Last May, 2010 marked the first annual Urban Decay exhibition which blew the Washington D.C. area out of the water! The 6,000 square foot gallery space which can accommodate up to 200 people for a typical standing room only exhibition, was overflowing and busting at the seems when over 300 people came to opening night. An unprecedented amount of press covered this sneak-attack show, which was spread more by word of mouth then anything else. Newspapers and online periodicals like washingtonpost.com, pinklineproject.com, cultural-alliance.org, www.artsdc.com, fineartamerica.com, www.weta.org, and many more reported about the exhibition, gave it glowing reviews, and marked it as a must-see event.
Urban Decay started as an exhibition showcasing lowbrow art aesthetics and grew into a massive appreciation for the connection between urban art, music, and everything lowbrow or contemporary. This year, the exhibition is going to be bigger and badder with local and national musical acts from across the U.S., a larger selection of the most amazing contemporary artists in the lowbrow or pop-surreal genre, live demonstrations and an added film sequence discussing the role of the Designer Vinyl Artist Toy in modern art, the DIY (do-it-yourself) aesthetic, and so much more.
Urban Decay II will open to the public on June 2 and will have its opening reception on Saturday, June 4. The reception will last from 7:00pm to 12:00am with four live musical acts, live artist demonstrations, a designer vinyl toy competition (open to the public), a film showcase, and an affordable art raffle!
We will also be joining forces with the Workhouse Film Institute showcasing films the entire month of June, which will discuss the popularity of Vinyl Toys as art through the films: "The Vinyl Frontier", "Toys Are Us" and "Toypunks", and a few films about the DIY aesthetic and amazing underground artists of the modern day: "Beautiful Losers", and "Guerilla Art". You will not want to miss this one-of-a-kind event and the best part is, it’s FREE!