Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

On View: Johnny ‘KMNDZ’ Rodriguez & Nicola Verlato at Merry Karnowsky Gallery

Now on view at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles, Johnny 'KMNDZ' Rodriguez and Nicola Verlato's dual exhibitions paint uniquely personal pictures of conflict. There is no universal definition of what it means to struggle; whether we are emotionally conflicted with ourselves, or there is some form of friction between cultural groups, as in Verlato's works. Interestingly, both artists portray this with symbols of weaponry. View more of their new works after the jump.


KMNDZ

Now on view at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles, Johnny ‘KMNDZ’ Rodriguez and Nicola Verlato’s dual exhibitions paint uniquely personal pictures of conflict. There is no universal definition of what it means to struggle; whether we are emotionally conflicted with ourselves, or there is some form of friction between cultural groups, as in Verlato’s works. Interestingly, both artists portray this with symbols of weaponry. KMNDZ’s “I’d Rather Love You” addresses his personal struggles over 5 years. His mounted sculpture and paintings of bombs are not an anti-war message, but rather they represent a deeper, psychological destruction. In their wake, nature meets machine as hummingbirds take a rest on rusty robots and flowers bloom out of grenades. Rodriguez shares, “On the surface you can say the message is about restraint as a reaction to both physical and psychological destructiveness. It is about what I believe is the necessary response to negative actions – understanding opposite perspectives and responding in love and kindness.”


Nicola Verlato

Nicola Verlato stages his interpretation of conflict with a Western narrative in “Conquest of the West.” Verlato’s 2012 exhibition “How the West Was Won” featured a painting of the same name, where a cowboy, representing monotheism, shoots and kills a Native American woman, polytheism. Here, in these smaller portraits, Verlato zooms in to focus on the emotional intensity of the scene, in his Contemporary-Baroque art style. Their epic battle is mapped out in meticulously cross hatched sketches, also on display, in addition to the cast of a future-resin figure of a dying settler. It accompanies his largest piece in the show, of Native American warriors pinning the settler to a tree. For Verlato, conflict is at the core of Western progress which perseveres as structures and towns are built in the background. View more of Johnny ‘KMNDZ’ Rodriguez & Nicola Verlato’s new works below.

“I’d Rather Love You” by Johnny ‘KMNDZ’ Rodriguez and “Conquest of the West” by Nicola Verlato are on view at Merry Karnowsky Gallery through March 7.

KMNDZ:

Nicola Verlato:

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Japanese sculptor Kunihiko Nohara’s creations are often engulfed in clouds and mists, yet each is created with a single piece of wood. These pop-surrealist creations can vary in size, with some looming over passers-by and others small enough to be held. All evoke the viewers’ own dreams and fantasies, as they offer a portal into Nohara’s own.
The surreal sculptures of Jesse Thompson pair youthful figures with massive, weathered "lifecasts", revealing deeper themes within each scene. The artist says these narrative three-dimensional scenes are inspired by comics and other forms of sequential art.
In Michael Craig-Martin's sculptural practice, he creates enormous versions of everyday objects that appear as though they were drawn. In a show ending this week, he offered new works in this vein at Gagosian's Britannia Street location in London. This was the first time works in this series were shown indoors.
Kadriye İnal’s “patchwork” paper sculptures capture humanity in both form and the imperfect, abstract beauty found in our seams. The artist's work has also been called collage, though she has said that it exists "somewhere between three and two dimensions, between reality and fiction."

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List