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Johnny Romeo

FUTURE DAYS

New Paintings

Even in the darkest of times, there is always a glimmer of hope to guide us home. In Future Days, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his glorious hometown return to Sydney with an exuberant series of paintings that calls on us to embrace the power of positivity and harness life’s endless possibilities to radically transform our lives. Showcasing Australia’s King of Pop at his most uplifting and dynamic, Future Days is a larger-than-life celebration of hope as the vital force that empowers us to overcome adversity, find meaning and make our dreams a reality.  

Future Days takes its title from the 1973 album by the cosmic krautrock pioneers CAN. The series is a spiritual successor to Johnny Romeo’s sell-out 2022 Sydney show ‘LANDED!’, which explored what it means to live up to your potential and find solid ground within yourself. In Future Days, Romeo builds upon this philosophy by asking: what happens once we have landed? Drawing on the experimental mysticism of CAN’s music, Romeo looks beyond the present for answers, using his inimitable Kitsch Pop style to envision the future as an alchemical space of transformation where anything is possible.

Within the context of the series, the future is not just a fantastical utopia that magically rewards passive bystanders. To reach the future days that we aspire to, we need to courageously step into the unknown, grow from the challenges we face in the present and be active participants in building our own future. Above all, we need to believe in the life-changing power of hope. Showcasing some of Romeo’s most electrifying and life-affirming works to date, the seriesis full of confident go-getters, adventurous visionaries and thrill-seeking hustlers who have taken the future into their own hands by dreaming big and daring to hope. In the neon-drenched future days of Johnny Romeo’s Kitsch Pop world, stray dogs soar the heavens to become moon bound space-hounds, while once ruthless Sith Lords find inner peace through Zen Buddhism. Abounding with vibrant, positive energy, these futuristic avatars of Poptimism show us that the seeds of the future are sown right here in the present, and that the promise of self-actualisation can only be achieved by turning hope into action.

For Romeo, hope runs deeper than having a sunny outlook on life. Just as the light cannot exist without the dark, hope makes its presence felt most profoundly during times of hardship and adversity. Johnny Romeo delves into this notion of duality throughout Future Days, crafting explosive Kitsch Pop works that masterfully teeter between joy and sadness, chaos and serenity, darkness and light. From once tortured artists learning to stop and smell the sunflowers, to Lichtenstein’s infamously depressed ‘drowning girl’ finding her calling as a scuba-thriving aqua teen, Romeo’s latest collection of Kitsch Pop misfits tackle their demons head-on and harness the lessons learnt from their struggles as opportunities to build a better tomorrow. Duality furthermore influences the artist’s exhilarating exploration of the human condition through colour, as murky, melancholic expanses of greens and blues give way to euphoric bursts of kaleidoscopic, sun-drenched hues. Johnny Romeo ingeniously plays off these contrasts, reminding us that even in these dark times we live, there is always a spark of hope waiting for us to bounce back bigger and better than ever. 

Our ability to grow from the infinite possibilities we encounter everyday not only gives us the tools to create a brighter tomorrow, but the ability to take on the elements and defy fate. Drawing on the meditative, coastal grooves of CAN’s ‘Future Days’ and the terrifying grandeur of Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’, the sea in Romeo’s works signifies both a space for self-discovery and a vast tempest that we must conquer to find inner peace. Meanwhile, feisty feline heroines and three-eyed mystic cats invoke the sacred energy of the moon as a source of rebirth and new beginnings, where divine intuition enables us to chart the tides of change. Flowers also play a prominent role in the series, highlighting the transformative power of positivity while cheekily bridging the gap between anguished Impressionists and tormented grunge icons.

Future Days is a spirited declaration of hope from Australia’s King of Pop that captures the breathtaking possibilities of tomorrow in brilliant Technicolour. Bursting with vibrant colours, bold, life-affirming imagery and savvy humour, Johnny Romeo’s latest series takes us on a rollicking joyride through the neon-drenched world of Kitsch Pop, where the bright promise of future days lies within us, in the here and now. 

Opening reception with Artist: Friday 8th December, 2023 @ 6:30-8:00pm

Harvey Galleries, 515 Sydney Road, Seaforth, 2092, NSW, Australia Ph: +61 2 9907 0595.

RSVP to attend the opening of Johnny Romeo’s FUTURE DAYS is essential.

RSVP to: rsvp@harveygalleries.com.au

PREVIEW WORKS

Preview: Saturday 2nd December – 12am-5pm.

Artist Talk: Saturday 10th December – 3-5pm.

Any inquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s FUTURE DAYS can be made directly through Harvey Galleries (admin@harveygalleries.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 2 9907 0595.

Exhibition Dates: 8th December – 19th December 2023.

Johnny Romeo

BIGGIE SMALLS

New Works

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his thrilling return to Penny Contemporary Gallery in Hobart with his exhilarating exhibition Biggie Smalls. Comprising of five new paintings and ten original prints, the series sees Australia’s King of Pop put a refreshing new spin on his inimitable Kitsch Pop style as he re-visits some of his most powerful recent paintings, recreating them on a smaller scale. Taking on the role of a 21st Century postmodern visual DJ, Romeo ingeniously explores the creative process and what it means to reinterpret your own work, crafting an electrifying collection of paintings and prints that breathe new life into the artist’s warped Technicolour visions.

The series takes its humorous title from the name of one of hip hop’s greatest legends, Biggie Smalls. With tongue firmly in cheek, Johnny Romeo cleverly plays on the juxtaposition between ‘Biggie’ and ‘Smalls’ to capture the spirit of his latest exhibition – to reimagine some of his largest and most beloved paintings on a smaller scale. Throughout the series, Romeo draws inspiration from the playful creativity and unorthodox production methods of hip hop pioneers, who revolutionized popular music through their usage of remixing and sampling. Like a crate-digging DJ chopping and changing dusty soul samples into a fresh new hip hop tune, Romeo ingeniously toys around with scale, colour, composition and Pop culture references with his latest paintings and prints to reinterpret his older material in bold and fresh ways. Sampling and remixing have long played a role in Romeo’s art making practice, which he pushes to delightfully meta new heights in Biggie Smalls as he takes on the task of not just remixing Pop culture references, but his very own work. 

As the consummate postmodern sampler, Johnny Romeo has littered his latest prints with humorously sharp Pop culture references cleverly curated from the worlds of music, film, and art history. Australia’s King of Pop skillfully mashes together the electrifying buzz of rock’n’roll, the fever dream mindscapes of psychedelia and the esoteric symbolism of Surrealism to create punchy, small-scale epics that filter the Pop-savvy auteurism of Quentin Tarantino and the raw introspection of Frida Kahlo through Romeo’s unmistakable Kitsch Pop lens. In prints such as ‘Boogie Kid’ and ‘Royal Funk’, legendary Pop icons and cosmic rockstars now considered music royalty are transformed into regal rulers ordering their royal subjects on to the dance floor. Meanwhile, works like ‘Siren Mode’ and ‘Fear Less’ see Romeo imbue his vibrant Kitsch Pop stylings with a refreshingly political spin as he re-contextualizes silver screen heroines such as Princess Leia and Mia Wallace from ‘Pulp Fiction’ into the Me-Too era as street hardened Feminist B-girls and ruthless mafia assassins. Romeo’s fascination with outlaw imagery and its intersection with Pop culture is further reflected through his kaleidoscopic double vision portraits of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly, which explore the duality of the iron-helmed rebel as both a cold-blooded cop killer and a righteous anti-hero.

Change and metamorphosis play a central role in Biggie Smalls, both through Johnny Romeo’s creative process and his neon-drenched depiction of animals in the exhibition’s three feature paintings. Romeo’s fantastical beasts, ranging from an adventurous surfing bear to an intergalactic rockstar cat, all inhabit a space of radical self-transformation where they have transcended the banal limitations of their everyday existence to become the best versions of themselves. Tapping into this sense of wide-eyed wonderment and limitless possibility, Romeo creates an artistic parallel to remixing, suggesting that we never remain static and are capable of constantly redefining ourselves.

Biggie Smalls plays with our sense of the familiar and sees Australia’s King of Pop harness the creative processes of hip hop to remix his own paintings in fresh and original ways. With his uncanny ability to reinterpret and distill his distinctive Kitsch Pop style, Johnny Romeo has created a fun and electrifying collection of works on a smaller scale that feel immense and pack a serious punch.

Opening reception with Artist – Friday 17th November 2023  |  5:00-7:00pm at Penny Contemporary,

187 Liverpool Street, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  |  www.pennycontemporary.com.au

Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s BIGGIE SMALLS works can be made directly through Penny Contemporary (info@pennycontemporary.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 3 6231 5655 or Sonia on +61 438 292 673

Exhibition Dates: November 17th – 12th December 2023.

Johnny Romeo

DODGE CITY

Large New Paintings

Prepare to embark on an electrifying trip through the Technicolour wonderland of Johnny Romeo’s youth with his exclusive latest series of paintings, Dodge City. Comprising of five towering 2 metre by 2 metre works, the collection marks Romeo’s triumphant return to Perth and showcases his largest and most impressive works to date as he captures the joy and innocence of youthful curiosity in breathtaking Technicolour. Filled with classic superheroes and adventurous animals plucked straight from the early memories of Australia’s King of Pop, Dodge City is a playful celebration of childlike wonderment and the limitless possibilities of our imagination.

Johnny Romeo’s paintings have always had a flare for the cinematic, but his latest works catapult his signature Kitsch Pop style to truly blockbuster proportions. The influence of classic Hollywood can be seen in the title Dodge City, which takes its name from Michael Curtiz’s 1939 country western movie starring Errol Flynn. In the film, Dodge City is a brutally lawless town overrun with cutthroat thieves and deceptive mavericks. Romeo ingeniously subverts the crime-ridden feel of the film to create his own Dodge City, an imaginary candy-coloured dreamscape where rules cease to exist, and anything is possible. Inspired by the line ‘won’t you come with me to a place in a little town’ from Silverchair’s 1994 grunge anthem ‘Tomorrow’, Romeo transports us to the enthralling make-believe worlds we create in our minds as kids. Striking the balance between the nostalgic and the psychedelic, Dodge City symbolizes a place where creativity and childlike curiosity are given free rein to flourish.

In his latest series, Romeo’s intoxicating blend of punchy imagery, kaleidoscopic colour explosions, and empowering word assemblages draws us directly into an action-packed fantasy land where the creatures of the wild team up with the mightiest champions of the DC Comic book universe. A cheeky homage to DC Comics is shrewdly hidden as an Easter egg in the title Dodge City, which shares its initials ‘DC’ with the groundbreaking comic book publisher. Romeo ingeniously taps into our collective childhood memories, drawing from the classic comic book imagery of his own youth to masterfully pair together larger-than-life superheroes with majestic animals. Beloved icons such as Superman and Wonder Woman leap and soar from the canvases with an exhilarating, animalistic energy that calls to mind the explosive excitement of cartoon showdowns. Meanwhile, Technicolour tigers and courageous crows mirror the athletic prowess of their superhuman companions with striking action poses that blur the line between the playful and the primal. Beaming with positivity and a zest for life, Romeo’s dynamic duos remind us of our childhood innocence, the thrill of embarking on adventures with friends and believing in our dreams.

Nostalgia strikes at the emotional core of Dodge City. There is a decidedly retro feel to Johnny Romeo’s renditions of iconic DC Comic superheroes, whose classic spandex costumes harken back to the Golden Age of comic books. The fascination with vintage imagery extends to Romeo’s depictions of animals, who evoke the spunky irreverence of Hanna-Barbera cartoons and the cosiness of bedtime story illustrations. Romeo’s latest paintings appeal to our sense of the familiar and invite us to relive the wholesome reveries of our childhood. At the same time, the artist’s adoption of mid-20th century Pop imagery anchors his characters to the past, implying that at some point we all need to grow up and ‘get out Dodge’. Despite its boisterous energy and colourful arrangements, Dodge City bears an underlying gravitas that echoes John Milton’s lament for humanity’s loss of innocence in ‘Paradise Lost’. Romeo, however, refuses to fully give in, instead using the upbeat refrain of ‘I want to live, like animals, careless and free’ from Savage Garden’s 1999 smash single ‘The Animal Song’ as a driving philosophy to combat the cynicism of adulthood.

Dodge City delivers Johnny Romeo’s most epic distillation of his signature Kitsch Pop style to date, pushing the bold imagery, life-affirming energy, and vivacious Technicolour hues we expect from Australia’s King of Pop to glorious new heights. The series is a rollickingly fun trip through the imagination that invites us to rise above the limits of everyday life by rediscovering the joy and freedom of embracing our inner child.  

Opening reception with Artist: Thursday 5th October, 2023 @ 6:00-8:00pm

Linton & Kay Galleries, 11 Old Aberdeen Place, West Perth, 6005, WA, Australia Ph: +61 8 9388 3300.

RSVP to attend the opening of Johnny Romeo’s DODGE CITY is essential.

RSVP to: perth@lintonandkay.com.au

PREVIEW WORKS

Previewing from Friday 29th September, 2023.

Any inquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s DODGE CITY can be made directly through Linton & Kay Galleries (perth@lintonandkay.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 8 9388 3300.

Exhibition Dates: 2nd October – 21st October 2022.

Johnny Romeo

YEAR OF THE SASQUATCH

New Paintings

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his exhilarating return to Canberra with his thrilling new series Year of the Sasquatch. Comprising of 15 paintings, five of which are smaller in scale, the series marks Romeo’s first show with Grainger Gallery and sees Australia’s King of Pop elevate his inimitable Kitsch Pop style to exciting new heights. In Romeo’s warped Technicolour world, bigger is indeed better as he delivers a visual feast for the senses that dials up his maximalist colour palette, Pop savvy humour and sleek, graphic arrangements up to eleven. Embracing the spirit of its colossal namesake, Year of the Sasquatch is a riotous celebration of living large that encourages us to push boundaries and tap into our inner potential.

The series takes its title from the 1978 book of early Bigfoot sightings by John Willison Green, which Johnny Romeo ingeniously jams together with Chinese astrology to create a new addition to the Zodiac calendar – the Year of the Sasquatch. Within the context of Romeo’s Kitsch Pop Zodiac, the sasquatch is representative of the giant within all of us, the towering persona that refuses to be ignored and drives us to greatness. Various rebellious animals appear throughout Romeo’s latest works, playfully connecting the series to the beasts of the Chinese Zodiac. While the titular sasquatch is not depicted, his spirit permeates these creatures and their human counterparts, who have each forged their destinies in their own unique ways. Romeo uses his penchant for intriguing culture jams to create big personalities that are infused with the effortless swag of hip hop, the youthful insouciance of 90s grunge rock, the slickness of Pop stars and the endearing weirdness of goth.Top of Form

Positivity is the name of the game in Year of the Sasquatch, as Johnny Romeo delivers works packed with bold, encouraging declarations of self-belief. Romeo uses his signature word assemblages as mantras of affirmation that are guaranteed to pull even the most pessimistic Debbie downer out of their funk. Statements like ‘Go Soar’, ‘Chase It’ and ‘Shine Forever’ imbue the series with a Poptimistic energy that motivate the audience to live large and fully embrace their potential. This zest for life is further explored in the series through the artist’s colourful fascination with motion and flight as he transforms ‘crying girls’ into emboldened pilots and pop stars into intergalactic explorers. In Romeo’s neon-drenched Kitsch Pop reality, even dearly departed rock stars refuse to let death stand in the way of a good time as they continue to kick out the jams from beyond the grave.

Inhabiting the larger-than-life spirit of the sasquatch, however, runs deeper than positive catchphrases and good vibes. To ‘be big’ we need to walk the talk and make ourselves seen. For Romeo, achieving our dreams is a challenging, but ultimately rewarding path that requires us to push past our comfort zone and undergo a fundamental transformation of self. Throughout the series, we see a motley crew of ambitious animals, cadaverous crooners and resilient heroines who all possess an insatiable drive for self-improvement. In ‘New Old School’, a chimpanzee strives to overcome his primitive animalistic urges in order to be a crime-fighting Guardian Angel, while in ‘Royal Holla’ a gangster Doberman claws his way up the ranks to become the Top Dog of his kingdom. Motifs such as blue moons, third eyes and flight imagery are littered throughout the series, reinforcing the power of progress and rebirth in enabling us to rise above our current reality and truly live large. 

As an accompaniment to the series, Johnny Romeo has included five smaller paintings to be shown alongside the exhibitions’ main works. Drawing on childhood nostalgia, these paintings pay homage to the cartoon heroes and Pop culture icons that inspired Romeo to embrace the idea of Year of the Sasquatch. Characters such as Astro Boy and Donkey Kong inhabit Romeo’s canvasses with a lively and commanding presence that reminds us of the power of childhood wonderment. While smaller and more straightforward in scale, these paintings nonetheless pack a serious punch and reinforce Romeo’s uncanny knack for brash arrangements and striking Pop culture mashups.

Year of the Sasquatch is a life-affirming tour de force of radical positivity from Johnny Romeo that features some of his most confident and exuberant works to date. Brimming with explosive Technicolour imagery and an invigoratingly Poptimistic world view, the latest series from Australia’s leading Pop artist reminds us that the year of the sasquatch is the year of living large, and the year of living large begins in the here and now. 

Opening Reception with Artist: Thursday 24th August 2023 @ 6:00-8:00pm

Grainger Gallery, Building 3.3/1 Dairy Road, Fyshwick 2609, ACT, Australia. Ph: +61 404 769 843.

RSVP to attend the opening of Johnny Romeo’s YEAR OF THE SASQUATCH is essential.

RSVP to: art@graingergallery.com.au

PREVIEW WORKS

Any inquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s YEAR OF THE SASQUATCH can be made directly through Grainger Galleries (art@graingergallery.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 404 769 843.

Exhibition Dates: 24th August – 10th September 2023

Johnny Romeo

CLOUD 9

Paintings

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo returns to Melbourne with his signature brew of thrilling Kitsch Pop and savvy culture jamming in his latest exhibition of recent works, Cloud 9. Expertly curated by esteemed art dealer Michael Powe of Anala Art Advisory, Glenbrook, in association with Melbourne’s West End Art Space, the collection comprises of 10 electrifying paintings selected from Romeo’s bold catalogue of recent works. Cloud 9 marks the artist’s first time exhibiting at West End Art Space and showcases Australia’s King of Pop at the height of his powers. Brimming with vivacious imagery, kaleidoscopic colour arrangements and slick cultural commentary, the collection is a gleefully psychedelic exploration of the transformative power of happiness. Cloud 9 takes audiences soaring through the candy-coated skies of Romeo’s warped Technicolour visions, as he draws us into a state of pure Pop euphoria.

When it comes to capturing this overwhelming sense of being high on life, few expressions exude with the same joy and wide-eyed wonderment as ‘Cloud 9’. According to some linguists, the concept of Cloud 9 originates from the categorization of the world’s largest cloud, the Cumulonimbus, as a Level 9 cloud in the 1896 ‘International Cloud Atlas’. Others have suggested that the term was inspired by the ninth cloud in the journey of the Bodhissatva, considered to be the penultimate step to Enlightenment in Buddhism. Within the context of the series, Romeo masterfully combines the lofty grandeur of being on top of the world with a sense of spiritual ecstasy to express his own Cloud 9 philosophy, which encourages us to embrace life to the fullest in order to experience true joy.

The pursuit of happiness for Romeo is not just a feeling, but an ongoing journey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening. Echoing Buddhism’s Ten Stages of Enlightenment, the series portrays bold, larger-than-life figures driven to transform themselves and rise above the humdrum banality of their everyday lives. The will to elevate oneself and build towards a genuine state of bliss is captured with playfully Absurdist flair in paintings such as ‘Jet Boy’, in which a cat decked out in KISS make-up and aviation goggles dreams of taking to the skies. Romeo cleverly mashes together spiritual inquiry with a slick veneer of Surrealist humour as he depicts leather jacket-toting roosters embracing their inner Bowie while speed-obsessed biker skulls defy death to live life on the wild side. A master of visual puns, Romeo goes so far as to feature the baby from the cover of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ jumping over Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ as he breaks through into the new age of Aquarius.

Bringing together some of the artist’s most lively and unabashedly Pop paintings, Romeo’s latest collection embodies the blissful exuberance of having your head up in the clouds. Prismatic explosions of candy-coloured hues beam from each canvass like rays of Technicolour sunshine, while bright, Pop savvy imagery collide with neon-drenched psychedelia to create imaginative works that blur the line between dreams and reality. Romeo’s colourfully mind-bending approach to Pop Art evokes the Beatles’ own fusion of Pop music and acid-tinged mysticism, inspired by their search for bliss and meaning while travelling through India. References to the Fab Four are further seen through the title Cloud 9, a nod to both the Beatles’ experimental sound collage ‘Revolution 9’ off ‘The White Album’ (1968), and George Harrison’s 11th studio album ‘Cloud 9’.

An exhilarating sugar rush of exuberant Pop slickness, warped psychedelia and humorous existential musings, Cloud 9 is an electrifying shot of Poptimism that masterfully showcases recent highlights from Johnny Romeo’s illustrious career. The collection sees Australia’s leading Kitsch Pop auteur deliver a joyous reminder to audiences that the journey to soar through the lofty heights of true happiness can only begin once we believe in ourselves and take the first step.    

Opening reception with Artist: Friday 10th March, 2023 @ 5:30-7:30pm

WEST END ART SPACE, 112 Adderley St, West Melbourne 3003, Australia Ph: +61 415 243 917

Any inquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s CLOUD 9 can be made directly through West End Art Space (westendartspace@gmail.com) or Anala Art Advisory (info@analaartadvisory.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 415 243 917.

Exhibition Dates: 8th March – 25th March 2023.

Johnny Romeo

LANDED!

New Paintings

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his triumphant hometown return to Sydney with his collection of new paintings, Landed! The series sees Australia’s King of Pop at his boldest and Poptimistic best as he asks the big questions in life, diving headfirst into what it means to be ‘landed’, to forge your own path and really come into your own. An incendiary collision of vibrant Absurdist imagery, skate-punk bravado and razor-sharp humour, Landed! is a Kitsch Pop odyssey of self-discovery where the ordinary transforms into the heroic and the magical becomes the possible.

Landed! draws its title from the 1975 album by Krautrock experimentalists CAN. For Romeo, the term ‘landed’ is not just about finding solid ground, but on a deeper level entwined with radical self-belief and living up to your potential. Conceptually, being ‘landed’ is a state of mind that focuses on being in tune with yourself and acknowledging that what you are searching for resides within you. Romeo distills this sentiment into his most brazen and confident works to date, using his signature blend of slick, Kitsch Pop aesthetics and witty wordplay to craft works that drip with an undeniable attitude and lust for life. Concentrated bursts of pure Technicolor erupt from the pictorial plane with whiplash velocity, imbuing the series with an electrifying energy that captures the excitement of turning your dreams into reality. Throughout the neon-drenched wonderland of Landed!, we encounter a motley crew ranging from cosmonaut chimpanzees to hedonistic skulls roaring to life as they break free from the constraints of the everyday world and ascend into their true selves.

Within the context of the series, the alchemical adventurousness of the band CAN becomes a powerful call to action to embrace life’s infinite possibilities. Romeo taps into the mysticism of the band through the motif of the circle, which recurs throughout the series as a compelling symbol of reinvention and new life. Powerful word assemblages such as ‘Flamed Up’ and ‘We Believe’ beam from the canvas with an invigorating sense of Poptimism. These bold epithets of encouragement fuse together the spiritual enlightenment of self-help mantras with the punchy positivity of classic advertising campaigns. Iconic brands like Pepsi Cola are ingeniously interwoven throughout the series, resulting in works that evoke the feel of attention-grabbing billboards while subverting the cloying cynicism of capitalism. When Romeo urges us to ‘Shine On’, as he does in ‘Rad Girl’, the feeling he instills in us is not just one of hope, but an unshakeable belief that we CAN truly do anything.

While the title of the series implies a sense of arrival, Johnny Romeo’s exploration of ‘landed’ is as focused on the journey as it is with the destination. In this respect, Joseph Campbell’s idea of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ (monomyth) plays a central role within the underlying philosophy of the series. According to Campbell, the Hero’s Journey involves someone who ‘ventures from the world of the common day to a region of supernatural wonder’, overcomes a crisis and experiences a revelation, then returns home transformed. Romeo evokes the spirit of the monomyth through his frenetic references to flight, skateboarding and racing. Chic mod racer girls trade blows with super-villain skaters and star-bound apes amidst a sea of high octane colours and sporty slogans as they hurtle towards self-actualization. For these figures, finding yourself does not come about through silent contemplation, but rather the fast-paced hustle of the here and now. The artist’s fascination with motion and speed is given a punk rock edge through the reappropriation of legendary skateboard brands like Rad, Thrasher and Santa Cruz. In some cases, Romeo’s subjects transcend the laws of physics altogether, breaking through the very fabric of the Matrix to conquer the impossible.

Brimming with explosive colour arrangements, larger-than-life imagery and a healthy dose of Pop-savvy humour, Landed! is a riotous celebration of life that sees Australia’s leading Pop visionary take his inimitable Kitsch Pop style to glorious new heights. Romeo’s latest voyage through the Pop psyche invites us to embrace the best version of ourselves and reminds us that the freedom to soar beyond the limits of our imagination can only be found once we have landed.

Opening reception with Artist: Friday 9th December, 2022 @ 6:30-8:00pm

Harvey Galleries, 515 Sydney Road, Seaforth, 2092, NSW, Australia Ph: +61 2 9907 0595.

RSVP to attend the opening of Johnny Romeo’s LANDED! is essential.

RSVP to: rsvp@harveygalleries.com.au

PREVIEW WORKS

Preview: Saturday 3rd December – 10am-6pm.

Artist Talk: Saturday 10th December – 3-5pm.

Any inquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s LANDED! can be made directly through Harvey Galleries (admin@harveygalleries.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 2 9907 0595.

Exhibition Dates: 3rd December – 20th December 2022.

JOHNNY ROMEO: THE SERIES

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo is proud to join forces again with beloved Pennsylvania-based brewery Zeroday Brewing Company for their electrifying new project, Johnny Romeo: The Series. The collaboration sees Australia’s leading Pop Artist lend his vibrant Technicolour Pop stylings to the designs of four unique, limited-edition tropical IPAs specially brewed for the series. A glorious meeting of kindred spirits, Johnny Romeo: The Series perfectly fuses together the celebrated Pop artist’s brash, neon-drenched Kitsch Pop with the deliciously adventurous attitude of Zeroday into a special fusion of craft beer and art not to be missed.

Johnny Romeo’s relationship with Zeroday goes back to 2017 and 2018 when they collaborated on the hugely successful Ned Kelly collection, a series of IPAs inspired by Australia’s most notorious bushranger. Zeroday is thrilled to be reuniting with one of the world’s leading voices in Pop Art to craft a loving homage to the innovative spirit of Harrisburg’s cultural and culinary community. Over the course of 4 weeks, Zeroday and Romeo will release one special, limited-edition IPA four-pack a week, each with their own bold, distinct label and bright, fruit flavour combination (‘Chaos’, ‘Bully Boy’, ‘Get Money’ and ‘Beast Mode’). The ‘Series Kickoff Event’ will happen on August 19 with the release of the first of the four beers as part of 3rd in the Burg, a monthly arts and culture festival that enlivens Harrisburg’s downtown and midtown and shows off the best the city has to offer.

For their latest joint venture, Australia’s King of Pop has adapted four of his iconic paintings into rollicking beer labels that perfectly compliment the effervescent blends of lactose, tangerine, and guava of Zeroday’s Tropical IPAs. Romeo’s colourfully off-beat mashups of cartoon animals and Pop culture bristles with a wide-eyed wonderment that resonates with Zeroday’s ethos of taking a pause to explore the side trails that life has to offer. The intoxicating brew of kaleidoscopic candy hues and larger-than-life animal designs, which range from primate daredevils to Bowie space felines, inject an irresistible element of Pop energy to the full-bodied, citrusy notes of Zeroday’s latest tantalizing tropical concoctions.

Bringing together the worlds of art and boutique brewing, each Johnny Romeo: The Series four-pack comes with an exclusive high-quality giclee print that corresponds to the beer label of the week. All prints for these grand release IPAs will be signed by Johnny Romeo himself, with lucky collectors being able to meet the artist during the ‘Series Kick Off’ event at Zeroday’s headquarters in Harrisburg. More than just a commemoration of Romeo and Zeroday’s latest collaboration, the accompanying print series taps into the giddy thrill of collecting funky new art and beers. 

Bursting with bold, zesty flavours and exhilaratingly fun Kitsch Pop designs, Johnny Romeo: The Series is a spirited celebration of community, creativity, and craft brews that is sure to electrify the tastebuds of art aficionados and beer enthusiasts alike.

Johnny Romeo

IN BETWEEN DAYS

New Paintings

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his thunderous return to 12 Gallery in Auckland with his latest collection of new original paintings, IN BETWEEN DAYS. The series sees Australia’s King of Pop contend with the philosophical questions of what it means to be stuck between society re-opening and the ongoing realities of the Corona pandemic, of what it means to wait while the world slowly returns to ‘normal’. Delivered with Romeo’s signature wit and Kitsch Pop bombast, the series bursts out of the gate with exuberant, candy-coloured hues, larger-than-life imagery, and undeniable swagger. IN BETWEEN DAYS is a rollicking celebration of living life to the fullest that urges us to embrace the exciting possibilities of redefining who we are and shaping our own futures, despite the uncertainties of waiting for better days.

Inspired by the beloved 1985 single from English goth rockers The Cure of the same name, IN BETWEEN DAYS offers a spirited exploration of what we do while we wait for the world to return to normal. The past two and a half years living through Covid have given us all plenty of time to take stock of our lives, to reassess what is important to us and reconsider what it is that defines us. For Johnny Romeo, this period of being ‘in between days’ offers us a hopeful time for radical reflection, an opportunity to exist outside of the usual madness of everyday life, to be bold, take chances and chase those dreams we once thought impossible. While we collectively wait for the world to return to some semblance of ‘pre-Corona’ ordinary, Romeo’s exhilarating latest series acts as a powerful call to action for us to never settle, but instead get our hustle on and change our lives for the better.

Romeo uses his unique blend of Kitsch Pop slickness, pithy Pop cultural references and amusingly absurdist humour to create an enthralling Technicolour Pop world of possibilities where chimpanzees become hedonistic Playboys, household hounds become fearsome pirates, and Pop royalty become actual royalty. Despite their disparate origins, each of these figures are bound together by an unswerving sense of self-belief and a commitment to defining themselves on their own terms. Word assemblages such as ‘Never Settle’, ‘New Arises’ and ‘Young Swag’ hit with the punchiness of arena-rock anthems and the braggadocio of hip hop bars, imbuing the works with a vibrant, life affirming energy that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the series. Combined with the lively imagery of Romeo’s paintings, these word assemblages become powerful proclamations of self-determination that stand in direct opposition to the anxieties of living through a pandemic.

Two recurring themes that thread their way throughout IN BETWEEN DAYS are duality and contradiction. Romeo employs clever double entendres in his wordplay and mashups, as well as doubles and triplets, to examine the duality between wanting to return to the comforts of the pre-Covid past, while chasing our dreams in an unknown post-pandemic future. Like The Cure’s ‘In Between Days’, with its lyrical tension between ‘getting so old/I felt like I could die’ and ‘shivering like a child’, the series is full of contradictions that confront the fear of existing amidst major uncertainty. Such instability in times of waiting can lead to us to adopt duplicitous identities, where we protect ourselves from our truth by doing things we don’t mean. In Romeo’s eyes, the answer to this contemporary dilemma is to be true to ourselves, to be present and to embrace our full potential. The artist’s approach to duplicating portraits of stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Prince, influenced by Andy Warhol’s Hollywood screen-prints, is therefore less a case of seeing double due to being torn in different directions, and more about amplifying icons whose sense of identity and self-confidence is so profound that it cannot be contained within just one person.

For a series inspired by waiting, IN BETWEEN DAYS is anything but patient. Australia’s leading culture jammer delivers some of his most impassioned and life-affirming Kitsch Pop works to date as he uses his art as a powerful reminder that we can shape the better days we wait for in the here and now. 

Opening reception with Artist – Friday 10th June, 2022 | 5:30-8:30pm @12_gallery, Auckland.

12 Gallery | 9D Vernon Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand | www.12gallery.com

Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s IN BETWEEN DAYS works can be made directly through 12 Gallery (info@12gallery.com) or by calling the gallery on +64 21 501 911.

Exhibition Dates: June 10th – 30th, 2022.

Johnny Romeo

CHOOSE LIFE

New Large Paintings

What does it mean to be free in a world that has radically changed? Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo explores the notion of post-pandemic freedom with his signature Kitsch Pop bombast in his thunderous homecoming Sydney exhibition, CHOOSE LIFE. The series of new original paintings is a vibrant celebration bursting with exuberant colours, life-affirming humour and punchy imagery that captures the thrill of embracing change and the limitless possibilities of a new world. Coinciding with Sydney opening up again after almost two years of lockdowns and restrictions, the exhibition is a passionate call to arms to rise up to greatness and cling to hope as we enter the great unknown and learn to live with Corona.

CHOOSE LIFE is a veritable feast for the senses that sees Johnny Romeo at his most Poptimistic and righteously rambunctious. Vivacious explosions of candy-coloured hues coalesce with slick graphic imagery to create works that embrace the nourishing power of human connection and capture the sheer joy of being alive. Romeo’s motley crew of folklore outlaws, comic book femme fatales and hypnotic rockstars may come from all walks of the Pop spectrum, but they all exude the same magnetism and unquenchable self-belief needed to shape a better and brighter world. In a time saturated with misinformation and manufactured digital realities, the Kitsch Pop figures in the series strive to find realness and authenticity amongst a sea of fake news. More than just vapid popcorn escapism, Romeo uses humour and Pop culture both to make sense of the absurdity of life under lockdown, and dream of a tomorrow that is constantly in flux. The artist also uses his penchant for pithy observational satire to examine the quirky ways in which people have adapted to the quarantined life, and how this resourceful spirit of the hustle will play out in a world fundamentally changed by the Corona pandemic.

There is an irrepressible thirst for freedom and a desire to break free from the humdrum banality of everyday life that pulses through the works in CHOOSE LIFE. Johnny Romeo draws on these sentiments, experimenting with composition and playing with the pictorial plane to portray Tarantino mobster mavens and Kung Fu masters that threaten to tear through the very fabric of the canvass. Audiences are invited into the electrifying thrill of life as they are thrust into the flurry and fury of martial arts tournaments and the euphoria of the stage. Even when Romeo explores the quiet domesticity of life under lockdown, there is a barely contained energy to the paintings which imbues them with a rebellious edge. By creating works that break the fourth wall, Romeo ingeniously captures the tension and excitement of people bursting out of the indoor monotony of lockdown and embracing freedom in all its life-giving glory.

Music has long played a major influence in Johnny Romeo’s work. In CHOOSE LIFE, Romeo dials up his love for old school hip hop to eleven as he draws on the braggadocio and unapologetic swagger of classic rap to create life-affirming word assemblages that encourage us to take on life’s challenges head on. Punchy fragments of slang and street-hardened rap lyrics are given a healthy injection of Poptimism as Romeo transforms the lingua franca of hip hop into powerful statements of defiance against Corona. The sound of the revolution, however, doesn’t just emanate from the block parties of Brooklyn. Smoldering imprints of rock’n’roll’s blistering fuzz and anti-authoritarian attitude can be found throughout Romeo’s latest series, as he deftly weaves references to classic teenage rebels and slick rockabilly bad boys into his visual declarations of urban uprising.

The Australian King of Pop puts his distinct Kitsch Pop spin on the indomitable spirit and revolutionary zeal of classic hip hop and rock’n’roll to deliver his most anthemic works to date. Playing with the pictorial plane, Romeo’s larger than life paintings invite us to take risks and look at life from dazzling new perspectives. As we all begin to adjust to the new normal, Romeo’s latest series is a powerful statement of intent to dream big, chase freedom and Choose Life.

Opening reception with Artist: Friday 1st April, 2022 @ 6:30-8:00pm
Harvey Galleries, 515 Sydney Road, Seaforth, 2092, NSW, Australia
Ph: +61 2 9907 0595

RSVP to attend the opening of Johnny Romeo’s CHOOSE LIFE is essential.
RSVP to: rsvp@harveygalleries.com.au

PREVIEW WORKS

Artist Floor Talk: Saturday 2nd April – 2-3pm

Any enquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s CHOOSE LIFE can be made directly through Harvey Galleries (admin@harveygalleries.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 2 9907 0595

Exhibition Dates: 1st April – 12th April 2022.

Johnny Romeo

COLOSSAL YOUTH

Paintings

Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his thunderous return to Canberra with his latest retrospective, Colossal Youth. Expertly curated by Aarwun Gallery and Romeo, the survey is a dynamic collection of paintings taken from all over Australia and across the globe that provides an electrifying insight into the warped Technicolour visions of Australia’s King of Pop. In Romeo’s hyper-saturated Pop world, explosive bursts of candy-coloured hues collide with slick graphic imagery and Absurdist humour to create vivacious works that subvert our understanding of Pop culture icons and filters them through the artist’s distinctive Kitsch Pop lens.

Since erupting on to the Australian commercial art scene in the mid-2000s, Johnny Romeo has become one of the world’s leading voices in culture jamming and Pop Art, dazzling local and international audiences for over a decade with his bright, offbeat appropriations of Pop culture. Colossal Youth brings together a vibrant array of iconic works by Romeo that have been comprehensively hand-picked from Australian and international collections. Drawn mostly from the artist’s latter period, the paintings in the series capture Romeo at his most boisterous and unapologetically Pop as he skillfully melds together the slick, satirical bent of classic Pop Art with the psychedelic imagery of Surrealism. Each of the works highlight Romeo’s penchant for clever wordplay, pithy Pop culture references and his innate ability to contort Pop culture iconography into new and unexpected visons that speak to our experiences of living in a pure Pop reality.

Colossal Youth takes its name from the seminal 1983 album and title track of the same name by Welsh post-punk upstarts Young Marble Giants. Brimming with bright bubblegum colour arrangements and frenetic Pop imagery, the series perfectly encapsulates the spritely, synth driven music of Young Marble Giants while exploring Pop culture’s perpetual fascination with being forever young. There is a life-affirming sense of wide-eyed wonderment to the paintings which is reflected in Romeo’s imaginative fusion of sci-fi Surrealism, Cubist abstraction and quirky appropriations of celebrity iconography. Pop culture, for Romeo, is not just something we passively consume, but a vital channel through which we can transcend our everyday lives and reimagine the world with a renewed optimism that is only limited by our imagination. This sense of youthful possibility, of being a colossal youth, slyly evokes the Pop proclamations of 90’s boy band The Backstreet Boys with their insistent refrain of ‘every time we’re down / You can make it right / And that makes you larger than life.’

Evoking the spirit of Pop Art provocateurs such as Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol and Mel Ramos, Johnny Romeo boisterously toys with the celebrities and cartoon imagery of his childhood to offer colourful critiques of modern life that subvert our sense of the familiar. The jagged influence of Cubism in the artist’s work, in particular Picasso and the psychologically fraught works of George Condo, reflects the fragmented nature of modern life and the dizzying, kaleidoscopic experience of living in a world steeped in Pop culture. Surrealism also features prominently in the artist’s paintings as he blurs the lines between the everyday and the fantastical to confront the inherent absurdity of contemporary existence. Romeo masterfully synthesizes these influences into an intoxicating style that is undeniably his own, delivering visual Molotov cocktails that push Pop Art into thrilling new directions.

Colossal Youth is an electrifying retrospective that draws widely from Johnny Romeo’s illustrious career, offering audiences a neon-drenched glimpse into the mind of Australia’s leading culture jammer. Brimming with vivid colour explosions, larger-than-life Pop imagery, witty wordplay and a gleefully Absurdist sense of humour, Romeo’s Kitsch Pop works invite us to look beyond the humdrum banality of the ordinary, to dream big and embrace the colossal optimism of our youth.

Opening reception with Artist: Thursday 11th November 2021 | 6-8pm @ Aarwun Gallery
11 Federation Square, Gold Creek, Nicholls, ACT, Australia. Ph: +61 2 6230 2055.

PREVIEW WORKS

Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s COLOSSAL YOUTH can be made directly through Aarwun Gallery (aarwuncanberra@bigpond.com) or by calling the gallery on 61 2 6230 2055.

RSVP for Opening Night is essential.

RSVP to: aarwuncanberra@bigpond.com

Exhibition Dates: 11th November – 5th December 2021

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