MR. BRAINWASH

PAINTINGS

Shepard Fairey on Mr. Brainwash: "Mr. Brainwash is an enigma. I want to hug him one second and smack him the next. He is awesome, infuriating, almost impossible to define, but if an artist is defined by relentless, obsessive passion, then Mr. Brainwash is definitely an artist. Which kind of artist though? When I first met Mr. Brainwash he was a film maker. He started documenting me putting art up on the streets and in galleries back in ‘99. He has hundreds of hours of footage and often risked his neck climbing with a camera to very dangerous spots. Mr. Brainwash’s camera was ALWAYS on. Theoretically Mr. Brainwash is coming out with an OBEY documentary eventually. Somewhere along the way I introduced Mr. Brainwash to Banksy, which seemed to lead him to transition from just a voyeur to a participant, and he began making his own street art. Mr. Brainwash told me he used to paint and had actually sold his art to Michael Jackson years ago. Knowing this art background and his obsessive nature, it does not surprise me how quickly Mr. Brainwash rose to prominence with his street art, becoming one of the most “up” people in LA in a short amount of time. Not all of the work was magnificent, but it improved steadily, reflecting the maxim that practice yields results. Meanwhile, in addition to his street art, as flows logically, Mr. Brainwash was also making canvases and screen prints that could be shown in a gallery."

 

PUNK

DESCRIPTION

A contemporary twist on the seminal Love work of Robert Indiana, MBW reinterprets the iconic image with an up to date version of his own. As with all MBW appropriations, he manages to draw the best from the original source material without condemning it to simple duplication.

DIMENSIONS

30 x 30"

PRESENTATION

Acrylic and stencil on canvas
Signed and numbered 3/3 on verso
One of three unique paintings created

EXHIBITED

Life is Beautiful, 2008

PROVENANCE

Acquired directly from the artist

Suggestions from our Curator