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The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Opening Night: “Alphabet Show: Every Letter Counts” at White Walls

While typography was the theme of "Alphabet Show: Every Letter Counts" at White Walls in San Francisco, the diverse line-up of artists interpreted this idea loosely. Some, Meryl Pataky with her glowing, neon "Y" chose to present their calligraphy with clean, legible type. Meanwhile, others like Sergio Garcia created unconventional adaptations of their letters. Garcia's "W" consisted of two hyper-realist sculptures of hands popping out of the wall, each one throwing up the "West Coast" sign. Apex, who is known to be prolific in both graffiti and fine art, created an homage to bombing with a tagged-up crate of spray cans serving as an installation element to go with his painted letter "A." Chad Hasegawa, known primarily for his loose, figurative paintings of bears, went looser still with his letter "Z," a bold assembly of neon lines with clean edges that disintegrate into dripping paint. The show spoke to the symbiotic relationship between imagery and language and the interplay that exists in between.


Sergio Garcia

While typography was the theme of “Alphabet Show: Every Letter Counts” at White Walls in San Francisco, the diverse line-up of artists interpreted this idea loosely. Some, Meryl Pataky with her glowing, neon “Y” chose to present their calligraphy with clean, legible type. Meanwhile, others like Sergio Garcia created unconventional adaptations of their letters. Garcia’s “W” consisted of two hyper-realist sculptures of hands popping out of the wall, each one throwing up the “West Coast” sign. Apex, who is known to be prolific in both graffiti and fine art, created an homage to bombing with a tagged-up crate of spray cans serving as an installation element to go with his painted letter “A.” Chad Hasegawa, known primarily for his loose, figurative paintings of bears, went looser still with his letter “Z,” a bold assembly of neon lines with clean edges that disintegrate into dripping paint. The show spoke to the symbiotic relationship between imagery and language and the interplay that exists in between.

All photos by Brock Brake.


Chad Hasegawa

Greg Gossel


Apex


Cope2


Mike Tyau


Mike Shine


Justin Kerson


Meryl Pataky


Poesia

Adam Ziskie


TL_tv


Joachim Casteneda

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