FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tony Goldman and The Hole are excited to announce a new incarnation of the Bowery mural wall at Houston and Bowery by downtown legend Kenny Scharf. This is the fifth project Tony has presented on this historic wall: a recreation of Keith Haring’s famous 1982 Bowery mural kicked off the mural series Summer 2008, followed by the Brazilian twin-brother duo Os Gemeos, street artist Shepard Fairey, and most recently by Barry McGee’s extreme tagging artwork.
Kenny Scharf is a NYC / LA based artist who is known for paintings, performance and installation that incorporate pop and comic imagery in evocative and nuanced reconfigurations. His black light disco installations (“Cosmic Caverns”) have been exhibited in the 1985 Whitney Biennial, numerous museums around the world, and most recently his Brooklyn Basement where he had fantastic all night parties from 2009-2010. He made a collaborative version of this disco with Dearraindrop at The Hole this November 2010. He also contributed a 25-foot mural at Wynwood Walls, Tony Goldman’s expansive outdoor mural museum in Wynwood Miami, where this December he debuts a customized black light Cosmic airstream sculpture.
Kenny is a master of spray can customization. From refrigerators to Air Stream trailers, Kenny customizes everyday appliances and objects with his signature comic exuberance to emphasize the possibilities all around us for energy and new life. This mural will be made with over 200 colorful cans over a five-day period. Kenny has a special relationship to this wall: he was a collaborator and very close friend of the late Keith Haring, the artist who began the tradition of murals appearing on this wall when he executed his fantastic work there in 1982. Right after the Keith mural, Kenny and a team of Fun Gallery artists (including Keith, LA2, Crane, ON2 and others) made a mural of characters and graffiti that ran for a few months that year.
The property on which the mural is located has been owned by Goldman Properties since 1984. Tony Goldman’s goal is to use this wall to present the top contemporary artists from around the world with an emphasis on artists who work on the streets. This mural is co-presented by Paul Kasmin Gallery who represents the artist. The paint was generously provided by Montana and 33 3rd.
PHOTOS BY JOE RUSSO of ArrestedMotion