Galerie F

Baltimore-Based Nether 410 Brings his Vision to Chicago — in Let’s Talk About It at Galerie F and with Pablo Machioli on the Streets of Pilsen

September 6, 2016

Nether410-No-Frontiers-artwork

Earlier this summer, Baltimore-based Nether 410 shared his talents and vision with us up in the Bronx with the TAG Public Arts Project. More recently his particular socially-conscious aesthetic made its way to Galerie F’s current show Let’s Talk About It  and to the streets of Pilsen with Pablo Machioli. Pictured above is No Frontiers. Here are several more images with commentary by Nether:

Rising and Raising of the Super Block, close-up, Ink on paper canvas, 30″x22″

Between 1950 and 1969, Chicago’s housing authority built 11 enormous high rise projects for public housing, which isolated most of the extreme poor in “super-blocks.” Cabrini–Green, Henry Horner and Harold Ickes are some of these housing developments.  As the economy suffered, crime rose. Many of the projects in this arguably failed ‘master-plan’ became derelict and were eventually demolished.  This piece clashes an archival photo of the mayor and developers hovering over an architectural model of a super-block, with an image of the demolition one of their planned developments.

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Baptized into the Movement, close-up, Digital print, 11″x17″

A young kid pouring a bottle of water over his face following being tear-gassed in Ferguson.

Nether410-Baptized-Into-The-Movement-artwork

Candlelight Protest, Digital print, 17″X11″

From a photo I took during the first Freddie Gray candle light vigil protest. Three generations of Baltimoreans witnessing the beauty of the struggle. That evening changed the entire trajectory of the movement.

Nether410-Candlelight-Protest-graphic-art

And on the streets of Pilsen with Pablo Machioli:

The Taming of the Bull

As part of a collaboration with Pablo Machioli.  Painted from ground with mini rollers, a statue of Hercules wrestling a Bull in Pilsen, a South Side-neighborhood  being redeveloped. The figure taming the bull is blinded by gold while the bull is being pierced by an arrow — shot through the Robert Taylor Homes — into his throat. Between 1950 and 1969, Chicago’s Housing Authority built 11 enormous high rise projects for public housing, which isolated most of the extreme poor in “super-blocks”. Many of the projects in this failed ‘master-plan’ were almost intentionally underfunded, became derelict, were demolished, and now, of course, the surrounding neighborhoods are being redeveloped for a different population

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Close-up

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Let’s Talk About It continues through September 18th at Galerie F. Located at 2381 N Milwaukee Ave, it is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11AM – 6PM

Images of artworks courtesy Galerie F

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Lorenzo Masnah aka AEON on APC’s First U.S. Exhibit, Romance, Recycled Art & more

January 28, 2015

AEON

I caught up with Bogota native Lorenzo Masnah — aka AEON and Third World Pirate — last week in his Bushwick studio as he was readying to head to Chicago’s Galerie F to join Stinkfish, Zas and Buytronick in preparation for APC’s first exhibit in the U.S.

You are leaving in a few hours for Chicago. What’s happening there?

I will be working with Stinkfish, Zas and Buytronick to produce a series of collaborative works. Each of us has a distinct graphic language and they all will come together on an array of surfaces – from found objects to huge outdoor murals — for this exhibit at Galerie F.  Drawings, paintings, zines, shirts and all kinds of APC paraphernalia will be on sale at the gallery. The exhibit opens to the public on Friday, January 30.

animal-tricks-gallery-8-APC

Can you tell us something about APC? What does it mean? When did you guys all meet?

The crew originated almost ten years ago back in Bogota with a few artists who participated together in festivals.  These days we have over 50 members representing APC throughout the entire world. The acronym has many different meanings. Its principal one is Animal Power Cult, as animals play an essential role in our individual and common aesthetic.

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What about you? You seem to have three distinct identities. I primarily associate you with Third World Pirate as I remember watching you paint your iconic pirate almost ten years ago in Bogota. But there everyone seems to refer to you as AEON. And, here in NYC, I’ve come to think of you as Lorenzo Masnah.

I’ve been obsessed with pirates and drawing them in endless variations since I was a child growing up in Bogota. That explains Third World Pirate!  He is the one character who always travels with me. AEON is my acronym for Al Estilo Orto Nombre (Another Name for Style) – as I began getting up back in 2002 in Bogota with distinct one-line drawings. And I adopted the name Lorenzo Masnah when I had my solo show at Fuse Gallery in 2013.

Aeon-dancers

Among the highlights of your solo show at Fuse Gallery were your refashioned images of beautiful Mexican women. That is another theme that resurfaces in your work. Can you tell us something about that? You seem to be quite obsessed with Mexican ladies!

Yes, for years I’ve been collecting Mexican erotic magazines dated from the early 1950s. This past year, in fact, while visiting Mexico, I discovered in a used book store in Puebla a huge stack of 45 records with covers fashioned from these vintage magazine pictures. I bought them all! And I am now working with them, recreating them with images that transcend that specific era.

Why do you suppose these images so engage you?

I love their pure innocence, their nostalgic beauty! And they represent so much of what we are missing in our era of Internet dating, where romance has lost its essence.  And I’ve also always loved working with recycled materials. It is my way of preserving the past, as I create a visual encyclopedia of aesthetics and issues that speak to me – and, hopefully, to others.

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What’s ahead?

After Chicago, we plan to travel out West and then return to NYC for APC’s first East Coast exhibit.

It all sounds great! We look forward to seeing you guys in NYC.

Note: Animal Tricks opens this Friday, January 30, at 6 pm at Galerie F. Located at 2381 N Milwaukee Ave  in Chicago IL. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 AM to 6 PM.

APC-in-chiacago

Interview by Lois Stavsky. Photos: 1. AEON paints in Chicago, courtesy Galerie F; 2. flyer for exhibit, collaborative by featured APC artists; 3. APC in NYC with AEON, Zas, Rimx  and Arepa photographed by Tara Murray; 4. AEON on canvas photographed by Lois Stavsky; 5 – 7.  APC in Chicago courtesy Galerie F.  

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