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.
Johnny Romeo
POP LIFE
New Paintings
POP LIFE is the electrifying new series from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo. Following on from successful shows in New York and Pennsylvania earlier this year, Romeo returns with a truly knockout collection of new paintings that offer a refreshing and innovative take on his inimitable style. Brimming with unbridled energy and slick, candy-coloured savviness, POP LIFE is a Technicolor tour de force from Australian Pop royalty that sees Romeo at the forefront of the global Neo-Expressionist Pop movement.
POP LIFE is classic Johnny Romeo played with the volume turned well up to eleven. Full of kaleidoscopic hues and thick, commanding lines, Romeo’s latest works sizzle with undeniable attitude and visual swagger. The consummate Postmodern sampler, the larger-than-life appropriations of cultural icons featured in the series span from personal artistic heroes like Basquiat and Picasso, to gun-slinging bodacious babes and rollicking renditions of Ned Kelly. Romeo’s wildly eclectic slices of subversive Pop iconography act as colourful celebrations of the cultural images that populate the Pop Metropolis that is modern life.
The use of word play and text assemblages has long played a central role in Romeo’s works. POP LIFE, however, marks a shift away from words in Romeo’s usual visual vocabulary, while maintaining the visual chutzpah and glorious colour explosions that we have come to expect from Johnny Romeo. The conscious decision to eschew text has enabled Romeo to experiment with more innovative compositions while allowing his depictions of Pop icons to really speak for themselves.
Dynamic and in-your-face, Romeo’s portraiture delves deep into the pervasive power of iconography in Pop culture. This is exemplified in ‘Easy’, Romeo’s bombastic homage to classic NWA member Eazy E. With its slick, pastel hues and rich, shadowy visage, Romeo’s Eazy E exudes a staggering visual presence that evokes the gritty punchiness of street art and hardcore hip-hop, but with a Pop-inflected sheen.
Romeo’s latest series sees the artist ingeniously challenge the boundaries of the canvas space. ‘Swisher’ depicts a neo-futurist Ned Kelly cutting through the pictorial plane with manic energy, his pistol prodding at the forefront of the image as his outstretched hand threatens to tear at the very fabric of the canvas. With their bold, exaggerated poses and taut, muscular figures, many of POP LIFE’s anti-heroes and femme fatales are rambunctious and primal in equal measure, elevating Romeo’s penchant for graphic gusto and comic book aesthetics to dizzying new heights.
In his enthralling new series, Johnny Romeo fully embraces the irrepressible energy of Pop icons, eschewing his penchant for text assemblages while maximizing the Technicolor bombast and boldness of his paintings. POP LIFE sees Romeo at the top of his game, offering audiences a neon-drenched world of superheroes, folk legends, and rap royalty – where Pop is king, where Pop is life.
Opening Night: Saturday 21st November, 2015 @ 6-8pm.
19 Karen | 19 Karen Avenue, Mermaid Beach QLD, Australia | www.19karen.com.au
Any enquiries regarding POP LIFE can be made directly through 19 Karen Gallery (info@19karen.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 7 5554 5019.
Exhibition Dates: November 21st, 2015 – January 6th, 2016.
Johnny Romeo
TV LAND
Converge Gallery
TV LAND is the latest mixed print and painting collection from internationally acclaimed Australian artist Johnny Romeo. Made up of 40 classic Johnny Romeo prints and four new original paintings, the series offers audiences an exhilarating insight into the electrifying works of Australia’s leading Pop artist. The opening night of the series also sees the official launch of the exhibition companion book, TV LAND; a visual compilation of Romeo’s works featuring written contributions from John-Ernest Dinamarca, and notable art writer and artist Matthew Rose. Celebrated the world over for his inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop style, the works featured in TV LAND reveal Romeo at his most captivatingly colorful, culturally savvy, and visually bombastic.
Growing up during the glory days of Saturday morning cartoons, daytime soap operas and MTV, Johnny Romeo has often spoken of his desire to be a kind of television through his art making practice. The works featured in TV LAND, with their tongue-in-cheek appropriations of television icons, irrepressible punk energy, and psychedelic color explosions, powerfully capture Romeo’s undeniable knack for transforming his paintings into larger-than-life broadcasts of Pop culture.
Often described as a ‘Postmodern sampler’, Johnny Romeo’s works cheekily draw from the full spectrum of Pop culture. Superheroes and cult fiction villains such as Superman, Cat Woman and Darth Vader rub shoulders with classic silver-screen stars and musical martyrs in Romeo’s engrossing, neon-drenched visual TV LAND. Playing with the audience’s sense of nostalgia, Romeo cleverly harnesses the interplay between graffiti-like text and imagery in his paintings to subvert our relationship with popular television icons like Felix the Housecat (Grind, 2014).
Much like the intoxicating fields of color that flooded his television screen as a youth, the works featured in TV LAND are rife with vivaciously vibrant hues that reveal Romeo’s life-long fascination with color. A scintillating sugar-rush of summery, kaleidoscopic tones, Romeo’s use of color aims to evoke the same thrill experienced by Dorothy as she entered the magical Technicolor world of Oz. Works like Texas Grill (2015) and Super Line Back (2014), with their highly saturated, psychotropic fields of color, reflect Romeo’s fixation with television and its ability to transcend the hum-drum banality of ordinary life.
TV LAND, like the most innovative of television shows, ingeniously straddles the line between the accessible and the subversive, between the glossy veneer of TV and Pop culture’s seamier underbelly. Bursting at the seams with confectionary sweet color arrangements, irresistible Pop playfulness and grungy, graphic gusto, TV LAND delivers a knockout punch of Johnny Romeo classics that cements his place as the leading force in the global Neo-Expressionist Pop movement.
Opening night – Friday 18th September 2015 @ 6-9pm.
Converge Gallery | 140 W 4th Street, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA. | www.convergegallery.com
Any enquires regarding TV LAND can be made directly through Converge Gallery (john@convergegallery.com) or by calling the gallery on +1 570-435-7080.
Exhibition Dates:
September 18th – October 10th, 2015
Johnny Romeo | ANGRY BIRDS | New Paintings @ Porter Contemporary, Brooklyn, New York.
ANGRY BIRDS is the highly anticipated second New York exhibition from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo. A neon-drenched celebration of female empowerment, the show is a coruscating collision of comic book heroines, explosive colour arrangements and riotous energy from Australia’s leading Pop artist. Re-envisioning the comic book landscape as a Technicolour Gotham of bodacious bad-ass women, ANGRY BIRDS sees Romeo at the top of his game, spearheading the global Neo-Expressionist Pop movement with his most dynamic and exhilarating collection of powerhouse Pop works to date.
Opening Night – Thursday 10th September 2015 @ 6-8pm.
Porter Contemporary | 145 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, New York, USA | www.portercontemporary.com
Any enquires regarding ANGRY BIRDS can be made directly through Porter Contemporary (info@portercontemporary.com) or by calling the gallery on +1 212 696 7432.
Exhibition Dates:
September 10th – October 11th, 2015