Johnny Romeo
ROCK IS DEAD
New Paintings
Internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his triumphant return to Perth with his most incendiary series to date, ROCK IS DEAD. The artist has crafted an electrifyingly colourful and personal homage to the essence of rock’n’roll that amplifies his inimitable Neo-Expressionist Pop stylings to scorching new levels. Carrying the torch of Pop provocateurs like Mel Ramos and Jeff Koons, Australia’s leading Pop artist juxtaposes punchy cultural commentary with exuberant, absurdist imagery to cleverly subvert rock music tropes and critique the slow death of rock’n’roll in our cultural landscape. Romeo’s frenetic works lament the bygone era of rock’s heyday, while recalling the thrilling, larger-than-life spirit that made icons such as Freddie Mercury and Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ such enduring forces in music.
Over the last decade, countless ink has been spilt on the demise of rock’n’roll. Rock stars such as The Who’s Roger Daltrey and KISS’ Gene Simmons have decried the fading influence of rock in today’s musical climate, noting that the fire and popularity that once propelled rock’n’roll has now been taken up by hip hop. In ROCK IS DEAD, Johnny Romeo masterfully contends with the death of rock’n’roll through his unique Neo-Expressionist Pop lens, crafting a powerful body of work that pays tribute to the end of an era and infers the emerging dominance of hip hop within Pop culture. Part elegy, part celebration, the series is a raucous love letter to the rock stars that plastered bedroom walls, and the vital music that soundtracked generations of restless youth.
Death permeates Romeo’s work in ways both direct and subtle, melancholic and grimly humorous. Morbid motifs such as skulls and skeletons are littered throughout the series, lending the paintings a primal energy that recalls the visceral nihilism of punk and rock’n’roll’s fixation with living fast and dying young. In other instances, Romeo cheekily inverts rock’n’roll’s penchant for mythologising to metaphorically ‘kill’ off rock stars, injecting his works with obscure and often surreal Pop culture references that comment on death while turning common perceptions of figureheads such as John Lennon and Motorhead’s Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister on their head.
Despite its macabre ruminations, ROCK IS DEAD is an inherently life-affirming series that showcases Johnny Romeo at his most strident and bombastic. The artist’s signature graphic line-work and exuberant Technicolour arrangements are delivered with the sonic heft of thundering distorted guitars dialled up to 11, giving each painting a crackling energy that is impossible to ignore. In ROCK IS DEAD, Romeo doesn’t just paint iconic rock-stars, he visually inhabits them. Breathing new life into tired rock tropes, Romeo has crafted memorable portraits that evoke the irreverence of Pop Art upstarts like Mel Ramos while embodying the spirit of musical heroes in absurd and refreshing ways. Each work is drenched in symbolism, imbued with multiple layers of meaning that point not only to what is visible, but more fascinatingly what is happening beyond the pictorial plane.
Rock’n’roll has always been a part of Romeo’s work, but here the artist truly embraces that influence and takes it to soaring new heights. Acting as the quintessential visual rock DJ, Romeo deftly samples the classic album imagery of rock masterpieces such as The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ to create thrillingly layered mash-ups that harness the power of rock’n’roll iconography and interrogate our relationship with music.
As a life-long fan of rock, Johnny Romeo expertly plumbs the depths of popular music to create visually anthemic word assemblages that recall the rousing choruses of classic rock hits. The artist playfully splices fragments of song titles and lyrics with punchy cultural references, using his signature acerbic wit to subvert rock’n’roll’s overtly masculine tendencies and comment on contemporary issues ranging from feminism and queer identity to grief and cultural appropriation. Text is ingeniously used to also examine the rising influence of hip hop as rock’s heir apparent, demonstrated through the interplay of rock and rap vernacular and the subtle referencing of hip hop brandnames interspersed throughout the series.
A defiant statement of intent from Australia’s King of Pop, ROCK IS DEAD sees Johnny Romeo deliver a truly bombastic and righteously riotous body of works that captures the raw grit and larger-than-life spirit of rock’n’roll with immense wit and electrifying energy. The series is a darkly humorous slice of potent Kitsch Pop that explores shifting musical tides, reflecting a world where the danger and fury of rock’n’roll is dying but refuses to fade away.
Opening reception with Artist: Thursday 9th August 2018 | 6-8pm @ Linton & Kay Galleries,
Fridays Studio / West Perth Gallery, 11 Old Aberdeen Place, West Perth 6005
+61 8 6465 4314
Any enquires regarding Johnny Romeo’s ROCK IS DEAD can be made directly through Linton & Kay Galleries (perth@lintonandkay.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 8 6465 4314
lintonandkay.com.au
RSVP for Opening Night is essential.
RSVP to: perth@lintonandkay.com.au
Exhibition Dates: 4th August – 26th August 2018
July 29, 2018