Street Renegades: New Underground Art, Book Release, London

"Michael Genovese's text pieces seem to slide across boards and walls. His street installations and murals transform the edge of graffiti with a sense of elegance and poetry. At the same time they inject decorative text with social resonance and politics. Although he has a background in graffiti, he also began as a sign painter on a travelling carnival and later in the sign industry as a draughstman artist. "I've always been into handwriting analysis, calligraphy and gang graffiti'" he explains. "Hand lettering is attractive to me because of it's subtlety and its aim to communicate a message not only through words but through its ability to provoke an emotion based on line and form."

His first street-art pieces were made alongside Chris Silva to promote a gallery exhibition entitled "Amor y Esperanza."We would take pieces that were hung in the gallery after the show we would install them on the streets in high-profile locations," he reflects. His aim was to connect to the public outside the art world. He later installed pieces in defunct shop and restaurant windows, on roadsides, and behind barbed wire fences in abandoned lots. There is something tragic and poetic about much of his work. He plays with a city in decay. The work is often more about human emotions than just street locations. A small sign hidden by a motorway is painted with "Old Worn Out Memories" in old fashion type.

Some of Genovese's pieces are created using found objects alongside his painted text works. He transforms bits of wood, advertisements and street ephemera into a sculptural shed in his collaborative "Tragic Beauty" series. Other works are as much about community as they are about aesthetics."Lo que puedes pagar [Pay what you can]" is an ongoing public art project where he hand-letters scrap metal collectors trucks and food vending carts. "I document the process with audio recordings, photography, and remnants of the experience to reflect on the interactions," he points out. It's a way of capturing a culture in decline as a result increasingly restrictive laws that view vendors as an eyesore or menace to taxpayers. His hand-painted signage highlights their cultural importance before they vanish." -Francesca Gavin, 2007


ARTIST FEATURE

FRANCESCA GAVIN (Visual Arts Editor @ Dazed & Confused) has scoured the globe to unearth the best in NEW UNDERGROUND ART and packed it all into a BRAND NEW BOOK published by Laurence King! www.laurenceking.co.uk
The new book "STREET RENEGADES" is launching on Wednesday 3rd October at Life: restaurant & cafe//bar & shop// 2 - 4 Old Street, London EC1V 9AA. www.life-oldst.co.uk . Please join Francesca, featured artists from the book and Laurence King Publishing for drinks, music and a visual display of art featured in the book from 7pm - 11pm on the night!