Bäst, Untitled, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 101 x 135 inches. Image courtesy of the gallery.
Allouche Gallery to open Remembering Bäst, in tribute to the life and career of Michael “Bäst” Polimeni on June 7th at their 2nd Avenue pop-up location. His talent to create edgy, uncomprising compositions that challenge modern urban life will forever be a gesture of his mark on Earth.
Brooklyn-based artist Bäst has been an important part of the street art scene for the past 10 years both in New York and Europe, where his wheat-pasted images feature prominently across the urban landscape. Bäst is recognized as a genius within the 20th and 21st century and is held in high regard by his fellow contemporaries including Banksy.
Michael ‘Bäst’ in his studio. Image courtesy of the gallery.
Banksy on Bäst: “His art is fast and loose and cheap, which is strangely why it endures, it’s punchy and it has value. As the great disgraced film producer Robert Evans once said “it’s irreverence that makes things sizzle, its irreverence that gives you a chance oftruly touching magic…”
Similarly to Basquiat who trailblazed the Manhattan art scene, Bäst has become an iconic figure within Brooklyn, unique with no compromise.
This body of work is the evolution of Bäst and ties together many of the different styles which he has created over the years. These paintings bright, colorful and celebratory. They exemplify Bäst’s seminal style of blending abstraction and figuration, employing mixed media, found materials and autodidactic techniques. If artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring captured the speed and energy of New York, Bäst is the embodiment of Brooklyn – weirder, scrappier, hungrier. The anonymous artist blends aspects of Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism into his contemporary hieroglyphics. Incorporating anything and everything into his day-glo tinged visions – from cereal boxes to stray newspaper to scrap metal – Bäst keeps his place as one of New York’s original, and most original, legendary street art forces.
Established in 2014, Allouche Gallery is home to an international roster of some of the world’s most recognized and culturally significant contemporary visual artists. Through its highly curated exhibition program, the gallery has garnered a reputation for highlighting artists – whose work directly challenges preconceived notions of contemporary visual culture – and affirming their place in 21st Century art. Home to a select group of both established and rising artists across a variety of disciplines, Allouche Gallery represents the work of Felix R. Cid, Ron English, Nick Georgiou, Paul Insect, Rafa Macarron, Reinoud Oudshoorn, Michael Reeder, Malik Roberts, Stickymonger, Swoon, Hannah Yata, and UFO907.
Founded by Eric Allouche, Allouche Gallery is one of New York’s premiere commercial art galleries and the preeminent exhibitor of contemporary art.
Remembering Bästwill be on view from June 11 to June 26, 2022 at Allouche Gallery, 24 Second Avenue, NYC. An Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, June 11th from 6-9pm.
