max rippon katalog 2015

MAX RIPPONNext in Line

MAX RIPPONNext in Line

12 September – 31 October 2015

Characteristics that stay stubbornly present as we age and those that are discarded, substance and its

absence, are tied to our identity and yet not necessarily to each other. This is something Max Rippon ap-

proaches from both conceptual and formal stances in the exhibition “Next in Line.” His latest works seem to

deal with the process of maturity.

Gone is the street pseudonym he carried for over a decade. It was a decade that begun with disillusionment

and idealistic romance. Upon finishing his studies, the artist moved to Europe and became part of the

flourishing street art scene. He brought with him his background in printmaking, painting, calligraphy and

a deep-rooted sense of social concerns. During this period his work moved from projecting messages to

questioning how messages are received, from making signs, to exploring the sign language of physical and

digital public space. His focus became the city as storyteller, an ever-growing organism manifested by a

multiplicity of diverse visual languages in the flux of time and space. As a painter, Rippon is aware of the

misinformation, misinterpretations and conscious attempts to confuse or manipulate our perceptions of

reality as well as the nuanced way all of this shapes our lives.

In 2009, the work “10 Days” represented a shift in his practice when he painted BBC headlines from 10

consecutive days on top of each other, taping off and protecting slivers of each before the next rendered

it out of sight. It was a work that dealt with the increasing speed of information and how it’s processed via

collective memory. When the painting was complete, none of the headlines were visible and a fragmented

narrative in the form of calculated abstraction remained. Works in this exhibition build on that project. In

the painting, “R: RE: Call Me,” Rippon moves from message to media. Headlines are replaced with traces of

intimate communication and memories, with questions geared towards personal identity and self-reflection

instead of political events and civil concerns. As research for this painting he combed through his email

archive looking for the phrase “Call me” to reflect on what circumstances meant that an email or an SMS

wasn’t enough. When is a voice required?

Next in Line

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The tape that gets stained and removed from works like this, becomes the material for new works in the

“Involved with Origins” series, where stretcher bars support only the void as their function is transformed

to that of almost ornamental objects decorated with waste, or new forms in their own right like in the series

of works titled “Refuse Repurposed”.

This “reusing” of material continues the act of material narration started in the completed process, which

creates a fluent discourse on mechanical forgetfulness. It has no more bearing to its prior signification.

It becomes flesh instead of filter. Conceptually, this is an approach that mirrors how memory can fade and

even vanish in patterns over extended periods of times or through traumatic events. At the same time, it

places a real “red thread” through over a decade of Rippon’s work by binding personal understanding and

perceptions of reality to universal phenomena. Separated pieces of previous labor represent autonomous

bodies and a unified being simultaneously. Tape on tape, layer to layer - the world becomes more bizarrely

intertwined through the multiplicity of messages flying off the walls, screens and bodies. What will stay and

what will be forgotten? What’s left between the bars?

In a pair of paintings he calls a “separated diptych,” this rather formalist play is filtered into family affairs

and his role as a twin brother. It’s lighter, playful and unmistakably sentimental as Rippon continues his

conversation about words, sentences, ideas, objects and people living apart together, in the most personal

type of vernacular.

Harlan Levey

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A Line As A Border and Also a LineAcrylic on canvas | 90 x 90 cm | 2015

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R: Re: Call MeAcrylic on canvas | 90 x 90 cm | 2015

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Those things presented as eternal must change as their foundations change (Zwei)Acrylic on linen | 190 x 110 cm | 2015

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Those things presented as eternal must change as their foundations change (Ei)Acrylic on linen | 190 x 110 cm | 2015

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Surreal Consciousness Real DesireAcrylic and Ink on canvas | 100 cm | 2015

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A well with no water. A bird that can‘t fly. An alley with no exit.Acrylic on linen | 155 x 135 cm | 2015

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A well without water. A bird that can’t fly. An alley with no exit.Gdynia | Poland | 2015

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Involved with Origins # 1Masking tape Acrylic and Spraypaint on wooden stretcher bars | 45 x 45 cm | 2015

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Involved with Origins # 2 Masking tape Acrylic and Spraypaint on wooden stretcher bars | 45 x 45 cm | 2015

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Involved with Origins # 7Masking tape Acrylic and Spraypaint on wooden stretcher bars | 80 x 80 cm | 2015

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2) Refuse Repurposed # 2 Masking tape acylic spraypaint and wax crayon on wood | 20 x 73 cm | 2015

1) Refuse Repurposed # 4Masking tape acylic spraypaint and wax crayon on wood | 28 x 99 cm | 2015


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5) Refuse Repurposed # 1 Masking tape acylic spraypaint and wax crayon on wood | 13 x 27 cm | 2015




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b. 1983, New York City Currently based in Barcelona, Spain

Selected Solo shows

2015, Sept „Next in Line“, Galerie Schöneck, Riehen / Basel, Switzerland2014, June „Pentimento“, StolenSpace Gallery, London, UK2014, Feb “W.O.W. (What Once Was)”, AF Gallery, Cologne, Germany2013, March “Cut From The Chase”, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, USA2012, Aug “Signs, Fines, and Cheap Wines”, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, USA2011, Jan “Don’t Get Me Wrong”, Galeria Cosmo, Barcelona, Spain 2009, Nov “10 Days”, MuseumsQuartier Residency, Vienna, Austria2009, Mar “…is what I meant to say.”, No New Enemies artspace, Brussels, Belgium

Selected Group Exhibitions

2015, June „Chained“, Wunderkammern Gallery, Milan, Italy2015, May „Manifest: Justice“, Los Angeles, USA2015, Mar-Nov „Urban Art Biennale 2015“, Völklinger Hütte, Volklingen, Germany2015, Jan „The Lost Mitten Society“, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York City, USA2014, Oct. „Shooting Star CHASE Exhibition“, Henry Moore Galleries at the Royal College of Art, London, UK2014, Sept „Extracts“, No Romance Gallery, New York City, USA2013, Oct “Avant Garde Urbano”, Museo Muñoz Sola de Arte Moderno, Tudela, Spain2013, Sept “Hypergraphia”, BC Gallery, Berlin, Germany2013, Jan “Exposition d’Hiver”, Helene Bailly Gallery, Paris, France2012, Dec “Young Collectors Exhibition”, Leila Heller Gallery, New York City, USA2012, Sept “Insiders”, N2 Galeria, Barcelona, Spain2012, Aug “Detournement”, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York City, USA2012, Mar-June “Del Mural’ Art”, Espai Mercé Sala, Barcelona, Spain2011-12, Dec-Apr “Wallflowers”, Carhartt Gallery, Weil Am Rhein, Germany2011, Oct “On Every Street”, Samuel Owen Gallery, Greenwich, CT, USA2011, July – Aug “In Black & White”, Two Window Project, Berlin, Germany2010, Dec Impressions Visuelles & Sonores 7th annual Film Festival, Marseille, France2010, Sept “Art You”, The Satisfactory, Basel, Switzerland2009, May “Caligrafia,” Choque Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil2008, Apr “Tres Puntos de Vista”, Border, Mexico City, Mexico2008, Dec “The Piece Process”, Anonymous Gallery, NYC2008, Apr Santa Monica Women’s Prison, Mexico City, Mexico (Mural project)2007, July “Common Playground”, Centrul National al Dansului (The National Theater), Bucharest, Romania2007, June “Ne Placa Ce Faci”, Galeria Noua, Bucharest, Romania2006, Nov “Wooster on Spring”, 11 Spring St, Wooster Collective, NYC

MAX RIPPON

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Special thanks to:Beat Schöneck, Harlan Levey, Matt Bovey, Adrian Falkner, Traffic Design Festival, George Rippon, Laurie & Peter RipponGloria & Walter Hastreiter and Kim Hastreiter

Edition of 100

Galerie SchöneckBurgstrasse 63CH–4125 Riehen / Baselwww.schoeneck.ch

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max rippon katalog 2015

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