May 16, 2020
– Saturday, June 27, 2020 Back "My paintings are a kind of courtly painting, merely transposed into the modern age" - Kinki Texas Chase Contemporary is pleased to announce Heroes, the gallery's first solo exhibition with German artist Kinki Texas. The exhibition will include a series of large-scale, densely layered paintings and smaller drawings that combine the themes of history, philosophy, and psychology. The artist addresses the histories of violence, wars, voyages, and parables through the lens of a punk-rock aesthetic. Kinki Texas is known for his anarchic style, employing techniques borrowed from the comic genre, graffiti, and underground culture. Heroes will be viewable online from May 16 through June 20, 2020. The works will be available to view in person by appointment. The paintings often reference specific historical events, with a particular focus on the American west. For instance, the painting Oglalas et Hunkpapas (2019) depicts several subtribes of the Lakota people, the Hunkpapa and the Oglala Lakota, who were fighting the United States during the 1870s (most of whom have lived in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South Dakota since the 1880s.) The painting explores the history of our colonial identity and the legacies of indigenous people. In Buffalo Kill, we see a reference to the American soldier and bison hunter Buffalo Bill (William Frederick.) Evoking Joseph Cambell's Hero's Journey, the riding figures bring to mind solitary heroes like the Lone Ranger or Don Quixote. The man on his horse is a further reference to all American men who served their country on the battlefield. He is the archetype of the American hero. The hero figure is a recurring element in the artist's work, rendered as bizarre and theatrical characters. These "heroes" are primitive and disorderly; their personas are often singing cowboys or warrior crusaders adorned in suits of armour with swords and chains drawn. The hero is a symbol of antithetical forces. He/she is usually thought of as a good figure, representing stability for the society to a future ahead. He/she saves lives or societies from something dark or sinister. Bearing in mind that Kinki Tex