$MALL CHANGE: A Solo Exhibit by Problak
Crewest (Front Room Gallery) opens July 7, 2012, 7-10pm
Boston-based artist, Rob "Problak" Gibbs, will
also make his debut exhibit in Crewest's Front Room Gallery on Saturday, July, 7th,
2012, from 7-10pm. His new body of work, Small Change celebrates the artist's
first solo show in Los Angeles.
When asked what inspired his new works, Problak
explains:
"The phrase, 'a little goes a long way', inspired this
body of work. I think the average person can easily overlook how change can
quickly accumulate. When change comes together, it's value and power matches
it's weight in a variety of ways--especially in our consumer culture. This
collection showcases some change I've earned over time. I wanted to remix the
value of what we accumulate and probably overlook everyday. Please enjoy the
"EP" to my upcoming show. I hope you get to walk away with a small
change in your point of view. Grow on flow on."--Problak
About Rob
"Problak" Gibbs
Rob “Problak”
Gibbs grew up in Roxbury, MA venturing between Lenox St. apartments and Orchard
Park projects. From a young age, he had a vision of beautifying the ghettos of
Boston with graffiti art—an art form that is frequently over looked, under valued
and misunderstood. The concept that a picture is worth an infinite amount of
words inspired Rob and provided him with the opportunity to take ownership of
one of our culture’s modern hieroglyphics: graffiti. He developed a vision of
beautifying Boston purely by instinct, experiencing his “calling” as a young
man, a child of the HipHop golden age.
The need to place
social consciousness in HipHop culture is a driving force behind Problak’s
creativity. His work impels the viewer to allow imagination to become a
playground for testing boundaries and breaking rules. Rob is a painter,
muralist and graffiti artist who was one of six urban teens to co-found the
non-profit youth development organization, Artists For Humanity (AFH) in 1991.
Through this innovative non-profit organization, he has been blessed with a
career in the arts that has spanned decades and has been able to work as a
mentor to young people in the creative process. As AFH’s Paint Studio Director,
Rob applies his experiences as an academic scholarship winner, an Americorps
Fellow and a Prudential Youth Leadership Fellow, to overseeing the art studios,
leading the painting instruction, and serving as a key team member in AFH’s
efforts to expand into neighboring communities, sharing the proven youth
development model of arts and entrepreneurship training.
Problak has
demonstrated a continued commitment to passing on the tools, techniques and
traditions he has learned to the next generation of artists, serving as both
mentor and inspiration to countless young people through his work as a
co-founder and studio manager at Artists for Humanity. Rob has conducted
arts/youth mentoring workshops for Girls, Inc., The Boston Foundation, Boston
Housing Authority, and Youth Build, Washington, DC. Gibbs is a recipient of a
number of awards, including The Goodnight Initiative’s Civic Artist Award, and
The Mass Industry Committee’s 2006 Graffiti Artist of the Year award. He has
also served as a guest lecturer, teaching one-day sessions on graffiti art and culture
to students in Northeastern University’s Foundations of Black Culture: HipHop
course.
With an extensive
repertoire in several media, Problak’s work has challenged both the viewer and
himself the artist, to see and celebrate graffiti’s evolution for over 15
years. His work as a solo artist and as a member of Boston’s A.L.A crew, has
been seen across the world, in exhibitions such as All City Evolution, at the
Fourth Wall Gallery in Boston, MA, and The Sharpie Show at Crewest in Los
Angeles, CA.
Follow Problak:
Facebook.com/pro.blak
Tweet: @ProblaK
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