Johnny Romeo
ANGRY BIRDS
New Paintings
Following his hugely successful New York debut, Grindhouse, 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 the leading force in Australian Pop Art. ANGRY BIRDS sees Romeo at the forefront of the global Neo-Expressionist Pop movement, taking his distinctive style to glorious new heights with his powerful blend of graphic gusto and invigorating, in-your-face attitude.
Referencing the title of the hugely popular Apple app game of the same name, ANGRY BIRDS features brazen, liberated female superheroes that soar through the canvas with whiplash velocity. These pulp fiction Amazons are brave and unapologetically brazen, railing against the rigid gendered strictures of society with an unwavering confidence and an intoxicating taste for danger.
Comic book superheroes and villains have long played an integral role in Johnny Romeo’s paintings. In ANGRY BIRDS, Romeo draws on a rich cast of comic book vicious vixens, ranging from Cat Woman to Bat Girl. Cheekily subverting our often male-centric associations with superheroes, Romeo’s alluringly aggressive heroines re-envision the comic book landscape as a Technicolour Gotham of bodacious bad-ass women. The focus on masked super women hitting out against injustice also sees Romeo merge fiction with reality, recalling the balaclava-donning Russian Fem-punk activists Pussy Riot.
A fusion of Romeo’s love for comic book aesthetics with a deep fascination for Grindhouse cinema, ANGRY BIRDS is a Neo-Expressionist Pop powerhouse that masterfully straddles the line between seduction and ultra-violence. With their skin-tight latex costumes and exaggerated, acrobatic poses, the femme fatales captured by Romeo see the artist fully embracing the sensual curves of the female figure. Romeo’s potent use of text imbues his renditions of figures such as Super Girl with an undeniable swagger and self-assuredness. Phrases such as ‘lawless’ and ‘new age’ take on a declaratory nature, like lines screamed in a riot grrrl Feminist manifesto. The inherent confidence and white-knuckled fury captured through Romeo’s electrifying works draws attention to emboldened women who are in complete control of their bodies and negotiate their sexuality entirely on their own terms.
Like shots of pure adrenaline, the works in ANGRY BIRDS are thrilling tour de forces of sensual anarchy that represent some of Romeo’s strongest paintings to date. Painted with slick commanding lines and a palpable, physical intensity, the femme fatales captured by Romeo bristle with an insatiable sense of urgency and rebellion. Colours sputter and slash through the paintings with reckless abandon, a sultry combination of raw, bloodied backdrops and saccharine hues that teeter between the violent and the sweet. The series sees Romeo amp up the aggression and punk-rock energy of his work, experimenting with unorthodox angles to depict super heroines that threaten to rip through the very fabric of the canvas.
ANGRY BIRDS is righteously rollicking celebration of kick-ass women from Australia’s leading Pop artist. Triumphantly combining brash, expressive colour, frenetic yet sleek imagery, and punk rock attitude, the much-anticipated new series sees Romeo at the top of his game, delivering his most dynamic and exhilarating collection of Neo-Expressionist Pop works yet.
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
Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo comes roaring out of the gates with all guns blazing with his latest powerhouse work, ‘SO YOUNG / SO ANGRY.’ The knockout painting will be featured as part of the upcoming international group show ‘PAIN/TING’, being at the Open Walls Gallery in Berlin, in conjunction with 19 Karen Gallery. Showcasing the works of 20 contemporary artists from Australia and overseas, the exhibition explores the artist’s inner state and the notion of suffering for one’s art.
‘SO YOUNG / SO ANGRY’ sees Johnny Romeo channel the righteous angst and youthful dissent that characterised his early days as an artist. Delivering his signature comic book aesthetics with the sheer gusto and brute force of a heavyweight boxer, Romeo adopts an invigoratingly raw approach to his line-work to capture the spirit of anguish and defiance in his latest piece. Bringing his portrait right to the forefront of the canvass, Romeo has created a piece that actively confronts the audience, forcing them to take in the gnarled facial grimace, the piercing fiery eyes and the seething venom barely contained between gritted teeth.
Eschewing his usual penchant for text, Romeo allows the exhilarating ferocity of his portrait to speak for itself. Here, Johnny’ Romeo’s pithy pop witticisms is replaced with the invigorating urgency and violence of early basement hardcore shows; all sweaty, gnarled bodies, shredded vocals and empowering resistance.
Drawing from the rambunctiousness of classic puck and the irascible braggadocio of old-school hip, Romeo’s extreme close-up is unapologetic in its righteous fury. Influenced by the lyrics of hardcore rapper Ice Cube, ‘SO YOUNG / SO ANGRY’ is a brass-knuckled celebration of rebellion and creativity, and more notably rebellion as creativity. This is reinforced by Romeo’s gloriously Technicolour colour palette, whose saccharine pinks and citrus-bright oranges help to imbue the howling rage of his portrait with an almost adolescent ebullience.
Dripping with an unhinged, primal energy and a gloriously gritty, punk rock attitude, ‘SO YOUNG / SO ANGRY’ is Johnny Romeo at his most brazen, his most confrontational, and his most visceral.
Opening night – 1st August @ Open Walls Gallery, Berlin @ 6-9pm.
Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s work can be made directly through 19Karen (info@19karen.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 7 5554 5019.
For more information – www.19karen.com.au | www.openwallsgallery.com
CROWN is the electrifying new addition to the World Sticker Series from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo. The street sticker hits the US, fresh off the heels of the first two hugely successful instalments in the World Sticker Series, which featured exhilaratingly colourful takes on Jimi Hendrix and the Kool Aid Man.
Filled to the brim with Romeo’s signature Neo-Expressionist Pop bombast and penchant for vibrant, Technicolour hues, the latest sticker is a glorious, neon-drenched celebration of America’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln.
Romeo’s rollicking rendition of Lincoln aims to distil and reinterpret the essence of the much-loved leader, while re-envisioning him as an enduring, bona-fide icon of popular culture. Bold, playful and undeniably Pop, CROWN, the Lincoln sticker, promises to provide street audiences with a fresh new take on Abraham Lincoln with its intoxicating fusion of street art grit, psychedelic colours and classic American iconography.
Johnny Romeo | POPTOMETRY | Print Pop Up Show @ Hoff Optometry & Eyewear Venice, California, USA.
Opening Night: Saturday July 18th @ 6-9pm.
POPTOMETRY is the glorious new collaborative print pop up show by internationally acclaimed Australian Pop artist Johnny Romeo and renowned Californian optometrist Hoff Optometry & Eyewear. Filled to the brim with captivating colour arrangements, tongue in cheek humour and Romeo’s inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop swagger, the print collection is an exhilarating celebration of all things Pop that showcases some of Romeo’s most iconic works.
Located on Venice Beach’s stylish Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Hoff Optometry & Eyewear is led by high profile optometrist Dr James Hoff. Committed to quality clinical services with a stylish flair, Hoff Optometry brings together the worlds of eyewear and cutting edge art and design to offer clients a truly unique experience.
The pop up print show comprises of 15 works expertly selected and curated by Dr Hoff, which span across Johnny Romeo’s highly celebrated career. A cheeky portmanteau of ‘pop’ and ‘optometry’, the title perfectly captures the playfulness and exuberance that lies at the heart of Romeo’s electrically charged Technicolour visions of Pop culture in all of its glory and excess.
POPTOMETRY is a visual feast for the senses that views the world through psychedelic, Pop-coloured lenses. Exploding with expressive swathes of sun-kissed colours, the prints conjure the liveliness and neon-saturated bustle of Venice Beach. The brilliant, confectionary sweet hues of works such as ‘Haze Gaze’ (2014) and ‘White Cello’ (2015), with their vibrant yellows and candied pinks, brings to mind summery, carefree jaunts through California.
A veritable Post-modern sampler, Johnny Romeo’s rambunctious and savvy works draw from the full spectrum of Pop culture. Musical luminaries, silver-screen celebrities, artistic heroes and brand name icons all share air-time in Romeo’s visual broadcasts, highlighting both the dynamic eclecticism that so strongly characterises the artist’s works and society’s fascination with Pop culture.
With his heady fusion of sleek iconography and gritty, stream-of-consciousness text, Romeo’s pithy verses evoke the pervasiveness of advertising slogans, as filtered through the hardened rhymes of rappers straight out of the urban jungles of LA. Romeo’s distinct approach to clever word arrangements also pay homage to Venice Beach’s history as a cultural hub for Beat Poets and creative types.
The collaboration of Johnny Romeo and Dr Hoff in POPTOMETRY sees a meeting of kindred spirits with a deep fascination for dazzling colour and stylish, bold imagery. The print show is a ballsy, luminous celebration of Pop in all its kitschy, neon-saturated glory that showcases Australia’s leading Pop artist at the top of his game.
Any enquires concerning Johnny Romeo’s POPTOMETRY can be made directly through Hoff Optometry & Eyewear on +1 310 452 4633 or by calling Paulina Castelli on +1 562-716-0149 or by email (paulina@prizeofvenicela.com).
OPENING NIGHT – NEW TOWN ROMANTICS group show @ Penny Contemporary in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
June 12th – July 8th 2015.
Any enquiries regarding NEW TOWN ROMANTICS can be made directly through Penny Contemporary (info@pennycontemporary.com.au) or by calling the gallery on 03 6231 5655 – www.pennycontemporary.com.au
NEW TOWN ROMANTICS Group Show curated by Johnny Romeo opens at Penny Contemporary in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
The exhibition will be opened by formal Tasmanian premier David Bartlett.
With BERNARD OLLIS, WENDY SHARPE & JOHNNY ROMEO in attendance, NEW TOWN ROMANTICS opens at 5:00pm on Friday 12th June at Penny Contemporary, 187 Liverpool Street, Hobart Tasmania.
The exhibition will run until 8th July 2015.
For any enquiries: info@pennycontemporary.com.au | www.pennycontemporary.com.au | +61 3 6231 5655
OPENING NIGHT – Johnny Romeo’s TOP OF THE POPS @ NG Art Gallery, Chippendale, Sydney, Australia.
May 28th – June 13th 2015
Any enquires regarding TOP OF THE POPS can be made directly through NG Art Gallery (ng@ngart.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 9 318 2992.
Johnny Romeo
TOP OF THE POPS
New Paintings
TOP OF THE POPS is the triumphant, much anticipated Sydney show from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop artist Johnny Romeo. Considered Australia’s foremost Pop artist, Romeo is leading the global charge of Neo-Expressionist Pop art. Brimming with his signature blend of comic book aesthetics, celebrity icons, Americana twang, punk-rock swagger and Grindhouse-grit, TOP OF THE POPS is an electrifying visual mix-tape of new works that perfectly captures Romeo’s inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop style.
Sharing its title with the highly influential British music programme of the same name, the series is a gloriously spirited and vivacious celebration of all things Pop. Revisiting key motifs from throughout his career, the new works are potent visual Molotov cocktails that take Romeo’s rambunctious and kaleidoscopic style to dazzling new heights. With his insatiable wit and visual swagger, TOP OF THE POPS is classic Johnny Romeo played at maximum volume: the colours are more explosive, the line-work more dynamic, the pop elements more POP.
An avid devotee of Pop culture, TOP OF THE POPS reflects the exhilarating immediacy and catchiness of Pop music. Each work in the series is a veritable visual anthem, brimming with expansive fields of explosive Technicolour hues, commanding lines, and bold, concise graffiti-scrawled text that act as irresistible pop hooks that are at once intoxicating and immensely fun. Bristling with a boisterous punk energy and attitude, Romeo sharpens his humour to a razor-sharp point, cheekily using the Pop medium to burst open and deconstruct our understanding of Pop conventions.
In TOP OF THE POPS Romeo gleefully mashes the brashness of hip-hop and street art with rock’n’roll grit, cartoon heroes, Grindhouse intensity, and celebrity icons, creating invigorating pop culture collages that cheekily turn our perceptions of Pop icons on their head. The consummate postmodern sampler, Johnny Romeo cleverly combs through the diverse canon of Pop culture like a passionate music fan exploring the depths of their music collection.
Paintings such as White Cello exemplify Romeo’s irreverent and wildly eclectic approach. Referencing the iconic 1991 Nirvana single ‘In Bloom’, the work juxtaposes melancholic fields of colour and the righteous angst of grunge with a portrait of Frida Kahlo re-envisaged as a modern day Technicolour Pop deity. The contrast, while jarring at first, offers an ingenious critique on the cult of personality.
By drawing from elements of everyday culture and reconfiguring them into disarmingly incongruous, often hilarious arrangements, TOP OF THE POPS masterfully subverts the familiar into something visually arresting and thrillingly original.
Bold, brash and unapologetically Pop, the series of new paintings is an incendiary collection of Johnny Romeo’s unmistakable Neo-Expressionist Pop style at its most vibrant and bombastic. With its cheeky reference to the cult British music programme, TOP OF THE POPS sees Romeo at the top of his game as the leading force in Australian Pop Art.
Opening night – Thursday 28th May @ 6-8pm.
TOP OF THE POPS is to be open by esteemed art critic Dr Andrew Frost.
Any enquires regarding TOP OF THE POPS can be made directly through NG Art Gallery (ng@ngart.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 9 318 2992.
Johnny Romeo’s upcoming exhibition TOP OF THE POPS @ NG Art Gallery in Chippendale is to be open by esteemed art critic Dr Andrew Frost.
Dr Andrew Frost is an art critic, lecturer and broadcaster. Since 2007 he has written and presented a number of TV programs for the ABC on contemporary art and he is the author of the monograph The Boys published by Currency Press.
TOP OF THE POPS is the triumphant, much anticipated Sydney show from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop artist Johnny Romeo. Gleefully mashing the brashness of hip-hop and street art with rock’n’roll grit, cartoon heroes, Grindhouse intensity, and celebrity icons, Romeo has created invigorating pop culture collages that cheekily turn our perceptions of Pop icons on their head. With his insatiable wit and visual swagger, the dynamic new paintings in TOP OF THE POPS are classic Johnny Romeo played at maximum volume: the colours are more explosive, the line-work more dynamic, the pop elements more POP. Bold, brash and unapologetically Pop, the series is an incendiary collection of Romeo’s unmistakable Neo-Expressionist Pop style at its most vibrant and bombastic.
Opening night – Thursday 28th May @ 6-8pm.
Any enquires regarding TOP OF THE POPS can be made directly through NG Art Gallery (ng@ngart.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 9 318 2992.
Johnny Romeo’s much anticipated Sydney show TOP OF THE POPS opens @ NG Art Gallery, Chippendale, Sydney, Australia – www.ngart.com.au
Opening Night – Thursday 28th May 2015 – 6-8pm.
TOP OF THE POPS is the triumphant, much anticipated Sydney show from internationally acclaimed Australian Pop artist Johnny Romeo. Brimming with his signature blend of comic book aesthetics, celebrity icons, Americana twang, punk-rock swagger and Grindhouse-grit, TOP OF THE POPS is an electrifying visual mix-tape of new paintings that perfectly captures Romeo’s inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop style. With its cheeky reference to cult British music programme, TOP OF THE POPS sees Romeo at the top of his game as the leading force in Australian Pop Art.
Any enquires concerning TOP OF THE POPS can be made directly through NG Art Gallery (ng@ngart.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 9 318 2992.
Exhibition Dates:
Thursday 28th May – 13th June 2015