Glen E. Friedman at Subliminal Projects

UPDATE, 1/7/09 - GEF BOOK SIGNING and BAD BRAINS!!!

Coming soon… Check out this Bad Brains x GEF x Shepard Collaboration Print. Signed by all four original members. Print will be released in Feb, going to be available on OBEY and at Subliminal.

If you missed the opening of Idealist Propaganda and the chance to have Glen sign your copy of his books? We’re giving you another opportunity by extending the Idealist Propaganda show for one more day. Glen will be in the gallery Saturday, January 10th signing copies of his amazing books from 2-5pm. We will have all five books here including Recognize, which is no longer in print and only available at Subliminal Projects. Keep the P.M.A!

BOOK SIGNING
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10TH, 2-5PM

EXHIBITION DATES:
December 13th - January 9th

For those who made it to the Opening, you know how great it was… We got press coverage from the LA Weekly, check it out and read what they had to say.

READ ARTICLE HERE

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition with legendary photographer Glen E. Friedman. The most highly anticipated event of Subliminal Projects! season, Friedman!s Idealist Propaganda encompasses the artist!s first major retrospective to date, featuring a rare selection of Friedman!s oeuvre, including twenty-five never- before exhibited photographs from his celebrated iconic photos of the pioneering skate, punk and hip-hop subcultures to his equally political and polarized subject matter of the natural world. Idealist Propaganda is a transcendent exhibition and ultimately Friedman’s most definitive creative and philosophical statement. It is Subliminal Projects’ first solo exhibition of photography by a represented artist.

For Idealist Propaganda, Friedman exhibits his prolific collection in salon style, sampling seminal, never before seen photos from his Fuck You All collection, in addition to previously shown works in his The Idealist solo exhibition of 2004 and Fuck You All international touring exhibition, which include his Fuck You Heroes and Fuck You Too series. On display for the first time ever are images from his Recognize monograph, a dramatic and overt manifesto of aesthetic idealism, compressed and recontextualized through the singular, yet challenging and amorphous nature of clouds. Through these uninhibited photographs, brilliantly captured mostly from within the clouds themselves, Friedman seeks to reintroduce a raw, beautiful, and vital way of seeing the world.

Stemming from his The Idealist fine art series, Friedman!s show is a cornucopia of measured decisions, “every piece is purely there for aesthetic, and to excite.” Radical, charismatic and unapologetic, Friedman”s photographs are an extension of his beliefs, social and political; “The work speaks for itself for those tuned in or not.” Through his own personal propaganda, Friedman!s goal has always been to inspire people. “I feel a personal responsibility to inspire rebellion – to be inspired,” he says. As a 13 year old just beginning to explore the world through his simple Pentax camera lens, he believed being a participant was “really important and wanted to change what people did and thought.” Drawing inspiration from the Renaissance artists he admired, Friedman challenged himself to become a master craftsman in his own right. His radicalized photography is saturated with deep color, rich texture, and intricate composition,
producing a pulsing political energy that is undeniable, “Like a punch in the face!” Whether its from the skateboarders of Dogtown, Run DMC and Public Enemy, or Minor Threat and Black Flag, Glen E. Friedman!s work captures his subjects as the recognized and respected artistic zeitgeists inherent to their being.

On display and never before exhibited will also be a selection of some of the twenty-five images added to the second, updated edition of The Idealist book, ten photographic images of Friedman!s Recognize cloud series in traditional frames, and two oversized images from the same collection mounted on aluminum. On loan from Shepard Fairey!s personal collection will be one of the original window display signs and photograph from the “Liberty Street Protest,” a large-scale provocative anti-war installation created by Friedman in 2004, with the assistance of artists! Chris Habib and Shepard Fairey. On the property of Friedman!s long-time friend Russell Simmons, located across the street from 9-11 Ground Zero in New York City at the World Trade Center before the Republican National Convention, the site-specific public art project ignited international awareness which continues to resonate.

Glen E. Friedman will be attending the opening reception and signing edition copies of his books: Fuck You Heroes, Fuck You Too, The Idealist, Dogtown – The Legend of the Z-Boys, Recognize, and Keep Your Eyes Open. Signed copies of Recognize, unavailable in
stores and only available from the artists! publishing company Burning Flags Press, will be available through Subliminal Projects as part of the exhibition. Visit www.subliminalprojects.com for more information about the gallery and Glen E. Friedman’s exhibition.

For further information on Glen E. Friedman, visit his official site at www.BurningFlags.com.