Rather Unique – A Street Art Show

If you like seeing dope artwork, but you associate going to art galleries with sniffing Merlot and wearing black turtlenecks, you may want to check out ‘Rather Unique,’ an exhibition of street art at Woodward Gallery. It’s a group show curated by street artist Royce Bannon, showing through February 19, 2012.

Each artist in the show was handpicked by the Harlem-based artist gone guest curator for their “rather unique style that…really can’t compare to any one else’s.” It’s as if the gallery, located on Eldridge Street in the Lower East Side, went around peeling down graffiti posters to slap on its white walls. Some of the artwork is even painted on stolen street signs. However, these aren’t your average block-letter signatures scrawled by some kid named “Orpheus.” These Krylon-toters are virtuosos of their craft.

Consider Cassius Fouler’s acrylic painting ‘Smoke Weed and Give Brain’ (2011), a druggy collage of floating pharmaceuticals and pop culture symbols including the Wu-Tang logo and even a dripping version of Twitter’s “Unfollow” button. The piece is as visually compelling as anything done by modern artists Romare Bearden or Jean-Michel Basquiat. Likewise, UR New York hits hard with ‘The Write Track’ (2010) an homage to self-expression and New York City that features a collage of streetlights, train tracks, handwriting, and a hot chick. Continuing the creative onslaught, Matt Siren perplexes with his pair of Stormtrooper-like skulls that are mounted over ceramic tiles covered with more graffiti than the walls of a Williamsburg bar bathroom.

Woodward Gallery has managed to combine the rebellion of street art with the presentation of an art gallery. You won’t need to wear a turtleneck to enjoy, ‘Rather Unique.’