Sickboy (photo © Joanna Dudderidge)
White Walls is pleased to present Wonder Club, a new body of work from famed UK- artist Sickboy. The opening reception will be Saturday, March 17th, from 7-11 pm, and the exhibition is free and open to the public for viewing through April 7th, 2012.
Hot off the heels of his critically acclaimed UK solo show last November, Heaven and Earth, comes Sickboy’s first US major solo show, Wonder Club. The title refers to a meeting place in the mind of the artist, where his cryptic street messages, surreal abstraction and comical illusions all come together. Sickboy’s new works reveal inspiration drawn from anatomical studies, the age of enlightenment, romanticism, comic books and fairy tales.
A solid body of work has been produced for Wonder Club, including eight large-scale (all measuring around four by three feet) surreally intricate, paintings, focusing on the inner workings of the human body. These large paintings, which bring the aesthetic of Sickboy’s street work into the gallery, are paired alongside installations which will act to transform the entire space into a dream world.
Sickboy’s always innovative installations will be outdone with this show, featuring a few surprises and the “Artists’ Refuge,” an enclosed space built within the gallery that visitors may enter.
Amidst the dream land that Sickboy constructs you can expect to find smaller works exploring a new direction in mixed media ephemera, adorned on locally found San Francisco surfaces to place the artist’s imagery into a local context as well as a video collaboration with well-known London photographer Viktor Vauthier, capturing the creative process in motion.
From the Artist:
“I see art as escapism, it’s an addictive solution to the daily deluge of life, the ‘Wonder Club’ is a place I can visit in my mind to try and bring daydreams to life, I have been documenting ideas as they happen and making sure I capture their essence by developing them into highly intricate finished paintings, it has meant a progressive shift from earlier freestyle work and more towards structured pieces that focus on content and message. This exhibition is for me a revisiting of the inner child and questioning what my dreams represent today.”
A leading artist to emerge from Bristol’s infamous graffiti scene, Sickboy’s humorous work has cemented his place in the upper echelons of the British street art movement. He is one of the first UK artists to use a logo in place of a tag, and his red and yellow street logo known as ‘The Temple’ can be seen on walls and wheelie bins worldwide. Sickboy has built up one of the largest bodies of street art works in UK history. His work hit the big screen recently in Banksy’s Oscar-nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and he is tipped by the leading financial press as one of the movement’s most bankable artists. His temples, slogans and audacious stunts – including the caged heart installation dropped outside the Tate Modern in 2008 – have landed him global recognition.
Event Information:
Wonder Club, a Solo Exhibition by Sickboy Opening Reception – March 17, 2012, 7-11 pm On View Through April 7th, 2012,
@ White Walls (www.whitewallssf.com)
835 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA
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