Woodward Gallery To Present

Matt Siren, Darkcloud May 10

FOR 5/9

WOODWARD GALLERY TO PRESENT MATT SIREN, DARKCLOUD MAY 10

avv/gs set 4/30 #737672

NEW YORK CITY — Woodward Gallery will open the spring season by introducing artists Matt Siren and Darkcloud, on view May 10–June 28. “Street Language” will transpose two street artists with a select group of their peers to a gallery setting for the first time.

Representing a renaissance in urban art, these emerging artists surface from a subculture ruled by self-directed codes and complicated by its delight in youthful mayhem. They tag with their icons consuming the urban landscape with colorful enthusiasm; reveling in an ability to seep into and subvert the hyperkinetic visual surroundings most passersby take for granted.

Utilizing their individualized lexicons, Siren and Darkcloud bring their recognizable icons indoors with edition prints on paper and original paintings on metal signs or wood. Born of media saturation, these icons speak of cartoons, video games, toys and a generation aware of the potency of a powerfully branded image — and its repetition.

Siren’s bold “Ghost Girl” image is characterized by black hair with bangs and sweet round face. Her look is unassuming and Lolita-like. She is designed to pull the viewer in, like the bold image emblazoned on a magazine cover. He manipulates the environment around the girl to challenge her in bright new settings.

Darkcloud’s rainy-cloud symbol elicits a feeling vaguely ominous. Thickly painted, oozing and unnatural, his clouds hover over doorways, on advertisements and challenge protocol on street signs that once read: yield, stop and obey.

The gallery is at 133 Eldridge Street, ground floor. For information, 212-966-3411 or www.woodwardgallery.net.