Hybridism: Where Raw Meets Refined

PSFK recently attended Mighty Tanaka’s opening reception for an exhibition titled ‘Hybridism: Where Raw Meets Refined”. The show took place at their new Dumbo Gallery in Brooklyn, and spotlighted a growing creative movement which blends street and fine art.

Alex Emmart, the curator and owner of Mighty Tanaka, has articulated Hybridism as a reaction to the “Everything that can be done, has been done” mentality. “It can be considered a collage of ideas”, as artists’ communities borrow and highlight techniques and theories from around the world, while always reflecting their own perceptions, ideas, and desires.

According to Mighty Tanaka’s press release,

“Hybridism, the show, captures a collection of both twisted fine art and underground street art in a span of mediums: vivid photography, collage, and rich oil & acrylic paintings on everything from canvas to found wood.” Thus, the viewer has a very general notion of what to expect from a show curating ‘hybridist’ works “from classic oil paintings of alcohol-blurred nightlife, a squirrel riding a two-headed goat, [or] a trippy diorama of the industrialization age, to street-style satanic mummies, tribal paintings on book covers, and graffiti-influenced silkscreens on newspapers.” The show/movement is glued together not by opinion or technique, but by virtue of the fact that these works exemplify cases in which the ‘raw is refined’ by employing technical expertise, or the ‘refined is underdone’ to undermine a convention or the viewer’s expectations.

Some characteristics that would define a ‘hybridist artist’ might include skepticism when it comes to the question of ‘newness’; they would acknowledge that the world, their surrounding culture, and identity are constantly changing, but nothing qualitatively ‘new’ can ever come from it. A hybridist persona might also paint something spontaneous or twisted using conventional methods, creating a tension between the form and content of their piece.

If you are interested in setting up an appointment to check out the exhibition, you can email alex@mightytanaka.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 12pm-7pm and they are located at 68 Jay street (Suite 416), Brooklyn.

Mighty Tanaka