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Grace Jones “love is the drug”

I didn’t know much about Barry McGee before I saw his Advanced Mature Work show at REDCAT in the Disney Concert Hall in Downtown LA, but I liked what I saw. Sure I’m a sucker for pop colors, urban scenes and stacked up tvs, but still this exhibit was pretty invigorating.

I read on the REDCAT website that the San Francisco-based artist basis his creative process on graffiti culture, meaning that he tries to work with the “immediacy of graffiti culture” and informal expression. In his own words:

“The American Dream has nothing to do with criminality, but with a desire for independence and adventure, so escaping from any kind of control or definition also signifies not being identified, acting illegally, standing outside of every category of art and intervention on the streets.” Love it.

Anyway, I was really inspired by the colors and the geometry of the squared paintings above as well as the urban aesthetic of the rest of the instillation. There were upside down cars, motorized taggers and pieces projecting from the wall with the help of exposed wood beams. In that box with the latter was a mechanical head hitting its forehead against the wall.

McGee gets it.