Johnny Romeo
DIRTY BOULEVARD
New Paintings
Following the sell-out success of his highly celebrated Pussy Riot exhibition in Alice Springs earlier this year, Dirty Boulevard is a knockout punch of incendiary Neo-Expressionist Pop from internationally acclaimed artist Johnny Romeo.
Inspired by the Lou Reed tune of the same name, the series is a thrillingly bleak rumination on Hollywood, where the Great American Dream has been grotesquely transformed into the Great American Hustle. With his fiery flare for larger-than-life colour arrangements and comic book aesthetics, Romeo re-envisions Hollywood as a gritty urban wasteland of degenerates, has-beens and low-life leeches.
Drawing on the iconic imagery of classic comic book heroes and his own experiences of Los Angeles, Johnny Romeo has created a striking visual allegory for the restlessness and perilous pull of Hollywood. An all-male entourage of heroes such as Batman, Spiderman and Superman splay across canvases with riveting force, dripping with attitude. With rippling muscles and bold, exaggerated forms rendered in rich black lines, Romeo’s heroes are larger-than-life figures that embody the irrepressible energy of a city driven by hedonism and complete excess.
Delving deeper into Dirty Boulevard, however, presents a more sinister journey into the belly of the beast. Romeo’s signature brand of vivacious Technicolour hues are here muddied by expanses of turgid greys and maroons. The interplay of colours creates an intriguing dynamic that pits our idealised visions of Hollywood against its reality as a dingy, concrete jungle of desperation and disillusionment. The motif of flight recurs throughout the series, but appears as symbol of imprisonment rather than emancipation. Referencing Reed’s laconic refrain in ‘Dirty Boulevard’ (‘I want to fly from the dirty boulevard’), ‘Terra Dome’ presents a soaring Superman whose freedom is undercut by his expression of resigned defeat; a fatal recognition that he will never escape the seductive snare of Hollywood.
Influenced by the urban grittiness of hip-hop, Dirty Boulevard bristles with a visceral swagger that reflects both the colourful allure and grimy edginess of Hollywood Boulevard. Like the street-smart braggadocio of a seasoned rapper spitting hardened rhymes, Romeo’s masterful fusion of graffiti art and text hits hard with a punchy, rhythmic urgency. The works are rife with pithy references to classic hip-hop and LA culture, from Public Enemy’s ‘Terra Dome’ to Ice Cube and LA’s infamous ‘Ghetto Bird’ helicopters, painting a grim picture of Hollywood as a gangster’s paradise of violence and vice.
Romeo’s signature humour and spirited word play is especially blistering in the work ‘Swag’. Subverting the hyper-cool confidence associated with the rap term, Romeo cleverly manipulates the pictorial plane to depict a drunken, ambling Spider-Man crawling wretchedly towards the audience – a lost soul who is more stagger than swagger.
Johnny Romeo’s Dirty Boulevard is a gloriously harrowing and exhilarating romp through the seedy underbelly of Hollywood. The series masterfully fuses Romeo’s unique brand of humour, white-knuckled post-punk aggression, and graffiti grit to create an urban hymnal to the Lost, which rails against the illusory promise of fame. An elegy to broken hope, the series envisions Hollywood as a kaleidoscopic bad-acid trip; a seductive, dirty boulevard, where the Great American Dream reveals itself as the Great American tragedy.
With Johnny Romeo in attendance, DIRTY BOULEVARD opens at 5:30 – 8pm on Friday 13th June at Penny Contemporary, 187 Liverpool Street, Hobart Tasmania. The exhibition will run until 14th July.
For any enquiries: info@pennycontemporary.com.au | www.pennycontemporary.com.au | 03 6231 5655
Johnny Romeo
DIRTY BOULEVARD
New Paintings
@ Penny Contemporary, Hobart Tasmania, Australia.
Any enquires concerning Johnny Romeo’s DIRTY BOULEVARD can be made directly through Penny Contemporary (info@pennycontemporary.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 3 6231 5655.
Johnny Romeo’s new show DIRTY BOULEVARD opens @ Penny Contemporary, Hobart Tasmania, Australia.
June 13th – July 14th, 2014.
Opening Night: 5:30-8pm Friday 13th June.
For any enquiries: info@pennycontemporary.com.au | www.pennycontemporary.com.au | 03 6231 5655
Johnny Romeo featured in THE SOURCE Magazine – University of Western Sydney, Issue 1 / 2014. Pages 50 – 55. Article written by Taher Nojavan.
Johnny Romeo
DIRTY BOULEVARD
New Paintings
Following the sell-out success of his highly celebrated PUSSY RIOT exhibition in Alice Springs earlier this year, DIRTY BOULEVARD Dirty is a knockout punch of incendiary Neo-Expressionist Pop from internationally acclaimed artist Johnny Romeo.
With his fiery flare for larger-than-life colour arrangements, white-knuckled punk fury and comic book aesthetics, Johnny Romeo’s Dirty Boulevard is a gloriously harrowing and exhilarating romp through the seedy underbelly of Hollywood.
An elegy to broken hope, the series envisions Hollywood as a kaleidoscopic bad-acid trip; a seductive, dirty boulevard, where the Great American Dream reveals itself as the Great American Tragedy.
With Johnny Romeo in attendance, DIRTY BOULEVARD opens at 5:30 – 8pm on Friday 13th June at Penny Contemporary, 187 Liverpool Street, Hobart Tasmania. The exhibition will run until 14th July.
For any enquiries: info@pennycontemporary.com.au | www.pennycontemporary.com.au | 03 6231 5655
Johnny Romeo featured in MUSIC ON WALLS – Read the interview.
Johnny Romeo and ‘A Tribute To Michael Jackson’s 10 Best Film Clips’ Group Show @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, Australia in Tuesday’s (May 6th, 2014) Confidential Page – Gold Coast Bulletin.
Johnny Romeo | PUSSY RIOT | New Paintings at Muk Muk Fine Art, 51 Smith St, Darwin, Australia.
With Johnny Romeo in attendance, PUSSY RIOT opens this Friday 11th at 6pm. The exhibition will run until 8th May 2014.
Any enquires concerning Johnny Romeo’s PUSSY RIOT can be made directly through Muk Muk Fine Art (gallery@mukmuk.com) or by calling the gallery on +61 8 8953 6333.
Johnny Romeo: THRILLER series
When it comes to music videos, none come as iconic or influential as Michael Jackson’s ground-breaking 1983 clip, ‘Thriller’. From its zany zombie dance routine, Vincent Price’s notorious spoken word and Michael Jackson’s transformation into a werecat, ‘Thriller’ remains a truly watershed moment in Pop culture.
In his latest series, ‘Thriller’, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo playfully pays tribute to the seminal Michael Jackson clip. An explosive fusion of ghoulish imagery and sumptuous hues, Romeo masterfully captures the ‘Thriller’s’ unique vision of classic horror and Pop exuberance in all its glory.
Johnny Romeo’s post-disco undead are rendered with sumptuously rich lines that recall the rubbery, bass-laden synth lines of its namesake. With his panache for lively colour and word-art arrangements, Romeo enlivens his paintings with a bouncy, rhythmic dynamic and the neon sheen of classic Pop music that belies the grimness of its subject matter.
Romeo’s keen sense for juxtaposition is especially potent in the work ‘Boogie Street 83’. Draped in shadows, with fangs glistening menacingly, the primal ferocity of the Jackson werecat is tempered with the candy sweetness of the colour palette and the banner ‘Boogie Street’. Tongue firmly in cheek, Romeo has fashioned a bona fide Pop Monster who is as eager to tear up the dance floor, as it is to tear out your throat.
Heavily inspired by schlocky B-grade horror movies and Grindhouse cinema, ‘Thriller’ is imbued with an invigorating irreverence and perverse sense of black humour. ‘Post-Disco 82’ parodies the hyper-saturated campness of early 80s album covers with a supernatural twist, whilst also evoking the trashy, larger-than-life theatrical posters that lined the grimy walls of cult cinemas.
The unholy lovechild of George A. Romero and glitzy 80s pop music, reared in the gleefully violent neon-wastelands of Grindhouse, ‘Thriller’ sees Johnny Romeo cleverly straddling the line between Pop perfection and the macabre.
Johnny Romeo’s ‘Thriller’ series will be part of ‘A Tribute To Michael Jackson’s 10 Best Film Clips’ Group Show @ 19Karen, Gold Coast, Australia.
The Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach will host the exhibition.
Opening Night: Friday May 2nd 2014 – 6-8pm.
http://www.19karen.com.au/johnny-romeo/johnny-romeo-new.php
Any enquires concerning Johnny Romeo’s THRILLER series can be made directly through 19Karen (info@19karen.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 7 5554 5019.
Johnny Romeo’s PUSSY RIOT Opening Night @ Muk Muk Fine Art, Alice Springs, Australia – Friday March 7th 2014.