Speedy Graphito's solo exhibition Artificial Paradise has been extended until Saturday, June 13th.
Speedy Graphito returns to Los Angeles for his first solo exhibition of 2015, presenting new work which takes a critical look at contemporary consumer culture. Commercialism coupled with images of pop cultural icons have remained constant themes throughout Speedy Graphito’s artistic repertoire, however in his new body of work, the artist shifts his creative focus to representations of advertising. By deconstructing and collaging familiar images, Speedy confronts advertising’s unfiltered philosophy.
From the artist: “Presented as the temple of consumerism, this exhibition reveals the hidden faces of advertising and highlights their manipulative power. Hypnotic and powerful brands are decrypted to give us the freedom to break this addiction.” Beautiful women paired with Coke cans, iPods, and designer logos all work in tandem to reflect the multitude of ways in which advertisers have a hold on our subconscious – various fragmented reflections of what and whom we desire based on our consumer impulses.
For this exhibition, Speedy Graphito, as a classically trained painter, uses his skills to create a consumerist utopia. Presenting a simulacrum of artificial images, canonical in our modern society, he re-contextualizes these motifs into a veritable explosion of logos, mascots, slogans, and contemporary paraphernalia. This newest visual landscape presents the most striking exploration of “image overdose”. He proposes, “If the world is a self-representation, we are what we think we see.” His new work will include multimedia pieces, paintings, film, sculpture and large-scale installations.