Johnny Romeo
NEW AMERICANA
New Paintings
The Australian Consulate-General, New York, in association with Anala Art Advisory, is proud to present NEW AMERICANA, the thrilling new series from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop artist Johnny Romeo. Exhibiting at the prestigious headquarters of the Australian Consulate-General in the heart of Manhattan, Australia’s King of Pop delivers a dazzling homage to classic American iconography that captures the larger-than-life spirit of America in brilliant Technicolour. To celebrate the major opening of the show, Pennsylvania-based craft-beer specialists Zeroday Brewing Company will be serving their one-of-a-kind Johnny Romeo IPA beer, alongside dynamic Ned Kelly prints created by the artist. NEW AMERICANA is an infectiously fun Kitsch Pop romp through American culture from the world-renowned culture jammer that fuses vibrant absurdist imagery with pithy cultural commentary to colourfully re-envision American icons in bold and surprising ways.
Americana has always beaten at the heart of Johnny Romeo’s distinctive Neo-Expressionist Pop visions. Growing up during the golden era of television, Romeo’s punchy Pop critiques reflect his life-long fascination with the glamour and melodrama of American Pop culture in all its forms. In NEW AMERICANA, the artist pushes his fascination with quintessential American iconography to exhilarating new heights, drawing heavily from the silver screen stars, larger-than-life sports heroes and brand name imagery of his childhood to create a highly frenetic snapshot of an America caught between its past and present. Romeo’s exuberant, neon-drenched approach to colour and slick graphic stylings imbues NEW AMERICANA with an undeniable Pop edge that puts a refreshingly contemporary twist on favourites such as Muhammad Ali and Marilyn Monroe.
Romeo gleefully drags the old into the new, using the imagery of classic Hollywood and the Pop sheen of mid-20th Century American advertising to examine the formulaic and cyclical nature of fame and celebrity. Each of the subjects chosen represent a recurring trope within American Pop culture, ranging from the inspirational fighter to the youthful rebel, the glamorous starlet to the fearless daredevil. By juxtaposing these archetypes with frenetic and anthemic word assemblages, Romeo plays around with language to deftly subvert our understandings of Pop culture. Delivered with rhythmic finesse, the artist plucks phrases from gangster patois, hip hop and rock’n’roll to create rich linguistic tapestries that demonstrate the power of words to distort and transform Pop symbols.
NEW AMERICANA sees Romeo at his most strident and rambunctious, using his signature razor sharp wit and penchant for absurdist imagery to craft a body of work that cleverly straddles the line between humour and melancholy. Carrying the torch of Pop provocateurs such as Mel Ramos and Jeff Koons, the artist masterfully uses satire and the juxtaposition of seemingly incongruous Pop elements to capture the glorious kitsch and over-the-top nature of American Pop culture. Johnny Romeo’s highly playful take on celebrity portraiture creates hilarious alternate realities within his paintings, where a US president is transformed into a swag rapper in a fresh Adidas tracksuit and a classical Hollywood glamour becomes a rough and tumble boxer.
Amidst the playful exuberance and sugarcoated Technicolour of NEW AMERICANA, there is a decidedly dark undercurrent to the series that speaks to the contemporary American experience. Romeo cleverly appropriates the icons of the past to provide punchy commentary on major issues facing the US today, covering everything from gun-violence and the #MeToo movement, to the influence of hip hop and the corporatisation of the entertainment industry. Veering from the comical to the political, the amusingly surreal to the all too real, the series powerfully subverts American icons to explore how Pop culture informs our identity and reflects the world in which we live.
As part of the opening night, dynamic Pennsylvanian brewers Zeroday Brewing Company will be serving their powerhouse Johnny Romeo IPA beer, which was specially brewed in collaboration with the artist. The limited edition brews feature bombastic designs of Ned Kelly by Romeo, which put a cheeky modern twist on the iconic Australian bushranger. Limited edition prints of the Ned Kelly designs will be featured at the launch of NEW AMERICANA, adding a delightfully antipodean spin on the artist’s homages to quintessential American icons. Renowned for their clean, balanced ales and lagers, Zeroday’s bold, zesty specialty Johnny Romeo IPA perfectly complements the crackling, colourful energy of Romeo’s inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop.
NEW AMERICANA is an exhilarating slice of Technicolour-fuelled Kitsch Pop that showcases Australia’s leading Pop artist at the height of his powers. Johnny Romeo’s quirky attention-grabbing renditions of beloved American icons and brand names ingeniously flip nostalgia on its head, using cheeky double-entendres and surreal cultural mash-ups to transform the Pop culture of the past into the NEW AMERICANA.
Johnny Romeo | NEW AMERICANA | New Paintings | The Australia Consulate-General, New York, USA in association with Anala Art Advisory
Opening reception with Artist: Thursday 25th October 2018 | 6-8:30pm @ The Australia Consulate-General, Monash Room, Floor 34, 150 East 42nd Street, New York, USA.
Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s NEW AMERICANA can be made directly through Anala Art Advisory (info@analaartadvisory.com.au) or by calling Michael Powe on +61 452 586 448
Exhibition Dates: 25th October – 14th December 2018
October 19, 2018