Yesterday, I had a chance to chat with artist Damon Ginandes. He has a few works for sale at Presciption Art’s Outside In show, which opens tonight in Shoreditch at the Truman Brewery. I’ve made comments in the past questioning why Ginandes is associated with street art, but I really love his work. It’s got a refined quality that’s lacking in a lot of street art, and the wire relief creates an awesome effect.
Although Ginandes did some graffiti in his teens, he first got involved in street art in 2007 when he painted a mural in Brooklyn. Wooster Collective posted photos of the mural, and since then, he’s been associated with street art. Ginandes doesn’t necessarily see himself as a street artist. “Street art is a good jumping off point, but it boxes people in,” Ginandes said.
As for the work itself, Ginandes uses paints and wire to draw what he describes as “portraits of souls.” The paintings are part of his process of getting to know the souls. “[Outer] identity is defined by factors like music and clothes, not the core of the person,” Ginandes said. In his paintings, Ginandes tries to strip away those factors. Often times, the people are squished together or merged (one man’s head turning into another’s body) like pieces of a puzzle.
Although the watercolors are interesting, Ginandes’ best work is his sculpture and wire relief pieces. Loggerhead (above), a piece from his recent solo show “Dimentionals” at The Artbreak Gallery, is a great example of his sculpting. Some artists, such as Banksy, have taken great paintings of their’s and made terrible sculptures out of them. Ginandes doesn’t fall into that catagory.
Ginandes has been making his wire relief pieces for about a year and half, and they are one of the reasons I think his work is so great. The wire relief is hard to appreciate online because from photos shot straight on, you don’t realize how much of the piece encorporates wire, but his website has some videos that show what they are really like.
Ginandes has big plans for the coming year. Besides the Outside In show, he’ll have his work in shows in the USA, and he plans on doing more work on the street. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing a lot more of his murals.