Illiterate Presents:
“The Pyre” New Works by Ravi Zupa
JULY 2 - JULY 30, 2010
Opening Reception FRIDAY JULY 2, 6PM
Illiterate Magazine
82 S. Broadway
Denver, CO 80209
To schedule a private showing call Illiterate at (303) 993-4474 or email at admin@illiteratemedia.com
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Temperatures rise at Illiterate as Ravi Zupa engulfs the gallery with his searingly sharp representations of the past and present. Historical styles are collected and rearranged as the kindling for drawings, paintings and sculptures that blaze with the intensity of a modern man’s angst as he attempts to place his own contemporary struggles amongst turmoils in time.
The Pyre, an exhibit of new works by Zupa, is directly inspired by a collaborative book project by the same name between the artist and renowned hip hop musician, Tim Holland, better known as Sole, founder of the Anticon record label, and leader of Sole and the Skyrider band. The book, also titled “the Pyre” revolves around the incendiary, with an epic poem by Sole interwoven with accompanying illustrations by Zupa. Both radical minds ripped from the same flaming cloth, this is not the duo’s first mutual effort, with Sole previously calling upon Zupa to direct a number of his and other Anticon artists music videos. Though the work in this exhibit exists outside the narrative within “the Pyre” book, as Zupa puts it, “they are the direct result of the same fire and seek to convey the same skepticism, want, desperation, and optimism”. Enter the Pyre and look through the eyes of an artist fueled by a world he sees all around and behind him poised to be set in flame.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A prominent figure within Denver’s art scene, Ravi Zupa has worked with organizations such as Denver Open Media, the Denver Library, and created murals, most notably, the human-like prairie animals in Watercourse Foods. In 2009 he received the Westword’s 2009 Mastermind Award, and though Zupa has shown in numerous locations through the city, this will be his first solo gallery exhibition.
A master of mimicry and illusion, Zupa creates illustrative and expressive works that play tricks on the eyes. Like a magician he uses misdirection to hide objects within plain site, rendering contemporary items seamlessly amidst historical iconography− an ancient Hindu goddess holds in her open palms… horse whips; a samurai charges fiercely into battle with his banner waving a banner for… the U.S. army, a plumed conquistador fingers… a machine gun; what looks like an anatomical drawing torn from the annals of a 19th century medical journal, upon closer inspection is in fact not wholly human at all. No simple gag artist, Zupa does not rely on digital gimmicks to wow the audience, rather he comes from the sleight of hand school; each piece is meticulously hand rendered and weathered by the artist, with subtle skill and technique eliciting moments of awe, as well as those of “aha”.
Inevitably, once the moment of revelation occurs− the trick revealed, the hidden picture found− the question arises, what does all this historical mashing up mean? Why is that Minotaur dressed in army fatigues, the Flemish peasant missing his eyes? By treating modern objects with the same level of detail as exalted symbols, and by altering those vestiges on high, Zupa asks us to evaluate our own modern American symbolism (whether you agree with his interpretation of it or not); what objects, if any, do we collectively imbue with mystical values, and how does this relate to a nostalgic longing, in which we are so dissatisfied with our own fractured culture that we crave the fetishism of the past?
MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST
“Ravi Zupa is Denver’s rare resident poet-painter, sculptor, film artist, activist & intellectual. Ravi self identifies as an anarchist, and these humanist ideas are at the center of all his work and DIY ethos. He is fully self taught and draws lessons from movements and artists who came before him. His works are as varied as his visual inspirations; the German Renaissance, Flemish primitives, Japanese Block art, Religious Iconography from Europe, Asia and pre-Columbian South America, & 20th century revolutionary propaganda. Ravi uses all these old myths, styles and imagery to tell the tale of modern “man” and his condition.
Ravi rejects academia and all pretensions and seeks to celebrate the “everybodyness” of art. With his work he aims to induce the same sense of frantic inspiration which inspires him when he sees a piece. He believes that art should be inclusive, and he puts this idea into practice. Ravi’s work goes beyond art, and he lives the epic battles of ideas found in his pieces in his every day life. It’s rare to find a visual artist with the mind of a poet, that draws from such a rich well of history & creates such a diverse body of work.”
~Tim Holland (Sole)
