EAST VILLAGE ALCHEMY

November 13th- December 7th, 2014
OPENING RECEPTION :Thurs., Nov. 13th, 6- 9PM
RSVP

These artists were at the forefront of the 1980's contemporary New York City street art scene with their groundbreaking labors using the essential natural elements of earth, fire and paper. The selection of works on display will include early subway drawings from Haring, vintage performance based compositions from Buggiani, Hiratsuka stone sculptures and early works on paper by Borofsky.

In the late 1970's, an explosion of creative passion gave birth to the legendary East Village arts movement. These artists used their gifts to address social and political issues directly with the viewer in street settings, frequently facing incarceration for this practice. In this exhibition, we explore four of the scene's seminal creators and practitioners of street based art.

In 1980, Keith Haring began creating his famously ephemeral chalk drawings on unused subway platform advertising spaces. He continued this practice to great public acclaim, eventually completing hundreds of these drawings. In this exhibition, we are proud to present a rare collection of Haring's subway chalk masterpieces. Keith Haring's works are included in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The Andy Warhol Museum, L. A. County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, L. A. and numerous additional national and international museum collections.

Paolo Buggiani was part of the Italian Painting Avant garde in the early fifties while he was living in Rome. He moved to New York in 1962 and in 1968 received the Guggenheim Fellowship for Sculpture in America with his experiments using a new method of sculpture called the Vacuum Forming System.During this period he was also researching the concept of time as it relates to Art. Returning to Italy in May 1968, he was active both in Rome and Milan. Buggiani's research at the time included "Ephemeral Sculpture in Motion", "Fire" (as Performing Art and Installation), "Paintings over Reality" and "Wearable Art". He returned to New York in 1978 and started working on a new series called Urban Mythology while producing his Mechanical Reptiles creatures. These sculptures placed into the urban environment brought him popularity as one of the most important members of the Street Art Movement. Today Buggiani is regarded as one of the most independent contemporary artists and is internationally recognized for his installations of fire sculptures.

In 1982, the Japanese-American artist Ken Hiratsuka arrived in the East Village to begin his practice of hand chiseling continuous lines into the sidewalks and streets of the neighborhood. Hiratsuka's universal line philosophy informs his work to the present day. Ken Hiratsuka's works are included in the collections of Hara Museum of Contemporary Art; Japan, Modern Art Museum; Brazil, Kemi Art Museum; Finland, Tornio Museum; Finland and numerous additional national and international museum collections.

In 1983, Scot Borofsky began forming his language of urban symbols, painting his work on walls across the East Village. Borofsky's language has continued to evolve, informing a new generation of viewers. Scot Borofsky's works are included in the collections of The Metroplitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Pierpont Morgan Library, Werner Kramarski and numerous additional national and international museum collections.

Press
NY Arts Magazine