Joshua Ray Stephens: Welcome to Thursday City @ Contesta Rockhair – September 15th, 2010

CONTAMINATE NYC PRESENTS:

Curated by Virginia Villari

@CONTESTA ROCKHAIR
535 Hudson St., corner Charles St. (West Village), NY, NY 10014
Sept. 15th – Oct. 13th, 2010
OPENING RECEPTION: September 15th, from 6 to 9 PM

Welcome to Thursday City is the solo show dedicated to comic book artist and graphic designer Joshua Ray Stephens. The exhibition is a presentation of Joshua’s imaginary world: the city of Thursday City and its habitants. On display a series of drawings, black ink on paper, which unfold these personages to the viewer, who is thrown into an enigmatic universe, populated by heroic, mystical figures. Men, women, soldiers and philosophers, often hybrid creatures, half man half animal, move within surreal scenarios. In the end, they are modern characters: contradictory, ironic, provocative, always busy talking, speculating, wondering, fighting or doing some mysterious activities.
“I hail from the Deep South where people have the time to tell each other long stories.” Narrative is a crucial aspect of Joshua’s work. Whether within one picture or deployed through several, a meaning always informs his images. This visual writer has always been attracted by heroic narratives as well as by comedy. Comics is the visual medium that perfectly combines the two, as it can simultaneously be epic and silly, fantastic and absurd. Joshua’s influences range from Greek mythology to Japanese mangas, from Dostojevski to Moebius. His aesthetic is gothic and industrial, but always silly and humorous. Welcome to Thursday City shows us the heroism of the ordinary that we all experience every day, and invites us to not take ourselves too seriously.

Joshua Ray Stephens is a designer by training, a cartoonist by vocation, an educator by edict, an artist by accident, and a philosopher by autodidaction. He was born and raised in Georgia. He earned a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia. After undergrad he worked and studied at Fabrica, Benetton’s internationally acclaimed communications research center in Treviso, Italy. He then went to Cranbrook Academy of Art to earn his Master’s degree in 2D Design. He has been initiated into the arcane mysteries through spiritual powers beyond verbal comprehension. www.lostpropertyinformation.com/jrs/ThursdayCity/

ContestaRockHair® is a brand created in 1996 by a group of hairstylists who shared the passion for fashion. Contesta is characterized by a rock soul that links music and art with the creation of hair styles, fostering innovation and experimentation. Today Contesta Rockhair counts 11 salons in Rome, Florence, New York, Miami and Shangai.

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Red Hook Outbreak

As part of the Outbreak Initiative, Contaminate NYC is spreading its activities to the different neighborhoods of New York City, supporting local artists and communities, starting with Red Hook. This urban neighborhood, just across the harbor from Governor’s Island and the tip of Manhattan, is rapidly becoming one of the hippest areas of Brooklyn, with artists, musicians, and bohemian types abounding. There are plenty of wineries, boutique shops, and galleries, ensuring enough creative spaces for Contaminate NYC to infiltrate.

Periodically local artists will have the opportunity to showcase their work at O’Barone restaurant, located at 360 Van Brunt Street. We’ll provide space to local curators to broadcast their initiatives in a way that is unique to the neighborhood’s flavor.

The first Outbreak will start with Dark Meat, an exhibition of visual works by graphic designer and icon of the comics world Joshua Ray Stephens, opening on May 4th, 2010 at 6pm.

Joshua Ray Stephens is a versatile artist that expresses his creativity and philosophy through several media: graphic design, comics, illustrations, installations and writing. With the distinguished stylized stroke of his pen, he creates provocative and ironic images while his characters wonder on philosophical matters and the contradictions of modern industrial life.

May 4th, 2010 6:00pm – 9:00pm

O’Barone Restaurant
360 Van Brunt st. Brooklyn, NY 11231
MAP

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O’Barone is a cozy Italian restaurant whose slim menu stresses simple and traditional dishes while the wines, such as Falanghina and Chianti, hail from the country’s regional vineyards.