For any artist, there is always a drive, a believe, something that is intangible to most. For WK, it is about capturing a glimpse of New York street, that motion, that action-reaction, that vision with all of its emotional baggages. It is a view most will miss because it happens so fast. It is a glimpse that WK, however, has perfected on capturing.
En Avant recently had the opportunity to chat with this great artist about his latest installation, The Trail, at Brooklyn’s Espeis Archetype Gallery.
Espeis Archetype Gallery
90 Wythe Avenue | Map
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Exhibition Date: November 30th (Friday) - January 13th (Sunday)
» WK INTERACT
» Espeis Archetype Gallery
What have you been working on before this current exhibition?
I did a show at Agnes B. in Tokyo (The East/West Propaganda Project) about 8 months ago. It was a massive show, with 10,000 square foot of space. Then went to Spain, Paris, and did a couple of things in London. So it took me a while to get to this show started. It is small, but there is a lot of large, heavy pieces.
Can you tell us a bit about this current exhibition?
The title of it is called The Trail. It is a bit from the streets, a piece of real life in New York City, plus the effect of motion, a mix of dark humor and sarcasm. I started with this large piece, the motorcycle crash, which is also called The Trail, and opening the show. This is the idea of me being chased by cops after a night of bombing. The speed of motorcycle at the time of impact is emphasized in the image then created on the wall. I recreated myself with the figurine here. All the gear and clothing on it are actually mine. The bike was hard to find too, it took me almost a month to have the perfect motorcycle. I wanted a model that was not more than 20 years old and had the perfect damage. There is a question that keeps coming up and I am just going to jump ahead and say the bike was not part of a fatal accident.
I tried to incorporate pieces of the street itself into the work also. You can see skid mark from the street leading off the road to the crash site. Because the gallery itself isn’t on the 2nd or 3rd floor, you have this large garage door and a wide street outside. The idea is that you can see the motorcycle crash from the outside. It looks pretty intense, like it just happened. Like all of my works, I want to make people react, to feel the intensity and impact of it.
Then you have these 12 paintings behind The Trail…
What you see are smaller 4×3s. They are half collage, and half painting. There is a pure motion image in front of each, but behind is a still image. Each of the 12 paintings has a story of its own, like frames in a short films. What all have common is all the stories are very much about New York City.
Another piece about lives in New York City is Gangs of New York. For example, look at the skateboarding, its becoming so fashionable in recent years that it’s kind of twisted. I wanted to show the real skaters, the ones who do not have anything else but their decks. So you have all these personal items attached to each skate. Each deck is the real thing. As they are or if you take the items off, you can still skate with them. The real subject is not skateboarding, but the people that skate. It is really a simple idea, nothing sophisticated, but behind it you have so many steps, so many thoughts on how to reach the people looking at it. I had the idea for these piece 6 years ago but never had the time to achieve it.
The WK Emergency Room is also a very interesting installation. It is quite personal as well…
This door was the actual door to my first apartment here in New York. The place was so tiny, only about 250 square feet of space. When I moved out, I wanted to take something from my first place. So I took the door with me and worked on it for the last 7 years. It is a very complicated door, everything you see on it has a heavy message behind it. It is a portrait of myself.
So everything on the door is functional?
Yes, if you put the plug in and push the button here, everything will start to run. Because it is kind of dangerous in here, we didn’t plug it in. You have the 3 weapons here: the axe, the chainsaw, and a part of a real grenade. They represent a sarcastic take of living in New York. You constantly have to be awake, you constantly have to work on your skills. For me, I worked with my hands a lot, so you see the gloves and the spring grips.
Inside the door, I recreated the WK branded items, like paint, acetone, and spray. In the back there is actually an ax so you can break the glass in the case of emergency. The whole idea is actually me working with these tools, all these things, for all these years. Working madly and believing in something all this time. It worked, but it took over 22 years to slowly arrive at the point where I have been the last 7 years. it is a portrait of where I came from. It means a lot for me and I won’t easily forget it.
What are some of the things you will be doing after this installation?
I’m preparing an installation in London, probably more pieces later. Everyday there is a new propositions . I can’t do 12 projects for all 12 months of the year. I usually commit to 3 projects a year. For this year, I believe I had 4 shows. And out of the 4 shows, I believe this one is the best. It fits well conceptually. This is why I choose this place. It is not that big, but it has a glimpse of the street and Brooklyn.
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