Thomas Santhori. I Spy With My Bold Eye...

About

The work explores our culture of surveillance through the lens of Santhori’s playful, distinctive visual vocabulary. Internationally recognized for vibrant performances and a sly satirical slant, with I Spy With My Bold Eye… Santhori initiates a cultural dialogue around encounter. Using his signature style, a sharp dialect of red, yellow, blue, and green—in combination white and black, his figures stimulate in 2D, but then unify and expand new dimensions in the viewer’s mind. Beyond the gallery show, Santhori will take to the streets of New York expanding the conversation via large-scale interactive pop-ups at various sites around the city. In this quintessential setting for his work, he invites the general public to partake in this creative mystery and wonder of observation.

In his visits to New York, Swiss pop artist, Santhori, has always found the Big Apple to be a hub of throbbing cultural exchange and diversity. The city eternally poses the lure of exciting challenges for his work. In September 2016, the Buddy Warren Gallery in the heart of New York’s Lower East Side presents Santhori’s I Spy With My Bold Eye… This selection of paintings and sculptures explores our culture of surveillance, through the lens of his playful, distinctive visual vocabulary.
I Spy With My Bold Eye… juxtaposes human observation and encounter against a backdrop of increasing surveillance. We comprehend our world through our visual apparatus, our observations transmute internally, creating internal weather conditions: thoughts, memories, ideas, emotions... The “Eye” represents a two-way gaze, one subjective, looking inward, the other gazing out onto the surroundings, objectifying. Caught in these crosshairs, do we experience the delights of a “peek-a-boo” effect, or are we overwhelmed by the dread of “Big Brother is Watching You”?