The show will mainly consist of two important elements of Petro’s work
1) His ever present post Graffiti works
2) Work derived from his Love for Ralph Lauren
The first being an exploration of shape, style and experimentation of letter-form, the never ending search for the perfect solution.
Then there is the Ralph Lauren Obsession best explained in the following interview extract:
So why Ralph?
“How long have you got. I was a mid 80’s hip hop, an’ off the back of bmxing garms loving kid. So was immersed in the new found label obsessive. It was your identity, it made you part of something, a pair of nikes was all you needed to know you liked Hip Hop. No other bods were wearing them really. I’ve allways loved clobber and labels, you’d be mad not to, right? I could never get enough. Garms and Graffiti, have been a life time addiction, not like those passing phases, fruit machines, LSD or vinyl collecting… they had to stop. I remember the first Ralph Lauren item that came into my life, it was a gift, a blue and white striped rugby sweat with Polo embroidered on the cuff. I was 15. It was incredible. I’d never heard of Polo before. I wore it to death. I’ve worn Polo from then on, but my allegencies to Polo, took a turn when i began to ONLY wear Polo, about…i cant recall, sources say…about 1996/97. It made my life complete, easy, one tailor, one search, one love for all that is Polo. I had friends too, worms* related, who understood and felt the same, not to maybe the same extremes, but it was ours. Years later we discovered the Lo-Lifes, this was validation. The science of RL to me is perfection, the quality (it lasts forever), the cut, sometimes I can even fit into a small, the style, the classic, the bizarre, the B-boyness, the attention to detail, the fabric, the degrees of people wearing it, the topics, the graphics, the everything, the classic, the king of style…………one label, Polo Ralph Lauren
*The Fresh Worms Crew
Finding things:
I’m a confessed hoarder, of this im sure. I have collected pieces of my life in the shape of objects, which can take me back to the moment, instantly. They hold a lot for me, so on my travels i’m constantly looking where others may not, a Graffiti writers eye view is unique. I look all around, at everything, finding, gaining and assembling these objects in each show, in each city is a journey story, a diary of my time line to the task at hand. They each tell a story.
Grafffffffffff:
The whole tag name thing, its funny. My street name, my alter ego, my non de plume, my other identity, my taggers drawing name is… theres a boring Graf story to go with the name sake, but im not going into that today… i chose…in street talk it means to be scared.
Graffiti writing felt like a right of passage to me. It had and has the ability to take over your senses, like no other. I think my receptors were made for adventure, showing off, drawing, racking, fare evading, obsessing and conquering my procrastinating demons. Its always felt right, its who i am and it looks like theres no letting up.
Its that never ending quest of selfish, egotistical, childish behavior and sense of being alive that never dies. I have a love, hate, love to hate, relationship with writing. The nuances of understanding letters did not come easy. It took me going full circle, after 15 years, back to how i began, no rules, freedom and energy. Only then could i begin to understand the joy in letters and writing. I feel very comfortable inside with my head in a black book, with a biro, a zoot and a cup of tea. Finding typeface solutions is now no problem, almost easy, natural even sometimes effortless at last. Searching for style, personality, movement and repitition is my mission. A sense of writers block haunts me but fortunately never arrives. I can draw Graffiti, I know that much, but its not like it didnt take 25 years and im still far from the finish line. I dont like to talk about it.
Opening night March 1st, runs until March 10th PETRO: @intheallotment
galleriesgoldstein.com/now/
