This October, Black Rat Press presents ‘Jesus Help Me Find My Proper Place’ – a major London solo show by Lucas Price, also known as the acclaimed street artist Cyclops.
Heralded as a new star in the art world, the artist – whose familiar skeletal, giant toothed street art works with painting partner, Sweet Toof, can be seen in high profile spots all over the capital, and the world – will be exploring the fringes of society in a show which tackles narratives of homelessness, dereliction, madness, drugs and redemption.
The show marks Price’s ascension from a life on the streets to one of the UK’s bestselling artists from a graffiti background. Expelled at 15 for daubing the school with graffiti, he later experienced homelessness, drug addiction and jail on two continents. Five years after having kicked his addiction, Price’s much-lauded street and fine art has been recognised by critics, media and buyers the world over, and his works debuted to critical acclaim at auction last year, with pieces including Cease to Exist commanding £15K.
The new body of works on show in this exhibition feature the artist’s irreverent and often politically-loaded satire as well as visual commentary on society’s dark underbelly. Drawing from his personal experiences, the artist questions the ugliness that exists in society and demonstrates the beauty that can be found in even the most abject circumstances.
Price says: “All these references are alive to me. They have beauty within them – I’ve seen it first hand. The world is wrecked, but it’s still beautiful, and people are so dumb, arrogant, flawed, imperfect yet so capable of good, so full of potential, and that goes for everyone and everything. I’m lucky, so I suppose it’s my job to not forget and to show people how it can be.”
Featuring works on canvas and paper as well as a series of thought-provoking installations, this promises to be the most audacious debut show of the year. To underline the show’s narrative, Price has worked with Sweet Toof on a site-specific installation – a wake with a coffin bearing an effigy of one of his street art characters. Price says: “The way I see it, he’s dead and this is a new start.”
The show title Jesus Help Me Find My Proper Place is appropriated from the Velvet Underground track Jesus which has been re-interpreted by Price as a direct reference to his past and acknowledgement of his newfound acclaim. It is also one of the subversive slogans that appeared on a hard-hitting series of large-scale light boxes which the artist recently left outside high visibility sites including central London tube stations, police stations, art galleries and major advertising hotspots including Piccadilly Circus.
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Tags: artists, gallery, quotes, street events, Typography