Post>andalism Booklet
€15.00
Title : Post>andalism
Author : Niels Shoe Meulman, Stephen Burke
Medium : Book
Format : 44 pages + separate cover
Size: 20 x 25 cm
Edition : 500
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To coincide with our post>andalism exhibition we produced a booklet that documented the making of this show in the grandiose setting of Het HEM.
Unruly Gallery presents its tenth anniversary show:
POST>ANDALISM
Hosted by museum Het HEM, 15/16/17 October 2021
'See this ain't something new that's just gonna come out of nowhere. No, this is something old, and dirty.' - ODB (from the song Raw Hide)
If an artist can be born with an old soul, then an art movement can remain forever young. If you consider prehistoric cave art, graffiti is by far the oldest art form. But it is also the youngest. And it is still growing and dividing into subcategories. One of these is post-vandalism.
To destroy, to create and to make a mark, they are one and the same need. But when public space has been altered and marked, what then? Could this seemingly primitive expression and unruly behaviour grow into something sensitive and intelligent?
The gesture of vandalism in these artworks implies a formative and creative act, showcasing the impact one has on their environment. When placed in the gallery, these artworks reveal their aesthetic and conceptual strength - they emit a liveliness that relates to freedom and power. The gallery strips them of their background noise, disfigured and stained, their appearance now proves both graceful and disconcerting.
Historically, we can see the origins of post-vandalism in art movements such as auto-destructive art, nouveau realisme and graffiti. One's environment is key to these approaches, they transcribe and react to the world around them, often blurring the lines between art and life.
Artists such as Gordon Matta-Clark, Hans Hartung and more recently Katharina Grosse have spurred on a new generation of artists to twist and tweak these ideals. For many of the artists involved in post-vandalism, these ideologies are underpinned by their urban background, allowing them to combine the skills they've learned in the street with more traditional art methodologies.
For the tenth anniversary of our artist-run online gallery Unruly, we are showing the work of international abstract artists with roots in the street. These artists use media such as painting, sculpture, readymades and installation. It is Unruly's take on post-vandalism and for this occasion we dub it POST>ANDALISM.