Armsrock in a moment of haste (photo Jaime Rojo)

Tonight marks two occasions; Ad Hoc Gallery’s last large-scale opening after blasting open the doors of Bushwick in 2005 to a new audience for street art, urban art, graffiti, tatoo, pop surrealism, screen printing, and good-natured fun-loving creative community organizing, AND the opening of a show called,
“I Know There Is Love”.

COINCIDENCE?  I think not.

Chris Stain at Ad Hoc (photo Jaime Rojo)

After lots of pre-planning, conversations, scores of back and forth emails, one big overnight mural, and 10 days of installation in this much respected gallery, Chris Stain knows that the show will mean different things to different people,

“It’s always subjective how people take things, when they see them.  If they hear a song, it’s going to mean something to one person and mean something different to somebody else.  I kind of think that’s the way it is with the artwork. I don’t really have any expectations or want anybody to get anything out of it more than “Here’s two people that give a sh*t about what’s going on around them in the world.”

Before you can get to the title of the show, there had to be discussions about a more basic question, says Armsrock; questions like,

” ‘What is love?’ And it’s not addressed so directly here but it’s sort of like everything that goes in here is somehow this “note” that comes out of this process work before the show and all the contemplations that we had and the conversations we had.

“I think we have very different opinions on it, but somehow it’s come together inside this space and whether or not people actually are able to decipher it is another question, but I think there is enough information so there is some kind of discourse that is thrown up in the air regarding themes such as ‘hope’ , which is very much at the core.”

Too esoteric a sentiment for street art? No, this show is knee-deep in reality, and is still hoping for a way out.

Ad Hoc show tonight; “I Know There Is Love”