It looks like Roa’s first solo show in America, at Factory Fresh in NYC, is going to be as successful has his recent shows in London and Paris. The show opened on Friday night, and the people I’ve spoken to have loved it. This is definitely an event to check out if you haven’t seen Roa’s artwork in person before.
Photo by Jacob HeftmannPhoto by C-Monster
In addition to works similar to what Roa has been producing for his other shows this year, he made one piece in a crazy new style: A lenticular. Roa first made a lenticular painting on Curtain Road in London last year, and it’s probably been one of his most popular pieces to date, but this is (to my knowledge) the first time he’s made a similar painting indoors.
Last month, Roa spent some time in London for his solo show at Pure Evil Gallery in London where he put on a killer show and paintedoutdoorsalmost every day. Now he’s in New York City for a solo show at Factory Fresh and it looks like he’s going to try and do it all again for a new audience. Definitely not one to miss.
Brooklyn Street Art have already been out to photograph Roa as he paints, so they’ve got photos of that as well as a two–part interview with him on their blog.
The press release for the show:
ROA: A Solo Exhibition
Opening Reception May 14th, 7-10pm
This May, Factory Fresh goes wild as it opens its doors to the zoetic art of Belgium-born artist ROA. The artist’s organic animal forms, huge in both their reputation and impact, will grace the walls of the gallery, reminding spectators of the forgotten natural world beneath the city’s streets.
Through his large-scale installations of very wild wild-life on the industrial canvas of the city, ROA produces a juxtaposition of the overtly natural against the mechanic that is both feral and nostalgic, a reminiscence of what the world used to be before cement and concrete. ROA is famous for his large black and white works that depict both the outer and inner appearance of rodents, bulls, roaches et al, who slumber on garage doors and cement blocks, copulate in abandoned alleyways and decay on brick walls. His work is sprawling and uncontainable, and will be filling Factory Fresh as such, barely pinned down to found materials, clustering in our corners and escaping out into our surrounding streets.
ROA began pulling animals out of the depths of the industrial world in his hometown of Ghent, Belgium, where he explored the area around his home and was inspired by the life that lurked in its lonely smokestacks. His resulting work snarls at you from wherever it prowls, awaking a visceral reaction that comes from seeing something familiar yet unknown, an uncanny portrayal of the animals within and around ourselves that our contemporary lifestyles have made null.
Since his Belgium beginnings, ROA’s work has hit the ground running like the animals he depicts, scattering on four legs all over major cities, showing up on the walls of galleries and abandoned factories alike. His work has been shown in London, Berlin, Warsaw, and sold out in two days in Paris. He now returns to New York, arriving at a very different kind of factory than the industrial wastelands his animals are known to inhabit, ROA’s show at Factory Fresh promises to be untamed and animated as his pieces.
On view till May 30th.
Gallery hours Wednesday thru Sunday 1-7pm
I was fortunate enough to watch Roa paint The Foundry in London a few weeks ago. He had just finished this piece and had some paint left over. There was a spot around the corner where he could paint, so, naturally, he couldn’t leave without making a quick bird (this is a Babelgum video, so those reading via RSS readers may not see this video unless you visit the website):
Roa’s headed to New York City soon for his show at Factory Fresh, so be on the look out for some outdoor work there.
At the start of Roa‘s visit to London, I posted about some pieces he’d painted on top of The Foundry. Did you think that was all he’s painted though? Of course not. Roa is one of the most prolific street artists I know. Here are a few of the other spots he was able to paint during his recent visit to the UK.
And sometime soon I’ll have a video to post of Roa painting at The Foundry.
Roa painted these pieces on Tuesday atop The Foundry in London. The building is about to be knocked down, so go check these out while they’re still around. I should have a video of Roa painting this spot coming soon.
There are a number of artworks being painted on The Foundry right now as part of a pop up art exhibition by Our Cultural History that opens April 15th and runs through the 25th.
Roa‘s first London solo show opened on Thursday night at Pure Evil Gallery. In short, it lived up to the hype. Roa is the man. Is he an artistic genius? Who knows (after all, he still hasn’t given a proper explanation for why he paints his animals and prefers to let the work speak for itself)? I just know I can’t get enough of his art. Here’s from the show (apparently Babelgum’s videos aren’t currently working in some RSS readers or the daily Vandalog email, so you may need to visit the blog to watch this video):
Roa‘s got a solo show opening at Pure Evil Gallery next month. Should be quite something. Roa’s recent solo show in Paris was practically sold out in less than 48 hours and looked awesome. Oh, and I hear that Roa will be in town for the show, so that pretty much guarantees lots of new street pieces. The guy is super prolific.
Solo Exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery 8th APRIL – 2nd MAY 2010
ROA’s eagerly anticipated UK solo debut opens in London this spring to exhibit his unique portrayal of large scale urban wildlife, disquietly cohabiting city streets, hand painted in his distinctive black and white style.
ROA started painting abandoned buildings and warehouses in the isolated industrial outskirts of his hometown – Ghent, Belgium. Fixating on the animals he found there; the wildlife became the central subject matter of his work, inspired by their clever ability to adapt into scavengers in order to survive. He used the dilapidated, coarse interiors and exteriors of the unyielding landscape as a canvas to portray his large-scale creatures.
Roa filled a vast abandoned warehouse complex of different chambers and exteriors with a menagerie of large-scale animals, creating an impressive spray painted zoo of city scavengers.
His obsession went global when he took to the streets of New York, London, Berlin, Warsaw and Paris, prolifically painting his trademark cross sectioned animals wherever he went, locating them where they naturally invade the main city streets with their quiet yet powerful presence.
Pure Evil Gallery is proud and extremely excited to present a new body of original artwork by ROA this spring, complete with street works in the local area. Look out for a new ROA city fox appearing on a street near you.
Thursday evening was the opening of Roa‘s very first solo show. It took place at Gallerie Itinerrance in Paris and was, by all accounts, a massive success. In fact, after seeing these photos, I emailed the gallery for a price list only to find out that everything except Roa’s sketches and photographs had already sold! Pretty good for his first show. I’m a big fan of Roa’s artwork indoors and outdoors, so it’s great to finally see him getting the attention he deserves. Not only did Roa produce some great pieces on found wood and metal for this show, but he sprayed a number of his trademark animals onto the gallery’s walls. The man just does not stop painting, no doubt he’s out making something beautiful for Paris right now.
It might not be the most innovative thing in the world to paint on found metal and whatnot, but I still love it. And the painting below is pretty much what everybody who likes Roa wants in their house: a life sized Roa figure exactly like you might find on the street. Hopefully it actually ends up on somebody’s wall instead of their storage facility.
Photo from GuillotinePhoto from Guillotine
Continuing in the same vein as his piece in The Thousands, most of Roa’s work in Paris transforms somehow.
Photo by VitostreetPhoto by Vitostreet
With this particular painting, you can flip the whole thing around, or just sections of it. It really adds a layer of interactivity to the piece, something not often seen in a painting.
Photo from Guillotine
And this last piece might just be my favorite in the whole show:
Photo by Vitostreet
The element of death that you can find in a lot of Roa’s work might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but this piece looks to me more like a living bird going through an MRI or something than a dead one getting cut up, and like his sketches, shows that Roa doesn’t need a spray-can to paint something that looks nice.
Photo by Vitostreet
So yeah, Roa is awesome, and I can’t wait for his next visit to London. What do you think?
