MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY Berlin
One year MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY in Berlin - a good reason for the exciting group show Hard Left 2 with artists from the gallery’s program. Founded in 1997, MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY Los Angeles has quickly become one of the hot spot galleries in L.A. Focusing on 'low-brow', street and graffiti art, Karnowsky showed significant artists of the emerging underground movement from the beginning, among them Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Todd Schorr and Shepard Fairey. In 2008 MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY Los Angeles decided to offer more international exposure to its' artists and opened its second location in Berlin.
Immediately MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY Berlin became part of the vibrating gallery scene in Berlin and its exhibitions are always an attraction. With the exhibition Hard Left the gallery started in 2008. Now, one year later Hard Left 2 features a great mix of works by artists like Mark Ryden, Miss Van, Victor Castillo, Kill Pixie and Travis Louie among others. With this exhibition Hard Left 2 MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY Berlin is also part of the PICTOPIA festival that takes place until May 3, 2009 at the House of World Cultures (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) in Berlin.
Mark Ryden was born in Medford/Oregon. He received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Mark Ryden came to pre-eminence in the 1990’s during a time when many artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the art of painting. With his masterful technique and disquieting content, Ryden quickly became one of the leaders of this movement on the West Coast. From the beginning Ryden’s work seems to mirror the Surrealists’ fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However, Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists’ strategies by consciously choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. His dewy vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems, primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances.
The 'Poupees' of Miss Van, always surrounded in sensational atmospheres, embody the surrounding energies of the loving spell that they seduce and catch. All are portrayed in mystical scenarios, between meditation and liberation of evil, introspection and exorcism. Through their closed eyes, we enter into the private worlds of each, reflecting on their dark side and feminine fragility.
Victor Castillo shows us a mixture of classic and comic painting loaded with infantile personages of subjects: macabre, joy, seduction and the unscrupulous pleasures of the destruction game. At the same time he also makes references to contemporary realities and a new generation's stimulations from the constant bombardment of today's media.
Kill Pixie began as a graffiti artist on the streets of Sydney, Australia. Formerly working big and using streets and roof tops as his working surface, he has now taken the opposite route and is working delicate detail on paper on handmade wooden boxes that tend to be on the smaller side. Using ink, acrylic and watercolor, he conveys themes such as futuristic lost cultures through graphic characters and delicate patterns which at times remind us of his Australian origin. His work questions our current customs and urges alternative scenarios for race, industry, communication and spirituality.
The ideas for Travis Louie's paintings, which are so intricate they seem like old black and white photographs or pencil renderings, come from tiny little drawings and many writings in his journals. He's created his own imaginary world that is grounded in Victorian and Edwardian times. It is inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters, which appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence and place in society.
