Monday, February 28, 2011

March 2011 Announcement: Ben EINE & Yumiko Kayukawa

Opening Saturday, March 12, 2011:

  White Walls gallery is pleased to present, 'GREATEST' a solo exhibition by London-based artist, Ben Flynn a.k.a. EINE. The opening reception for 'GREATEST' will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2011 from 7-11 PM. The exhibition will be on view from March 12, to April 2, 2011 and is free and open to the public.

White Walls Presents:
GREATEST
New Works by EINE
For more information or images please inquire here.

"A To Z San Francisco Font (Red)", Spray Paint Stencil with Glitter on Canvas, 40x40"

'GREATEST' is an art exhibition by the artist, Ben EINE, that will utilize both gallery and public space as a two-tiered platform for the artist’s visual expression. EINE'S work is a large-scale study of the shape and structure of the 26 letters found in the modern English alphabet in varied typefaces, color configurations and word arrangements. In the public spaces of San Francisco, EINE will be painting each letter of the alphabet on various walls around the city. A further ten canvases of his work using spray paint, acrylic, and glitter will be on display at White Walls gallery.

In an effort to engage the community through the creation of public artwork, EINE will be painting the entire alphabet throughout the city of San Francisco over the course of several weeks on walls and shutters. This public execution of street art aims to offer viewers a more participatory role in the observation and evaluation of artistic creation. All members of the community from collectors and appreciators to first-time viewers are invited to partake in the dynamic program of events that surround this ambitious undertaking. White Walls gallery will be producing a schedule of live installations, a continually updated map of works as they appear around the city, a public artist talk, and an evening of film screenings related to EINE'S art.

Rooted in the subcultural practice of graffiti, EINE moved into the more socially acceptable expression of street art in the early 2000s as a way to become a full time artist creating public works that were perceived as more legitimate. However, his fundamental art practice has essentially remained the same--he continues to paint words and letters on walls on the street. Letters either appear alone, on shutter fronts, or as words on walls such as 'scary', 'vandalism', and 'monsters' rendered in bright and amiable colors. In this way he turns negative words into positive ones. The contrast of jovial shapes and colors with dark sentiment is also a tongue-and cheek nod to the artist’s furtive and taboo origins as a graffiti writer.

The street art component of 'GREATEST' is complimented by a selection of works to be displayed inside the gallery. These works are part of EINE’s continual exploration of letters and words as his quintessential format for aesthetic inquiry. EINE’s studio process involves a layering of stencils onto the primed and painted canvas. Re- envisioning basic Victorian typographical structure, he begins with vintage hand-printed wood block fonts, reworking and refining them until he is inspired to cut the final stencil. This working methodology marks the continual evolution of the font by the artist’s hand.

In the early 2000s, EINE began a symbiotic collaboration with the street artist, Banksy. The artists worked and exhibited together for several years traveling to Australia, Berlin, Vienna and Denmark where Gallery V1 held the Banksy vs. EINE show in 2003. EINE also collaborated with Banksy on the famous Palestinian Wall project. In 2010 the Prime Minister David Cameron presented President Barack Obama with a piece of EINE’s work as a gift. This diplomatic exchange between the world powers catapulted EINE’s work into the limelight on both sides of the Atlantic. GREATEST will be EINE’s first show in the US since his work was given to President Obama.


Shooting Gallery Presents:
Rock You In A Tatami Room
New Works by Yumiko Kayukawa

For more information or images please inquire here.

 
"Pink", Acrylic and Ink on Canvas, 24x16"

The Shooting Gallery is pleased to present, Rock You in a Tatami Room, a solo exhibition by Seattle-based Japanese artist, Yumiko Kayukawa. This new collection of works will continue the artist’s affinity for fusing pop culture iconography such as western fashion and rock and roll with varying aspects of traditional Japanese culture. The exhibition will be her seventh solo show at the Shooting Gallery and will be comprised of her signature acrylic and ink on canvas works.

Filled with conflicting realities of pop culture, traditional Japanese aesthetics and cultural traditions, Yumiko Kayukawa’s Rock You in a Tatami Room presents a varied collection of themes representing a confluence of personal narrative, whimsical imagination and contemporary life. The acrylic and ink-based works are explosions of dynamic color and surrealist narratives where empowered females navigate the intricacies of modern life. Kayukawa’s subjects are youthful Japanese heroines in contemporary settings often surrounded by an entourage of displaced wildlife such as bears, wolves, bunnies and deer. By coalescing polar binaries such as nature/urbanity and the primal/the refined, her work intertwines and extends the relationship of femininity, nature, and modernity.

The show’s eponymous painting, Rock You in a Tatami Room, exhibits Kayukawa’s trademark style, a collision of seemingly disparate elements: young girls, rock and roll, and wild animals. An amalgamation of cultural references such as the animist aspects of Shinto and Japanese folklore, the tones and pallet of Ukiyo-e, the defined lines of Manga, and the topical content of Anime. Nostalgia for Japanese culture is further explored in a piece entitled New World, where a girl stands at the ruins of a post-apocalyptic scene. Inspired by Japan’s suffering after World War II and its successful recovery from devastation, Kayukawa creates a symbolic message of hope--that the world will recover from the current worldwide economic devastation as Japan did when it successfully rebuilt the country’s economy and infrastructure in the post-World War II era.

Yumiko Kayukawa (b.1970) was born and raised in the small town of Naie on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido where she graduated from the Hokkaido College of Art and Design. Kayukawa moved to the United States over 10 years ago to pursue her life as an artist.  She has since shown her work at Joshua Liner Gallery, New York City; La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles; and M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs. Group exhibitions include: The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful (with Niagara), Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester, England (2008); Tag of War, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC (2007); We’ll Make a Lover of You, Miami Art Center/Art Basel Miami Beach (2006); and Beast From The East (with Moira Hahn), Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle (2005).


 
If you missed our February shows, see the full online exhibition catalogs
for Linear Empires, Into Passing, and 941 Geary's show Belle of the Brawl works by Jesse Hazelip. We look forward to seeing you
at the galleries!

White Walls Gallery

835 Larkin St, San Francisco 94109

415-931-1500
http://whitewallssf.com


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