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B-Boy @ Grassy Knoll Gallery - First Thursday
StoreTags: ward jenkins, grassy knoll ga, bboy
Author: lgo on September 30 2008 Viewed 386 times. 5 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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B-Boy @ Grassy Knoll Gallery
The grassy knoll gallery presents:
"b-boy" — Ward Jenkins
Exhibition Dates // October - November, 2008
Artist Reception // Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
6-9 PM, free, open to the public
Grassy Knoll Gallery
123 NW 2nd Ave
Suite 206
Portland, OR 97209
Breakdancing Performance // 7-9 PM featuring:
Randm-1, Impulse, and Skywalker of Portland’s
Moon Patrol Crew and guest DJ Computer Fam
link
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"b-boy" is a tribute to the early boogie boys of the Bronx, the original poppin’ & lockin’ dancers who kept the parties live back in the day, back when hip-hop was in its golden, embryonic stage. Using various ‘lo-fi’ materials and surfaces, such as found cardboard, wood, and linoleum, Ward harks back to the essence of the early ingenuity and innovation of hip hop. During the 70’s and early 80’s, kids used a wide variety of surfaces to dance on and perform stylized acrobatic moves. Using what was available, they proved again and again that the brightest sources of creativity often come from the most humble of places. “b-boy”is a tribute to the beginnings of that movement, before the uninformed media brought it to near-fad status.
Ward is an animator and director currently living in Portland, Oregon with his wife and two kids. Originally from Atlanta, he has worked at several award-winning studios such as LAIKA/house and Primal Screen and over the past 12 years, has integrated his quirky style into many broadcast elements and commercials. Graduating with a BFA in Illustration at Georgia State University in 1995, Ward immediately sought work in the animation field. While doing research for a personal project in 2000, he caught the graffiti bug which forever changed his approach in creating his figures and characters. The experience of working larger and on different surfaces terrifically flavored his graphic work and profoundly changed his artistic identity.
In addition to being an animator, Ward is a designer, illustrator, graffiti writer and painter. He authors The Ward-O-Matic, a blog about “art, animation and anything aesthetically pleasing to the eye” and contributes to the highly successful illustration blog, Drawn! He is influenced to varying degrees by Jack Davis, Freddie Moore, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Rauschenberg, Aurelius Battaglia, Alice & Martin Provensen, Jim Flora, Charley Harper, old school hip-hop, mid-century art & design, vintage children’s books and the vast multitude of uncredited illustrators found throughout the pages of vintage cookbooks and ephemera everywhere. |
