The first solo exhibition of Levente Bács debutes at Unmute Gallery. He takes us back to the golden age of jazz and hip-hop, while it holding a crooked mirror in front the modern world. As part of the opening ceremony, tha band Speiz Boiz will perform and bring us beats that resonate with the visualised jazz and characterized hiphop depicted in the artworks. A must-attend for music and urban art fans!
THE CONCEPT
“Success doesn't come easily, you have to work for it, but once you've achieved it, many people want your head and will happily chop it off.” The title of the exhibition is a tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was one of the most successfull (and the first African-American) artist of the postmodern art movement of the ‘80s. Basquiat’s life story paints us a realistic picture of humanity, with all its frailties and prejudice-based immoralities. The exhibition holds a crooked mirror in front this reality, wrapped into humourous irony.
THE CONTEXT
In the art world of the late 19th and the early 20th century was a turning point which resulted in a paradigm shift. In a short time, the avantgard artistic endeavors outgrew themselves into a global scale. As a result of these changes, later the American graffiti subculture was able to grow into an international art movement (from the end of the 20th century). In music, jazz was the first forward-looking initiative of the avantgard era. That’s why the 1920s’ America is considered as the Golden Age of Jazz in the whole world. Our story’s next station is hip-hop which flourished in the 1980s and 1990s. Both musical trends has its own radical and innovative approach to creation. Improvisation, contingency and self-reflective thinking has a very important role in jazz and hip-hop as well. The same goes for graffiti and street art.
THE ARTIST
Levente Bács’s art is shaped and influenced by these trends. He formed his own visual language and vocabulary based on these impressions, as well as his symbol system that consists of repetitive characters, abstracted from colors and textures. The artist was born and raised at Budapest, and he first-hand witnessed the birth of the graffiti and street art culture in Hungary. His connection to this subculture deepened further, when he became a pioneer in the Hungarian streetwear scene by founding his own brand in the 2000s. In the last 15 years, he has turned to applied art and he’s been working on the communicating of campaigns of international brands at one of Hungary’s most famous advertising agencies, ACG. He mixes these experiences and his love for hip-hop and jazz cultures in his artworks that can be seen at his first solo exhibition. In the exhibition, the most defining, dual emotional states of our days are displayed by using various mediums: love and hate, joy and sorrow, money and freedom.
THE MERCH
Next to the unique artworks exhibited, limited edition A3 risograph prints, totebags and t-shirts designed by the artist can be purchased at the venue. They are available in limited quantities!
