2012 exemplifies the next generation of NYC street art and graffiti. — Photo by Andres Jauregui
The Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Some people think this predicts Armageddon, while others believe it marks a great spiritual awakening. But, as Y2K taught us, there’s always the chance that nothing will happen.
On June 5th, Factory Fresh unveiled 2012, a collaborative show by artists Avoid, Bloke, and Faro, that turned the front room of the gallery into a decaying cityscape beset with mummies, tentacles, airships, and ubiquitous tags. The cartoon portents of doom skulk among pop-out buildings that look conspicuously like mausoleums and headstones, but there’s not much that’s menacing or frightening about the artists’ collective vision — blue skies and puffy clouds (not of the mushroom variety) imbue tranquility rather than immediacy. In fact, the whole scene looked a lot like Bushwick on a sunny day — for some, that might be apocalyptic enough.
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In the front room, the artists’ collaborative piece brought the street into the gallery — a novel concept by no means, but strengthened by the meticulous, labor-intensive construction of the "street" itself, whose wooden framework became the canvas for the artists’ calling cards and stylized lettering. Adding to that milieu were various tags by peers — some who helped install the art — that lent amusing street cred to the gallery setting.
"We’re trying to discourage people coming in and tagging up the walls on their own. At the end of the day, it’s still their art show," said Alex Emmart of Mighty Tanaka, who curated the show. "I kind of see that as disrespectful to the art space. If it’s on the streets, it’s on the streets, but if it’s in the gallery, it’s in the gallery. There has to be some sort of distinction made… UFO came through, though, which was sick."
Although arts communities around the world have accepted graffiti, there’s still a certain tenuousness involved in bringing a street artist’s work into a gallery — a quality that hesitates before making the jump. At 2012, this feeling pervaded the rear room, where 9" square tiles hung in a matrix under light like specimens under glass, shimmering with gold leaf slogans.
"We’re going on the basic idea of what 2012 is, and the uncertainty of what’s going to happen. People think impending doom or spiritual awakening, and what we’re trying to do is create a balance," Emmart said. "We have the very chaotic front room, and the very simplistic back room. We’re trying to balance out the two sides, and juxtapose them."
Between the constructed street scene with its familiar tags, and the monolithic individual pieces on display in the rainy courtyard, the middle gallery felt somewhat lost. Rather than reinforce the show’s apocalyptic overtones, the divisions emphasized the difficulty in bringing street art inside.
While there was no cataclysmic moment — no asteroid, no Rapture — that gave shape to the theme, 2012 did succeed in putting forth a vision of an end that is eerily familiar. There’s no "wow" moment, no cry of warning or admonishment, but something is definitely happening: the slow, gradual ruin of uncorrected errors. Maybe it looks like Bushwick because — blue skies and green tentacles aside — Bushwick is our future.
2012 runs until June 21.
Factory Fresh
1053 Flushing Avenue
brokemc June 11th, 2009 at 9:05 am
WHen I heard about 2012, I bought a helmet. Now I’m safer than ever. Yay Helmets!
neighborhood regular June 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am
The main room was chaotic, but I REALLY ENJOYED the fine art in the middle rooms. I had never seen that side of their work. overall good show
ian June 11th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
i think thats what they were going for , cute but really weird and fucked up . i know those adhd kids.i think they were really under alot of control. i been around those kids. they could of destroyed the front room but i dont think the gallery allowed them to go all out apocalyptic.
p.s did you know that whole installation was done in really short amount of time (a week and half).
M L Burns June 29th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I enjoyed Mr. Jauregui’s critique of the 2012 show. His observation of the front room’s potential depiction of a future Bushwick cityscene and the intensity of work that must have been required to make such a complex work showed the same appreciation that I felt upon first witnessing the mesmerizing diorama. The diorama immediately reminded me of early Calder, disassembling street art into concrete individual pieces.
The graduation of disorder to beautiful order as the viewer moves from the front room to the middle and the rear rooms demonstrated how street art could indeed be highly desirable in a number of scenarios. As a result, I purchased pieces from both front and back rooms. Fantastic exhibit!