Juxtapoz Magazine – Gregory Rick’s “Party at Megiddo” @ BEYOND THE STREETS, Los Angeles

Over and above THE STREETS is pleased to announce Social gathering at Megiddo, the LA solo debut from Oakland-primarily based visible artist Gregory Rick. A  receiver of SF MOMA’s 2022 SECA Artwork Award, latest graduate of Stanford University’s MFA artwork observe system, and participant in Further than THE STREETS’ inaugural Article Graffiti exhibition, Rick will showcase a new collection of operate that builds on the genre of heritage portray, describing his art as exploring “the acknowledged, the obscure, and the overlooked”, though questioning the who’s and why’s of heritage.

A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rick’s do the job is motivated by own experiences, but is not completely personal. It tells stories that reflect his life as it relates to a dialogue with the wider earth. Exactly where fantasy gives voice to the underbelly, the lumpen in tandem exhibiting the familiar and grandiose. His perform tethers alongside one another seemingly opposing tips involving the own, the historic and the political. 

“I’m painting on a shaky historical line cemented in humility and conviction. I occupy my images with characters who serve as archetypes in conjunction with memory and self-exploration reflecting on the absurdness and monumentality of historical past,” Rick shares.

The title for Rick’s show combines two text that seem inextricably opposing nevertheless cemented in cognitive dissonance. Megiddo is a reference to the struggle of Armageddon, remaining the city in which the wonderful last struggle was prophesied to happen. It references a social gathering at the ultimate fight of humanity, questioning the unsure times we dwell in, exactly where we quickly feed the fireplace of the anthropocene, on cruise command in the quick lane to extinction with such reckless ferocity it nearly appears to be as if we are celebrating our personal demise. The exhibition has handful of answers but as an alternative reflects and fosters quite a few thoughts as Rick ponders a critical section of this modern minute.

Rick’s fondness for art began all around the time his father was sentenced to prison for manslaughter. It served as each a means of getting agency in a chaotic childhood – as a single has management of the narrative in one’s individual pictures – and as a relationship with his father by the meticulous copying of illustrations from an outdated military services encyclopedia that he left powering before currently being incarcerated. When faculties in his area stopped supplying art lessons, Rick turned infatuated with the artwork that was conveniently out there, which was graffiti. He would devote his existence to deciphering the cryptic language, which led to issues with the law, such as rates that ended up ultimately cleared after Rick enlisted in the Military. There he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, with whom he fought in Iraq from 2005 to 2006. 

Following his enlistment phrase was up, Rick found it tough to regulate back to his previous lifetime and ultimately observed himself homeless and having difficulties with a quantity of issues. He even now carried all around pen and paper and would attract for the identical causes that motivated him in his youth. For the duration of this seminal point in his lifestyle, he sought aid from the community Veterans Affairs business, where by art turned a significant element of his recovery.

“Gregory Rick’s function speaks about electric power and anguish, fantastic and evil. About resiliency. He contextualizes these narratives by mining the complexities of our collective earlier and sharing perspectives generally omitted in historical accounts. His means to shine a gentle on the oppressed and overlooked is a triumph that we’re proud and energized to share with Los Angeles,” states gallery director Dante Parel. 

Beyond THE STREETS Gallery
434 N La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036