Until September 27 of this year, Yorkville art gallery Navillus will be exhibiting edgy and truly creative works by design team The 5 STooGES. The colourful, cheeky pieces are reproduced images of Old Masters and Victorian paintings, repurposed with snarky slogans graffittied across their surfaces. For example, my favourite piece from the bunch is a black and white mixed media image of Wallis Simpson (Duchess of Windsor) with hot pink lettering across her enormous dress saying “Beautiful Dirty Rich,” which, coincidentally, is the name of the exhibit.
Melding together nostalgia and social commentary, The 5 STooGES are made up of team members referred to as ‘The Collector,’ ‘The Craftsman,’ and ‘The Designers’. Just as his title suggests, ‘The Collector’ culls the images from his own collection, catalogues and databases. It’s his knowledge of each piece of art’s historical context that allows the team to truly understand the theme within the art. ‘The Craftsman’ uses street aesthetic to add pop-art flare to every image. A fine art restorer and cabinetmaker for the past twenty years, he takes his pigment inspirations from paintings and vintage photographs. Finally, ‘The Designers’ are alumni of Ryerson University’s New Media program and process vintage photographs and reproductions of fine art in order to create the final works.
I had the opportunity to preview the collection before it hit Navillus when it was on display at Spoke Club. I actually had to hold in my giggles at the eccentric works lest someone realize I didn’t belong there. Totally reminiscient of Banksy and his own satire social commentary, The 5 STooGES bring about a guerrilla-type feel to their art.
Currated by the gallery’s Taylor Grant Sullivan, the exhibit has already sold a few of The 5 STooGES pieces, proving that the provocative images are already in high demand. Inspired by the Factory-process pioneered by Andy Warhol in the ’60s, the team is hoping to explore how the way we read images has changed since Warhol’s time.
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Bianca Teixeira writes about style for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at @BeeLauraTee.
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