the patterns are intended to grab a viewers attention with an image that has little reference to advertising and is hard to interpret as anything other than an interruption. I am interested in viewers thinking about the act of disobedience, the space around the advertisement, the frame that holds it. I want to create a small amount of room for radical imaginaries to blossom and allow utopian visions to tumble out of simple disruptions of reality.

"In elaborating and image of the future, utopian thought also generates a viewpoint from which the present becomes open to critique."

   I choose the Collisions locations very carefully to create strong, well balanced photographs of the city. I want viewers of the photographs to be able to come back to the imagery over and over again.  I want them to be meditative and an opportunity for believers to renew thier belief.

For those that only see the documentation, the images can be anemic. Proof of the politics that took place on the street isnt immediately recognizable. But hidden within the image itself is a digital video of the street installation viewable through an augmented reality mobile app. In this way the photographs take thier creative politics with them wherever they go, and for me remain charged objects.

  Last year I decided to take the first 15 images from the Collisions series and put them in a small Zine/Booklet. It is a beautiful little signed edition of 400. Three essays by Jeff Ferrell, Thomas Dekeyser, and Carlo McCormick give the imagery unique context and insight. Thier thoughts give credence to the idea that our role as individuals is to push on the margins and expand our collective understanding of the world around us.

Get a copy of this first Collisions Zine [HERE]

Civilian Exhibition at HLP

My first solo exhibition with Harlan Levey Projects was titled Civilian, and ran from November 16th to December 27th, 2017. A confluence of events afforded me some extra installation time which I used to prototype a sculptural piece that had been in the back of my mind. I think it really helped the installation and I look forward to creating more sculptural works in the future.

The front room consisted of 3, floor to ceiling, wheatpasted Collisions images. Each of these images augmented which brought you into the public where so much of my work takes place or originates. Below you were 22 bus shelter advertisements taken from the streets of Brussels over the course of a week. The advertisement was for Prima Donna, a women's lingerie company.

In the next room were 4 Labor pieces, 1 large Titan Smash piece, and the aforementioned sculpture which I titled 115 Fluorescent Tubes. Each of these pieces required me to steal advertising infrastructure. The most subtle works were the Labor series which start with me taking the plexiglass that normally lies behind outdoor advertising and which diffuses the fluorescent lights into an even illumination. These pieces of plexiglass are meticulously cleaned and then sanded to take on the appearance of soft marble. I then also take selected advertisements and paint out all of the text leaving only the image or product behind. The sanded plexiglass sheets are then placed on top of the image, one after another, until the image is almost illegible, leaving only the faintest trace for you to decipher.

In contrast to that work was the Titan Smash work which is made by stealing the Titan signs which adorn most NYC phonebooths to label to company who owns the booth. These signs are then smashed, reassembled, and cased in resin so that the sharp edges of the signs protrude from the frames. With all five parts, the piece stood a little over 8' x 4'.

And last was the prototype work that I created on site by removing 115 fluorescent lights from over 40 outdoor advertising locations around Brussels. Over the course of 3 days I carefully walked circles out from the gallery and back along a different path collecting bulbs along the way. Placed on a small stand and middle column that held the ballasts and wiring, the lights were wrapped in black furniture bands and simply stood upright in the gallery. The inner 12 bulbs were illuminated so that the bundle glowed from within.

For me the back room, and in particular the 115 fluorescent light's sculpture excited me as an artist. Had I made the sculpture using purchased materials, it would have been a nice lamp, but having taken the lights without permission I had transformed them into objects that could warrant conversation and dialogue. It was like small alchemy and one of the first pieces that I think is truly whole.

Read a review of the exhibition [HERE]

ART FIGHTING CONSUMERISM - CREATING IN AD PLACES

VIA: Virtute

In a neoliberal world dictated by the cult of the image and the fantasies it generates, how can one escape the visual pollution? Advertising, inherent in consumerism, saturates our gaze, our existence. More and more collectives, associations, tend to be interested in the visual nuisance. How to end a public space punctuated by advertising? How to integrate art in the streets? To denounce the discomfort of a sleeping society is the characteristic of these protestors.

More [HERE]

Collisions Exhibition June 15th 6-9PM Openwalls Gallery

I am very happy to announce that I will be exhibiting the entire Collisions series on June 15th at Openwalls Gallery in Berlin. This ongoing series has been in the making for the past 2 years and includes 15 photographs, each with an augmented reality component. Along side the photographs there will be a small a small amount of ephemera and a beautifully conceived essay by Thomas Dekeyser. Please join us between 6-9pm for the opening reception.

 Collisions: Underground, 2016

 Collisions: Carry On, 2017

I wrote the following Hyperallergic article about the recent Subvertisers International week of action. The text was inspired by Luna Park's amazing photos of the NYC portion of the international event. Luna is the only photographer I know going out of her way to point her camera at the subvertising/ad-takeover movement. I cannot thank her enough for her continued interest in the political nature of the work and our sincere attempts to bring this small but significant issue to the forefront of our collective consciousness. I think she, like many other public/street/graffiti artists, see the value in having a public space that feels rich with voices and is worth diving into headlong with your eyes wide open.

Since this article is short, it talks a big game while leaving a lot to be said another time. One day I will try to write a long form essay that delves deeper into the many issues surrounding this work, its history, intention, and efficacy. Until then please enjoy this attempt to quickly put some perspective in place.

VIA: Hyperallergic

More [HERE]