Johnny Romeo
Victory Or Death
John Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln’s personal secretary once noted: ‘There are many pictures of Lincoln, but there is no portrait of him.’ Nicolay’s statement addresses the attempt of artists and photographers to capture the essence of Abraham Lincoln.
In his latest thrilling portrait, as part of the A PORTRAIT APART DEUX group show, Johnny Romeo seeks to distil and reinterpret the essence of Abraham Lincoln – as man, as leader, as true American icon. VICTORY OR DEATH is a towering testament to Lincoln, vividly wrought in Johnny Romeo’s bombastic Neo-Expressionist Pop style.
The piece masterfully examines the dualities of identity, creating a complex and nuanced insight in to the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. Visually, Romeo’s portrait masterfully balances the extremes of celebration of solemnity, of elation and resignation.
Lincoln’s silhouette is rendered in sumptuous, dark lines, his gaze austere and enduring. The shroud of bluish grey enshrouding Lincoln’s right side pushes the picture plane, and lends the portrait a considerable sense of melancholic gravitas. In contrast, the gloriously jubilant pastel hues of Lincoln’s face and the nebulous pastures of green and yellow of the background imbue the portrait with an air of playful optimism and triumph. This harmonisation of disparate moods encapsulates Lincoln’s own fractured identity; a paean to the president who led his nation to victory in the Civil War, and yet declared himself ‘the most miserable man living’ and met a violent end at the hand of John Wilkes Booth.
With his signature panache for cultural witticisms, VICTORY OR DEATH is rife with eclectic references to history and rock’n’roll. The stencilled ‘16’ and ‘Kentucky Rain’ pay homage to Lincoln’s Southern upbringing and his place as the 16th US President. The scrawl of the title ‘Victory or Death’ is an allusion to a tattoo of Guns’N’Roses rocker Axl Rose, but acts as a powerful epithet to one of the most influential figures in history.
Johnny Romeo’s VICTORY OR DEATH is a bold and impassioned portrait of Abraham Lincoln. In seeking to capture the spirit of Lincoln, Romeo speaks to our own experiences of mortality and legacy.
Johnny Romeo’s VICTORY OR DEATH will be part of the A PORTRAIT APART DEUX Group Show @ Porter Contemporary in Chelsea, New York, USA.
Opening Night: Thursday February 27th @ 6:30 – 8:30pm.
Any enquires concerning Johnny Romeo’s VICTORY OR DEATH can be made directly through Porter Contemporary (jessica@portercontemporary.com / info@portercontemporary.com) or by calling the gallery on +1 212 696 7432.
Johnny Romeo featured in Northern Australia’s Territory Q Magazine (Issue 2 –January – March 2014) – Pages 72 – 73. www.territoryq.com.au
Johnny Romeo
PUSSY RIOT
New Paintings
On Friday 7th March Muk Muk Fine Art welcomes back to the Territory internationally acclaimed Neo-Expressionist Pop artist Johnny Romeo.
In his breathtaking latest series, “Pussy Riot”, Johnny Romeo pays homage to the rebellious spirit of Pussy Riot. A coruscating collision of comic book femme fatales, explosive colour arrangements and riotous energy, Romeo drags the audience kicking and screaming into an exhilarating and disorienting maelstrom of garish hues and punk-rock mayhem. Sensual and unrelenting in equal measure, “Pussy Riot” perfectly captures the indomitable spirit of rebellion in all its glory.
With Johnny Romeo in attendance, “Pussy Riot” opens at 6pm on Friday 7th March at Muk Muk Fine Art, 14 Lindsay Ave, Alice Springs. The exhibition will run until 3rd April where it will travel to Darwin to be exhibited.
For any enquiries gallery@mukmuk.com | www.mukmuk.com | 08 8953 6333
Johnny Romeo featured in Rock Candy Magazine – Issue 08 / Summer 2014 – Pages 25-29.
http://issuu.com/rockcandymagazine/docs/1
Johnny Romeo’s work DOVE LOVE (Marilyn Monroe) 2013, acrylic and oil on canvas 101cm x 101cm, donated by Dr Stanley Quek Chairman of Frasers Property Australia and Singapore Ireland Fund board member, has sold in Auction for an astounding $18,000.00 with proceeds going to the to the Singapore Ireland Fund Charity Organization!
Johnny Romeo to open the Australian Catholic University – Bachelor of Visual Arts & Design 2013 Graduating Exhibition @ McGlade Gallery – Gate 3, 25A Barker Road, Strathfield – Wednesday 13th November @ 6pm.
Johnny Romeo’s work featured in Polish Mega*Zine – Lost & Found # 6 – Pages 16-26.
http://issuu.com/lostandfoundmegazine/docs/2013_06_lostandfound_mega_zine_eng
Johnny Romeo
POPism: The Andy Warhol Show
New Paintings
On a sunny New York afternoon on June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas walked into the Factory and opened fire at Warhol. Amidst his screams for her to stop, Solanas fired a second shot. Then a third shot rang.
On June 3, 1968 Andy Warhol survived. But what if Warhol died that day. What if Pop had died that day?
In his electrifying new series POPISM: THE ANDY WARHOL SHOW, internationally acclaimed artist Johnny Romeo re-envisions himself as the contemporary Andy Warhol. The series sees Romeo appropriate some of the Pop Master’s most iconic work, injecting each piece with his own incendiary blend of Neo-expressionist Pop and urban street art. Explosive fields of colour and cascading, stream-of-consciousness text collide with bombastic, graphic renditions of Warhol classics like ‘Mao’ and ‘Marilyn Monroe’. POPISM: THE ANDY WARHOL SHOW is a rambunctious and bona fide statement of Pop’s enduring power from one of the world’s leading Pop artists.
Any enquires concerning Johnny Romeo’s POPISM: THE ANDY WARHOL SHOW can be made directly through 19Karen (info@19karen.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 7 5554 5019.
PROMO CLIP for Johnny Romeo’s new show – POPISM: THE ANDY WARHOL SHOW – New paintings @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Opening Night: Saturday 9th November 2013 – 6-8pm
www.19karen.com.au
9th November – 14th December 2013