WENDELL MCSHINE

(Trinidad and Tobago)

Wendell McShine's creates a series of antagonizing situations between the subject and the way in which the imagery seeks to interpret its ideas: animations that conflicts with their sketchbook counterparts. Canvases that are constructed within aspect fine art and then broken down by their illustrative treatment. small installation boxes that seems to be frozen in their melancholic dream state, only to be pulled out of their sadness through the use of intense color placement. Adding to what is a ceremonial dialogue of fantasy and reality as one engages.

Raw, transcendental and overly mystifying it is no surprise that International artist Wendell McShine (aka SHINE) is from the island of “the Carnival” Trinidad and Tobago. Currently based and producing work in Mexico City there’s a lucid cross pollination expressed through stunning iconography.

When one moves full heartedly into the doorway of Wendell’s work, a multi level narrative, which constructs upon itself is discovered. Bandidos, Jewel Stars, King Crows, Nahuales, Humming Birds, mezcal bottles, plantation houses, skulls, towering coconut trees, hibiscus flowers, rubber ‘slippers’, etc., coexist in a world of wooden panels, canvases, organic animations and paper mache masks.

Watch this video of his work:

VITCHE

(1969, Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Vitche grew up scribing the streets in the city in the early 80's. Specialized himself in urban interventions about environmental themes and general conscience.

Today, he develops expositions, scenography, illustrations, objects made in wood, puppets, iron, mud, canvas and photography with a great variety of influences. Taking his art to countries in Europe, US, and Latin America.

Defining his job as politic, lyric and abstract, tries to show the importance of the forgotten feelings that are swallowed by the big cities which are called by him as the great dragon. Sees in what he does a different way of being alive.

Watch this video of Vitche and Mike Giant by Upperplayground:

SHEPARD FAIREY

(1970, South Carolina, US)

Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (…OBEY…) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News.

Fairey's first art museum exhibition, entitled Supply & Demand (as was his earlier book), was held in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art during the summer of 2009. The exhibition featured more than 250 works in a wide variety of media: screen prints, stencils, stickers, rubylith illustrations, collages, and works on wood, metal and canvas.

As a complement to the ICA exhibition, Fairey created public art works around Boston. The artist explains his driving motivation: "The real message behind most of my work is 'question everything'."

In July of 2015, Fairey was arrested and detained at Los Angeles International Airport, after passing through customs, on a warrant for allegedly vandalizing 14 buildings in Detroit. He subsequently turned himself in to Detroit Police.

Watch this video of OBEY:

RICO DENIRO

Rico Deniro leans on the last men and women of the earth who don’t use computers or technology to make things. People that use no power, and use only primitive tools and the precision of their hands to interpret dirty contrived icons of the world that the so-called “advanced civilizations” worship.

The artisans have little or no relationship with most of the icons and people represented in this body of work. Highlighting the emptiness that is in direct conflict with the billions of dollars spent convincing us that these icons do have value and worth.

The resulting masks show these idols at a level which we rarely see them: exposed. Not in the way that the news media ‘exposes’ celebrities, because in that case there’s a symbiotic dependency, but in the way that these idols are exposed for their lack of substance other than the media and marketing that convinces us of their substance.

Watch this video by Walrus TV:

MIKE PARK

Mike Park's polymer coated acrylic paintings on wood depict a melange of dream like narratives brimming with adolescent angst. His technique is impressive, and he reveals young men and women engaged in deeply personal moments, often exuding emotions of hope, fear and desire. The works can be read as a virtual map into the psyche of the human condition, where people grapple with feelings of alienation and sexual ambiguity.