These are from a couple of weeks ago, when I met up with my hometown BFF as she was passing through San Francisco for a swing dancing conference (we are women of varied and sterling tastes). EverGold gallery was very hush hush about their latest opening, declining to release any images or even descriptions of the work beforehand, saying only that that it was a "hesher tribute to Dan Flavin" which turned out to be a ginormous blacklight pentagram installation in the first room. Normally it's a bit of flaccid make art that is a reference to a famous work of art that is a reference to a famous work of art but I think the infinite visual regression of the work due to the mirrored walls is itself a statement on reference and reiteration. It is such a striking and visceral experience—the light is so intense it's almost a fog and hanging out in it for too long WILL give you a headache.
The back room houses Guy's sweetly rendered painting of xerox-style punk posters; one-upping the cut n' paste aesthetic that often gets conflated with punk DIY ethos. In truth, it's often a subcultural pose. Photoshopping and printing a stack of flyers at home might actually be easier now than hand-assembling and photo-copying them at the local Kinko's, but it doesn't, you know... look punk. I really loved these. They seem to be simultaneously commemorating punk (thus implying that it's dead) and asking the view how to update form of subcultural production in order to keep them relevant.
The singularity of the paintings is contrasted by the democratic, endlessly available "punk wallpaper" plastered on the opposite wall, custom made by the artist and available for $25 per square foot. I might order a small patch of it to frame in my home, but I'll admit that I salivate at the thought of papering a whole wall with it. Alas, it's out of my budget... and perhaps not so democratic after all.
*p.s., there's a very illuminating interview with Guy Overfelt in the current issue of SFAQ. That dude is PAF.
2 comments:
Oh man this looks rad. I'm going to try to take my boyfriend to this. He'd love those punk paintings.
I have LOVED Guy's work for a long time. Awesome! Btw, LOVE #Blacklight
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