HELLBENT: Past Future Perfect

For Immediate Release

Hellbent : Past Future Perfect
April 18 - June 7, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday, April 18, from 6pm - 10pm.

Chicago, IL [March 11, 2014]-  Maxwell Colette Gallery is excited to announce Past Future Perfect, a show of new paintings from J. Mikal Davis a.k.a. Hellbent. The Brooklyn-based Davis has achieved acclaim for his unique street art, which fuses intense colors with ornate stenciling of neoclassical patterns to create a bold, freeform geometry. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and first show in Chicago.

Davis’ paintings for Past Future Perfect are part of his Mix Tape series. These canvases are “elaborate, abstract fields of color and movement, with compositions ranging from organized, quilt-like patterns to completely haphazard bands of weaving color”. They all have their genesis in overspray patterns on the tape Davis uses when spray painting. Strips of this tape are reconfigured into small arrangements that serve as preparatory sketches for the larger pieces. The tape sketches (or ‘demos’ as Davis calls them) are encased in liquid glass and are often displayed alongside the paintings they inspired.  Davis gives the Mix Tape series paintings their names based on songs he heard during the creation process.

Past Future Perfect showcases the evolution of Davis’ style and technique on canvas. The new paintings incorporate subtle shadows that give the intersecting planes of pattern and color an added depth and identity. In some instances he allows the white of the canvas to show through and build an additional dimension. In others, darker tones dominate his pallet and the richly layered forms obscure every millimeter of the canvas ground. Davis sees these newest pieces as being “rooted in the classical tradition of abstraction and the response to music in the art making process” just as the first ventures into abstraction in the early 20th century were reactions to the music of their day. Past Future Perfect is a nod to Davis’ influences while looking ahead to the future of abstraction.

About the Artist: J. Mikal Davis a.k.a. Hellbent began his street art career wheat pasting confrontational slogans around the Deep South of the United States. In 2005, he adopted the name Hellbent from Richard Hell, the influential instigator of punk. His recent abstract murals and street works can be found throughout New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Zurich, Glasgow, and Paris. His work is featured on many blogs and in the books Street Art New York (Prestel 2010), Graffiti New York (Abrahms, 2009), and Outdoor Gallery, New York City (Gingko, 2013). He has had solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Currently he lives and works in Brooklyn. More information is available on his website hellbentart.com.

Opening November 9th: Sidewalk Scholar

For Immediate Release

Mario Gonzalez Jr. : Sidewalk Scholar
November 09 - December 31, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 09, from 6pm - 10pm

Chicago, IL [October 01, 2013]- Maxwell Colette Gallery is pleased to present Sidewalk Scholar, a solo exhibition of new work from Mario Gonzalez Jr. The show will present large-scale mixed media paintings on wood along from the noted Chicago painter. The exhibit is slated to run from November 09 - December 31, 2013 with an opening reception on Saturday, November 09 from 6 - 10pm.

Gonzalez’s paintings have been described as abstract, but they are far more interested in realities than abstractions. A comparison may be drawn with the loose spontaneity of Asian calligraphy as these works are conceived in the mind’s eye and executed with the swiftness of thought. But the true inspiration for the bold, sinuous forms that inhabit Gonzalez’s paintings are street glyphs, painted with rollers by gang members in the sixties and seventies. These primal markings were intended as signposts for an urban sub-culture but they ended up inspiring the international graffiti culture that would follow. For Gonzalez, who grew up in a world emblazoned with these markings, Sidewalk Scholar is an opportunity to re-contextualize these cryptic runes from the past, and to redirect their energies. Gonzalez’s paintings are shot through with a powerful sense of place, presenting stunned memories of archaic street symbols, objectified and distilled down to their true visual essence.

About the Artist: Mario Gonzalez Jr.’s artistic vision comes from the fusion of fine art training at SAIC plus twenty years of graffiti practiced on global streets. In 2013 Gonzalez has seen his work exhibited in a number of museums including MIIT in Turino, Italy, The National Mexican Museum in Chicago and The Chicago Cultural Center. Sidewalk Scholar is the first solo exhibition for Mario Gonzalez Jr. at Maxwell Colette Gallery. Further information may be found on his website: www.mariogonzalezjr.com. 

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7 Questions: Zore

Chicago-based graff writer-turned fine artist Mario Gonzalez Jr., also known as Zore, has been keeping busy this summer. He just had a killer solo show at the Museo Internazionale Italia Arte, and represented the US in the International Meeting of Styles in Wiesbaden, Germany, before heading back to the states to prepare for MoS Chi and a solo show this fall at Maxwell Colette. We caught up with him before his European tour, while he was painting a mural on  the Violet Hour in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood.

How did you first get into graffiti and painting?

Believe or not my exposure to graffiti was since birth. My parents and family members wrote on buildings and subway stations here in Chicago since the early 60s. Later on in my youth I grew up in the 70s where muralist and activist took over the streets of Chicago.

Do you remember your first tag? 

My first "tag" was JR/JUNIOR in tall simple blockish letters when I was like 9 or 10.

Any good close call stories you can share with us?

Lots of "close call" stories...but the best were subway stories... Like the times we would get caught right outside the subway yards with a car full of young mixed race kids with bags of paint and the cops are like "wtf is going on here," and I would tell everyone the same story, "I'm an artist at SAIC! And these are my students and we've been painting all night and I'm dropping them off at the train station," hearts racing knowing damn well half the crew was in the train yards painting already...probably even watching us from the yards talking to the cops, only to be let loose half hour later.

Have you bombed anything you later regretted? 

One of my biggest regrets came early in life..I must have been 15 and I would keep tagging the same wall on 35 st day after day only to see it had been cleaned the next day. Till one day I was on the 35 st bus and saw this old ass man that walked slower than a snail scrubbing and scrubbing away and it was then I vowed to keep my bombing to public property...which in the end was a good thing.

Where do you draw your inspiration? 

My studio work comes from hanging out at museums and walking the streets my whole life observing the urban grime. My tags are inspired by old Chicago hand styles. My full on burners have more of a Trixter/Orko feel. They're two writers that influenced the crap out of true Chicago pieces.

How do you feel about graffiti moving into galleries? 

Graffiti in museums and Galleries have occurred longer than 90% of us been writing. One of the first graffiti exhibits in the world was here in Chicago at the museum of science and industry in 1973! I was 3 yrs old..lol! I've been showing in galleries and museums since the mid 80s and it changes nothing. I believe that knowing our place in art history is important seeing that most artists have no place in history. Makes me feel proud for never quitting or giving up.

Mario VS Zore?

Well that is an interesting subject right there... I believe that both of my alter egos have a place in this world and the man/child inside of me must harvest this energy and make them both function on a level that won't end up killing me, lol. I've been working my whole life developing both souls and staying clear from negative energy from both the art world and graff world, as well and have come to the conclusion that life is about living the best case scenario.

As I sit here in a hallway for better reception in a bed and breakfast from across the world knowing where I came from and where I am now having solo shows in museums and galleries while painting in the streets and packing bags of paint at night fully sponsored as well as self funded from sales and commissions I would say that I am right where I need to be Right Now! Thanks to my familia! Sergio Gomez! The Zhou Family! Liz Lazdins and MAYA for everything that I am doing today. Stay Bold Chicago!