Description
SPECIAL RELEASE of 6 new small Johnny Romeo Ned Kelly paintings simultaneously in collaboration with 3 galleries across Australia.
2 have arrived at with us at West End Art Space in Melbourne, the other 4 shipped to Grainger Gallery, Canberra and Penny Contemporary, Hobart.
Paying homage to the Australian Iconic Ned Kelly, Romeo brings his signature Pop Art style to life with this Aussie twist.
Artist Statement:
“The legend of Ned Kelly has always fascinated me. Ever since I completed my Cop Killer series in 2012, I have been constantly interested in revisiting Ned Kelly, and I have always wanted to explore how colourful the Kelly narrative has become over time. With my latest small Ned Kelly paintings, I have been drawn to Ned Kelly as the quintessential bushranger, an irreverent larrikin with a penchant for violent stand-offs with police who has come to symbolize the spirit of Australian rebellion. In Iron Man and Iron-Clad, I have attempted to celebrate Ned Kelly the folk hero, depicting the typically iron-helmeted figure as a handsomely slick, bubble-gum colored outlaw with a stylish quiff. References to Andy Warhol’s single silkscreens and hypnotic Diptych screenprints can be seen through my depiction and duplication of Ned Kelly’s face, alluding to the complex space that the legendary bushranger inhabits in the Australian cultural psyche as both a murderer and champion of the people”.
About the Artist:
Johnny Romeo is an Australian born painter. His work is critically acclaimed in its attempt to represent a visual type of poetic and rhythmic blending of word, symbol and image.
Referred to as a bombastic neo expressionist pure pop painter with a lot to say about modern life, his work deals with the way we construct our identities from the vast array of images that pop culture immerses us in.
His work centres on pop culture, cultural homogenisation, the failures of blind consumerism, media saturation, celebrity fetish and brand name heroes. He mixes pop techniques with street art to critique some of the consumerist sentiments pervasive in society and, at times, in art, leading to him being called a colourist and a pop individualist.
His work is in numerous public and private national and international collections.
