Outside of THE STREETS is delighted to announce Social gathering at Megiddo, the LA solo debut from Oakland-based visible artist Gregory Rick. A receiver of SFMOMA’s 2022 SECA Art Award, the latest graduate of Stanford University’s MFA artwork observe plan, and participant in Outside of THE STREETS’ inaugural Article Graffiti exhibition, Rick will showcase a new collection of operate that builds on the style of heritage portray, describing his art as discovering “the regarded, the obscure, and the neglected”, when questioning the who’s and why’s of historical past.
A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rick’s function is influenced by personal experiences, but is not totally own. It tells stories that mirror his everyday living as it relates to a dialogue with the broader world. Where fantasy gives voice to the underbelly, the lumpen in tandem exhibiting the common and grandiose. His function tethers collectively seemingly opposing strategies amongst the individual, the historic and the political.
“I’m painting on a shaky historic line cemented in humility and conviction. I occupy my photos with figures who provide as archetypes in conjunction with memory and self-exploration reflecting on the absurdness and monumentality of record,” Rick shares.
The title for Rick’s demonstrate brings together two terms that look inextricably opposing however cemented in cognitive dissonance. Megiddo is a reference to the battle of Armageddon, currently being the town in which the excellent previous fight was prophesied to happen. It references a occasion at the last battle of humanity, questioning the unsure moments we stay in, in which we promptly feed the fire of the anthropocene, on cruise handle in the quickly lane to extinction with these types of reckless ferocity it just about looks as if we are celebrating our possess demise. The exhibition has few responses but instead reflects and fosters lots of questions as Rick ponders a very important part of this present-day second.
Rick’s fondness for artwork started all-around the time his father was sentenced to jail for manslaughter. It served as equally a means of gaining agency in a chaotic childhood – as one particular has control of the narrative in one’s have photos – and as a connection with his father by means of the meticulous copying of illustrations from an outdated army encyclopedia that he remaining powering ahead of staying incarcerated. When educational facilities in his space stopped offering art classes, Rick became infatuated with the artwork that was quickly offered, which was graffiti. He would devote his life to deciphering the cryptic language, which led to trouble with the law, like fees that have been in the long run cleared following Rick enlisted in the Military. There he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, with whom he fought in Iraq from 2005 to 2006.
Just after his enlistment time period was up, Rick discovered it tough to regulate again to his old daily life and eventually identified himself homeless and struggling with a number of issues. He however carried all over pen and paper and would draw for the similar good reasons that inspired him in his youth. For the duration of this seminal point in his daily life, he sought enable from the neighborhood Veterans Affairs place of work, exactly where art turned a crucial facet of his restoration.
“Gregory Rick’s work speaks about electricity and anguish, fantastic and evil. About resiliency. He contextualizes these narratives by mining the complexities of our collective past and sharing views generally omitted in historical accounts. His ability to shine a light-weight on the oppressed and forgotten is a triumph that we’re happy and excited to share with Los Angeles,” suggests gallery director Dante Parel.
Outside of THE STREETS Gallery
434 N La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036