PORK & SPAM "Monsterheaven" @ Fuse Gallery January 10, 2009

Monsterheavan
An Installation by PORK & SPAM
January 10 through February 7, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10th from 7-10pm
Contradicting the dark cavernous environment in which Fuse Gallery sits, Monsterheaven, a site-specific installation, serves as a “heavenly niche.” Using satire to explore the tension between beauty and horror, a maze of plywood clouds hangs from the ceiling with seemingly evil yet playful creatures interspersed. Creating a sensation of looking down from the heavens, many small stencil and collage works hang below eye level on the wall while other three dimensional works and video scatter the floor. A harp plays in the corner while an ambient mix of divine chanting and growls is overheard throughout. PORK and SPAM rob horror of its power through humor, finding the sublime median between darkness and levity, blending the beautiful and the banal in this dark depiction of life's comedy.

PORK (Andrew Poneros) - Born in Queens (1978). Growing up in a stern Greek household, his mother was all but impressed when he discovered Rap music and "tagging" walls at the age of 14.

With an ear for irony and a love of satire he later took the name "PORK" for no reason other than pure nonsense. His appetite gained him much praise as well as a few arrests. For efficiency he removed the gestural element from the work and created a library of stencils. His aesthetic then fell within the limits of what could be carved out of cardboard and applied to the street. For over 10 years he has tagged, stenciled and postered walls across the globe.

Over time, the process evolved, as did the symbolism. Largely inspired by iconography of his heritage, he began to create his own mythology. Creating satirical metaphors for human nature, his work is said to be "playfully apocalyptic".

SPAM (Chris Martin) - Born in Brooklyn (1977). Growing up watching his mother paint portraits in their basement, he hated art. Instead he dove into skateboard culture and Punk Rock music. Eventually he took a page out of the Monty Python pantheon and the alter ego SPAM was born.
During the late nineties, while earning a degree in philosophy and art history SPAM discovered the work of the Dadaists and Existential Absurdists. He applied some of their lighter sensibilities to street art in various graffiti mediums, stenciling with garish florescent colors that clashed with the thuggish darker graffiti artist aesthetic of the time in NYC. Along with his partner in crime, a young Greek artist serendipitously named "PORK", they turned downtown Manhattan into a rooftop gallery, with giant roll down pieces, stencils and irreverent wheat paste posters.
“Monsterheaven,” artwork and installation by PORK and SPAM runs January 10 through February 7, 2009, at Fuse Gallery, 93 2nd Ave (between 5th & 6th Sts, 2nd Ave stop on the F), NYC, NY. The opening reception, on Saturday January 10th, from 7 to 10 pm, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Fuse Gallery at 212.777.7988 or [email protected].

Official Website: http://fusegallerynyc.com/