DOZE GREEN, MIMESIS, Even The Greatest Stars

DOZE GREEN

MIMESIS

- EVEN THE GREATEST STARS -

FROM MARCH 21ST TO JUNE 30TH

PRESS RELEASE

It is the poetry of mimesis. Or MIMESIS, the solo exhibition by the American artist Doze Green (New York, 1964) that Galleria Patricia Armocida, via Argelati 24, is pleased to host from March 21st to June 30th 2023. An exhibition of unpublished works, whose common thread to the past is given by the reflective approach that Green places on contemporary society, first investigating himself and then what surrounds him: the infinite. Starting from the analysis of the relationship and the principles of correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm, his latest work explores shapes and colors of the realm of the infinitely small. This reflects, like mimesis, a harmonic order capable of holding up its various parts in the universe. Space, time, living and artistic surface. By asking questions, first of his own person and, subsequently, of his medium of expression, painting and drawing: "We create worlds, yet who created us?". “What is reality?” Chimeras or dystopias. Ethereal or artificial consciousness. Where is the mimesis? What happens at the very moment in which it takes place in the traction between space and time? The matter is emphasized by the 10 canvases and 14 drawings, from which figures with mystical, numerological and hermetic contaminations appear. Doze unfolds an intense world filled with polymorphic/therianthropic beings connected in a dynamic dance charged with vital and creative energy. Abstract typographical bodies in which the Letter, universal register of language and information, detached from its function as an interpretative tool, becomes a fetish of knowledge, of culture, and therefore of truth. Figures that have evolved and freed themselves in space in constant metamorphosis. The process gradually reveals itself to the eye, during the equally explanatory observation of the previous work of Doze Green, who grew up in the midst of the hip hop cultural revolution in 1980s Manhattan, from which the chromatic reminiscence emerges as if he were traveling on the New York City Transit System. An experience spent with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and, above all, with Rammellzee. Artist/philosopher and visionary from which futuristic, cybernetic and cosmological influences derive. Another mimesis. In the exhibition, the viewer can seek through the gaze, the reflection, to trace his own fusion with the observed work. The movement, the subject that becomes autonomous within the space. Dance as a source of energy, an element that Green has always considered on a par with a spirit, connects the mind to the body. In fact, one is guided by the art accomplished by the artist and by his imaginary which finally takes place, in a changing reality, moving on the basis of the "emptiness" yet punctuated by vibrant sensations, thanks to clear and timbre colors. Mimesis again. Microcosmic humanity has plunged into oblivion and struggles to re-emerge, to recognize itself, merging with the whole, transforming itself. The only possibility, quoting the Kraftwerk: “Even the greatest stars”. Really looking in the mirror and, immediately afterwards, recognizing in the Truth. Or dancing, merging with the more concrete self.

BIO

Jeff Green (1964) was born in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is the protagonist of the New York art scene of the 1980s. Pioneer of Writing, he begin to paint the New York subway in 1977, with mentors such as Dondi White, Phase 2 and Rammelzee who influence his aesthetics as well as philosophy, developing an extremely recognizable style in which he blends a futuristic vision with symbolic elements and related concepts to numerology. The following year he joins the Rock Steady Crew, the forerunner of a new dance style known as break dancing or B-Boying. The group begins dancing at art shows and galleries in Soho and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In 1982 Green presents his works in two exhibitions at Fashion Moda, the same gallery where Jean Michel Basquiat exhibited and at Patty Astor's Fun Gallery with Keith Haring. Between 83-84, after appearances in important films such as Wildstyle (1982) with the Crew, Flashdance (1983) and Style Wars (1983), he exhibited in New York at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Leo Castelli and Barbara Brathen Gallery. Subsequently in 1986 he is present at the Surrealismo group show with Andy Warhol, in whose company he participates in the well-known documentary book Antonio's girls (1982) starring Jessica Lange, Jerry Hall, Pat Cleveland and Grace Jones. With the founder of Pop-Art he was a guest at the celebratory evening of the feature film painting at Studio 54. In the 1990s Doze Green moves to California evolving and perfecting his visual language in a coherent way. The structure of the letters is freed and the line is transformed into a perpetual flow from which abstract representations of the human body emerge. Since then Doze Green's work exhibited in major galleries and museums around the world and is featured in public and private collections. MIMESIS - Even The Greatest Stars marks the evolutionary apex of the artist's style. The synthesis of his journey in Milan. 

Among the solo exhibitions, we mention: Gray Matter 3.0, Museum of Graffiti, Miami - Austin, USA, 2022; Transmissions, Chenus Longhi, Paris, France, 2018; Limbo, Wunderkammer, Milan, Italy, 2016; Out of Knowhere, Jonathan LeVine, New York, USA, 2014; Solo, Openspace Gallery, Paris, France, 2013; Luminosity In The Dark Rift, Jonathan LeVine, New York, USA, 2012; New Works, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, USA, 2010; Rubincon's Cube, with Pavirellis, New York, USA, 2008; N.O.O.N., Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, USA, 2008; Gas, Global Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2007; Gas, Paper Shadow Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, 2007; The Left Hand Path, Webbs Gallery, Auckland, Australia, 2007, Greymatter, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, USA, 2004; Solo, Carlos Irizarry Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2003.

Among the group exhibitions, we mention: Concrete to Canvas, West Chelsea Contemporary, New York, USA, 2022; Beyond the Streets, Beyond the Streets, New York, USA, 2019; Cross the Streets, Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, Italy, 2017; The Bridges of Graffiti, collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale, Italy, 2015; TAG, Grand Palais, Paris, 2009; Chimera, Miami International Art Fair, USA, 2009; In the Land of Retinal Delights, The Juxtapoz Factor Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, USA, 2008; War Pen, Leonard Street Gallery, London, UK, 2008; Beautiful Losers, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA, 2004; Casita, Museo de Art de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2004; Juxtapoz, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, USA, 2004.