5.24.2010

Born and raised in the Windy City, Pose came of age during Chicago’s hard knock golden years of graffiti—molding him into the person he is today. Having put in endless work in the streets, the lines, and the train yards, he solidly secured his name well before any outsider took notice to his unique style. A Pose graffiti piece is like a branded stamp. In this exhibition Pose investigates a traditional style of comic book illustration and painting and infuses it with his own recognizable twist. Complexly layered, his work is bursting at the seams, often stunning and confusing onlookers with an intense amount of intricate detail. Each time Pose paints a new wall it walks a fine line between being an artfully-mastered collage of illustration—with images drawn from TV, literature, film, and fine art—and a graffiti piece. In this body of work, Pose has translated his trademarks in his signature graffiti style, (classic cartoon characters, sign painting fonts, a flat graphic style, and vivid color choices) from the street to the studio, creating elaborate large- and small-scale paintings. His work as an innovator in the graffiti world has led him to focus on what were previously only accents on his letters—exploring imagery and figuration in bold ways. Inside you will find numerous traces of his personality... the struggle, humor, sarcasm, love, hate, and always a feverish push towards the new. The show title "RUMBLE" comes from the slang term meaning, a street fight between rival teenage gangs. When you look at one of Pose’s paintings you get the sense of a clash, but one which is noticeably classic, knowingly juvenile, polished, and American. Pose currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois; he is a member of the acclaimed West Coast artist collective The Seventh Letter, as well as being a founder of his own Chicago based design and art firm We Are Supervision. He has traveled internationally on his own and with The Seventh Letter specifically to showcase his skills as one of the best graffiti artists out there. This is Pose's first solo exhibition at Known Gallery.