50mm Los Angeles

WILL RISE

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY

Proudly Presents

WILL RISE

Current Works from THE SEVENTH LETTER COLLECTIVE

KRUSH, SKREW, SABER, PUSH, REVOK, ZES, RETNA, RIME, SEVER, EWOK,
REYES

Curated By

Brett Aronson

Opening Reception

JANUARY 19th 2008

6 â€“ 10 pm

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY
BERGAMOT STATION
2525 Michigan Ave, D5
Santa Monica, CA 90404

www.robertbermangallery.com

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L.A. TIMES PRESS RELEASE:
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"Please cover these walls with graffiti"

By -- Lea.Lion @latimes.com
January 17, 2008

THE elite graffiti crew Angels Will Rise has made a name for itself
byspray-painting full-color, wall-sized murals -- of both the illegal
and commissioned variety -- around L.A. over the last 20 years. But
when 11 of its members met up in a mid-city warehouse in November, it
was not to plan their next bombing mission, but to create murals bound
for gallery walls.

The resulting pieces are part of "Will Rise," which opens at Robert
Berman Gallery on Saturday and pays homage to the aesthetic that
brought fame to this subgroup of the merchandising collective Seventh
Letter Crew. Namely, its West Coast-flavored "wild style" script.

"Basically, the exhibit consists of 70 panels that fit together in a
modular installation to mock up what an outdoor mural would look
like," says show curator Brett Aronson. "A lot of gallery shows take
the aesthetic of graffiti and try to put it on a canvas, but that
disrupts what graffiti is by taking it off the wall. Obviously, the
gallery is not a concrete outdoor wall, but the concept was to try to
represent that."

For the show, each artist created a mural on six 4-by-4-foot panels.
Their pieces will be displayed from floor to ceiling on three walls to
create the effect of "a subway tunnel covered in graffiti," says
gallery owner Robert Berman.

During a recent visit, the tunnel wasn't yet installed, but a
mural by Marquis Lewis, known in the graffiti world as Retna, adorned
one wall. The work depicts what Lewis refers to as a "family crest" in
copper-toned brushwork.

On an adjacent wall, a mural by Saber, known for creating the
world's largest graffiti piece in the L.A. River channel, features
swirling letters in shades of silver, purple and white. On a far wall,
a mural by Revok, who is widely considered to be the godfather of
modern-day graffiti, combines fanciful script with a tech-inspired
font to spell out his name.

"I came from the school of thought that graffiti was supposed to be
on the street; it wasn't supposed to be in a gallery," says Lewis.
"But the gallery setting allows graffiti artists to explore avenues
they normally wouldn't because they are rushed or they fear
getting arrested."

Of course, it helps that after years of outlaw status, graffiti
artists are getting respect in the gallery world. "People are starting
to look at this as the new tough art, the same way that in New York in
the '60s they were looking at Pop Art," Berman says. "The world is
their canvas."

Links:
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[1] http://www.robertbermangallery.com

Posted 01.19.08 by Unit

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