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![]() neck face - saviour of street art
Devilish street art from the West Coast. Neck Face draws like a very naughty boy. His images are violent, scratchy and bloody, with one foot in heavy metal and the other in bathroom graffiti. His first UK show includes a crypt-like space filled with scented candles and walls sprayed with demonic sharp-toothed faces. A punk altar to death metal. The main body of work is a wall covered in a phoenix-like devil and wood panels of monsters and witches. “I like seeing the reaction I get when I make a violent image,” Neck Face notes. “I like seeing people laugh at my violent pieces, then they look around and wonder if it’s wrong to laugh at it.” The work is funny, strange, naïve and exceptionally fresh.Neck Face made his name on the streets of San Francisco and later New York, scrawling his name like a dripping swear word rather than a hip-hop tag. Later, aphorisms – “Smile Now, Cry Later”, “Crack Pipe for Sale!” – and a devilish face would join his name. Yet his work easily slipped into galleries, transforming spaces into a neverending Halloween with sharp metal masks, installations of felt witches and graphic art. ![]() This show at Maharishi’s department store of cool in London’s Soho is a serious coup. Neck Face is the artist that everyone’s talking about as the 20-year-old saviour of street art. New York icon, Kaws, is publishing a book of his work. He’s the latest artist to come out of the West Coast street art scene and get serious international attention, following in the steps of people like Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, Mark Gonzales and Ed Templeton. Yet, visually, his work is more like an evil street-punk cousin of Marcel Dzama. What makes the West Coast scene so unusual is that these artists bypassed the art world and created a DIY audience. The motivation and the work was raw and personal. A decade later, galleries including NYC’s Deitch Projects, London’s Modern Art and large spaces like the Fondazione Prada took notice. Arguably, Neck Face has had too much attention too soon, but he’s unfazed. “I was really surprised about all the attention, but I felt ready.” He explains, “I think it’s more interesting to watch the artist develop rather than to see the finished product. I could burn out real quick or I can be here for a long time.” My bet is on the latter.
Francesca Gavin
Neck Face is at dpmhi, 2-3 Great Pulteney Street, London, until 10 June 05.
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new image art gallery: neck face
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