The Art of Spain Group Show feature in the U Magazine in THE SUNDAY MAIL, Sunday 3rd June 2012 (page 38). The Art of Spain Group Show @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, Australia (June 9th – 7th July 2012). Opening Night: Saturday 9th June 2012 – 6-8pm. www.19karen.com.au

Johnny Romeo: The Four Little Girls

When one thinks of Spanish art, of its energy and its passion, one name immediately springs to mind: Pablo Picasso.

In his latest series, ‘The Four Little Girls’, Johnny Romeo pays homage to his hero Picasso, while maintaining his signature graphic style and lively colour palette.

Romeo powerfully marries the Cubist sensibilities of the Spanish Master with his own stream-of-consciousness pop expressionism, to create something haunting and original.

The works draw inspiration from Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ series and a stream-of-consciousness play by Picasso entitled ‘The Four Little Girls’. Each painting is imbued with a deep sense of melancholy, and depicts a sister in a state of emotional and elemental pain. In contrast to the harrowing, anguished weepers of Picasso, Johnny Romeo’s ‘Four Little Sisters’ are characterised by a more introspective, spiritual sorrow.

The richly rounded, disjointed forms of the girls evokes classic Picasso while remaining a distinctly Romeo flavour. The rhythmic, pulsating nature of Romeo’s graphic lines is beautifully juxtaposed with the piercing, detached eyes of the sisters. Their gaze reaches beyond the confines of the canvass, perhaps as a means of escape, perhaps recoiling from the chaos ensuing in the outside world. The tears shed by each sister are thick and full, weighed down by a sadness that echoes the tears of the grieving Madonna motif that Picasso himself found so captivating.

The incorporation of text such as ‘Howl’, ‘Frozen’, ‘Burn’ and ‘Shiver’, inspired from the Picasso play, provide short, sharp bursts of pop pith and emotional grit to the works. This dynamic between pop energy and emotional gravitas is further explored through Romeo’s love for bold, gregarious colours and its interplay with rich, darker hues.

Johnny Romeo’s ‘The Four Little Girls’ is a captivating series that creates an interesting visual dialogue between the work of Picasso and his own.

Johnny Romeo’s ‘The Four Little Girls’ will be part of The Art of Spain Group Show @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, Australia. June 9th – 7th July 2012.

Opening Night: Saturday 9th June 2012 – 6-8pm – www.19karen.com.au

Johnny Romeo WHEN DOVES CRY feature in the PONSONBY NEWS, May Issue 2012 (page 148).

Johnny Romeo’s much anticipated Auckland show WHEN DOVES CRY @ Letham Gallery, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand opens Thursday 17th May 2012 – 6-8pm   –   www.lethamgallery.co.nz –   Any enquires concerning WHEN DOVES CRY can be made directly through Letham Gallery (info@lethamgallery.co.nz) or by calling the gallery on +64 9 360 5217

‘When Doves Cry’  – Johnny Romeo

The icon of Kahlo – the sumptuous mono-brow, the piercing gaze, the defiant feminine Mexican figure – is one of the most instantly recognizable in Western art and pop-culture. ‘When Doves Cry’, the latest series from Johnny Romeo, explores the symbol of Kahlo as both an empowered heroine, and a figure who has experience immense suffering. The paintings, each of Kahlo, see Romeo boldly venturing into the realm of portraiture as a clever homage to Frida Kahlo’s own tradition of self-portrait. With his signature part pop, part punk gusto and explosively colourful expressiveness, Romeo endeavours, in his words, to ‘paint Frida the way she may have painted herself, had she been a pop artist.’

Letham Gallery, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand opens Thursday 17th May 2012 – 6-8pm www.lethamgallery.co.nz

Johnny Romeo’s much anticipated Auckland show WHEN DOVES CRY @ Letham Gallery, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand opens Thursday 17th May 2012 – 6-8pm   –   www.lethamgallery.co.nz

Any enquires concerning WHEN DOVES CRY can be made directly through Letham Gallery (info@lethamgallery.co.nz) or by calling the gallery on +64 9 360 5217

Johnny Romeo’s work ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone In The 60s And He Liked Green Just Like Bill Bixby’ will be part of the A ROLLING STONE Group show @ Porter Contemporary, New York, NY, USA. Opens April 5 – May 26, 2012. Artists: Johnny Romeo, Jason Bryant, JaH-HaHa, Naoto Hattori, Jennifer Murray, Adam Normandin, TwoOne
. www.portercontemporary.com

The new Johnny Romeo COP KILLER book is now on sale at the Art Gallery of NSW and Museum & Art Gallery of The Northern Territory.

Johnny Romeo ABC television News Interview (Australia). To view the interview – http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-23/ned-kelly-revisited/3909908

Johnny Romeo Cop Killer feature in the NT News, Friday 16th March 2012 (page 38).