Warranted Non-Compliance, New Works on Paper

About

After a two-year hiatus Johnson, Sokovikov and Wall return with a set of refreshed attitudes and new directions that explore personal identity, abstract experimentation and destruction as the human condition.

As the contemporary landscape expands into the vast frontier of “post-analogue”, relational  and cyber-conceptualist paradigms, the three artists directly and indirectly confront and critique the ever-growing obsession with “safe”, consumable and easily digestible tendencies that often drive the emerging art scene. As outsider artists, Johnson, Sokovikov and Wall have navigated through the turbulence and personal  uncertainty to resurface with an exhibition that cements and marries their respective identities to their art.

While all three struggle and coast through life, the exhibition hopes to invoke a refreshing dialogue about what is the source of art making in relation to our collective experience. All three artists constantly subvert and question motives that drive them to make work. How do we assume control over our reasoning patterns in order to stay within a particular frame of reference. What is the end goal of art making? What risks are to be taken and rules to be broken? How do trends inform or disrupt our tastes even when it comes to fine art?

About Mikhail Sokovikov and Jason Aaron Wall:

Born in Moscow and Brooklyn respectively, Mint&Serf (a.k.a. The Mirf) are Mikhail Sokovikov and Jason Aaron Wall. After meeting in 1997, the duo took to the streets of New York City, which has served as a canvas for their creative vision and work that transverses relationships between street art and civic spaces. After launching The Canal Chapter in 2005, followed by The Stanton Chapter in 2008, Mint&Serf have continued to produce a vast range of artwork including large-scale murals, paintings, sculpture, photographs, graffiti and nightlife experiences Mint&Serf have been featured in ARTFORUM, Artinfo, NYMag, The New York Post, Interview, Huffington Post, ARTNET, The Creators Project, Dossier Journal, The DailyMail, Vice, Paper, ANIMAL, Complex, Mass Appeal, Gothamist and Blackbook. Mint&Serf collaborated with such brands as: SoHo House, Nike, Ace Hotel, Barton Perreira, Red Bull and The New York Yankees. Their book Support, Therapy, and Instability was published in 2013 with essays by Carlo McCormick (Paper) and Cat Marnell (How To Murder Your Life). 

Mikhail Sokovikov holds a BFA from CUNY and will be pursuing an MFA degree at Glasgow School of Art in the fall of 2017.

About Christopher Johnson:

Christopher Johnson is a born and raised New York City artist. a member of Peter Pan Posse art collective he continues to push the boundaries of "play art" with his unique color blind eye. His work straddles the lines of youthful expressionism and art history. He has been featured in publications such as Mass Appeal, Dossier, NY Post and Purple. He has designed rooms for the Ace Hotel and his mom’s house. He resides in Manhattan and enjoys running free like a wild horse and eating fine cheese.