For What It's Worth - An Essay by Shana Sadeghi-Ray

Before I begin, I want to preface that using written language to express myself does not happen without serious effort and I will not cover everything as fully as I would like. I believe it's necessary, however, to put to words, how the title, "For What It's Worth" came about.

The concept of worth is a constant in my mind. What determines the value of something? Who defines the parameters of what is considered "fine art"?

I often find that artist like myself, are repeatedly placed on the defensive and in a position where we are requested to justify what we make to the society at large. Granted, I am aware that I don't owe anyone an explanation, this is merely to add depth to what is seen on the surface.

As an artist who employs a variety of mediums, typically classified as craft, it is obvious that societal implications perceive this work with a tone of negativity or unworthiness of the so-called fine art world.

Approaching it at surface level, one can attribute using said "craft" materials in childhood, rapidly aging out of it as society tries to guide us in the direction what is deemed a contributing member of a capitalist society. Play is no longer seen as necessary or valuable, and we are indoctrinated to believe there is a clear path to proper adulthood. A list of accomplishments and material goods that will entail a happy and fulfilling life, but this is a projected illusion. Most will always want more, even when they have everything they need. Anyone who diverts from this illusion, is then "othered' and devalued.

Just like beauty, value is in the eye of the beholder. This is subjective based on the individual, which implies the ability to change over time, depending on the circumstances in one's life.

There is nothing of fixed value. Things are valuable to the extent that people find value.

There is also methodological individualism as a contributor for worth determination. Individuals can make a choice, then those individuals can make groups, followed by those groups forming larger institutions. This can relate to value differing between cultures.

Confirmation bias comes into play. If you see your peers or someone you admire emphasizing one thing, you are more likely to go along with this story and the confirmation bias becomes stronger, to three you are unaware of whether or not this item or belief truly has any value to you. The more one conforms, the narrower the perspective becomes, which can enable the individual to completely lose themselves and disregard an alternative pathway to authenticity.

As a species, we inherently desire to belong. Many of us are constantly seeking acceptance and approval, which is where social value occurs, and how certain things begin to trend. This trendsetting eventually leads to mimicry and now original thought takes a backseat. We turn into a society that lacks depth which is reflected through our culture. There is a feeling of sameness.

Often, we see value in relation to the stories and context connected to specific objects. There is a hidden language, where items are designed to fit in a system of fantasy. Diamonds, for instance, remain a symbol of everlasting love. The story told is romanticized, attaching sentiment enabled by a method of symbolic marketing.

It is important to separate the external when considering ones self worth. Many tend to outline their goals in life through either the acquisition of personal goods or occupational successes, believing that this is the way to happiness. Success does not equate to one's worth. Often once the goal is reached, It is not what one had imagined it to be. People run after "success" when they have no idea what the actually means.

Lastly, some thoughts on the process of art making. We want to create art as an extension of what is going on in our minds, unique to us. This is not to say that it is entirely original, but it a collage of everything we've collected in our conscious and unconscious mind. You can give two people the same parameters such as imagery, color, medium, etc and they will undoubtedly produce two completely different results. It is up to the artist to translate the information into something that exists outside of themselves. There are an infinite number of variations that these elements may come together, and it is valuable to take the road that invokes the most exciting, most playful experience. This requires the creator to check in with themselves and avoid undermining their own personal taste in regards to the world around them. If you are creating work to satisfy the interests of others, you are merely doing yourself a disservice. The idea of "audience capture' where the creator makes content they believe the audience will like, will inherently strip the artist from their identity. Many of us develop our personalities through what we think others will like, fulfilling the expectations we believe others have of us. This tends to steer towards a commercial endeavor rather than an artistic one.

To be continued...

New York, NY –– This Summer, WHAAM! is pleased to present Love in New York, the inaugural New York solo exhibition by Bali-based artist Kyla Callista, on view from July 21st through August 26th, 2023.

Love in New York delves deep into the essence of Callista’s realm of reality in which bold colors collide, showcasing pieces that reflect the power of humility and the beauty of embracing meekness. Throughout her drawings and paintings, some which feature airbrush on denim, Callista creates a space for introspection and personal growth, reminding us all that love is not only a powerful force but also a catalyst that brings true freedom.

In the complex worlds and themes that Callista brings to the table, one can spot the recurring heart-shaped protagonist surrounded by bright colors with pops of silver and gold. Not only does this character act as a symbol of what the heart burns for, but also of her approach to the medium. In doing so, Callista creates harmonies that challenge and captivate the eye and suggest that there is no force in the world that cannot be overcome by love.

About Kyla Callista

Kyla Callista is a Bali-based self taught artist. Known for her “Love From The Heart” series, she has done collaborations with Dover Street Market Singapore and Potato Head Club Bali. | @kylacallista

New York, NY –– WHAAM! is pleased to present Guide Me Home, the inaugural New York solo exhibition by photographer D'Andre Williams, on view from September 8th through October 7th, 2023.

A highly personal practice, Williams’ photographs often explore themes of memory and customariness. In this current body of work, Williams focuses on contrasting his work made before and after he lived in New York City, incorporating images friend’s in everyday life and family members eating dinner. 

Williams creates images that capture fleeting moments that are often overlooked, passed or forgotten; visuals that often linger in our fields of vision but often fade away. The result is a recreation of the feeling of that moment, rather than the exact details of the event. Throughout this body of work, the viewer begins to visually explore a blurred representation of Williams’ personal terms of familiarity and displacement. 

Williams’ vision of not only never forgetting where you came from, but remembering everywhere you’ve been and every person you’ve met, shapes his work into a beautiful trilogy of friendship, family, and in betweens.

About D’Andre Williams

D’Andre Williams (b. 2000) is a self taught Washington D.C. based photographer, originally from Yokosuka, Japan. He began photographing at the age of 13 and has since worked for Suzuki, Carhartt WIP, Dyson and Bape.

New York, NY –– WHAAM! presents Drawings 2019–2023, works on paper by artist Jack Walls.

Jack Walls (b. 1957) grew up in Chicago with a love for poetry and art. A precocious child he learned to read and write at an early age. He spent time as a juvenile delinquent growing up in the Pilsen area of Chicago. A part of the city rife with gangs and drugs, during the 1970s.  After dropping out of high school he joined the navy, swept up in a romance of the sea. 

After military service he moved to New York where he met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who taught him about art and photography.Upon Mapplethorpe’s death in 1989 Jack struck out to become an artist in his own right. During this time, he became an unwitting role model for a disparate group of young artists in the late 1990s and early 2000’s.

The DRAWINGS in this exhibition, done between 2019-2023 are the results of Jack Walls’s labors during the time of the COVID pandemic. These drawings, initially, were not meant for public consumption. Since they are from his personal collection.

New York, NY –– Whaam! is thrilled to present Freedom Love, a dual exhibition by Frank Dorrey and Brayan Ramales on view from January 11th through February 17th, 2024.

In this exhibition, Frank Dorrey and Brayan Ramales are complementaries in their partnership. Dorrey’s exaggerated color manipulation, irradiated with joyously garish colors at once too dark and too bright, defines his distorted characters reminiscent of absurdist memes and filtered phone selfies. Enhanced by heavily contrasted textures, garish tones, and hyper-simulation, Dorrey’s body of work explores themes of love, tragedy, and the in-between, celebrating Black joy even as they move in and out of a grotesque haze. Their subjects' individuality and kinship shine through; a fragile utopia emerges within digital chaos and displays a state of relinquishment.

In contrast, Ramales’ exploration of love language inverts into a personal one, fusing symbols of masculinity, strength, and flair, with symbols of hope, belief , guilt, and grief, reflective of Ramales’ self-awareness and devotion towards his faith and Mexican heritage. Through his work, Ramales seeks to reshape religion and how he sees it in the world by using found objects and sentimental pieces that translate an extension of what a romantic gesture or love letter is. Together, Dorrey and Ramales connect over a shared love, pleasure, and experimentation. 

About Frank Dorrey

Frank Dorrey (b.1998, Linden, NJ) is a New York-based artist, known for his de-morphed and hyper-stylized characters birthed between the crossroads of photomanipulation and painting.In Frank's distortions, executed with a smartphone app, contrast-squeezed textures, and cartoon outlines carve graphic figures out of the photographic. Dorrey creates imagery that complicates modern archetypes of Black America with a smeared facial feature, a fantastical juxtaposition, and an unguarded smile. 

About Brayan Ramales

Brayan Ramales (b. 1996, Brooklyn, NY) is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His work, comprising a mixture of paintings and sculptures –– explores themes of faith and everyday life, with an emphasis on Mexican and American working-class iconography and totems of Roman Catholicism. Ramales’ work frequently combines emblems of faith, cartoons, and imagery from the artist’s everyday life to tell stories that blend fantasy, and reality. Recent works have included ‘love letter’ drawings on old composition notebook paper, as well as figurative paintings that use storytelling to explore moral dilemmas, often combining painting with found objects, forming playful assemblages that explore Ramales’ relationship to his Mexican heritage.

New York, NY –– This Summer, WHAAM! is pleased to present A Concrete Jungle, an exhibition of new works by Miami-based graffiti artist Dodo. The show will exhibit a group of airbrush and spray paintings on canvas dedicated to The Golden Age of New York City graffiti.

About Dodo

Dodo (1998) began his professional artistic journey when he first appeared on the Miami art scene in 2017 known for his colorful designs, and bold characters. Since then he has participated in numerous exhibitions stateside and abroad. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Dodo is primarily self-taught and developed his own style - and definition of - art. Growing up in a small beach town in Italy he had great exposure to classical approaches to art that as a teen he challenged. He was introduced to graffiti early on in his life. Dodo believes art is all about taking risks and doing what feels right, not what is taught. Dodo feels that there is no great art, only truthful art. Therefore Dodo’s approach is much like himself; boundary pushing, honest, and with a sense of humor. | @dodo_downtown

New York, NY –– Whaam! is pleased to present Magic’s Playplace, a group exhibition organized by Gogy Esparza, on view February 28 through April 6, 2024.

Magic’s Playplace honors a nostalgic, almost forgotten energy of New York City. Featuring eight artists, including Shaun Crawford, Destiny Mata, Weirdo Dave, Shawn Powers, Nick Sethi, Devin Kyle Cuthbertson, FANTACÍA (Gogy Esparza and Isaiah Barr) –– the group exhibition’s seductive, vibrant palette transports viewers into the memories of fast-food play centers that predominated America in the 80s-2000s. The artwork, juxtaposed against its playful environment, disturbingly exposes societal contradictions and opposing realities. Much like the old attractions of these forgotten “PlayPlaces” themselves –– the faces and soul of the work will feel confusingly foreign to most, yet warmly familiar to others.

About Gogy Esparza and Magic Gallery

Gogy Esparza is an artist and curator who in 2013 founded Magic Gallery, a multi-faceted project space. Since opening its doors in downtown New York City, Magic has hosted over 30 exhibitions featuring works by Mark Gonzales, Peter Sutherland, Maggie Lee, Rose Salane, Dylan Kraus, and much more. Magic’s agenda is intent on championing artists from all walks of life–celebrating and showcasing the soul of the work on its rightful platform. Its gallery and community continue to serve as a beacon of creativity and innovation within contemporary art. 

This exhibition is made possible through the support of Supreme

WHAAM! is pleased to present Hands That Mold, an exhibition featuring the works of New York-based artists Sylvain Munoz and Jairo Serna, on view from June 3 through July 3, 2022.

A highly personal and intricate practice, both Munoz and Serna’s works often explore themes of existing in the life cycle with the influence of religion, filling the canvas in ways that call attention to emotion and psychological connection between subjects.  

Exterior concepts of isolation and sexuality go hand and hand with both artists’ separate experiences. Munoz’s continued observation of God, life and death are recurring throughout his works as they convey a spectacle of violence and isolation with a sense of objectivity through the use of composition.While Serna’s bright cartoon style paintings made from pieces of pleather and latex paint tell the New York coming of age story. This set of paintings mirror Serna’s experience and depiction of the wheel-of-life: growing up, experimenting, getting old and dying.

About Sylvain Munoz

Sylvain Munoz is a self-taught artist born and raised in New York City. Munoz’s fantastical and painterly landscapes on canvas subvert the sexually charged in a playful, cartoon-like aesthetic, drawn from his nostalgic affinity with the 20th-century pop culture references he grew up with. @sylvainmunoz

About Jairo Serna

Born in Flushing, Queens, Jairo Serna is a first generation American citizen, and child to Colombian immigrants. Currently residing and working in Elmhurst, Queens, NY, his work reflects his childhood experiences, familial relationships and the urban environments he has come to know throughout his life. Serna received a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 2018 and was an artist in residence at Ox-Bow School of Art in 2021. @0.jairo.0

New York, NY –– WHAAM! is pleased to present Ribbon Ribbon, the inaugural New York solo exhibition by London-based artist Brianna Moreno, featuring ten new works on paper. 

Through mystical settings and recurring motifs, Moreno’s illustrations often explore themes of folklore and simple ways of storytelling. In this current body of work, she marries approachable characters, from bunnies to frogs, with delicate pastel palettes, concealing the underlying dark and satirical elements within these narratives. 

Moreno’s process often begins with reading etiologic tales and connecting her personal story to them.  This set of illustrations mirror Moreno’s inspiration from fables and learnt lessons, varying from tedious tasks the hero has to accomplish to break the aforementioned spell, to explorations of honor, or broadcasting warnings of evil. In each piece, none of the human characters are interacting, yet the animals depicted become extensions of the self to communicate through. Her tongue-in-cheek comparison of old folk tales and her personal connection to pop-culture creates a world in which both the faux and the bonafide can coexist. 

About Brianna Moreno

Brianna Moreno is a London-based artist whose works has been exhibited at Printed Matter in New York as well as at the Galerie du Jour - agnès b in Paris. Moreno creates universes where simultaneous realities co-exist with its fantastical and realistic figures - often seen as extensions of the artist, imagined from old folk tales and mythical stories with fairies, nature and mischief. Moreno’s illustrations are made with felt tip markers on newsprint, an homage to analog techniques and folk art

New York, NY –– WHAAM! is pleased to present Dog Year, Los Angeles-based artist Henry Fey’s inaugural New York solo exhibition, featuring seven new works.

Through an autobiographical approach, Fey’s paintings often explore themes of mania and commodification, filled with contrasts like vibrant colors and dark subjects. In this current body of work, Fey focuses on subverting the hippie motif of tie dye with ideas seen from the street or nonstop media news. 

Fey regards his process to be an essential point in documenting his day to day journey as it enables him to break free from the oversaturation of images in the media. This set of paintings mirror Fey’s idea of preserving time, as they reflect his instinct to learn from the everyday. His work can be described as an examination of the contrast between the digital and analog methods of image making. Fey starts with a series of digital sketches drawn from imagery seen from a collective moment or current event. The images are then recreated by using airbrush, acrylic paint or other techniques seen in screen printing.

Henry Fey (b. 1995) lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Born and raised in Van Nuys, Fey graduated with a degree in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. Fey combines a broad mix of digital and analog processes – painting, collage, photography, airbrushing, screenprinting and more – to explore and celebrate the city and community around him. Both technically meticulous and free in form, Fey’s work opens up a new way of seeing the cityscape. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and solo presentations throughout the United States, as well as an upcoming collaboration with Jordan brand

New York, NY –– WHAAM! is pleased to announce Life Is So Long, an exhibition by New Mexico-based artist Gregory Shimada. 

In this set of over 100 paintings created throughout his lifetime, some produced in his childhood years, Shimada creates a visual language using cultural references to reflect on the passage of time and humanity as defined by quotidian terms. With a background in graffiti for the past decade, Shimada’s transition into painting became synonymous with maturation, becoming a form of therapy for him to release and process the good and bad energy that came with reliving and immortalizing memories themselves. 

Shimada regards painting to be an integral point in the trajectory of finding his voice as it enables him to practice an ideology of catch and release when referring to past moments and the periods that marked them. This set of paintings reflect his need to capture every moment like iconic Jordan 11’s pink snakeskins, memories, and ideas like the fondness of Now! That’s What I Call Music CD releases and checks made out courtesy of Arby’s. Moreso, these screenshot moments of Shimada’s life mirror the move towards his next chapter as he continues to infuse recollection and energy into his work. Shimada’s range in application and medium is seen throughout his pieces, utilizing found objects such as cardboard or clothing as a canvas. Key pieces like those depicting shoes he wanted as a teen reflect a kind of sentimentality innate to his work. By imbuing the emotions of preserving secrets in time, Shimada believes it is important to display all of the paintings at once, in a maximalist launch style which acts as a blueprint read out of his brain.

WHAAM! is pleased to present Thread the Needle, a debut solo-exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Shana Sadeghi-Ray. From the literal use of needle and thread in the Plushie Land series, to Good Luck Charm, a beaded basketball hoop, where "threading the needle" is one of the artist's favorite offensive assists in the sport, Sadeghi-Ray teases the multiplicity of the phrase, mirroring its versatility in the mediums through which her work is displayed. The exhibition also includes a limited edition run of charm bracelets handmade by Sadeghi-Ray, all proceeds from which will go to Brooklyn’s community fridges. 

A storyteller by default and not by definition, Sadeghi-Ray is undeniably a world-builder, a champion of the subjective utopias that exist in our imaginations. These fantastical proclivities often glitter under the surface and rarely take a gasping inhale breaching the surface of our subconscious as we self-censor adhering to collective ideas of cool. Sadeghi-Ray’s practice defies these expectations as she allows her own affinities to take the wheel, swerving between kitsch and anthropological while staying in her own lane. 

Sadeghi-Ray’s unifying thread is the contextualization of what it means to play. Growing up as a first-generation American, Sadeghi-Ray observed fandom from the sidelines, through nuance, gawking at America’s “main-character energy” culture and literally, as she became a devout fan of the NBA. In both contexts, she found material objects at the center of these respective belief-systems –– a handbag that represented an insider’s cultural currency, or a lucky charm that a fan would hold with a clenched fist during every free-throw. Objects could be imbued with emotions and she could transform them entirely while recalibrating their value by experimenting with accessibility, altered narratives and mass nostalgia made synonymous with aspiration. By making them her medium for provocation sans rigid concept, allowed Sadeghi-Ray to create an aesthetic that resonates at high-frequency with pop-culture because it embodies the kind of luxury we all unknowingly desire, the ability to play and bring these to life as they exist in our own mind’s eye, freely, mounting a whim. To play is to process, to thread the needle with eyes closed.

WHAAM! is pleased to present Life on Earth, a solo-exhibition by Philadelphia-based artist Exene Karros. In this new body of paintings, Karros perceives an unlikely duality between spirituality and technology and uses symbols to create commentary that exposes their intersectionality regarding obsession. As she continues to fine-tune and calibrate her technical skills to align with her curious predisposition, Karros’ approach is as simultaneously profound as it is tongue-in-cheek. Life on Earth is a mirror for reality imbued with emotional triggers most familiar to our teenage selves who revel in angst, finding flair and flames in the dramatic. 

Through Karros’ evolving practice, the artist unearths the new enigmas wrought unto society by technology –– from surveilled landscapes, breached privacy, to rogue A.I. –– and finds these dilemmas reflected in the classic problems adjacent to religion and philosophy. To grow up today is to grow alongside the augmented shadow that technology casts in a shared plot whose climax is resigned. Sublimation bubbles slowly, swelling before the pop.  Some days we see more blue light radiating from our screens than sunlight, and our digital footprints don’t lead us home but into tomorrow’s abyss. Belief is calculated voyeurism and we worship the algorithm with a new holy trinity (Like, Comment, Holy Influence). Until satellites allow us to knock on heaven’s door, we can take solace in the fact that angels exist and find Life on Earth.

Devin Beck a Brooklyn-based and Houston-bred, self-taught artist who specializes in painting nightmarish hellscapes in acrylic, using traditional brush techniques as well as airbrush. Within her work, Beck sees isolation and vastness and wants the viewer to have a similar experience. She seeks to amplify the state of our world and the unsustainability of our lifestyles to yield a glimpse into our futures. The fantastical and religious aspects present serve as symbols for the greater evils that will one day transform our current reality into an abysmal dystopia. 

Beck regards painting to be therapeutic as it enables her to shut out the often overstimulating chaos of the world, finding focus and in turn clarity. These works were created within the past year, birthed in a windowless room, setting the tone for the series in which she pays homage to surrealist painter, Yves Tanguy, whose influence she regards to be pivotal. In Beck’s debut show, immersion becomes captivation, as she invites us to wander amidst a world of desolate landscapes, to breathe the air that dragons do, to let go and enter another realm.

Whaam! is pleased to present Western Landscapes with a Side of Fruit, an exhibition of new works by Andrew Durgin-Barnes and the artist’s first solo presentation with Whaam!. The exhibit, comprising a group of oil paintings, will be on view from April 14th through May 9, 2021.

Western Landscapes with a Side of Fruit turns a biographical lens on the roads less traveled, offering a hybrid approach to Andrew’s purist practice as he utilizes both spray paint and oil paint as mediums for these pieces, all created within the span of a month during the artist’s solo travels across Oakland, Los Angeles, and Washington State. This body of work serves as a bridge between traditional and new practices, having previously kept these entities separate to weave an ongoing narrative in which heavy elements of realism are juxtaposed with tinges of the surreal. His mastery of composition is demonstrated as subject matter takes a back seat, its importance recontextualized as we continue to mine the aesthetics of beauty. 

A classicist at heart with a penchant for graffiti, the Los Angeles-based artist not only sought to capture these visual panoramas but the feelings that accompanied them. He found that it was light, sometimes fractured, others blaring, that gave these landscapes and still-life forms their intrinsic emotions evoked by shadow and shine, light and darkness. While these paintings are almost photographic, Durgin-Barnes notes that painting provides you the opportunity to embellish certain details, immortalizing these fleeting emotions in a way that you couldn’t necessarily do by just clicking a camera shutter. 

Continuing to elevate subtleties, Durgin-Barnes strives to simply paint, rejecting the transcendental and boundary-pushing expectations by modern art practice. Instead, he takes aspects of classically driven work and uses these representational elements to work through his love for the world around him.

Whaam! presents Reading Room by New Reader. Reading Room is a library of books selected by artists, musicians, scientists, educators, public figures and more in response to the question: In isolation, what parts of yourself have you recovered?

Reading Room’s contents are available online accompanied by a directory of every independent bookstore in New York City. A printed version, featuring illustrations by Whaam! artist Hunter Ney is available in bookstores throughout the five boroughs.

New Reader is an online library that organizes books by people. Through interviews, New Reader catalogs the sources that shape their minds. Newreader.net | @newreadernet

New York, NY –– Whaam! Is pleased to present ​Pleasure Garden,​ the first solo exhibition by New York artist ​Sylvain Munoz​, opening on January 14 and on view through February 7, 2021. Made almost entirely during the 2020 city shutdown in the artist’s Chinatown studio, ​Pleasure Garden depicts a fictional world that is inhabited by all facets of Munoz’s imagination. It is a stage on which Heaven, Hell, and humanity mingle –– a modern, almost futuristic sin city, manifesting the pleasure of media consumption versus the evils of modern technology.

A self-taught artist born and raised in New York City, ​Munoz’s fantastical and painterly landscapes on canvas subvert the sexually charged in a playful, cartoon-like aesthetic, drawn from his nostalgic affinity with the 20th-century pop culture references he grew up with, from action figures to the 1993 ​video game Doom to the 1954 film ​Godzilla. ​While attending school in Greenwich Village, Munoz noticed the ​nearby sex shops and developed a deep fascination with New York’s BDSM and leather culture –– a curiosity that inspired his collecting of fetish magazines to create collages. a primary reference in the artist’s work. Many of Munoz’s paintings are cities within cities, micro snapshots that become part of his larger canvases, detailed in triptych-like compositions. ​A close look at his ​macrocosmic landscapes, reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s ​Garden of Earthly Delights​, reveals curious details and characters in intimate instances, in child-like depictions – threading escapism and confrontation, the familiar and the mysterious, the pleasurable and the morbid.

New York City has long been home to the spooky and the strange––to lore and legends of ghosts and goblins, slimy creatures that lurk the tunnels and tracks beneath the streets, creepy crawlers that inhabit the nooks and crannies of the city’s darkest corners waiting for the light to fade. Rats rule from below, gargoyles gaze down from the building facades above, and no matter how polished the block may seem, no one is safe from the supernatural.

Tea World, a joint exhibition at WHAAM! featuring New York-based artists Alex Petty and Hunter Ney, turns a light-hearted lens on the gritty and the grotesque, offering a comical, romanticized take on the gruesome monstrosities of the city.

Alex Petty, an illustrator, painter and tattoo artist, has always been intrigued by fantastical characters and creatures that play on themes of the evil and horrific. Reimagining them in a playful, cartoonish aesthetic reminiscent of Goosebumps or Scooby-Doo, he often renders his creations in neon and pastel tones of yellow, green, and pink, in a style uniquely his, subverting the spooky with humorous undertones.

Hunter Ney is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York originally from the Bay Area, whose work has been primarily rooted in transforming and augmenting pre existing characters, symbols, and signs to create new worlds of his own, often fictional scenes that border on the surreal.

In this new body of work for Tea World, Ney begun exploring a new technique using Cyanotype, a photographic printing process that produces cyan-blue prints that involves transferring chemicals onto watercolor paper exposed to UV light––a process used in the 20th century by engineers to copy drawings that would become known as “blueprints.” Ney had always been curious about the technique, wanting to achieve these deep and strong blue hues — this new medium demonstrates his versatility and evolution as an artist, and allows him to continue to test the art world’s hierarchy of taste.

WHAAM! is pleased to present HOME –– a virtual group exhibition that invites twenty-five multimedia artists across the globe to create works during the new normal, in the confines of their personal space. Featured artists include Adam Zhu, Aeja Monet, Alex Petty, Ally Bo, Andrew Durgin-Barnes, Brie Moreno, Carolina Lindberg, Chito, Chris Lloyd, Devin Beck, Dylan Kraus, Ellie Andrews Gonzalez, Hank Reavis, Hunter Ney, Jason Fox, Justin Hager, Michelle Guintu Petty, Noah Trimble, Nick Atkins, Rob Brackett, Ronan McGee, Sara Yukiko, Shana Sadeghi-Ray, Sharif Farrag, Ten Yung Han, Victor Morales, and more. Home, to be openly interpreted as feelings of familiarity, a place of physical solitude or ground of new creativity and documentation. The exhibition will commence on Friday, March 27th and new works, as well as artist processes will be on view daily through the @whaam.whaam Instagram for a three weeks duration through April 17th.

Portions of the proceeds from HOME will go to Bowery Mission to aid in providing emergency care: safe shelters, essential programs, and nutritional to-go meals for New York City’s most vulnerable population during Covid-19, as they need our help more than ever.

WHAAM! was established in 2017 as a cultural club to promote New York City sub-cultures through creative lenses spanning literature and visual art. Since it's opening, WHAAM! has hosted a series of monthly book talks. In 2019, WHAAM! opened its physical space in downtown New York, with the aim to foster the next wave of artists through literature and visual programming.

Whaam! is please to present the first solo show by Brooklyn-based artist Noah Trimble known for assemblage out of everyday objects, and works primarily in textile collage and mixed media. Trimble uses found materials to create artworks that represent his experiences and surroundings.