Johnny Romeo

Hip Hopper

Name: Hip Hopper - Harvey Galleries
SKU: H35307
Price: 8895.00 AUD
Availability: InStock

SKU: H35307

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

124 x 124 cm Framed

A$8,895

When an assassination attempt was made on Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania early this year, many on the conservative right were quick to praise his bravery. For his supporters, Trump’s bandaged ear and raised fist became a symbol of defiance in the face of imminent death. History shows us, however, that the bandaged ear was iconic long before the likes of Trump. In Hip Hopper, Johnny Romeo pays tribute to the ‘original gangster’ of the bandaged ear, Vincent van Gogh, with a vibrant Technicolour portrait that injects a healthy dose of hip swagger into our traditionally melancholic image of the Dutch Impressionist master. Painted not long after he cut off his right ear following a heated argument with the artist Gauguin, van Gogh’s original 1889 ‘Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear’ captures the mental state of an artist recovering from the throes of mental anguish. Romeo masterfully re-imagines van Gogh as an empowered, street-hardened rapper, retaining the artist’s signature bandaged ear and smoking pipe while fitting him out in a fresh Adidas tracksuit that harkens back to the vintage style of Golden Age hip-hop. As a student of hip hop, Romeo’s ‘B-Boy van Gogh’ has abandoned the bloody violence that led to him severing his ear in pursuit of happiness and freedom, a point made with hopeful candour through the transformation of the word assemblage ‘Pursue Gory into Pursue Glory’. Read in this light, the title Hip Hopper captures van Gogh’s renewed lust for life as he discovers his purpose through his devotion to hip-hop music, and ultimately Pop culture. With his tortured past far behind him, Romeo’s OG van Gogh bravely reminds us that in these tough times the best way to survive is to do what you need to do to be authentic yourself.

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About Johnny Romeo

Johnny Romeo is an internationally acclaimed Australian painter. Considered Australia’s leading Pop artist, Romeo is spearheading the global Neo-Expressionist Pop movement with his electrifying collision of rock’n’roll swagger, comic book aesthetics and street art. Described by GQ Magazine Australia as ‘part punk, part pop’, Romeo’s Kitsch Pop works are explosive sugar rushes of Technicolour imagery and urban grittiness that are turning heads worldwide.

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