Wake Up! Deadman - Laser 3.14 at Radar, Amsterdam
The elusive Laser 3.14 has been seeding excerpts of his poems in the form of captivating graffiti haikus all over Amsterdam, for more than 4 years already. At first, bumping into his sprayed words felt like an isolate fortunate accident, up until the moment when you could not ignore him anymore. You roamed the streets gawking for a flash of a new one, hoping that maybe you could also catch him in full action, take a look of his face, possibly his mood.
For the nature of Laser’s poems is dark, almost numb. Unable to let go and yet incapable of holding back.
Amsterdam had a voice, finally. The voice of someone that could be anybody with the ability to feel pain so fully that only a tin can of spray could give some relief.
Samo comes to mind, the late seventies Alter Ego of a very young and angry Basquiat (is it a coincidence that one picture book from Jean Michel was left on a table at Radar Gallery?)
“Can I please finish my sentence for…” is not the first painting exhibition that Laser 3.14 has had in the city, but it has a distinctive quality; the one that brings the artist in touch with his own past and leads the path to a possible new wave.
The acrylics shown at Radar Gallery are representative of his earlier works and collect all the fears and sense of loss that make his graffiti so striking. They are immersed in a post punk, black industrial world where one can only ask questions in the form of shouting: Wake up!
“Maybe I’ll End Up Somewhere” and “Vorsprung durch Technik” stand next to each other almost as a warning, is this Technical life incarcerating our true selves or are we victims of our own confusion amongst all that we wish?
What about now?
The scenario has now acid colors, smaller frames and a representation of a world that no longer has any taste for humanity.
The mixed media images that have been made in 2009 show a collection of drawings that have a sci-fi graphic novel quality. It’s as Laser has seen the future and it has a Mao Tse-Tung that has survived us all so that the only men around are actually made of wires and steel spare parts. A world when the pain that Laser has expressed before and made him so powerful, has no voice anymore.
Could the era of bankruptcy bring an end to poetry?
“Can I please finish my sentence for…” closed on may 15.
For more on Laser 3.14: http://laser314.blogspot.com / http://www.laser314.com – http://twitter.com/laser314
For more on Radar Gallery: http://www.radar-amsterdam.com – http://twitter.com/radar_gallery
