PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICAN ICE CREAM MAN - EAST HAMPTON EDITION
Opening Reception: Saturday, 13th, August, from 6p.m. – 9p.m, 2016
Gallery Valentine 33 Newtown Ln, East Hampton, NY 11937
“Gus was my first Ice Cream Man. He was the original happiness dealer. A chocolate milkshake could heal anything, just like a good painting. These days the more paintings I make the more I feel like Gus.” - Gregory Siff
4AM Gallery and Mercedes Benz are pleased to present, “Portrait of an American Ice Cream Man,” the highly anticipated solo exhibition from artist Gregory Siff and the unveiling of Experience Room #3, The Ice Cream Room. In commemoration of the 10 Year anniversary of The Deitch Parade in NYC where Gregory first introduced The Marshmallows in 2006, the artist invites the viewer on a journey that spans the most crucial years of his life, from the most vivid childhood memories to becoming a man in Los Angeles, celebrating the people and places that impacted his adventure and introducing an amalgam of works capturing both the original style symbolism and deeper mature abstracts.
In his new large-scale paintings, the artist combines clippings from canvases made in his DTLA studio with journal entries from his recent travels. Works created in Bali, Dubai, Costa Rica, Italy and Ibiza dance alongside works from home, creating a quilt of personal memories. Other works include a new collection of abstract expressionism born from intimate times of real experience. Paintings like Prayer, I Bought Flowers for Myself on a Sunday, Text Message, and Living in the Sea of the World blend multi-media materials Oil, Enamel, Ink, Acrylic, Graphite, Spray-Paint, and Marker to create significant panels representing the artist’s life.
Following the Experience Rooms Gregory created for MoMA PS1’s Rockaway! Exhibition, The Ice Cream Room is a transformative experience that returns the audience to a state of innocence where moments become held. The room is a site-specific installation that replicates the feeling of ice cream entering into the senses and beyond. Temperature, scent, sound, sight and memory are fused
together to create a multi-sensory experience. The reward of chasing down the Ice Cream Truck as a child and the wonderment of choosing your own adventure becomes possible again. This kind of ice cream heals all wounds and brings children to a state of unbounded excitement.
Further honoring the remembrance of The Marshmallows, Gregory will replicate the initial installation, wherein he strategically placed them in corners of museums across the country as an experiment in happiness. When Deitch Projects invited Gregory to bring his Marshmallow characters to life at both annual parades, the artist wore his late father’s tuxedo and a handmade Marshmallow mask, as he danced down the streets of Greenwich Village sharing marshmallows with the city. To immortalize this resurgence of The Marshmallows, they will be scattered throughout the city and/or hiding in the corners of the gallery. If you find one you may keep one opening night.
Gregory Siff was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1977. He lives and works in Los Angeles. His artworks are included in Swizz Beatz’s The Dean Collection, Deitch Projects, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Siren Studios and in the Google HQ Collection, to name a few. Siff’s recent exhibitions include “Walls,” Pacific Design Center, 4AM Gallery (2015); Scope, Miami (2012); “Matter of Time,” Gallery Brown (2012), “There & Back,” Siren Studios x The Art Reserve (2012). His work was included in the Museum of Modern Art MoMA PS1 in Klaus Biesenbach’s “Rockaway!" as well as a mural in the ACE Museum for non-profit The Art of Elysium with Christie’s Auction House. He was selected by Vans Custom Culture to be one of their “Art Ambassadors” inspiring students across the United States to embrace their creativity. His hand painted custom Vans were on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He has done commissions and installations for Mercedes Benz, Helmut Lang, Marc Jacobs, The Standard, Sotheby’s, Bonham’s, Warner Bros. Records and Pyer Moss.
Special thanks to The Esoteric Collection and Off The Menu. For further inquiries please contact Lisa Falcone, 4AM Gallery at 4artmedia@gmail.com or at (310) 386-5852.
Press Enquiries:
MLC PR
Office: 323.965.5599 | Mobile: 310.721.6179
Contact: Annie Given
annie@monaloring.com www.monaloring.com
Please join the conversation with Gregory Siff on Instagram (@GregorySiff), Snapchat (@GregorySiff), Twitter (@GregorySiff), Facebook via hashtags #GregorySiff #PortraitofanAmericanIceCreamMan and on www.gregorysiff.com
