John Copeland at Alchemy Gallery

Jan 4

NEW YORK – Don’t Worry, Everything’s Cool, a show curated by American artist John Copeland at Alchemy Gallery, 55 Delancey St., explores the constant state of reinvention that epitomizes the NYC experience in works reflective of the artists’ long histories with the city. The show runs through Jan. 15.

In addition to Copeland’s own neo-expressionist paintings, the exhibition features the multi-media works by sculpture artist Rose Eken, artist/designer Erik Brunetti, and video by filmmaker Ada Bligaard Søby.

The regression and progression of NYC throughout history has given way for some incredibly creative moments collectively; like what came from the gritty, punk and grunge subcultures of the city - a time that has continued to provide pointed inspiration to each of these artists. As Brunetti once said to Copeland: punk was “the doorway to everything cool, everything other.” As such, in Don’t Worry, Everything’s Cool each of the artists’ work embodies the very real ethos and energythat personified the punk rock movement in NYC - the antithesis of raw simplicity and traditionalism. This exhibition showcases the natural blend of the very different, yet complimentary subject matters and artistic references of each artist, inspired by the complexity and authenticity that drove the movement; a different approach to seeing, being and creating.

Erik Brunetti, untitled, India ink on paper

John Copeland’s contributions to the exhibition will include a number of large-scale paintings that shift between abstraction and representation through dizzying splashes of acrylics and oil paint in the unique artistic style for which Copeland has become known. His signature ambiguously fractured scenes feature some of his historical motifs and subject matters - inspiration drawn from a wide-range of found sources: vintage magazines, postcards, old photographs he’s picked up from thrift stores; glimpses of Americana iconography and biker imagery, among other things.

Rose Eken, NYC Ghosts and Flowers, glazed paper clay

Don’t Worry, Everything’s Cool will also feature a ceramic, sculptural installation by Danish artist Eken, whose work explores her fascination with concert detritus which stems from her working in music venues in Copenhagen as a teenager. The objects she was made to clean up after an event—cigarette butts, beer bottles, soda cans, lighters, discarded clothing, and lost cell phones—became emblems of punk rock culture, which she now reproduces in the form of handpainted ceramic miniatures. Each commonplace item allows the viewer to dive into their own memories of items left behind in similar settings.

Ada Bligaard, AMERICAN LOSERS, documentary film

Brunetti, an American artist, designer, director and prolific creative. will present a series of smaller scale, black and white India ink drawings. While much more known for being the irreverent visionary behind the pioneer logo re-appropriation lifestyle and clothing brand FUCT, Brunetti’s drawings also carry that same rebellious energy. His series of drawings include iconography that holds prominent weight in American culture to examine the death of the American dream.

Rounding out the exhibition, Danish documentary filmmaker and director, Ada Bligaard Søby will be screening a documentary she created in 2005 titled American Losers which follows two individuals living quintessential NYC experiences, albeit via very different paths. The film seeks to challenge the superficial judgments we place on each other and ourselves, re-examines the American dream, and asks why is it so hard to live up to one's own expectations.