Wednesday, February 6, 2013

PITS:UPDATE with Erik den Breejen

For another edition of PITS:UPDATE, I spent the afternoon in New Jersey drawing the paintings of Erik den Breejen. His work is being shown in the exhibition appropriately titled Word at One River Gallery, a newly opened space that is nestled in the heart of Englewood. Den Breejen shares this two person exhibition with Jim Torok, a much loved Brooklyn artist who has been a part of the Williamsburg art scene from the beginning. Several of den Breejen's hits are on display, spanning all the way back to 2006. He has had a long lasting love affair with finely tuned painted marks, the seductive poetry of popular music and rock and roll, and colors that are turned on by complimentary palettes. All of this being more then apparent when viewing this satisfying chunk of his artistic career.


From the Soul-In! 8-track he painted earlier on, to a recent masterful portrait of Jarvis Cocker snidley puffing on a cig and formed out of the lyrics to Pulp's "Its a Dirty World," den Breejen demonstrates in more than one way his ability to turn the sounds of our culture, past and present, into dynamic abstract paintings. If you have yet to see the whale of a painting that contains all the words to Pink Floyd's The Wall, which he last showed in 2008, you might want to make the trip to Jersey before the exhibition comes down on February 24th. "So ya, thought ya, might like to, go to the show." A challenge for the viewers: see if you can find that quote without your eyes going blurry. To see more of Erik's work go to http://www.freightandvolume.com/artists/erik-den-breejen/.
Jim Torok's work
Jim Torok's work