GR gallery: Teiji Hayama, Adam Lister "Silver Screen"

GR gallery is pleased to announce "Silver Screen", an ingenious duo exhibition of new works by Teiji Hayama and Adam Lister. For their first show together, after previous individual presentations at GR gallery, they have engaged in a close dialogue inspired by the artistic vitality generated by evergreen icons from the golden ages of the cinema industry. The idiosyncratic styles of Hayama and Lister, unified under the Hollywoodian glamour theme, encounter and confront each other in a discussion that resolves in the mutual accentuation of the other one artworks. 

"Silver Screen" puts together a total of 18 pieces, appositely created for this occasion, including paintings and  works on papers. 

Adam's pixelated technique, reminiscent of the classical 8 bit arcade graphic, usually dominated by subtle color tones is now enhanced with brighter nuances and sharper contrast to better depict the subjects and his interpretation of the theme. On the other side Teiji's signature approach, with his oddly distorted celebrities characterized by bored and exhausted faces and ironically re-imagined as vintage social media influencers,  illustrates perfectly the allure and fragility of that world. 

'Silver Screen' aims to exhibit the exclusive artistic output of these two internationally known and unique talents that are bringing to a new level the idea of perception and the virtuosity of their style. Hollywood superstars, cinematic objects, iconic movies references, hybrid emblematic juxtapositions and re imagined super heroes, channel the artists creativity into another form and throw the viewer into a timeless, melancholic and charming realm. 

Teiji Hayama's greyscale oil paintings depict the elongated, amorphous figures of some of America's most iconic stars. The likeness is distorted to an unsettling, almost sinister reimagining of classical Hollywood allure. Hayama grew up in Kumamoto, a city on the Japanese island of Kyushu. At the age of 18 Hayama left his home country to attend Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. After graduating, Hayama pursued a career in fashion for five years before realising and pursuing his love of painting. Hayama's oil works depict oddly distorted portraits of famous figures. Although Hayama's portraits depict some of Hollywood's most historic and glamorous faces, such as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, these ominous interpretations bare almost no semblance to the icons they supposedly represent. Their faces, with droopy-eyes, bored, exhausted expressions and long amorphous rubber-like bodies provide the viewer with a new perspective of modern-day fatigue. Their peculiar expressions can be interpreted as a comment on how social media has overburdened all of us.

Born in 1978, Adam Lister lives and works in Beacon, New York. He is a visual artist whose work consists of geometric interpretations of pop culture's iconic images and references. Lister breaks down classic images and combines them with a minimalist, deconstructed aesthetic of pixelated graphics using watercolor or acrylic paint. The artist thus explores semantic terrains such as nostalgia or mathematics, approaching themes with a collective familiarity and reducing them to flat cubist-style compositions. They are paintings influenced by geometric thinking and the desire to capture the briefness of a still image.  What inspired him to create his unique style were the 8-bit graphics of Atari and Nintendo game consoles that don't use and diagonal and curved lines, together with his experience as a mosaicist. 

The artist has collaborated with brands such as Reebok, Nickelodeon, Sergio Tacchini, New Balance or Diamond Supply Co., among others. He has also participated in fairs such as Art Fair Tokyo (Japan) or Taiwan Art Fair and exhibited in galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Taipei, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing and New York, among others.

Teiji Hayama | Adam Lister

"Silver Screen"

March 31 -  April 22

Source: GR gallery