C. Emerson Fine Arts ::Under the Influence 2 March 6

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Under the Influence 2 March 6 - April 4, 2009

Rocky Grimes , "Power", screen print on mixed media, 2009

Rocky Grimes was born in 1974 and grew up in an island community at the southern tip of Florida. At about age twelve he discovered a love for skateboarding and at the time skateboarding was not such a fashion statement like it is, along with so many other things, today. As cliché as it sounds, skateboarding probably saved his life. It was a common thread that he shared with just a few people in the Florida Keys. The then counter culture of skateboarding opened up doors to new and exciting art and music that has had a profound impact on his life. To this day, those interests that were developed in his formative years influence him as a person and an artist. He started going to punk and hardcore shows in Miami, Florida at age fourteen. The punk and hardcore community taught him many valuable life lessons and have had strong influence on his art aesthetically. It is because of the punk and hardcore music scene that he first started to screen print. In the mid to late 90’s he taught himself how to silkscreen in order to make shirts and patches of bands to which keys kids had limited access. Fast forward to around 2001. It was then that Rocky began producing his own artwork and showing it in a gallery setting. Since then he has shown his work across the country and abroad. His art acts as a bond between his past and the present and addresses personal, social and political issues. In addition to creating fine art pieces, Rocky Grimes has brought his screen printing live to willing and unwilling crowds in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas and Miami. Most recently he literally pushed a cart through Miami during Art Basel screen printing live in the streets as a statement against the overwhelming infiltration of corporations into the art community. His version of live printing is aesthetic as much as it is a comment on consumer culture. His artwork has been shown in various publications including, SWINDLE and Juxtapoz magazines.

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