Transliteration
Opening Reception: Jan. 14th, 2012: 6pm -11pm
Showing Jan. 14th - Feb. 15th 2012
Pulling a slew of literary and cultural influences from the disparate worlds of street art, advertising, graphic design and pop art Dan Armand and Dennis Jacobs will showcase their latest works as 323East and 1xRUN are proud to unveil our first exhibition of 2012, Transliteration. The old saying goes that occasionally meanings are lost in translations, but as these two mixed-media artists draw from these many influences, that is exactly where they will pull meaning. Armand and Jacobs look to blur the lines accross dozens of emotions and mediums straddling cultural, social and economic psyches to create a new artistic alphabet of communication.
"The work in the show itself spans various mediums that we're both working in, ranging from painting, to stencil, collage, and sculpture and we thought that Transliteration worked well as a title, meaning going from one form to another, both literally and figuratively " Jacobs says.
Dan Armand was recently named one of Crain Detroit's "20 in Their 20s" as he was highlighted among the best "brainpower and entrepreneurial talent of the region's young professionals and creatives." Armand currently works in advertising in Detroit and graduated from CCS in 2005 where he was trained in illustration. Armand's work was recently shown at Lyons Wier Gallery - NYC, The Dirty Show, Dirty Show LA, and the Urban Roots Exhibition at 323East.
"My work is kind of all over the place because of the different training and backgrounds that I have. The work for this show is a blend of all these things through a variety of media, from sculptural works to prints to digital works." Armand says. "I'm also a big fan of trench art too. You know, WWI & WWII stuff where there were so many shells and bullets left over from the war, that people made all kinds of cool stuff out of them. Taking those artifacts of war and repurposing them into something new. It's that same kind of approach, but putting a bit more of a modern spin on it. It's almost like the corporatization of trench art."
Dennis Jacobs is a self taught artist living and working in Detroit. Along with his wife Christina, he runs the screen print studio & art blog Perfect Laughter. Jacobs previous works have shown throughout the Detroit area and have included spraypaint stencil and collage on wood panels.
"My work for this exhibition is spray paint stencil on found wood and collage. The collage elements that make up the backgrounds in my paintings are made up of found papers, antique book pages, letters, and vintage advertisements. Recently I've gotten really into gig posters and silkscreen artists. My favorite part about gig posters is that they almost always tell a story. I'm trying take a more literary approach to my new work."