haha  (saw Angelyne in her hot pink corvette on Sunset Blvd. today  actually)

Happy New Year

VCO Co-op out now. Photo: Ian Campbell

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SKULLPHONE

Unidentified to date, and pathologically wary of cameras and interviewers, the man behind the iconic Skullphone image remains a mystery. Skullphone is known to carry fake identification and allegedly uses up to three pseudonyms at any given time, never giving his real name at an event or on an art-show flyer.

Based in Southern California, Skullphone has been wheatpasting, stenciling, and stickering his stark image of a skull talking on a cellphone for almost a decade. Skullphone was also responsible for a series of stickers and posters that appeared around New York, advertising a gate-installation service and bearing an 800 number that delivered the caller to a mystifying voice recording. Skullphone moved into billboard liberation and high-stakes installation in 2008, when he hacked ten Clear Channel billboards in Los Angeles and placed his name into the series of ads that flashed on the screens.

A classically trained painter, Skullphone has recently been branching out into oil painting, spearheading a new labor-intensive style of imagery that utilizes the color pixels found in LCD screens to create the deceptive effect of an electronically glowing painting.

-Ed Koch photo by Jay Edlin,  2011

Pure Logo, a group show curated by Skullphone, opened on Saturday evening at New Image Art.   The show offers several takes on the concept of concise visual communication from Evan Gruzis, Curtis Kulig, Takeshi Murata, Cleon Peterson, Paul Wackers and Hugh Zeigler.

Pure Logo Press Release

photo: Tanley Wong

Over and over again, the two words, “Love Me,” are repeatedly scrawled on the canvasses of Curtis Kulig, the street artist best known for emblazoning this simple cursive ‘throw-up’ all over New York City. Viewed next to the faux-LED crosses and blatant consumerist imagery of his long-time friend and supporter Skullphone, they begin to take on a hint of desperation, a plaintive plea in a world inundated with brand-names and electronic simulacra. While the two artists have supported each other for over 7 years, Scripture, now showing at the Mallick Williams and Co. Gallery in Chelsea, is the first documented collaboration between the two artists. Regardless of the precedent, however, the installation sees Kulig and Skullphone pursuing techniques that the artists have explored in past work.

In the first room of the show, Skullphone pointillistically mimics the red, blue and green lighting arrays of LED screens is shown through a number of black aluminum crucifixes and circular discs, using the colors to create a mix of biblical and consumerist imagery (Prada, Mobil Oil, Smiley Faces, the Crucifiction, etc.) that devolve into a grid of dots as the viewer gets closer. Running in parallel, the images also interact with each other, with some pieces ominously reflecting the stark outline of crosses behind the viewer while foregrounding the skeletons and brand-names portrayed. A large end-piece reflects the viewers in the gallery, effectively reflecting the gallery on a large screen.

Similarly, Kulig continues his on-going use of the ‘Love Me’ tag, using his loopy handwriting and stylized, heart-shaped ‘M’s to create enormous, textured patterns on his canvases. This approach is repeated in a number of color combinations, with Kulig taking his commentary on mass-producible art to the next level, keeping the enormous canvases shrink-wrapped and piled in one corner of the room. The casual visitor is left to wonder if the works had arrived late, or if they perhaps were not supposed to be in the second room to begin with.

Taken as a whole, the dark, pleading nature of Kulig’s pieces, almost hidden away in the backroom, creates a dialogue between the clean, efficient advertising imagery Skullphone presents up front, exploring the nature of symbolism and identity in American consumerist culture.

Related Links:

A Preview of Skullphone + Curtis Kulig’s “Scripture” Exhibit at Mallick Williams & Co. [Paper Mag]
‘Scripture’: Skullphone and Curtis Kulig at Mallick Williams & Co. [Opening Ceremony]

We wouldn’t say no to raiding Madonna’s late ’90s closet for all those Galliano and Versace cross necklaces. Remember that trend? But when it comes to the real thing—crosses that is—we think that perhaps the best place for this religious symbol is a chapel, not the latest issue of Architectural Digest. Or, maybe not. Cutting-edge Chelsea gallery Mallick Williams & Co.’s newest exhibit, “Scripture,” (the first documented collaboration between Curtis Kulig and Skullphone) will feature Skullphone’s “Prada Fall/Winter 2011″ that’s basically a giant, three-foot-tall six-foot-tall Prada cross. Though it looks like it’s plugged into the wall, the piece is actually a Skullphone signature, a pointillist painting meant to resemble LED lights. The artist’s incorporation wasn’t random; Skullphone identifies Prada as “a brand that reaches the masses and yet still esoteric in concept….it’s at the seam of the vulgar and educated.” And, of course, Italian, especially fitting as the cross is a major symbol of Catholicism. We’re not sure how well this will go down in the Texas mega-churches, but we think the Pope will dig it—it’s been said that he wears Prada loafers, after all.

“Scripture,” Thursday, October 6, to Tuesday, November 8, 2011; Opening reception Thursday, October 6, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Malick Williams & Co., 150 11th Avenue (near 21st Street); 212-929-4137.

http://vimeo.com/30039653