Urban Folk Art Gallery puts up a significant exhibition of graffiti art.
“It’s very vintage-style NYC graffiti," he said.
“Graffiti came above ground in a lot of ways in the 80s,” explained Suerte, sitting in Brooklyn Tattoo, which sits adjacent to the gallery.
The exhibition features widely celebrated graffiti artists from that time – DANCE, REBEL, NEST, KEO, POET and SNATCH to name a few – many of whom began in Brooklyn, and whose work defined the style of 80s graffiti – an era which Suerte calls a “second renaissance.”
Decades before graffiti became widely accepted and art-world legitimized, it was, primarily, deemed vandalism. In the 80s, New York City began cracking down on this “underground” graffiti (when it had been all about the artist getting into subway tunnels), and consequently graffiti began rising to the streets - to city handball courts and to rooftops.
A native South Brooklyner, Suerte identifies with this era of graffiti art, and with the impact and significance of the artists in the show. Suerte, who is an artist himself, began writing graffiti in the early 80s at age 13.
"[Writing graffiti was] a right of passage in this city, for creative and disenfranchised youth," he said.
Anthony Jehamy, who curated the show with Suerte, was also writing graffiti in the neighborhood as a teenager, and today still paints murals and curates graffiti shows.
***
Suerte grew up in the neighborhood, leaving to go to art school for illustration, and returning in 1991 to open the first Urban Folk Art in Bushwick. The artist collective focused on guerilla artwork and underground comics, but soon incorporated a silkscreen shop to solve funding problems for the collective.
But as the silkscreen operation became increasingly commercialized, and the spirit of the artist collective overshadowed, Suerte closed Urban Folk Art.
It was at this point that he was asked to apprentice as a tattoo artist in South Harlem, translating his education in illustration into another form of art.
The shop moved to Boerum Hill in 2002 (in the Fried Guitars space on State Street), and when an opportunity to take over the business arose, Brooklyn Tattoo was born. Brooklyn Tattoo, co-owned by Willie Paredes, moved to western Atlantic Avenue, and finally to its current resting spot at 99 Smith Street.
During these nearly ten years, Suerte continued making and showing art.
“The whole time we were doing that [tattooing], I was putting on art shows in the neighborhood," he said.
The art was shown in lounges, bars and cafes. In fact, the first “Usual Suspects” show a couple of years ago took place at the bar Last Exit on Atlantic Avenue.
When the storefront next door at 101 Smith St. became vacant, however, Suerte and Paredes snatched it up, opening Urban Folk Art Gallery in January.
“[The] physical form of the collective became reborn," said Suerte.
“Rather than continuing to show art in bars and cafes, we raised it up a bit,“ he laughed.
***
The thirteen artists included in this show remain strong forces in the graffiti community, not only through the impact of their contributions during the time when their work was not recognized artistically by the art and commercial worlds, but also through their continued presence.
Most of the exhibited artists still paint graffiti and murals. Some still exhibit their work, or use their talents for commercial projects as well as for charitable work.
Urban Folk Art Gallery will hold an opening reception for “The Usual Suspects 2” on Friday, August 5th at 7 p.m.
“The Usual Suspects 2” is on exhibition through August 29th.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment