Minimalism on steroids
Meet Aaron Young- the San-Francisco based artist who leaves a mark, quite literally.
Incorporating performers such as skateboarders, biker gangs, tattoo artists and expert craftsmen into his work, his practice is mostly collaborative in nature. The interesting part is that his process of creation is as much an independent work of art as the end product, which relies often on the aftereffects of dynamic, energetic and sometimes even dangerous performances. Young uses these destructive actions as a generative force to show his rebellious side at adapting to what people think modern art should be.
Below are images of Young’s Greeting Card and its making, which gives a whole new meaning to action painting. He laid out plywood panels on the floor, then stained and painted them with layers of yellow, pink, orange and red covered with a final coat of jet black before a crew of 12 motorcyclists was unleashed to pop burnouts on them. Imagine all that revving of high-octane bike engines and toxic clouds of exhaust smoke making for a performance in the dark illuminated by nothing but the bike headlights- sounds nothing short of a rock-concert.
And this below is a picture of his famous abstracted silk-screen print, Frantic Fruit (FOCUS ON THE FOUR DOTS FOR 30 SECONDS, CLOSE YOUR EYES, THEN TILT YOUR HEAD BACK) that burns the impression of Jesus Christ, Che Guevara, or Charles Manson onto corneas after a viewer stares at it for 30 seconds.
To create the amazing artworks shown below, Young coated safety glass with spray-glue which collected rubber shavings that sprayed up from the tires of bikers riding past.
And lastly, a video where the handsome artist talks Motorbikes and Minimalism. Enjoy!
(Source: Saatchi Gallery, Nowness)
