MAYA HAYUK | CLEON PETERSON | REVOK | FRANCESCO IGORY DEIANA, Mint Julep

Galleria Patricia Armocida presented Mint Julep, a group exhibition with works by Maya Hayuk, Cleon Peterson, Revok, and Francesco Igory Deiana, that opened on Wednesday, May 18th 2016.

Mint Julep is a cocktail from the southern United States consisting of bourbon, ice, sugar, and mint. Mixed together, these four ingredients create a refreshing and summery beverage. And this is the starting point for the exhibit: a taste of fresh, new creative trends from overseas.

The works of Maya Hayuk (Baltimore, USA, 1969), an internationally acclaimed artist of Ukrainian origin, are symmetrical compositions made up of intricate color combinations formed by diagonals that are crisscrossed and overlapped on different tonal and perspective levels, creating a multiplicity of rhomboidal forms and lushly colored pictorial tesserae. Her elaborate abstractions are inspired by popular culture, Ukrainian folk art, and Mandalas. Maya uses advanced painting practices to create a psychedelic experience in visual form. Her recognizable brush strokes, vibrant drippings, and dynamic movements express a bursting vitality.

The iconic works of Cleon Peterson (Seattle, USA, 1973) portray the struggle between power and submission in the fluctuating architecture of contemporary society. The impact of his works stems from the contrast between the formal elegance of his two-tone palette and the violent themes. This sense of violence and these instances of denouncement are expressed through the rhythmic twisting of aggressive and powerful shadow-like forms engaging in a virile despotic dance.

Francesco Igory Deiana (Milan, 1986) lives and works in San Francisco. He’s known for his large, painstaking ballpoint-pen-on-paper works in which the mutability of emotions is generated by the gestural expressiveness of the strokes. He explores the connections between man, nature, and the social systems we live in. In the drawings on display, the artist inscribes an abstract texture resembling fabric viewed through TV static within an outline built of right angles alternating with semi-circular cutouts and overlaid with tightly spaced, thin-ruled pencil markings. The result is tension: between the geometric and painterly, the planar and the abstract, soft and hard, noise and information, space and flatness. In his works, natural and civilization elements are melted together through geometrical frames, becoming more and more abstract until they fade out, much like the clouds and figures in his latest works, which evaporate into pure sensation.

Jason Williams, aka Revok (Riverside, USA, 1977) creates abstract geometric panels with vibrant colors and striking patterns inspired by urban environments and scenes from everyday life. In his work, often made from found materials, Revok creates sharp and dynamic geometric forms. The idea of layering and combining, the tenets of his poetics, come across in his latest works as clean and harmonious forms thanks to the juxtaposition and overlapping of geometric shapes, and intermixing of different colors and textures. In his latest works, Revok uses graffiti devices and devices for its removal to create objects that reflect the background and environment in which they were made. Maya Hayuk was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1969; she lives and works in Brooklyn. She earned a BFA in Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art in 1991 and has studied at VCU, Richmond, VA, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada, the University of Odessa, in the Ukraine, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine. Her works have been the subject of commissions at esteemed venues such as: The Bowery Wall, New York, 2014, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2013; Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, 2012; Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, 2011; Museu E.A.V., Rio de Janiero, 2011.

Past solo exhibitions include: Grow Room, Alice Gallery, Brussels 2016; Positive Space, Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin, 2015; Light Heavy, Cinders Gallery, New York, 2014; Alles Klar, Die Kunstagentin Gallery, Cologne, 2014; One Room Residency, Clocktower Gallery, New York, 2013; Multi Versus, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, 2012; Ultra, Ultra Deep Fields, Mu, Eindhoven, 2010.

Some of her numerous public projects: Chemtrails Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2015; Chem Trails Nyc, The Bowery Wall, New York, 2014; Pictures On Walls, London, 2013, Death By Audio, Brooklyn, NY; Woven, Mexico City, 2012; Paint Pour, Monster Island, Brooklyn, NY 2011; Fingers, Beijing 2010.

Her work has been included in group exhibitions such as: Radiate, Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin, 2015; Neo Vol. #1, Die Kunstagentin Gallery, Cologne, 2014; Cruel Summer, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, 2014; Just Before Brazil, Alice Gallery, Brussels, 2014; Art In The Streets 2: Wynwood Walls, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, Miami 2013; Headscapes, in collaboration with Morgan Blair, Long Island City, New York, 2013; Yes!, No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne, 2012; Streetopia, curated by Chris Johanson, Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, High Five, New Image Art, Los Angeles, 2012; Double Rainbow Rainbow, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, 2011; Let There Be Geo, A+D Gallery, Chicago, 2010; Contemporary Art 2010, Ukrainian Institute Of America, New York, 2010; Untitled Enemies, Apostrophe Gallery, Hong Kong, 2009; Bliss, Holala Gallery, Barcelona, 2008; Sous L’es Bombes, Musee International Des Arts Modeste (MIAM), Sète, 2007; Paper Trails, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, 2007; The Rest Is Total Silence, curated by Taka Kawachi, Atm Gallery, New York, 2006; God Is Bored With Us, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, London 2005; By The People For The People, Transport Gallery, Los Angeles, 2004; Origin, Rocket Gallery, Tokyo, 2003.

Hayuk is a member of the Barnstormers collective, the Cinders Art Collective, and she has collaborated with other artists and musicians. She has also created album covers, videos, stage sets, photos, and posters for RyeRye/M.I.A., The Akron Family, TV on the Radio, The Flaming Lips, Devendra Banhart, Seun Kuti, Prefuse 73, Awesome Color, Oakley Hall, Home, Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, Bonnie Prince Billy, and The Beastie Boys. Her book Just Good Vibeswas published in 2007 by Ginko Press, and Round The Way was published in 2010 by Nieves.

Cleon Peterson was born in Seattle, Washington in 1973. He studied at the Art Center College of Design, and received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Detroit in 2006. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Past exhibitions include: Disappear Into Midnight, Galerie du Jour Agnès B, Paris, 2015; End of Days, New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 2014; The Brinksman, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, 2012; The Brinksman, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco 2011; White Flag, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY 2011; Daybreak, New Image Art, Los Angeles, 2010; The Unconsoled, Alice Gallery, Brussels 2009; The Mirror Stage, Cleon Peterson and Kill Pixie, Monster Children Gallery, Sydney, 2009; The Occupation, New Image Art, Los Angeles, 2009. Past group exhibitions: A Decade Of Lazarides, Lazarides Rathbone, Fitzrovia, London, 2016; Still Here, Cruel Summer, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, 2014; These Friends Three, THIS Gallery, Los Angeles, 2012; Postermat, The Hole, New York, 2011; New Image Art, SCOPE Fair, Miami, 2011; Pure Logo, New Image Art, Los Angeles, 2011; Public Domaine, Gaite Lyrique, Paris 2011; The Power of Selection, Part 3, Western Exhibitions, Chicago 2010; Come As You Are, Prism Gallery, Los Angeles, 2010; 14 Artists, New Image Art, Los Angeles 2009; Trailblazers, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, 2008; Locals Only, VASF Gallery, San Francisco, 2008; Scope New York, New Image Art, New York; Aqua Art Miami, New Image Art, Miami Beach, 2007; Those Damn Yanks, Leonard Street Gallery, London 2007.

Francesco Igory Deiana (Milano 1986) lives and works in San Francisco and Los Angeles. By using a broad range of techniques, including ballpoint pen, bleach, lead, paint, and photographs, Deiana’s works offer the viewer a commentary on the way in which our increasing dependence on the computer and its simulacra has eclipsed the primacy of human relationships.

Past exhibitions include: Haptic Render, Cult Gallery, San Francisco 2015; Meeting on the Shore,Parklife Gallery, San Francisco 2015; Involving doubts, D406, Modena, Italy 2014; On Thin Ice, Ruttkowski 68 Gallery, Cologne, Germany 2012.

His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions such as: That’s my Trip, curated by Andrew Schoultz, Joshua Liner Gallery, 2015; Art and Community In California, Sculptural installation in the Museum Alcoves, Oakland Museum, 2015; Summer Group Show, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, 2014; 5 Year Anniversary, Evergold Gallery, San Francisco, 2014; A Massive Swell, Muddguts Gallery, New York, 2013; Locals Only, RVCA, San Francisco 2013; Domesticated Souls, Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, 2012; Contemporaries, curated by Stephen Powers, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan, Italy 2011; Let's go bombing tonight, curated by Barry McGee and Josh Lazcano, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jason Williams, aka Revok, was born in 1977 in Riverside, California, he lives and works in Los Angeles. Considered one of the most daring and influential writers of his generation, he’s a member of The Seventh Letter, an acclaimed West Coast artist collective, and of Mad Society Kings (MSK) a world-renowned graffiti crew. His work was included in Art in the Streets, at MOCA in Los Angeles in 2011 and that same year in the Street Cred at Pasadena Museum of Contemporary Art.

His past solo exhibitions include: Revok, Library Street Collective, Los Angeles, 2015; Pose-Revok, The Mine Gallery, Dubai 2014; Ordinary Things, Library Street Collective. Detroit, 2012; Tragedy & Triumph, Vicious Gallery, Hamburg, 2011.

Some group exhibitions: Art Truancy, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, 2014; Uphill Both Ways, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, 2013;City Of Fire, curated by Arrested Motion, Stephen Webster Gallery, Los Angeles, 2013; SCOPE Art Fair, Jonathan LeVine Gallery booth, Basel, 2012; Hookers, curated by Natalia Fabia, Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, 2012; Fresh Produce, Primary Flight Art Fair, Miami, 2010; Nimbus Vapor, curated by Ron English, Opera Gallery, New York, 2009.