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Tell Your Mom about Roa
Written by team member Margaret Boykin
So, I'll be honest- my mother doesn't know a lot about street art, and like most people who don't know a lot about street art, she tends to get very confused when she hears about my job at Factory Fresh. "I don't get it..." she asked me with a concerned frown, "if it's street art, how do you put it in a gallery?"
Her question, albeit irking, is a valid one. How do you translate a kind of art whose weight seems to exist symbiotically with its urban setting onto the white, uniform walls of a gallery? Where is street art's place within an art establishment, and how do you organize it in a traditional setting without losing its confrontational nature? Well, turns out Roa knows the answer, and it's very apparent in his first solo show at Factory Fresh, where he manages to harness the unique qualities of art found outside and bring them inside.
Roa's work is instantaneously impressive in a way that framed, museum art cannot be. Push through the gallery's doors and you're instantly dwarfed by the rat that ate Manhattan, a lurking rabbit and an enormous bird. You know you're inside a gallery, but the quivering animals surrounding you on found-material canvases of scrap wood and metal beg to differ, making you wonder if you've stumbled into some sort of junkyard jungle.
In a total of ten pieces inside the gallery and a finale piece on the back wall outside, Roa shows us rats, birds, skeletons and blood vessels, all rendered larger than life in a style that somehow resembles both a scientific drawing and a gestural sketch, dripping like it was just slapped down but forming detailed anatomy. Look closer and you'll notice the work is viewer-interactive, with small doors and flip-sides to the animals that move away to reveal organs and vessels. There is a constant element of the unexpected in Roa's work, both in the subject matter of the pieces and their quirky construction- you open a door to find bare bones, move a block of wood to discover a beating heart.
Roa's art can remain "street art" even within a gallery because it maintains a sense of environmental dischord. In the same way that it is jarring to see a Banksy or Eine stencil on your way to the bus stop, it's jarring to see a giant bird taking over a gallery wall. Street art has the tension of confrontation with the unexpected, and Roa understands that moment and brings the same displacement to Factory Fresh's walls. His hares and rats aren't re-appropriated from pop culture but taken from a deeper place, picked out of forests and pastures that our urban existence knows nothing of. In a city where people (okay, well, me) shriek when a rat scampers over the subway track, Roa takes the life that is hidden in the holes of industrial grime and monumentalizes it, its individual hairs brushing the wood, its blood pumping in front of you, unexpected and impressive and overwhelming. Roa harnesses the discord between the two environments of urban and natural to create pieces that are engaging and interesting.
After seeing the show (and insisting on posing for photos in which she mimed high-fiving/kissing many of Roa's animals) my mother, the initial skeptical inquirer, nodded at me. "Well, I get it now. I mean, this stuff is just cool."
And it is. Even if his work isn't scaling an abandoned building, even if you know nothing about the artist- his Belgian upbringing, his interest in the relationship between urban and natural environments, his impressive ability to work with a cigarette in one hand and a spray can in the other, Roa's work is just plain cool. And instead of going on an awkwardly worded explanation about how you remove street art from the street and maintain its magnitude, I'm now able to slap down a pocket photo of any one of Roa's work as tacit explanation. Artists like Roa are why street art works, so tell your moms and other street art ignoramuses to check it out- this man knows how it's done.
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Factory Fresh's Ali Ha and Ad Deville were on the Radio Wednesday, May 26 for a half hour segment on Citywide a WNYU program with host Lucas Green.
Please note: The first minute of our radio interview has music in the background which gradually fades away.
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Intern's Perspective on DAMAGE:CONTROL in its last weeks: Final Consensus?
Hurry down to Factory Fresh, if only to look under the dress.
Written by team member Margaret Boykin
Granted, my position as a first time intern at Factory Fresh does leave me writing this semi-review blog post with a bit of a bias, but even if I were an impartial party, my feelings would be the same: Something great is going on here. DAMAGE:CONTROL, featuring work by the talented and acclaimed Boris Hoppek and elusive Alex Diamond, is worth seeing. The review in L magazine said it best when they described the show's artist mash-up- "Factory Fresh [has] developed a real knack for pairing artists in an interesting, provocative way."
Provocative is right. Before we get into the dirty stuff, the layout of the show itself is provocative, predominantly because of the central figure: a wedding dress of Cinderella-worthy poof hangs from the ceiling. Sitting at my station in the back of the gallery, I watched as several people stopped outside the glass front windows and stared, perhaps confusing Factory Fresh for a dress shop. However, the artwork on the walls denies this connotation fervently. Hoppek's photos...well, the word "provocative" doesn't even do them justice. Coffins, pacifiers, and what looks like a morph suit are involved. Beyond the initial shock of Hoppek's nude subjects, the posed "Suicide Girls" (their label, not his- all the models are fierce tattooed beauties, pictured and featured on their website that celebrates an alternative aesthetic. See more @ suicidegirls.com), there are sleek, simple compositions at work, of the same minimalistic style exhibited in Hoppek's drawings. Although these small drawings aren't as immediately jarring the way full color female genitalia tend to be, they could almost be considered intriguing cartoon-like versions of Hoppek's photos. The depicted rag doll character is subjected not only to similar positioning and exposure to that of the Suicide Girls, but also beds of nails and reapers. There's something disturbing and a little bit poignant about these drawings- especially in my personal favorite, the pair of Untitled pieces where the small figure cranes dramatically backwards, arching its little back to look wistfully at a floating heart. Despite the blatancy of some aspects to the drawing, there is subtle emotion communicated in a way that is not at all clichéd- it's just the way they make you feel. Hoppek's pieces featured in this exhibition manage to be at once both diverse and connected, presented in varied media with a thread of common subject matter- a thread that lends itself to tying into Alex Diamond's pieces nicely.
Diamond's pieces range from a series he literally put on the wall himself in the front room of the gallery to his and Hoppek's joint works in the back room. The pieces in the
front room form a dynamic wall collage with dramatic splashes of orange paint. Diamond's juxtaposition of his drawn, dreamy, fluid figures on a background of what looks like magazine clippings of people seems like Hoppek's two styles combined. It's easy to see why Hoppek and Diamond are a good match. Their work communicates with each other, and your walk through the gallery seems to follow the development of the two artists' relationship, culminating in quirky and confusing yet fluid collaborations in the back room.
There is much more to be impressed by in DAMAGE:CONTROL than I can fit into a concise witty blog post. This is your chance to see (and perchance purchase?
Some of Hoppek's photos and Diamond's drawings run on the almost-affordable side, depending where you fall on the poor-student to wealthy-adult spectrum) an engaging, dynamic show at an unpretentious gallery- don't miss it, and don't forget to look under the dress.
The DAMAGE:CONTROL show ends April 11
Margaret Boykin is a student at Barnard College of Columbia, pursuing a double major in Art History and English. She currently writes for the Columbia Spectator.
Margaret is also the newest member of Factory Fresh.
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February 2010 brought us German artist Boris Hoppek and the elusive Alex Diamond who traveled from Europe to show at
Factory Fresh and the Volta Art Fair during March.
Photo Essay by team member DA Stover
Alex Diamond at work, we never saw his face he wore this ski mask/jumpsuit the entire time.
Boris Hoppek working on selecting drawings for the exhibition at Factory Fresh.
Boris Hoppek's pile of work selected for Volta.
Alex Diamond painting in the front room.
Alex Diamond and Boris Hoppek
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A conversation with Curator John Breiner and the artists of Grand Champions Forever, Never Say Die, about their show in Bushwick &
the finer side of Graffiti.
Interview by team member Christina Busch,
Photos by team member DA Stover
First off, who are the Grand Champions?
It is a collective of artists that was formed under this name in Brooklyn in 2003. It’s basically comprised of my close friends; I guess most of us met through school. It came out of me seeing the talent around me, but not wanting to wait for someone else to put us on. So I took the initiative went out and found galleries or spaces where I could have the show and assemble the crew. There are 31 of us this time and we all work in a variety of mediums. The idea originally and still today is to create a showcase of work that covers all the senses. It’s a diverse group of people so it works out that there’s Painting, drawing, photography, film and music. I really just try to create a “complete” show.
Your saying Graffiti may be the common ground of the artists but not the focus of the show?
Yes, that’s right, some of us write some don’t. Allot of us met through Graff more or less 10 years ago, but the goal is to show are personal work. That was an easy decision to me. Now a days I think its even more relevant to be well rounded, and not give everyone what they think they will see in an art show where the word graffiti is mentioned. Graffiti is for the street, it’s a culture and a hobby of ours, but that’s its place. I think most of us feel that way, that's why we are going under our given names and really not putting much emphasis on what we write. Some people know and some people don't. It really doesn't matter.
You said most of the artists in Grand Champs were your friends, are they mostly based in Brooklyn?
Well a couple of us are native NY’ers, some people came from other places. But we all met and came together in Brooklyn and New York City. Since then though people have relocated to Atlanta, L.A. and Oakland.
This is the 3rd presentation of Grand Champs, are you doing anything different?
Well, this time we are working with a real gallery, with real promotion. Before it was very D.Y.I. and the Internet wasn’t as prevalent. That’s how I came up with the original idea that all the artists involved made the own flyer. Just to get the word out there, and to have more art. The art of flyers. Now Five years latter were all extremely busy with our lives so it was a little harder for everyone to make there own flyer but we got a few gems this time.
Otherwise it’s the same format, just give the public a great well rounded show of some of the best upcoming artist’s around.
What's next for Grand Champs?
It started off as an annual thing. That would be nice since at this point we don't get to hang out like we used to. But this is such a huge undertaking; I’ll have to see how I feel the morning after the opening! Its great to be having this show now though. It acts not only as an art show, but also as a crew reunion, and a look at what we’ve been spending our days doing. The vibe is great, when the artists were dropping their work at the gallery, it’s just like Christmas morning to walk around and see your homies new work. That’s really the vibe and point of whole show, to have a great night of art friends and music, and to let the world in on it.
Thanks to ali and Adam for hosting us!
Later John mentioned to me that another motive for forming the group was for a way to play music. He will provide the music at Factory Fresh on October 23rd from 7-10
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September 8, 2009 (Tim Kent Interview)
This week we sat down with artist Tim Kent to discuss his upcoming show at Factory Fresh. We discussed his love of oil paint, telling a visual story and the breaking down of false notions and paint.
Interview by team members Iris Yi-Chin Chu & Acacia Rodriguez,
Photos by team member DA Stover
For those of us who have only seen your intimate scene paintings and erotic nudes, what should we expect at this opening?
You can expect a lot of big brush strokes, a lot more aggressive painting, and much more subverted imagery. There is a narrative between the pieces, which I've set out with and now it's finally coming into place. It's funny that the ideas that I thought I wasn't going to use end up coming back again. In some paintings you have a mix between complete abstraction and very literal representation, and I'm developing how to make the abstract parts more narrative. People have mostly seen the earlier stuff which is really tight and intense. I haven't thrown that out the window, and a lot of these pieces are a transition from an earlier approach into another.
Will each of the paintings tell a different story, or is the entire show a sort of narrative?
Every painting is made so that when it's finished it will look like its own story. However, because this is this one show, I've done everything off of one narrative. This narrative makes itself up as it goes along, but is based on a basic theme; Everything that we think about, see, and do is really arbitrary, and at the end of the day a lot of our actions don't mean anything, and it just dissolves, cancels itself out, and negates the action.
Would you say that you've blended your scenery and figure subject matter, or
is this something from you that we've never seen before?
There are some ideas from then that I’ve used in my recent paintings. Because I wasn't fully sure in the past of the direction I wanted to go in, I didn't pursue it. Now I photograph everything around me, and have more information on my subject matter instead of just drafting everything in a sketch book or writing. I immerse myself in transferring the information in the photographs onto the painting. This process has helped me remember how much fun painting is, and how different it is from photography. I capitalize on this and that is why I can't say I'm picking up from five years ago - it's just snaked its way around to this point now. It could snake its way back again and go the other way completely, but what happens now will be the basis for what I do in the next couple of years.
You mentioned doing paintings similar while you spent time in England a few years ago - are these a continuation of that style?
There are allot of ideas from then that are used in my recent paintings. Because I wasn't
fully sure in the past of the direction I wanted to go in, I didn't pursue it. Now I
photograph everything around me, and have more information on my subject matter
instead of just drafting everything in a sketch book or writing. I immerse myself in
transferring the information in the photographs onto the painting. This process has
helped me remember how much fun painting is, and how different it is from
photography. I capitalize on this and that is why I can't say I'm picking up from five
years ago - it's just snaked its way around to this point now. It could snake its way back
again and go the other way completely, but what happens now will be the basis for what
I do in the next couple of years.
Would you have done this series of paintings if you were not opening at Factory
Fresh?
When Ali asked me to consider a show where I can put my “freshest” work up, I realized that this gave me the reason to begin to play again. The lucky thing about the show is that this was an opportunity I had to take.
Has any of the street art
roots jumped out at you as a direction you want to follow?
Having attended openings and hung out at Factory Fresh quite a bit, it's safe to say that there are ideas that I've picked up on. Especially with the back courtyard area - the cool thing about it is you have a gallery that transplants real street space in a traditional venue. There are raw walls that allow a free for all, and you can do whatever you want, and everyone does. The show with the Brazilians - Apolo Torres, Loro Verz and Mundano – was awesome and the piece in the court yard was amazing! In reaction to that I’d like to make a temporary piece that involves a projection of animations and dissolving articles on the back walls while simultaneously integrating visitors to the gallery into that projection. I started doing animations about a year and a half ago, and the reason why I started using graphite is because I can move with it quickly. I can erase and build, I know how deep I can make tones, and it's simple. Everything you see is direct mark making or a subtraction thereof. This ties in again with things disintegrating. Also
I spend a lot more time enjoying wheat pasting pieces around this neighborhood. They are a cool way of getting hand drawing into a large format which is refreshing. I don’t follow the street art scene per se unless but I love the aesthetic of the streets. Having grown up in New York, I've always liked the beautiful aesthetic of old ripped-off sign posts and old walls with tons of paint on them. I like the way that these things dissolve and there is a beauty in that sort of decaying element of the city. That's what I'm focusing on in some of these paintings - they absolutely reference that process.
Is there anything art you concentrate on and look for after spending so much
time with your work and seeing the work in the gallery?
Now I spend a lot more time focusing on wheat pasting pieces. They're a cool way of
getting hand drawing into a large format which is refreshing. I'm not following the street
art scene as far as spray painting, unless it's going to be a textural element. I'm not
really interested in using spray paint at this time, but I'm definitely interested in the
drawing aspect.
Having grown up in New York, I've always liked the beautiful aesthetic of old ripped-off
sign posts and old walls with tons of paint on them. I like the way that these things
dissolve and there is a beauty in that sort of decaying element of the city. That's what
I'm focusing on in some of these paintings - they absolutely reference that process.
Is this departure from your detailed scenes and nudes something that you'll
stay with after this series?
I will take the approach I've taken to making these paintings. I don't think I can do detailed paintings like I've done over the last couple of years. My new approach to
painting is definitely way more exciting.
Would you say there is any reflection of life you try to convey with this new series?
Since April of last year I've had a bumpy ride, and have been going through a huge
transition. All of these things that I thought were nice and easy began to dissolve. That
is the basis for why I'm looking at my work this way.
When you painting, do you have a specific audience in mind or is it a more personal endeavor?
At a certain point about two months ago I cut off anyone from coming into the studio at all. No one is allowed in there really. So it is quite a hermetic experience. For good or bad, I don't want outside opinions or information on these works because for this work I am very sensitive to it, now I may shoot myself in the foot however I feel it necessary to be private at this moment. The audience I have in mind are my artist friends. As I'm painting, I'm thinking Will Adam like that? Will Miguel like this? Will they hate this? Let's see what they say.
Are there any paintings you can't look at anymore from spending so much time
with them?
Yes, that happens.
Can you talk about using oil paint in terms of the new work??
I started using oil years ago, and fell in love. It can be manipulated in so many ways- from watery grainy sediment of the pigment to a thick paste. You can do so much with it and that's the beauty of the medium.
Everything was an experiment with the material. It was a matter of trying as much as possible with it. When I got frustrated I just blew everything out and restarted again. However all of the accidents are still in there. Everything is constantly moving. This Experience has expanded my ability with the medium and I am now able to push it further.
The exhibition, opening September 17, 2009 at 7pm is titled "All That Is Solid Melts Into Air," a quote from the Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx.
All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.
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NEW YORK 100 AND FEAST PRE-PARTY IS HERE!
Factory Fresh has been chosen as one of the NEWYork100. NEWYork100 highlights 100 of the most innovative, rule-breaking, model-changing people, ideas, and companies to come out of the Big Apple.
All Day Buffet presents The New York 100 & Feast Pre-Party! Come join us to celebrate the innovators, social entrepreneurs, and creative mavericks that make up the NY100, and to throw down for The Feast Pre-Party. RSVP is required and the secret location will be emailed on Monday, September 14th.
We're also throwing in a little "Cause for Drinks" action. Proceeds from certain drinks will benefit Goods for Good. And we'll be launching a 24-hour campaign on Tuesday where we'll donate even more money (stay tuned for details)!
Come drink for a cause, and party with a purpose. Everyone is invited, so spread the word by tweeting, facebooking, etc.
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
6 PM - 9 PM
Free
Secret Location
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June and July with the Brazilians LORO VERZ,
APOLO TORRES & MUNDANO
Factory Fresh hosted LORO VERZ,
APOLO TORRES & MUNDANO during their 4 weeks stay in th United States they lived and worked in the gallery from June 22 - July 22nd.
Interview by team member Iris Yi-Chin Chu,
Photos by team member Katherine Murphy & DA Stover
How did you start to do arts? What drew you into street arts?
Apolo: I always know that I want to do paintings, but I went to do some
clothing designs first, then I met this woman whose husband owns the gallery,
and I had a chance to do my own paintings and make a living from it, which is
what I always want to do. I think my art have some sort of street art taste, like
the use of the figure on the top of the background, that is something they do a
lot with street art, but I would say my style is always changing, and I always
put a little bit everything.
Mundano: Art is something like necessity to me. 90% of my work is on the
street, I do it for the people and I always try to put messages. Doing a show in
gallery is new to me.
Loro: I went to art school in London. I like caricatures. I always love doing drawings. I think whoever creates is good. I don’t
consider myself a street artist, I do use spray cans something like that, but they
are just tools.
What non-art media influences you?
Apolo: Movies influence me but not as much as music. I play drums myself. I
always need some music around me. When I’m alone working in the studio I
play music all the time, if it is too quiet I feel disturbed instead. I have to have
some sound otherwise I would even whistle. I like to listen to the music when I
create work, from music and musicians who produced them, it’s like I’m part of
it.
Mundano: Whenever I walk on the street, what I have seen influence me. I see
people, I see corruptions, pollution, things that anger me makes me want to
paint and all of these is my inspiration. What I have seen on the street.
Loro: I like jazz, I listen to jazz when I paint. I like the improvising things, in
music, in life and in art.
What do you try to accomplish in your work?
Apolo: I’m never really sure what I exactly what to do, it has to feel right. I like
to do improvising.
Mundano: Everything I do is to make people think, to make them see the
reflection of themselves and the environment and how they can improve
themselves and the environment.
Loro: Just to spend time, just to let time go easily, express my ideas, my
thoughts and the extension of the thoughts. My work, sometimes they are
things about life, sometimes they are nothing. It’s like ‘Where is Wally?’
How do you think about New York?
Apolo: A lot of people from everywhere, in this aspect I feel it’s similar to San
Paulo, other than that I’ll have to check it out after I finish my work here.
Mundano: Mix of cultures, people in NY they know more about art and more
culture. The city has lots of diversity, but also have lots of problems like San
Paulo. Trash is everywhere, just few trees on the streets. I like the
transportation here though, very convenient.
Loro: I love it, here you always have things to do and to see, lots of different
things, it is like San Paulo, but more intense. You would never get bored of it
unless you want to.
