Sean 9 LUGO AT DEEPSPACE.JC
Two-Room Solo Exhbition at Deep Space Gallery in Jersey City, curated by Jenna Geiger.
Sean 9 Lugo is an East Coast staple and has been around to enchant us with his work for decades. A Philadelphia native, Lugo spent much of his youth into his 30’s hanging around the 5-corners of Jersey City, which inspired this collection, The Corner.
Jersey City is uniquely positioned as a place which nourished an underground graffiti culture since it first appeared in Philadelphia in the early 60’s, traveling north to New York City by the end of that decade. Lugo encorporates the elements of street art in his collective work, and weaves the stories of his youth together with issues of pop-culture and relevance throughout his paintings. To bomb a wall or catch rack on the street was a right of passage, and a way to leave your mark on your world. The taking of street signs was another way to be a rebel and gain notariaty with peers, and Lugo took that meaning to heart with this collection. Combining acrylic, ink, paint markers and other mixed media, Lugo took to an array of signs and transformed them into works with depth, texture, vibrant thematic colours and nostalgia.
Polo culture is another big element of the men and women of street art in New York City and Jersey City. Ask anyone from the early 80’s and onward, to be Polo’d-down is to be part of a very exclusive crew. The representation of the Polo bear is instantly recognizable and utilized in this collection to speak on the subjects of Kobe Bryant’s legacy, feminism, and issues with the flooding of our media with Kardashian content.
Sean 9 Lugo does something I love very much which is to create works that incorporate furry elements and position animals in places where they just don’t belong. Removing the human element from profoundly human circumstances allows for pure observation of real life situations.
It was an absolute pleasure to view this exhibition privately at Deep Space Gallery and we’ll be on the look out for more installations and work by Sean 9 Lugo.
Acrylic, mixed media, Things Fall Apart, Sean 9 Lugo, The Corner exhibition, Deep Space gallery in Jersey City, September 2023. Photo by AWOL.
“The corner has a place for them, every last soul… all are necessary in the world of the corner. In this place only, they belong. In this place only, they know what they area, why they are, and what it is that they are supposed to do. Here, they almost matter. The corner world is what’s left to serve up truth and power, money and meaning. It gives life and takes life. It measures all men as it mocks them. It feeds and devours the multitudes in the same instant. Amid nothing, the corner is everything.” The Corner, David Simon and Ed Burns
