november 7-26
Parail Creative Studios (Mathew Curran, Joseph Giampino, Derek Toomes), Untitled
First Friday Opening: November 7, 6-10pm
Featuring DJ SPCL GST and performances by Schizophrenic Octopus.
This curated education exhibition is an informal illustration of street art in all forms. Nine artists internalize the raw energy of street art within the walls of Visual Art Exchange. VAE is excited to be partnering with some outstanding local graffiti artists and present this educational exhibit as part of its mission to provide opportunities for all artists while enriching our cultural environment.
Curated.
View photos of the installation.
Featured Artists:
- Mathew Curran
- Bart Cusick
- Joseph Giampino
- Sean Kernick
- Victor Knight III
- Garrett Scales
- Matt Scofield
- Derek Toomes
- Ben Tuttle
Mathew Curran
My work is heavily influenced by American teen skateboarding culture, with its random and unchecked energy and raw sense of possibility. I work with wood, spray paint and ink. Most of my work involves stencils, which I use to capture the virility and stamina of street life. My recent work includes distorted figures and industrial objects, incorporating forceful lines and a subtle use of background color.
Bart Cusick
Bart Cusick was born in Oskoda, MI, and since then has been drawing on everything that has ever been put in front of him. He attended the Museum School of Fine Arts, Massachusetts College of Art, and NC State University. While at these schools, he studied a wide range of art media, such as illustration, graphic design, painting, printmaking, animation, digital media, and web design. He has created numerous fliers, CD covers, t-shirts, company logos, murals, illustrations, and websites for a broad spectrum of clients. His work has been exhibited in solo and group art shows from Raleigh to Germany. This year Cusick completed two 114' murals at the NC Museum of Art. He also taught an art class for the fourth graders at Hope Elementary. His work was also recently selected to be displayed on a city bus for a year through the City of Raleigh Arts Commission's Art-On-The-Move project. Currently, he works as a Flash Developer/Graphic Designer, creating Interactive E-Learning courses for adult literacy at the GCFLearnfree.org.
Joseph Giampino
I do not create art to make a million dollars and it is much more than just a love for it. It's an addiction. I simply cannot stop creating art. I'm a fiend for it, and it is unsettling until I get my fix. There is something about when I take an unworked area and work it until I create an image that I understand, see, and with which I am never completely satisfied, but which I accept as finished. My work begins with a single line and ends with the layering of images and mixed media. Through this fluid line movement and layering process, the work becomes my own.
Growing up in a black and white world, we, the "apparitions of the night", use different colors, media, typography, and images to give the world a breath of fresh air from its mundane daily routine. My inspiration is drawn from this concept.
Sean Kernick
I was made in Motown, grew strong in Philly and refined my skills in Brooklyn, NYC. My style is a hybrid of a heavy graffiti influence and traditional character based illustration. I can flip from pencils to paint cans and you can bet that I will always show up for a battle.
Victor Knight III
To me graffiti was founded on pushing boundaries through urban expression. I try to hold true to this doctrine in every piece of art I produce. My work ranges from large scale mural productions to canvas and custom design. As the subject matter in my work differs, so does the medium. Though the spray can has always been synonymous with graffiti, I find my work to vary based on execution. One day I might be painting a piece and the next I may be airbrushing a pair of sneakers. The point is experimenting and experiencing the boundless possibilities of imagery.
Garrett Scales
Through individual hand cut layers I am able to create a replicable process of thoughts and images surrounding my life.
Matt Scofield
I begin my work with a thought. How can I manipulate letter structure to the furthest degree and still keep it semi-readable? From these thoughts come a sketch were I begin to mold, shape and build these letters into three dimensional form. Once I am pleased with how it looks, I apply it to the surface using mostly spray paint. After the word is shaded and shadowed to create depth I begin working on background elements, if I feel that they are necessary. When I am finished with a piece, it should look as though it exists in the physical world we all live in....most don't realize it's all just words.
Derek Toomes
My work is inspired by graffiti, skateboarding culture, and urban landscapes. I often mimic the transience of street art while adding a touch of the urbane, which allows my work to communicate a sense of culture while at the same time commenting on that culture.
Having spent an extended amount of time in Los Angeles, my work is also influenced by Latino art. I often use richer textures, more luxurious colors, and more ornamental, hand-drawn lettering, which both complement and provide a stark contrast to my grittier, more urban techniques.
I work with a number of media from aerosol paint, marker, wheat paste, and acrylic on conventional-sized canvases to large installations that often incorporate video elements.
Ben Tuttle
My work is driven by doodling. I'd like to think that each of my works is just an intensive doodle for a distracted person. Like a doodle, that keeps my brain occupied while bored at school, drawings and paintings act as a distraction from everything else. For a brief few hours I am intently focused on crafting a spiraling haze of smoke, billowing out from some unknown orifice. I draw influences from comic books, passing freight trains, and dynamic typography. I however do not consider myself an artist. Just someone with extravagant doodles.