Station 16 Gallery Denver presents STICKER SHOCK, a solo exhibition by American artist Reed Weily. The vernissage will be held on October 4th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Station 16 Gallery Denver and the exhibition will run until October 31st, 2018.
The exhibition will highlight a selection of the artist’s skull-like sticker compositions, inspired by an obsession with vintage stickers and ephemera. Composed of thousands of internationally sourced vintage stickers, these collages accentuate the beautiful design, unique coloring and powerful nostalgia associated with adhesive materials that were never intended to stand the test of time
Vintage stickers are one of the most overlooked and underappreciated elements of popular culture ephemera. Like vintage jeans and t-shirts, their beauty lies in the details, imperfections and memories. These pieces also have an interesting connection to a significant element of street art culture, that of sticker bombing, a testament to a fascination with sticker art that transcends generations.
Reed Weily is fascinated with nostalgia, obsolete technology and ephemera from the late 20th century. A self-taught artist, his influences include 1980s and 1990s popular culture, color television, cable television, music television, satellite television, PPV, ESPN, Nike, futurists, optimists, Bruce Leroy, Chris Knight and Pharrell.
Weily’s work is also informed by the decade he spent traveling in China. “Shanghai and Hong Kong are the most inspiring places on Earth. The skyline colors on the Bund and Victoria Harbor embody the vast and extraordinary capability of unleashed human potential. If you lose faith in humanity’s ability to reinvent itself and redefine the future, go to China.”
Weily is best known for his “humanoid” or “robot” collages made from internationally sourced vintage stickers. These sculptural, skull-like collages, are comprised of thousands of stickers, layered on top of one another to create dimension.
Artist: Reed Weily
Date: October 4th - 31st, 2018.
Vernissage: October 4th, 2018 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Location: Station 16 Gallery Denver
