CRASH/DAZE
By Zio
On Friday, May 15, Ad Hoc Art will host the opening reception for “CRASH/DAZE,” a stunning exhibition of new works from each artist and the first collaborative works from these legendary New York artists in over 10 years.
A contemporary of Keith Haring and a modern-day master of this present day art form, CRASH has shot his metaphorica arrows and dizzying flashes into subway cars, walls, and galleries around the globe. His work celebrates the movements of an ever-changing world and is a lavish gift to the eyes as well as a bold statement in time and space.
A direct descendant of the Roman wall-scribes, CRASH has evolved his inherited gift back to its simplest form: “tagging,” leaving his name, with a Lichtensteinian twist. As artists have long left personal marks and signatures to authenticate their works, CRASH goes further, leaving only his name as a reduction of unadulterated form, or “refined” art.
Via his tenacity and talent, CRASH has successfully transitioned from the streets into the mainstream art world. His work, now exhibited globally, still possesses the vivid color and energy he produced initially on subways. True to his roots, CRASH maintains the lettering and image abstraction many writers feel are crucial to the art form.
DAZE began painting New York City subway trains, the canvas of choice for the serious graffiti artist, in the late 1970s. Since moving from subway trains to gallery walls, he has exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Tokyo, Florence and many others. His work is in public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum Ludwig in Aachen, Germany, and the Brooklyn Museum, where he was also featured in the 2006 “Graffiti” exhibition. The Speerstra Family, The Coveri Family, and Eric Clapton’s are private collections containing DAZE’s creations. While experiencing mainstream success, DAZE still participates in traditional graffiti art venues and paints many large-scale murals in urban areas.
For the sheer “love of the culture” he can be found collaborating with writers from all over the world. In DAZE’s paintings, references of the bygone era of subway painting combine with representational elements of urban characters and places such as Coney Island, elevated train stations, Times Square and the lower east side. Many show a clear link to the Ashcan School of painting and the WPA artists of the 1940’s such as Reginald Marsh, Ben Shaun, Edward Hopper, Robert Henri, and John Sloan.
This is an opportunity of a lifetime and should not be missed.
The exhibition will run from May 15 to June 14.
For more information, visit www.adhocart.org