British gallerist Steve Lazarides likes to shake things up a bit. It’s one reason he rented out an 8,000 square-foot space in Los Angeles for an art assault, hosting four different shows in the space. LA native David Choe kicked thing off in April, showing his work in his hometown after a six-year absence. This week Eurotrash opens featuring the work of JR from Paris, Vhils from Lisbon, Conor Harrington from Cork, Ireland and Antony Micallef of London, on view until June 27.
“I’ve done group shows in the past. I want to narrow it down and do personal shows I really like,” Lazarides said. “These people have taken a completely different path. They’ve never gone on a traditional art root. They’re all maverick in their own way. They fit together as a group.”
Lazarides built his reputation selling Banksy’s work. Lazarides continues to feature the work of non-traditional artists, attaching himself to the outsider art movement, with a contemporary urbane twist. Though he has permanent exhibition spaces in London and Newcastle, he has hosted sell-out American gallery shows in the past. He organized Banksy’s 2006 Barely Legal show in Los Angeles , Antony Micallef’s Impure Idols in Los Angeles in 2007 and the Outsiders 2008 group show in New York.
“I like art to be approachable. I don’t want anyone to come to any of our galleries and feel intimidated. I’m trying to make some thing more populist by not putting it in a white space, having staff that’s friendly, making the opening like a party,” he said. “I’m trying to attract like minded people.”
For Eurotrash that attitude is young, politically-mind and rebellious. Though he has built his reputation on the street art movement, his vision is broader for his stable of artists. “I think people are using a street as a canvas like Mark Jenkins. They’ve evolved the movement. I’m looking at people whose work interests me like a taxidermists. Somehow they fit together in one stable. That’s why the outside thing fits. They’re not all street, they’re not all urban.They fall outside of the traditional realm of the gallery world.”
Next, up will be an installation of Jonathan Yeo’s pornographic portraits opening July 9, and the solo exhibition of British artist Jay Jay Burridge opening Aug. 13.
JR's Favela
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