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| Beau Stanton, "Contrived View" oil and acrylic on canvas 18"x18" |
The Future is Now opened in Chelsea's Highline Loft Thursday evening
featuring seminal artists from the forefront of the urban art movement, we were
happy to see many familiar faces from the establishing age of the Brooklyn art
scene. Curated by a formidable trio: McCaig Welles, Ad Hoc Art, and
No Agenda, whose combined experiences run the gamut of multidisciplinary arts from visual, sound to performance arts.
Those in the know, remember McCaig Welles Gallery in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn in the early 2000's as featuring an amazing program of cutting-edge
exhibitions that introduced many, now well known and established, artists to
the contemporary art scene. Melissa McCaig Welles' knowledge and influence is
easily seen in this captivating showcase of street and urban contemporary
artists.
Ad Hoc Art, a long time favorite in the early and establishing
periods of the Bushwick Arts expansion movement, was a pioneer to this now
beloved artist haven in Brooklyn. It is a pleasure to see their visionary
influence in this exhibition, showcasing a keen eye for the incorporation of a
mixed use of printmaking techniques and hand reproduction methods.
No Agenda's history of developing the parallels between audio and visual arts, adds a fuller dimension to the exhibition which you can see more as the exhibition continues with performances through the weekend. No Agenda founder Kimyon Huggins, and his compatriots are part of a growing movement of artists around the globe that seek to reclaim the revolutionary tendency of art to act as a catalyst for progress and change in society.
The balance found within this show instills a feeling of freedom of expression which more often than not, takes on the form of cynical critiques of American society.
Selected works and favorites from this exhibition can be seen below:
