Johnny Romeo
WASTELAND
New Paintings
Following celebrated and sold-out shows in Australia and the US, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo returns with his most ambitious and electrifying series yet, WASTELAND. An intoxicating brew of country Western mayhem and gaudy Grindhouse intensity, the series offers audiences an exhilarating romp through Romeo’s twisted Neo-Expressionist Pop visions of the Wild West. WASTELAND sees Australia’s King of Pop take his explosive unique style into exciting new frontiers, incorporating elements of sculpture and strip-mall signage to create a dazzlingly psychedelic assault on the senses.
Death, lust and urban decay abound in Romeo’s anarchic Western sugar-rush, as vintage muscle cars, vicious vixens and long-horned skulls wreak havoc across the canvas in Johnny Romeo’s inimitable graphic style. Old worlds collapse as former friends like Batman and Superman turn against each other in fierce battle, symbols of a bleak Pop dystopia where all sense and meaning has been lost to greed and excess.
The series bursts at the seams with Johnny Romeo’s most expressive colour arrangements to date, confronting the onlooker with a devilishly manic energy. Transforming the brutal, sun-scorched desert of the Western frontier into a neon wasteland of ferocious, acid-drenched hues, Romeo depicts a lawless world where punk rock rogues and sharpshooters run the town. Cowboys and lone rangers share the spotlight with vagrants and barroom bards, each revelling in the ensuing chaos as they build a new world upon the ashes of the old.
Amidst the gleeful mayhem of Johnny Romeo’s Pop wasteland, there is a sense of youthful nostalgia that courses through the series. Comic book icons such as Iron Man and Captain America spring to life on the canvas, bringing to mind the superhero toy figurines of Romeo’s childhood. By re-appropriating nostalgic elements into a contemporary Pop context, Romeo examines our collective loss of innocence, as the heroes of our youth and the captors of our imagination become subsumed into the realm of crass commercialism.
In WASTELAND, nostalgia also ingeniously works its way into Johnny Romeo’s renowned approach to textual arrangements. Drawing inspiration from his own adolescent memories of visiting newsagent comic book stands, the artist’s paintings evoke the larger-than-life covers of classic Golden Age comics. Romeo’s bold word assemblages and bombastic hip hop slogans act like high-impact comic book titles, demanding the audiences’ attention with pithy Pop observations that are as much Run DMC as Stan Lee.
An avid fan of rap music, Johnny Romeo cleverly subverts our associations with comic books and country Western imagery by juxtaposing them with the grittiness of graffiti art and hip-hop. The influence of classic rap can be seen through Romeo’s Pop savvy use of phrases such ‘Dolla Holla’ and ‘Big Poppa’, lending his works a rhythmic punchiness and urban edginess. Johnny Romeo’s series masterfully eschews the earnestness of cartoon heroes for the street-smart swagger of seasoned rappers, creating a spaghetti Western Pop dystopia where the hardened kick-snare of hip hop beats soundtracks the unforgiving wilderness of the new frontier.
Romeo’s thrilling foray into the Wild West also sees the highly celebrated artist venturing into fresh new territory. Wall sculptures of melting celebrity portraits provide a tangible and nightmarishly surreal dimension to the series. Resembling the withering edifices of billboards left to rot in a barren landscape, the sculptures ruminate on the dark recesses of celebrity worship. The addition of Romeo’s strip mall signs reinforce Romeo’s art practice as an active Pop participant as he seeks to further obscure the lines between art and advertising. Inspired by the concrete jungles of LA, the Postmodern mall signs combine celebrity portraiture, household brand names and cheeky word play to offer a bleakly comedic reflection on rampant commercialism and its eroding effects on identity.
WASTELAND is a raucous and rollicking journey through the wild frontiers of Pop culture. Brimming with fiery fields of colour, bare-knuckled urgency and an undeniable punk attitude, Johnny Romeo has a crafted a Neo-Expressionist Pop dystopia where there are no heroes – just pistol-toting desperadoes and has-beens keen to forge a new life as they hurtle towards oblivion. The series sees Australia’s leading Pop artist kick down the bar door of the Pop establishment with the garish swagger of a maverick hell-bent on setting the world ablaze.
Opening reception with Artist: Friday 23rd September 2016 | 6-8pm @ Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane.
86 Arthur Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006.
www.mitchellfineartgallery.com
Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s WASTELAND can be made directly through Mitchell Fine Art (admin@mitchellfineartgallery.com) or by calling the gallery on +61 7 3254-2297
Exhibition Dates: 21st September – 15th October 2016.
Johnny Romeo
27
New Paintings
Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse. The tale of the tragic celebrity, gone too soon from this earth, has long been a fascination in Pop culture. In his thrilling latest series, 27, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo explores the notorious 27 Club, a group of legendary musicians and artists who truly lived fast and died too young. After bursting through 2016 with a rapturously received exhibition in Perth which sold out prior to opening, and celebrated features in Artist Profile and Channel 9 program ‘Postcards’, Australia’s King of Pop returns with a knockout collection of paintings that sees him take his inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop stylings to electrifying new heights.
27 features Johnny Romeo’s most visually arresting paintings to date. Romeo’s rollicking renditions of fallen Pop icons burn with an insatiable energy and charisma, bursting through the canvas with rich, stencil-like silhouettes and robust line-work. Bold, unapologetic and in your face, the artist has crafted a series of portraits that adeptly capture the life and essence of artistic luminaries who became martyrs to fame and excess. This can be seen in the work ‘Fire Sky’. Romeo’s Jim Morrison, with his signature pout and amphetamine-addled glare, oozes with smouldering sensuality, recalling the hedonistic mystique of the Lizard King as he prowled the stages of LA’s Sunset Strip.
Teetering between Pop sheen and riveting rawness, there is a gripping gravitas to Romeo’s tragic icons that renders them both larger-than-life and heartrendingly human. The ecstatic, Technicolour bursts of Romeo’s Pop icons enlivens them with an irrepressible energy that reflects Romeo’s philosophy of using colour as a living, vital force. In contrast, the frenzied, turgid hues that characterise Romeo’s backgrounds reflect the chaos of lives lived at a whirlwind pace, pushing the limits of pleasure and nihilism as they spin out of control.
Growing up on a steady diet of raucous rock’n’roll and the morose swamp-stomp of the blues, Romeo’s clever use of text reflects the indelible influence of music in his work. Commanding, stencilled words combine with smaller scrawled text bubbles to form catchy rhyming couplets, toying with our sense of word association while paying homage to the iconic works of the 27 Club. Much like the fuzzed out refrain of a snarling grunge anthem, word combinations such as ‘gas gray’, ‘dove dash’ and ‘swirl pearl’ reflect a preoccupation with youthful escapism and self-destruction.
Tapping into the juncture between extinguished youth and immortality, Johnny Romeo’s take on the notorious 27 Club masterfully straddles the line between triumph and tragedy, between young recklessness and the gravity of loss. Romeo has imbued his icons with a morose, haunting quality, as the sullen stares of rockstars like Jimi Hendrix look on in quiet acceptance of their untimely passing. At the same time, there is a smouldering obstinance to Romeo’s fallen heroes, a resolute refusal to be forgotten as they meet the gaze of the audience with unwavering intensity.
27 is an elegy to tragic stars gone before their time, a celebration of uncompromising Pop icons who took a walk on the wild side and never lived to tell the tale. Amping up Johnny Romeo’s signature Neo-Expressionist bombast and neon-drenched colour explosions to maximum volume, the series sees Australia’s leading Pop artist deliver gloriously iconic Pop works loud enough to wake the dead.
Johnny Romeo | 27 | New Paintings @ Penny Contemporary, Hobart, Australia.
June 10th, 2016 – July 5th, 2016.
Opening reception with Artist: Friday June 10th, 2016 | 5:30 -7:30pm @ Penny Contemporary, Hobart.
187 Liverpool Street, Hobart, TAS, 7000.
Any enquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s 27 can be made directly through Penny Contemporary (info@pennycontemporary.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 3 6231 5655.
Johnny Romeo’s work Go Lucky will be part of the HAPPY – GROUP SHOW @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, Australia
Johnny Romeo’s work Go Lucky will be part of the HAPPY – GROUP SHOW @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, Australia.
Opening Night – Friday 13th May – 6-8pm @ The Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach.
To see more of Johnny Romeo’s works go to – 19Karen
Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s works can be made directly through 19Karen (info@19karen.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 7 5554 5019.
Johnny Romeo and Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth featured on Channel 9’s POSTCARDS with Scherri-Lee Biggs.
To view the full episode & segment go to – Postcards 2016 Episode 10 | Channel 9
Johnny Romeo
WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD
New Paintings
Fresh from taking the Australian and American art world by storm in 2015, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo returns with his highly anticipated series WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD. Comprised of 21 electrifying new and original paintings, the series is a Technicolour sugar rush of confectionary sweet hues, graphic gusto and spirited wordplay wrought in Romeo’s truly unique Neo-Expressionist Pop style. A veritable feast for the senses, WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD is a glorious homage to all things Pop culture that sees Australia’s King of Pop very much at the top of his game.
Drawing inspiration from the glistening synth pop of beloved 80s outfit Tears for Fears, WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD is a powerful statement of intent from Johnny Romeo. Aspiring to capture the notion that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame, Romeo has crafted a sumptuous series of paintings that capture the sheer exhilaration and youthful thrill of being on top of the world. Tinged with a teenage nostalgia, there is an irrepressible vitality to Romeo’s latest series of works that harkens back to a simpler time where imaginations ran free and the fire in our bellies led us to believe we could achieve the impossible.
Ever the Postmodern sampler, Johnny Romeo’s eclectic array of superheroes, arch villains and celebrities find inspiration from many of his own childhood icons to represent the best of the best in Pop culture. While looking to the past for inspiration, Romeo draws these silver screen stars and comic book caped crusaders who once ruled the Pop landscape kicking and screaming into the present with cheeky irreverence and undeniable visual flair.
Steeped in pitch-black humour, the series celebrates the over-the-top criminal mastery of villains such as Two-Face and the Joker, the swashbuckling heroism of Superman and the legacies of artistic martyrs such as Frida Kahlo. For Johnny Romeo, these Pop icons live life entirely on their own terms, and offer us as the audience a sense of escapism from ordinary existence. Romeo’s innovative and witty word assemblages thus act as visual manifestos, breathing new life into old royals while evoking the rhythmic punchiness of classic Pop songs.
Renowned for his lively hyper-saturated use of colour, Johnny Romeo has employed his philosophy of using colour as a vital, living force to maximum impact in WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD. Robust, full-bodied neons explode across paintings with the ferocity of molotov cocktails, whilst candy coated pastel hues temper the blaze with an irrepressible sense of fun and a pulsing Pop edge. Unapologetic and in-your face, there is an incendiary quality to Romeo’s colours in the series that speaks of a dogged refusal to be constrained by society’s rules, of crashing through the establishment with all guns blazing.
With its slick, commanding line-work, WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD sees Johnny Romeo firing on all cylinders as he takes his triumphant Neo-Expressionist style to dizzying new heights. Through his highly physical and taut use of oil sticks, Romeo conjures a real sense of swagger and urgency to his rollicking renditions of Pop culture icons. There is an epic, truly larger than life feel coursing through the works, as Romeo depicts superheroes such as Batman soaring through the canvas, refusing to be held down by the hum-drum banality of everyday life.
WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD is a brazen and vibrant paean to Pop culture escapism, and its ability to transcend the dull realities of the everyday. Full of Johnny Romeo’s most bombastic and vivacious paintings to date, the series offers electrifying Technicolour visions of a time of danger and unbounded possibility, a time when we were heroes, artists and Pop stars, a time when we ruled the world.
Johnny Romeo | WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD | New Paintings @ Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, Australia.
March 14th, 2016 – April 4th, 2016.
Opening reception with Artist: Sunday March 20th, 2016 | 2-4pm @ Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth.
The Old Perth Technical School – Level 1 / 137 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000.
Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s WHEN WE RULED THE WORLD can be made directly through Linton & Kay Galleries (perth@lintonandkay.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 8 6465 4314.
Johnny Romeo featured in the latest issue of Artist Profile Magazine (Issue 34). Pages 102 – 105.
OPENING NIGHT – Johnny Romeo LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN New Paintings @ Venice Heights / China Inn Gallery, Venice, California, United States
Venice Heights / China Inn Gallery – 812 1/2 Lincoln Blvd. Venice, California 90291, United States.
Any inquiries regarding LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN can be made directly through Venice Heights / China Inn Gallery (paulina@veniceheights.com) or by calling the gallery / Paulina on +1 562 716 0149.
Johnny Romeo
LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN
New Paintings
Following a string of highly celebrated and sold-out shows in the US and Australia, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo is back with his exhilarating new series LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN. Returning to Venice Beach and exhibiting on hip Lincoln Boulevard, LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN is a towering Technicolour testament to America’s most beloved president, wrought in Romeo’s inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop style. Brimming with Romeo’s signature graphic gusto, and eye for captivating colour arrangements, the series of 10 paintings is a vivacious reinterpretation of Abraham Lincoln from Australian Pop royalty.
Johnny Romeo’s rollicking renditions of Lincoln are bold yet nuanced, buzzing with an insatiable Pop edge while capturing the stoicism that has come to characterise the Lincoln icon. With its rich, slick line-work, garish tattoo motifs and confectionary sweet hues, there is an unashamed kitschness to the series that imbues Lincoln with an unexpected playfulness.
At the same time, there is an emotional gravitas underlying Romeo’s Pop president. In many of the paintings, Lincoln’s gaze is austere and enduring, meeting the gaze of the onlooker with unflinching authority while turgid expanses of colour streak the background with a pensive potency. The masterful balance between bombast and introspection, euphoria and melancholia, give the works an emotional complexity that humanises the often-mythologised legacy of America’s most beloved president.
Drawing from all stages of Abraham Lincoln’s life, the series showcases Johnny Romeo’s uncanny ability to twist historical references into pithy Pop observations and cheeky double entendres. Text is rendered in thick, commanding lines that mirror the declaratory nature of presidential addresses, while the addition of smaller, scrawled speech bubbles captures a brilliant mind in contemplation.
Clever word assemblages and stream of consciousness text cascade across the canvas, forming infectious rhyming couplets that play with our sense of word association while ingeniously creating parallels between Lincoln’s life and Pop culture. This is exemplified in the work Strive Land. The subtle inclusion of the letters ‘BB’ make reference to the presidential tailors the Brook Brothers, and the jacket Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated. In the same breath, the BB is a subtle allusion to hip-hop culture, standing for ‘B-boy.’
LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN is a Technicolour re-envisioning of Abraham Lincoln like you have never seen before. With his penchant for garish colour explosions, strikingly bold imagery and whiplash witticisms, Johnny Romeo continues to spearhead the global Neo-Expressionist Pop movement while transforming Abraham Lincoln into a bona-fide Pop icon.
Opening Night: Friday 8th January, 2016 @ 7-10pm.
Venice Heights / China Inn Gallery – 812 1/2 Lincoln Blvd. Venice, California 90291, United States.
Any inquiries regarding LINCOLNS ON LINCOLN can be made directly through Venice Heights / China Inn Gallery (paulina@veniceheights.com) or by calling the gallery / Paulina on +1 562 716 0149.
Johnny Romeo featured on the FRONT COVER of this month’s issue of UK based THE SUBLIME ZINE. Great article on Johnny Romeo and his work on pages 22-31 ► http://bit.ly/1NJZdz1
Johnny Romeo
Selected Works
Penny Contemporary Hobart, in conjunction with Bespoke Furniture Melbourne, is proud to announce JOHNNY ROMEO SELECTED WORKS, the thrilling new exhibition of paintings and prints from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo. Brimming with explosive colour arrangements, graphic gusto and Romeo’s inimitable Neo-Expressionist swagger, Selected Works is a neon-drenched celebration of all things Pop that showcases some of Romeo’s most iconic works.
Bespoke Furniture is an Australian owned family business building timber furniture in the hip inner-city Melbourne suburb of Richmond. With a focus on sleek, elegant timber designs that use reclaimed hardwoods and sustainably sourced new timber, Bespoke is committed to crafting furniture that is suited for the way we live in the here and now.
Expertly curated by Penny Contemporary, in conjunction with Bespoke Furniture, the selected works on show offer audiences an exhilarating cross-section of Johnny Romeo’s highly celebrated career. Romeo’s pithy Pop observations of contemporary life and our obsession with Pop culture cleverly echoes Bespoke’s ethos of crafting furniture that reflects modern living.
Johnny Romeo’s expressively brazen fusion of glossy iconography, comic book aesthetics and gritty-stream of consciousness text ingeniously evokes the pervasiveness of advertising slogans, as refracted and reinterpreted through the creative urban experience. Romeo’s highly energetic take on graffiti art, with its unapologetically bold swathes of colour and clever word assemblages, also reflects the spray-paint splattered laneways that make up Melbourne’s vibrant street art scene.
SELECTED WORKS is a visual feast for the senses, with paintings and prints that celebrate and cheekily subvert the plethora of icons that make up our Pop vernacular. The consummate Post-modern sampler, Romeo’s rambunctious and savvy works draw from the full spectrum of the Pop world. Classic comic book heroes, artistic heroines and Grindhouse motifs all share air-time in Johnny Romeo’s vibrant visual broadcasts, highlighting the dynamic eclecticism and whiplash witticisms that have made the artist such an incendiary force in contemporary Pop Art.
The collaboration between Johnny Romeo, Penny Contemporary and Bespoke Furniture Melbourne in SELECTED WORKS is a veritable meeting of kindred spirits, who each share a deep commitment to capturing contemporary living through art and design. With classic works bursting at the seams with exuberant Technicolour arrangements and larger-than-life Pop imagery, SELECTED WORKS sees Australia’s own king of Pop at the top of his game.
Opening Night: Friday 4th December, 2015 @ 6-8pm.
Bespoke Furniture Melbourne | 377 Bridge Road, Richmond, Victoria, Australia.
Any enquiries regarding SELECTED 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 +61 438-292-67.