Sergio Barrios (El Hase) “The Struggle” | September 20 – 29, 2012

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 20, 6pm – 9pm On View: September 20 – September 29, 2012 “The Struggle” explores popular aesthetics featuring emblematic figures of boxing icons and characters from classic horror movies. Incorporating a diverse collection of found objects and various mixed media, El Hase, a pioneer of Venezuelan graffiti and urban art, presents a series of pieces and installations in which he displays his figures with distressing expressions and threatening postures, relating them to images from B-movies and horror films and referencing the constant struggle of graffiti artists and skateboarders to legitimize their art. “In this series of work I want to express what’s going through my head when I walk at night on the dark streets of Caracas, my hometown, and to portray that feeling I rescue street objects at night from the dark streets of Brooklyn”. Venezuelan aesthetics abound in his work – handmade signs, street color palettes, posters, local transportation and street graffiti, all are combined with local and international icons, horror and B movies, Venezuelan and international Pop figures, and the skateboard art which El Hase assembles into the personal style that he call B-Art. 17573| ARTICLES: