DISTORT, Ascent to Cavalry, Urban Pop

DISTORT, Ascent to Cavalry, 45″ x 66″ x 20″, mixed media, $4500.00, Urban Pop, Betsy Meyer Memorial ExhibitionMain Line Art Center

Ascent to Cavalry is based on the painting by Tintoretto, a Mannerist painter from 1565. Instead of a Christ figure with a Cross, DISTORT paints a woman pinned down by a street sign while extreme emergency goes on around her. The scene is like the result of a video game car chase rampage transformed into a Mannerist artwork with a spiritual universal narrative about gender equality. The frame is bumpers from cars. The gallery lighting reflecting off the painting makes the art look like it’s emitting it’s own light.

DISTORT, Main Line Art Center

DISTORT, mixed media on car hood, $5000.00 (sold), Main Line Art CenterUrban PopBetsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, photo by Les Howard.

DISTORT, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

DISTORT, The Flag Burners 1, 12″ x 8″ x 4″, acrylic on canvas mounted on aerosol can, $400.00, The Flag Burners 2, 12″ x 8″ x 4″, acrylic on canvas mounted on aerosol can, $400.00. Main Line Art CenterUrban PopBetsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition.

Flag desecration is an act of political protest outlawed in most countries around the world. Pop art is a reaction to mass culture and DISTORT finds that sweet spot between activist protest art, street art and the symbolism of scrolls made from spray paint cans. Modern art aspires to ‘kill the father’, protest art uses performance, site-specific installations, graffiti and street art. Mixing genres and disciplines, DISTORT creates a hybrid of protest art, Dada found objects and classical painting.

Leslie Friedman, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Leslie Friedman, Hairy Chest, 12″ x 12″, screen-print on linoleum tile backed with felt, $250.00, Diamond, 12″ x 12″, screen-print on linoleum tile backed with felt, $275.00, Sukkot Tile, 12″ x 12″, screen-print on linoleum tile backed with felt, $300.00, Einstein, 12″ x 12″, screen-print on linoleum tile backed with felt, $250.00.  Urban PopMain Line Art CenterBetsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition.

Leslie Friedman‘s installation is really cool. The design of the space uses everyday materials like linoleum and goes bonkers with a skate board ramp, a DJ, color on the walls and the floor, everywhere. Interior design can be an experience and every surface is signified with cultural symbols. We talked about the artist Sonia Delaunay and how she had to make fabric designs and furnishings to support her artistic career. Leslie admitted she wondered whether or not to include the pop ottoman because it relates too much to interior design. But picture a super kawaii skater girl watching her skate-nerd boyfriend do tricks off the ramp. Oy Vey!

Below are a bunch of pictures of Leslie Friedman‘s room which transitions to the installation by Jay Walker. Amie Potsic curated the exhibit at Main Line Art Center featuring work influenced by Pop Art and urban culture bringing together three great artists to celebrate Betsy Meyer who appreciated experimental art. The artists were free to experiment with the space: Leslie Friedman‘s Jewish skate nerd pop room, Jay Walker‘s Pyrotokos room and DISTORT‘s cyber-punk classic art from an imagined future are a match made in art pop heaven. Urban Pop is like a comic book, dumpster diver, post, post, post, post modern mash-up of concepts, materials and time. A lot of the work is site specific, experiencing the space will make you think you need more pop in your life.

Leslie Friedman, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Leslie FriedmanUrban PopMain Line Art Center, photo by Les Howard.

Leslie Friedman, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Leslie FriedmanUrban PopMain Line Art Centerphoto by Les Howard.

Leslie Friedman, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Leslie FriedmanUrban PopMain Line Art Centerphoto by Les Howard.

Leslie Friedman, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Leslie FriedmanUrban PopMain Line Art Center

Jay Walker, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Jay WalkerPyrotokos, tape, Urban PopMain Line Art Center

Jay Walker, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Jay WalkerPyrotokos, tape, Urban PopMain Line Art Center

Jay Walker, Urban Pop, Main Line Art Center

Jay WalkerPyrotokos, tape, Urban PopMain Line Art Center

Bring us the fire and light these rags aflame. Show us yourself with headlamps of your presence.

Prometheus gave a vision of a hero, bound for giving us hope and light.

Pyrotokos moves mysteriously as his gift, I am thankful for what it destroys.

Speak uttterances and grunts known to the fire, I need an advocate with a flaming tongue.

Destroy and build, create and tear down, bring the change.” – Jay Walker artist statement.

Pyrotokos is a drawing made with tape that extends across the walls and ceiling and down the other side onto the floor. The use of low level materials like packing tape and duct tape to create a spiritual message of redemption and resurrection by walking through the fire is really the essence of pop culture. Amie Potsic, the curator of Urban Pop at Main Line Art Centerby bringing together artists who reflect their generation through their art yet break through new cultural barriers the same way Pop artists in the 1950′s rebelled against the attitudes of their time. – DoNArTNeWs

One final comment about the group of artists in Urban Pop, they’re all really nice people. Leslie told DoN how great the guys were working with her. Jay Walker is so intellectual and deep it’s crazy, he was concerned about messing up the walls when DoN was thinking about how to remove the walls not the tape. And DISTORT was supported by his PAFA artist friends that was really moving. There’s a thing about artists from PAFA, they really show up for each other, generation after generation of artists come to art shows to support their friends, comrades and conspirators. Peace.

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted. Thank you to Les Howard for contributing photography.

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