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FUTURA2000 | FUTURA 2020

40 Great Jones Street | New York, NY

October 22, 2020 – January 9, 2021

FUTURA2000, MERCURY, 2020

FUTURA2000

MERCURY, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, varnish, oil and ink on canvas

84h x 60w in
213.36h x 152.40w cm

FF022

FUTURA2000, VENUS, 2020

FUTURA2000

VENUS, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, varnish, oil and ink on canvas

84h x 60w in
213.36h x 152.40w cm

FF023

FUTURA2000, EARTH, 2020

FUTURA2000

EARTH, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, varnish, oil and ink on canvas

84h x 60w in
213.36h x 152.40w cm

FF024

FUTURA2000, PLUTO, 2020

FUTURA2000

PLUTO, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, varnish, oil and ink on canvas

84h x 60w in
213.36h x 152.40w cm

FF026

FUTURA2000, NEPTUNE, 2020

FUTURA2000

NEPTUNE, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, varnish, oil and ink on canvas

84h x 60w in
213.36h x 152.40w cm

FF029

FUTURA2000, MOON, 2020

FUTURA2000

MOON, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, varnish, oil and ink on canvas

84h x 60w in
213.36h x 152.40w cm

FF031

FUTURA2000, CONCAVE, 2020

FUTURA2000

CONCAVE, 2020

spray paint, ink and acrylic on canvas

96h x 72w in
243.84h x 182.88w cm

FF032

FUTURA2000, CONVEX, 2020

FUTURA2000

CONVEX, 2020

spray paint, ink and acrylic on canvas

96h x 72w in
243.84h x 182.88w cm

FF033

FUTURA2000, INDECISION, 2020

FUTURA2000

INDECISION, 2020

spray paint, ink and acrylic on canvas

96h x 72w in
243.84h x 182.88w cm

FF034

FUTURA2000, INSPIRATION, 2020

FUTURA2000

INSPIRATION, 2020

spray paint, ink and acrylic on canvas

96h x 72w in
243.84h x 182.88w cm

FF035

FUTURA2000, INTUITION, 2020

FUTURA2000

INTUITION, 2020

spray paint, ink and acrylic on canvas

96h x 72w in
243.84h x 182.88w cm

FF036

FUTURA2000, DIRECTION, 2020

FUTURA2000

DIRECTION, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, oil and ink on canvas

90h x 120w in
228.60h x 304.80w cm

FF049

FUTURA2000, EXTRACTION, 2020

FUTURA2000

EXTRACTION, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, oil and ink on canvas

90h x 120w in
228.60h x 304.80w cm

FF050

FUTURA2000, POLL WATCHERS, 2020

FUTURA2000

POLL WATCHERS, 2020

spray paint, acrylic and ink on canvas

56h x 216w in
142.24h x 548.64w cm

FF057

FUTURA2000, INCEPTION, 2020

FUTURA2000

INCEPTION, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, ink, oil and varnish on canvas

90h x 120w in
228.60h x 304.80w cm

FF051

FUTURA2000, SPHERES IN SPACE THREE, 2020

FUTURA2000

SPHERES IN SPACE THREE, 2020

spray paint, acrylic, oil and ink on canvas

40h x 40w in
101.60h x 101.60w cm

FF053

FUTURA2000, SPHERES IN SPACE TWO, 2020

FUTURA2000

SPHERES IN SPACE TWO, 2020

spray paint, acrylic and oil on canvas

48h x 48w in
121.92h x 121.92w cm

FF055

FUTURA2000, SPHERES IN SPACE ONE, 2020

FUTURA2000

SPHERES IN SPACE ONE, 2020

spray paint, acrylic and oil on canvas

48h x 48w in
121.92h x 121.92w cm

FF056

FUTURA2000, MASKERADE ONE, 2020

FUTURA2000

MASKERADE ONE, 2020

Acrylic and spraypaint on paper

29 1/2h x 22w in
74.93h x 55.88w cm

FF064

FUTURA2000, MASKERADE TWO, 2020

FUTURA2000

MASKERADE TWO, 2020

Spary Paint and Acrylic on Paper

29 1/2h x 22w in
74.93h x 55.88w cm

FF065

FUTURA2000, MASKERADE THREE, 2020

FUTURA2000

MASKERADE THREE, 2020

Acrylic and Spray Paint on Paper

29 1/2h x 22w in
74.93h x 55.88w cm

FF066

Press Release

ERIC FIRESTONE GALLERY, New York, NY announces the representation of FUTURA2000 and his inaugural exhibition, FUTURA 2020 at their new ground floor gallery, 40 Great Jones Street, NY.

Eric Firestone Gallery is delighted to announce the North American representation of FUTURA2000. Born Leonard Hilton McGurr in New York City, FUTURA2000 is a graffiti pioneer who began painting subway cars in the late 1970s before focusing on art. The gallery will present his first exhibition at its new ground-floor location at 40

Great Jones Street in New York. Futura 2020, a presentation of new work, opens October 22. It will mark the artist’s first solo gallery show in New York City in over 30 years.

As one of the most celebrated artists emerging from the world of graffiti and street art, FUTURA2000 was first recognized for bringing abstract painting to the genre. The artist’s work bears his interest in a futuristic aesthetic. Long fascinated by science fiction and the space age, he was an early adopter to sophisticated computer technology and video gaming. His painting motifs relate to these interests and often are cosmic panoramas, abstract compositions that master color, movement and line. FUTURA2000 employs spray paint with virtuoso precision, creating a thin, refined line, contrasted by larger mists of color areas, and gestural brush marks. By leaving large areas of his canvases open, and allowing the forms to float across the surface FUTURA2000 suggests access to a cosmic space. His recurring motifs include an atom shape, denoting perpetual motion; a crane or a linear mark signifying a break or rupture; and the Pointman: an alien, robotic figure.

Twenty new paintings in the show are made with raw unprimed canvas in an elegant, subdued palette. Earthy tones of black, umber, gray and white are punctuated with unexpected shimmers of gold or bursts of color. Larger works are compositions of FUTURA2000’s sprayed atoms,framed within a defined space. Smaller square canvases in the same somber palette solely utilize brushwork. Another group is distinctly contracted with brighter colors or darker grounds, tracing forms that pull the viewers’ eye off the edges of the canvas in a dynamic, open composition.

Eric Firestone says “My gallery has focused on artists and work that deserve closer examination. I’ve long been a fan of FUTURA2000 -- he is truly a brilliant

artist. While so many people know his name solely from the context of graffiti, he deserves recognition in the greater canon of important American artists.”

FUTURA2000 (b. 1955, New York) was among the first graffiti artists to be shown in contemporary art galleries in the early 1980s. His paintings were shown in the historic Times Square show of 1980, at Patti Astor’s Fun Gallery and at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, alongside those of his friends Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rammellzee, and Kenny Scharf. MoMA PS1 brought the artists together in its landmark 1981 exhibition, New York / New Wave. He went on to collaborate with the punk band The Clash, designing their album art and performing live graffiti during their concerts.

In recent years he created collaborative works with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, and he has exhibited at Kaikai KiKi Gallery in Tokyo. His work has been shown at The New Museum, New York; MoCA, Los Angeles; the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands; and Yvon Lambert, Galerie De Noirmont, and the galerie du jour agnès b.,Paris. He was the subject of a 2019 exhibition at Urban Spree Gallery in Berlin; and a large site-specific installation in 2020 at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. His work is included in the 2020 exhibition Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip Hop Generation, at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston.

He has collaborated with many brands including Supreme, A Bathing Ape, Nike, BMW, Louis Vuitton, Off-White, and most recently, Comme des Garçons. In November 2020 Rizzoli will release Futura: The Artist's Monograph, an in-depth and comprehensive survey, with writings by Takashi Murakami, Virgil Abloh, Agnès b and Jeffrey Dietch.

 

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