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Hello. My name is Justin. I am 19 and from Cleveland. My influences include Basquiat, Warhol, Twombly, Picasso, and Warhol. Please visit my webpage at www.angelfire.com/oh2/picasso. I am showing my drawings at the Giorgio Milan Gallery in Boston. The show runs through October 11. Below is the essay written about my drawings by curator/art critic Peter Barnes: His drawings read reminiscent of James Joyce's stream-of-consciousness. They are raw, dynamic compositions of words interspersed with symbolic images. "Balance of words (70%) vs. symbols (30%)" he notes to himself in one piece.
Justin K's symbols are arrows, (prevalent in almost all his works) boxes, (surrounding key words) asterisks, flowers, planets, and Keith Haring- like humanoids, all universal and primal elements. But it is the overwhelming bombardment of his words that dominate his works. Continuing the graffiti tradition of Jean-Michael Basquiat, he spews concept of lust, Evolution, the Bomb, Humanity, Fertility, Violence, Links Quantum Physics to Social Physics, & Fairy Tales and Rock music. These are but a few of the topics our chaotic culture grapples with and as shown in his drawings, are barely containing. Justin K is obviously a poet making visual art with the power of words. He does give us a glimpse of his romantic side "I miss you" and "Ice melts, love returns for her". Also encouraging us to "Love another with the beauty of a Rose".
Continuing the message of New York meteoric artist Basquiat, both share a bold rapidity of execution, repetitious lists of one word, & a seemingly random composition held together by arrows and symbols. Yet what bonds the two artists is the dizzying fast paced exemplification of our culture, a dream-like "channel surfing" of ideas embodied in the power of word-topics, hardly able to contain then all within the page. Basquiat's mentor and collaborator, Warhol, said, "I feel very much a part of my culture, as much as rocket-ships and television". Justin K calls Picasso "the greatest mind of the 20th century". But his kinship with Basquiat's primal energy and imagery is stronger.
Justin K also has kinship with Cy Twombly's 1960's Blackboard Paintings, most notably in the spatially projected geometric shapes; words and letters scattered across the surface in Untitled (1969) in Basle. Both share a highly personal "hand-writing".
The essence of Justin K is of a most vibrant, thought-provoking, NEW rules-breaker ascending the art scene. The first major cultural Internet-Artist shows us our chaotic world. Today as we meet the next Millennium our plate is indeed overflowing. For info on my show, click here. Thanks. I am also being featured on www.studio211.com.
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