The second annual Urban Funk Exhibition features four young artists that represent the urban youth culture of New York City today. Three painters and a photographer explore issues of identity, material, illustration and capitalism in four distinct visual approaches. The exhibition is comprised of thirteen exciting works that range from oil, acrylic and stencil on canvas to light-box illuminated photography. On view through October 18, 2006.
More about the artists:
Meghan Turbitt is 23 years old and was born and raised in Warwick, Rhode Island, 02888. She quips “Try our party pizza and clam cakes!”
In May of 2005, Meghan received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts where her concentration varied between oil painting and sculpture with found objects and melted soap. In June of 2005, there was an article written about Meghan’s senior thesis exhibition entitled “Tickled Pink” in the Boston magazine, Arts Media.
In August of 2005, Meghan packed up all her belongings, including her harmonica, to pursue her lifelong dream of living in New York City. Meghan explains “After a short stint on the streets, I ended up in Brooklyn, which is almost the same.”
She plans to attend graduate school in 2007 to obtain an M.F.A. with a concentration in mixed media.
So what inspires this young artist? “I’m inspired everyday by Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and other aspiring young artists. And, of course, Howard Stern” Meghan clarifies.
Eric Devlin was born and raised in Boston, MA and recently moved to Queens. He studied at Massachusetts College of Art, majoring in Illustration. Devlin takes a mixed media, fine arts approach to making illustrations. His work has been featured in publications such as the Boston Globe and the Weekly Dig and he has made images for bands the Dresden Dolls and Torn. You can see his work at www.ericdevlin.com. Devlin also co-founded an independent comic book company, Acronym Comics, which can be visited at www.acronymcomics.com.
Michael N Garten graduated in 2006 with a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design with a concentration in photography. Mike is a photographer and artist living in Brooklyn. He enjoys collecting bugs and living in the woods. These photos are mounted in light boxes constructed from dresser drawers, assigning new value to discarded materials. Capitalism creates new markets, despite their lack of necessity--creating voids and filling them with products leeched from our dwindling resources. Mike explains “I offer a model where trash is reclaimed, and then creatively used to meet the needs of modern society.”
In the process of critiquing "the way things are" Mike implicates himself as part of the problem. “This humbling realization put the polarized/idealistic/quixotic ideas I had to the test. I set out to find out if i could live my own philosophy” states Mike.
The installations were failures, because they were not sustainable. In final image format they are successful because they prompt the viewer to question their ideas about consumption, commodity, and natural resources.
In the end, the work becomes an allegory for man standing at the precipice of a great void that is he can no longer traverse. “ We have so thoroughly estranged ourselves from nature, and technology has become so thoroughly ingrained in us that a return to nature is impossible” posits Mike.
“This said, We can redefine the way we use things, and what we value, and move toward a more humble, sustainable way of living.”
Luis Martin , Multi-Media artist, collects images from magazines, news papers and text books to create a personal visual vocabulary. Through this language the artist creates collages out of paint and paper that investigate issues of identity and the power of an image taken out of context. Martin sometimes includes himself in the paintings embodies through various characters and branding them with the three ring tatoo the artist bares around his right arm. Take a look at the painting on view entitled "college collage", can you find the artist?
