UTAH & ETHER - WANTED EXHIBITION TEASER from utah ether on Vimeo.
For the first time in over 2 years, our friends UTAH and ETHER are showing artwork in a legal setting. Their work will be showcased alongside fellow artists ZOOW24 and FUNGO at GALLERIA PAVESI in Milano Italy. The opening reception is on February 6th 2014 at 18:00 (6:00 PM).
GET TO KNOW UTAH AND ETHER: Danielle Bremner (UTAH) and Jim Clay Harper (ETHER) are graffiti and mixed media artists hailing from the New York City and Chicago, respectively. Though born and raised in the United States, their art and ambitions have taken them across the globe. Their works can be seen on walls and trains spanning across 4 continents, in cities such as Paris, Milan, New York, Beijing and Tokyo. Their accomplishments in the graffiti world have garnered them much attention, and they have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Juxtapoz Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Corriere della Sera and The History of American Graffiti. In addition to graffiti, the couple utilize video, photography and social media in their works. They have filmed, edited and produced 6 short films and have published 2 books featuring their art and photography. In 2010 they received accolades for their solo show at Fourth Wall Project in Boston, MA, and more recently they were invited in 2013 to create an installation at the Palais De Tokyo in Paris, France. They are currently working on book and film projects focusing on their travels throughout Asia and South America, to be released in 2014.
ARTIST STATEMENT: Graffiti by it's very nature is illegal. It is a common misconception that any art made using spray paint can be considered graffiti, but this is false. Once permission is granted to apply paint to a wall or surface, the act of painting can no longer be considered graffiti, and would more accurately fall under the title of "mural" or "commissioned work". Graffiti cannot be commissioned. It cannot be sanctioned. It is illegal. It is painting what you want, when you want, how you want. It has no rules. Or perhaps more accurately, it has it's own set of rules, ones that are not concerned in the slightest with abiding by the rules of everyday society. With this exhibition we hope to challenge the concepts of legal vs illegal that are traditionally associated with graffiti. All of the artworks displayed in this exhibition were created outside of the safe comfort of an artists' studio. They were conceived without asking any consent. They were born from the subway tunnels deep below the ground and from the train depots guarded by security and surveillance cameras. Walls were scaled and traps were opened to create the works hanging on this gallery's walls. But are these works illegal? Are they art or should they be considered evidence to an illegality having been committed? Are they part of the crime of graffiti, or perhaps the only part of the graffiti action that was not a criminal act?
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